SOMETHINGTOCROWEABOUTmedia.al.com/birminghamentries/other/Deadline September.pdf · band, and Ole...
1
* * The Birmingham News j Sunday, September 5, 2008 j 11B BSC 28, LAGRANGE 19 Special teams propel BSC to win in opener By JACOB CARPENTER News staff writer Even before a knee injury sidelined him late in the third quarter, Birmingham- Southern’s David Langston had done enough damage. The senior wide receiver set school records by re- turning a second-quarter punt 86 yards and the opening kick of the second half 89 yards for Birming- ham-Southern’s first two touchdowns in a 28-19, season-opening victory Saturday over LaGrange (0-1) at Panther Stadium. “The blocking was excel- lent,” Langston said. “Ev- erybody did their assign- ment.” Langston spent the fourth quarter with an ice pack wrapped around a knee after getting hit out of bounds while a foot was planted in the ground. The Florida native, one of Bir- mingham-Southern’s most explosive playmakers, was unsure of the severity of his injury. “They said it could be a torn ACL, but there’s no guarantees,” Langston said. “I’ve been able to walk on it and slowly the pain is al- ready going away, so I should be back soon.” Langston’s second-half kickoff return was followed by a 63-yard touchdown drive on Birmingham- Southern’s next drive, capped by sophomore run- ning back Shawn Morris’ 1-yard rush. Birmingham- Southern added an early fourth-quarter touchdown on a 41-yard drive, which proved enough to stave off LaGrange’s 19 second-half points. Birmingham-Southern controlled the rushing at- tack with 265 yards, led by senior tailback Walter Ar- rington’s 137 yards on 22 carries. “We’re not real efficient when we were throwing the ball, so we just continued to run it and wore them down a little bit,” Birming- ham-Southern coach Eddie Garfinkle said. Birmingham-Southern survived four turnovers and a potent LaGrange passing attack that amassed 331 yards. Senior quarterback Drew Carter paced La- Grange, completin g 21-of-36 passes for 265 yards with zero touch- downs and interceptions. The victory avenges back-to-back losses to La- Grange. “It was wonderful to get back out here and take this one away from them,” Langston said. FILE David Langston spent the fourth quarter with an ice pack wrapped around a knee, but not before setting school records for punt and kick returns in Saturday’s game. AP Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe celebrates with his players after the Gamecocks’ double overtime win over Mississippi on Saturday in Oxford, Miss. J ACKSONVILLE STATE 49, OLE MISS 48 (2OT) SOMETHING TO CROWE ABOUT Gamecocks fight back to upset Ole Miss in double overtime By DOUG SEGREST News staff writer OXFORD, Miss. — As Jacksonville State’s players boogied with the marching band, and Ole Miss fans filed out of Vaught-Hem- mingway Stadium in stunned silence, only one person understood both emotions. Tears began welling in Jack Crowe’s eyes. A flood followed in the locker room. He felt the joy immedi- ately. But the Jacksonville State coach also understood the agony of losing a game that can shake the faithful to the foundation. Jacksonville State’s 49-48, double-time victory against Ole Miss on Saturday is probably the program’s big- gest since moving to Divi- sion I-AA in 1995. That was three years after Crowe learned how low a coach could go. As head man at Arkansas, he lost the 1992 season opener to I-AA The Citadel. By the start of the new week, Crowe was out of a job. “I’m not