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A persistent question regarded the usage of Hunter Luepke this season. Even when he was healthy the touches were limited. A cynic may want to label his explosive turn around in the playoffs a coincidence, but the masterpiece of an afternoon that he had in Frisco was anything but that. His 14 carries "only" netted 82 yards but he didn't lose a yard on any of the carries while converting three of them into touchdowns. It's the sort of performance that will get scouts into the Dome to see him up close.
His total finished third behind Kobe Johnson (thanks to his 76 yard touchdown run) & Quincy Patterson who churned out just under a 9 yards/play average. The 194 yards that they combined for over the first 19 minutes of the contest helped them reset the record for the largest halftime lead in championship game history. Yeah, the "old" style offense still works!
The orchestrator of the machine had his best this season as well. Miller's numbers are those of a quintessential game-manager, he did so like a player with far more experience to lean on. Playing error-free and making the right decisions when called upon creates a situation which could define the team at the position for the next handful of years. Miller should be the favorite to retain the starting job into next Fall but what Quincy Patterson & Cole Payton do as a result could get the team back in the position they were in last Spring. After some well-deserved R & R coach Entz will need to begin addressing the situation because Miller seems unlikely to regress from what he did today. It's a good problem to have but has the aroma of a problem nonetheless.
Back to today's effort. The defense was also as on their game. With a gentleman's shutout going into the final minutes Montana State got the last touchdown of the afternoon to crack double-digits. Holding a good team to 10 points is nothing to sneeze at, especially the way they did it! Amazingly they didn't record a sack while finishing the day with two TFLs, which just goes to show that they were playing sound defense without a lot of flash. It must be noted that one of the two tackles for loss came from Dawson Weber, who also got the only turnover of the game. That's a splendid way to conclude a career!
The same could be said for each of the members of the team who won't be back. Frisco is old hat but it's a special accomplishment for this group to finish as they did!
Nada, zip, zilch, bupkis.
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