sure this feels as good,” Crowe said after Sat- urday’s upset, “as that felt bad.” Jacksonville State erased a 31-10 deficit in the second half, turning a blowout into a win for the ages before a crowd of 55,768 fans. While all the pregame at- tention was focused on Ore- gon transfer Jeremiah Maso- li’s debut at Ole Miss, the game was won on the arm of a lesser known quar- terback playing for Jackson- ville State. Ever heard of Coty Blan- chard? He came from Che- rokee County High, where he was the state’s Mr. Foot- ball a year ago. The true freshman en- tered in the third series, stuck around a good bit af- ter that, and delivered both a 30-yard touchdown pass in the second overtime and the game-winning two- point conversion toss to Calvin Middleton. The latter was a last-second ad-lib on what was supposed to be a shovel pass. With the NCAA affirming Ole Miss’ last-minute ap- peal to gain Masoli’s eligibil- ity, the Rebels dominated the first half, taking a 31-10 lead. Both Masoli and starter Nathan Stanley were effec- tive. But the biggest differ- ence was a defensive front that seemed to manhandle Jax State’s patchwork offen- sive line. Crowe challenged his team to play better, or to re- port for a full-pads workout at the very next practice. To be honest, Crowe ad- mitted later, he was just try- ing to get a read on his team. “We hadn’t been a team all fall. We hadn’t looked like a team at a single practice.” Yet it came together in the second half. Ole Miss was trying to add to a 31-13 lead near the end of the third quarter when Masoli overthrew a receiver. JSU’s Keginald Harris pulled in the interception and re- turned it 24 yards. Blanchard returned with the first-team offense and drove the Gamecocks 59 yards in eight plays, cutting the lead to 11 points. When Ole Miss tried to deliver another knockout haymaker on the ensuing drive, JSU delivered a stop again on a fourth-and-6 from the Gamecocks’ 33-yard line. This time Blanchard di- rected a 67-yard drive, cut- ting the margin to 31-26. Starting quarterback Mar- ques Ivory returned to lead the game-tying drive, hitting Alan Bonner on a 19-yard scoring pass with 18 sec- onds left and a strike to La’Ray Williams for the 2-point conversion. He also directed the first score in overtime. The rotating quarterbacks matched passing yards (126) and touchdowns (2), although Blanchard at- tempted 10 fewer passes. Ivory will remain the starter for Jacksonville State’s home opener next week against Chattanooga. Blanchard will again go in on the third series. And after that? “Like I tell them all the time: What you do deter- mines what I do,” Crowe said. Needless to say, the Ole Miss loss sent shockwaves through the stands, on In- ternet message boards and proved just as palpable in the locker room. “This would have to be one of my toughest losses,” said Ole Miss coach Hous- ton Nutt, a Crowe assistant at Arkansas. “You do not want to get started off like this.” Crowe remembers how close Jacksonville State came to beating Florida State a year ago. More im- portant, he’s never forgotten what The Citadel upset meant to his own career. And what it could mean to Nutt down the road. “I don’t think these cir- cumstances could be re- peated in 100 years,” Crowe said. “I thought the same thing after The Citadel.” AP Jacksonville State running back Calvin Middleton (3) fights his way into the end zone for a two-point conversion to give Jacksonville State a 49-48 win over Ole Miss in double overtime. GAME SUMMARIES JACKSONVILLE ST. 49, MISSISSIPPI 48, 2OT Jacksonville St. 7 3 3 21 7 8—49 Mississippi 14 17 0 3 7 7—48 First Quarter Miss—Harris 41 pass from Stanley (Rose kick), 13:38. Miss—Grandy 31 pass from Stanley (Rose kick), 9:25. JvSt—Wadley 15 fumble return (Esco kick), 2:30. Second Quarter Miss—FG Rose 24, 13:01. JvSt—FG Esco 45, 9:01. Miss—Summers 18 pass from Stanley (Rose kick), 7:00. Miss—E.Davis 1 run (Rose kick), :29. Third Quarter JvSt—FG Esco 44, 5:07. Fourth Quarter JvSt—Middleton 2 run (Esco kick), 14:56. JvSt—Shaw 4 pass from Blanchard (pass failed), 6:17. Miss—FG Rose 35, 2:55. JvSt—Al.Bonner 19 pass from Ivory (L.Williams pass from Ivory), :18. First Overtime JvSt—Al.Bonner 7 pass from Ivory (Esco kick). Miss—Bolden 2 run (Rose kick). Second Overtime Miss—E.Davis 2 run (Rose kick). JvSt—Cooper 30 pass from Blanchard (Middleton pass from Blanchard). A—55,768. JvSt Miss First downs 17 23 Rushes-yards 33-103 52-237 Passing 252 242 Comp-Att-Int 22-36-0 13-20-1 Return Yards 24 0 Punts-Avg. 5-42.6 1-31.0 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-2 Penalties-Yards 7-35 0-0 Time of Possession 29:36 30:24 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING—Jacksonville St., Middleton 17-67, Barksdale 6-27, Blanchard 4-16, Team 1-(minus 1), Young 1-(minus 3), Ivory 4-(minus 3). Mississippi, Bolden 17-104, E.Davis 17-61, Masoli 5-29, Grandy 2-24, J.Scott 3-19, R.Scott 3-9, Whitehead 1-4, D.Thomas 1-0, Stanley 3-(minus 13). PASSING—Jacksonville St., Ivory 13-23-0-126, Blanchard 9-13-0-126. Missis- sippi, Masoli 7-10-1-109, Stanley 6-10-0-133. RECEIVING—Jacksonville St., L.Williams 6-60, Middleton 5-38, Al.Bonner 3-56, Shaw 3-23, Cooper 2-48, Young 2-8, Howard 1-19. Mississippi, Allen 2-37, Summers 2-32, Grandy 2-31, Logan 2-31, Harris 1-41, Bolden 1-34, Breaux 1-16, E.Davis 1-16, Whitehead 1-4. No. 20 FLORIDA ST. 59, SAMFORD 6 Samford 0 33 0— 6 Florida St. 7 35 7 10—59 First Quarter FSU—Pryor 4 pass from Ponder (Hopkins kick), 3:15. Second Quarter FSU—Reed 15 pass from Ponder (Hop- kins kick), 13:45. FSU—Thomas 4 run (Hopkins kick), 11:21. FSU—Reid 74 punt return (Hopkins kick), 8:17. FSU—Pryor 8 pass from Ponder (Hopkins kick), 6:40. FSU—Easterling 11 pass from Ponder (Hopkins kick), 2:23. Sam—FG Yaw 41, :00. Third Quarter Sam—FG Yaw 32, 7:46. FSU—T.Jones 57 run (Hopkins kick), 7:03. Fourth Quarter FSU—Thompson 9 run (Hopkins kick), 14:55. FSU—FG Hopkins 24, 6:36. A—68,438. Sam FSU First downs 19 27 Rushes-yards 38-77 26-185 Passing 223 296 Comp-Att-Int 27-39-1 22-27-2 Return Yards 7 88 Punts-Avg. 7-29.0 0-0.0 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0 Penalties-Yards 8-55 4-40 Time of Possession 37:14 22:46 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING—Samford, Evans 12-39, Truss 10-29, Barnett 1-9, Sillers 1-9, Pope 1-7, Strider 2-1, Ogren 1-(minus 1), Team 2-(minus 2), Taliaferro 8-(minus 14). Florida St., T.Jones 8-107, Thomas 8-31, Thompson 3-17, Smiley 2-9, Manuel 1-8, Reid 1-8, Pon- der 2-7, Reed 1-(minus 2). PASSING—Samford, Taliaferro 22-32-1-174, Lowery 5-6-0-49, Team 0-1-0-0. Florida St., Ponder 12-14-1-167, Manuel 10-13-1-129. RECEIVING—Samford, Roberson 11-96, Covington 4-56, Pope 4-51, Ogren 3-16, Evans 3-(minus 10), Truss 1-8, Fordham 1-6. Florida St., Reed 5-50, Easterling 4-56, Thompson 4-54, Pryor 3-23, Haulstead 2-40, R.Smith 1-42, Thomas 1-21, Smiley 1-6, Hag- gins 1-4.
Transcript of SOMETHINGTOCROWEABOUTmedia.al.com/birminghamentries/other/Deadline September.pdf · band, and Ole...
**
The BirminghamNews j Sunday, September 5, 2008 j 11B
BSC 28, LAGRANGE 19
Special teamspropel BSC towin in openerBy JACOB CARPENTERNews staff writer
Even before a knee injurysidelined him late in thethird quarter, Birmingham-Southern’s David Langstonhad done enough damage.
The senior wide receiverset school records by re-turning a second-quarterpunt 86 yards and theopening kick of the secondhalf 89 yards for Birming-ham-Southern’s first twotouchdowns in a 28-19,season-opening victorySaturday over LaGrange(0-1) at Panther Stadium.
“The blocking was excel-lent,” Langston said. “Ev-erybody did their assign-ment.”
L a n g s t o n s p e n t t h efourth quarter with an icepack wrapped around aknee after getting hit out ofbounds while a foot wasplanted in the ground. TheFlorida native, one of Bir-mingham-Southern’s mostexplosive playmakers, wasunsure of the severity of hisinjury.
“They said it could be atorn ACL, but there’s noguarantees,” Langston said.“I’ve been able to walk on itand slowly the pain is al-ready going away, so Ishould be back soon.”
Langston’s second-halfkickoff return was followedby a 63-yard touchdowndrive on Birmingham-Southern’s next drive,capped by sophomore run-ning back Shawn Morris’1-yard rush. Birmingham-Southern added an earlyfourth-quarter touchdownon a 41-yard drive, whichproved enough to stave offLaGrange’s 19 second-halfpoints.
Birmingham-Southerncontrolled the rushing at-tack with 265 yards, led bysenior tailback Walter Ar-rington’s 137 yards on 22carries.
“We’re not real efficient
when we were throwing theball, so we just continuedto run it and wore themdown a little bit,” Birming-ham-Southern coach EddieGarfinkle said.
Birmingham-Southernsurvived four turnovers anda potent LaGrange passingattack that amassed 331yards. Senior quarterbackDrew Carter paced La-G r a n g e , c o m p l e t i n g21-of-36 passes for 265yards with zero touch-downs and interceptions.
T h e v i c t o r y a v e n g e sback-to-back losses to La-Grange.
“It was wonderful to getback out here and take thisone away from them,”Langston said.
FILE
David Langston spentthe fourth quarterwith an ice packwrapped around aknee, but not beforesetting school recordsfor punt and kickreturns in Saturday’sgame.
AP
Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe celebrates with his players after the Gamecocks’ double overtimewin overMississippi on Saturday in Oxford, Miss.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 49, OLEMISS 48 (2OT)
SOMETHING TO CROWE ABOUTGamecocks fight back to upset Ole Miss in double overtimeBy DOUG SEGRESTNews staff writer
OXFORD, Miss. — AsJacksonville State’s playersboogied with the marchingband, and Ole Miss fansfiled out of Vaught-Hem-m i n g w a y S t a d i u m i nstunned silence, only oneperson understood bothemotions.
Tears began welling inJack Crowe’s eyes. A floodfollowed in the locker room.
He felt the joy immedi-ately. But the JacksonvilleState coach also understoodthe agony of losing a gamethat can shake the faithful tothe foundation.
Jacksonville State’s 49-48,double-time victory againstOle Miss on Saturday isprobably the program’s big-gest since moving to Divi-sion I-AA in 1995.
That was three years afterCrowe learned how low acoach could go. As headman at Arkansas, he lost the1992 season opener to I-AAThe Citadel. By the start ofthe new week, Crowe wasout of a job.
“I’m not sure this feels asgood,” Crowe said after Sat-urday’s upset, “as that feltbad.”
Jacksonville State erased a31-10 deficit in the secondhalf, turning a blowout intoa win for the ages before acrowd of 55,768 fans.
While all the pregame at-tention was focused on Ore-gon transfer Jeremiah Maso-li’s debut at Ole Miss, thegame was won on the armof a lesser known quar-terback playing for Jackson-ville State.
Ever heard of Coty Blan-chard? He came from Che-rokee County High, wherehe was the state’s Mr. Foot-ball a year ago.
The true freshman en-tered in the third series,stuck around a good bit af-ter that, and delivered botha 30-yard touchdown passin the second overtime andthe game-winning two-point conversion toss toCalvin Middleton. The latter
was a last-second ad-lib onwhat was supposed to be ashovel pass.
With the NCAA affirmingOle Miss’ last-minute ap-peal to gain Masoli’s eligibil-ity, the Rebels dominatedthe first half, taking a 31-10lead.
Both Masoli and starterNathan Stanley were effec-tive. But the biggest differ-ence was a defensive frontthat seemed to manhandleJax State’s patchwork offen-sive line.
Crowe challenged histeam to play better, or to re-port for a full-pads workoutat the very next practice.
To be honest, Crowe ad-mitted later, he was just try-ing to get a read on histeam. “We hadn’t been ateam all fall. We hadn’tlooked like a team at a singlepractice.”
Yet it came together in thesecond half.
Ole Miss was trying to addto a 31-13 lead near the endof the third quarter whenMasoli overthrew a receiver.JSU’s Keginald Harris pulledin the interception and re-turned it 24 yards.
Blanchard returned with
the first-team offense anddrove the Gamecocks 59yards in eight plays, cuttingthe lead to 11 points.
When Ole Miss tried todeliver another knockouthaymaker on the ensuingdrive, JSU delivered a stopagain on a fourth-and-6f r o m t h e G a m e c o c k s ’33-yard line.
This time Blanchard di-rected a 67-yard drive, cut-ting the margin to 31-26.
Starting quarterback Mar-ques Ivory returned to leadthe game-tying drive, hittingAlan Bonner on a 19-yardscoring pass with 18 sec-onds left and a strike toLa’Ray Williams for the2-point conversion. He alsodirected the first score inovertime.
The rotating quarterbacksmatched passing yards (126)a n d t o u c h d o w n s ( 2 ) ,although Blanchard at-tempted 10 fewer passes.
Ivory will remain thestarter for JacksonvilleState’s home opener nextweek against Chattanooga.Blanchard will again go inon the third series. And afterthat?
“Like I tell them all thetime: What you do deter-
mines what I do,” Crowesaid.
Needless to say, the OleMiss loss sent shockwavesthrough the stands, on In-ternet message boards andproved just as palpable inthe locker room.
“This would have to beone of my toughest losses,”said Ole Miss coach Hous-ton Nutt, a Crowe assistantat Arkansas. “You do notwant to get started off likethis.”
Crowe remembers howclose Jacksonville Statecame to beating FloridaState a year ago. More im-portant, he’s never forgottenwhat The Citadel upsetmeant to his own career.
And what it could meanto Nutt down the road.
“I don’t think these cir-cumstances could be re-peated in 100 years,” Crowesaid. “I thought the samething after The Citadel.”
AP
Jacksonville State running back CalvinMiddleton (3)fights his way into the end zone for a two-pointconversion to give Jacksonville State a 49-48 winover OleMiss in double overtime.
GAME SUMMARIES
JACKSONVILLE ST. 49,MISSISSIPPI 48, 2OT
Jacksonville St. 7 3 3 21 7 8 —49Mississippi 14 17 0 3 7 7 —48
First QuarterMiss—Harris 41 pass from Stanley (Rose
kick), 13:38.Miss—Grandy 31 pass from Stanley (Rose
kick), 9:25.JvSt—Wadley 15 fumble return (Esco
kick), 2:30.Second Quarter
Miss—FG Rose 24, 13:01.JvSt—FG Esco 45, 9:01.Miss—Summers 18 pass from Stanley
(Rose kick), 7:00.Miss—E.Davis 1 run (Rose kick), :29.
Third QuarterJvSt—FG Esco 44, 5:07.
Fourth QuarterJvSt—Middleton 2 run (Esco kick), 14:56.JvSt—Shaw 4 pass from Blanchard (pass
failed), 6:17.Miss—FG Rose 35, 2:55.JvSt—Al.Bonner 19 pass from Ivory
(L.Williams pass from Ivory), :18.First Overtime
JvSt—Al.Bonner 7 pass from Ivory (Escokick).
Miss—Bolden 2 run (Rose kick).Second Overtime
Miss—E.Davis 2 run (Rose kick).JvSt—Cooper 30 pass from Blanchard
(Middleton pass from Blanchard).A—55,768.
JvSt MissFirst downs 17 23Rushes-yards 33-103 52-237Passing 252 242Comp-Att-Int 22-36-0 13-20-1
Return Yards 24 0Punts-Avg. 5-42.6 1-31.0Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-2Penalties-Yards 7-35 0-0Time of Possession 29:36 30:24
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING—Jacksonville St., Middleton
17-67, Barksdale 6-27, Blanchard 4-16,Team 1-(minus 1), Young 1-(minus 3), Ivory4-(minus 3). Mississippi, Bolden 17-104,E.Davis 17-61, Masoli 5-29, Grandy 2-24,J.Scott 3-19, R.Scott 3-9, Whitehead 1-4,D.Thomas 1-0, Stanley 3-(minus 13).
PASSING—Jacksonville St., Ivory13-23-0-126, Blanchard 9-13-0-126. Missis-sippi, Masoli 7-10-1-109, Stanley6-10-0-133.
RECEIVING—Jacksonville St., L.Williams6-60, Middleton 5-38, Al.Bonner 3-56, Shaw3-23, Cooper 2-48, Young 2-8, Howard 1-19.Mississippi, Allen 2-37, Summers 2-32,Grandy 2-31, Logan 2-31, Harris 1-41,Bolden 1-34, Breaux 1-16, E.Davis 1-16,Whitehead 1-4.
No. 20 FLORIDA ST. 59,SAMFORD 6
Samford 0 3 3 0— 6Florida St. 7 35 7 10—59
First QuarterFSU—Pryor 4 pass from Ponder (Hopkins
kick), 3:15.Second Quarter
FSU—Reed 15 pass from Ponder (Hop-kins kick), 13:45.
FSU—Thomas 4 run (Hopkins kick),11:21.
FSU—Reid 74 punt return (Hopkins kick),8:17.
FSU—Pryor 8 pass from Ponder (Hopkinskick), 6:40.
FSU—Easterling 11 pass from Ponder(Hopkins kick), 2:23.
Sam—FG Yaw 41, :00.Third Quarter
Sam—FG Yaw 32, 7:46.FSU—T.Jones 57 run (Hopkins kick),
7:03.Fourth Quarter
FSU—Thompson 9 run (Hopkins kick),14:55.
FSU—FG Hopkins 24, 6:36.A—68,438.
Sam FSUFirst downs 19 27Rushes-yards 38-77 26-185Passing 223 296Comp-Att-Int 27-39-1 22-27-2Return Yards 7 88Punts-Avg. 7-29.0 0-0.0Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0Penalties-Yards 8-55 4-40Time of Possession 37:14 22:46
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING—Samford, Evans 12-39, Truss
10-29, Barnett 1-9, Sillers 1-9, Pope 1-7,Strider 2-1, Ogren 1-(minus 1), Team2-(minus 2), Taliaferro 8-(minus 14). FloridaSt., T.Jones 8-107, Thomas 8-31, Thompson3-17, Smiley 2-9, Manuel 1-8, Reid 1-8, Pon-der 2-7, Reed 1-(minus 2).
P A S S I N G — S a m f o r d , T a l i a f e r r o22-32-1-174, Lowery 5-6-0-49, Team 0-1-0-0.Florida St., Ponder 12-14-1-167, Manuel10-13-1-129.
RECEIVING—Samford, Roberson 11-96,Covington 4-56, Pope 4-51, Ogren 3-16,Evans 3-(minus 10), Truss 1-8, Fordham 1-6.Florida St., Reed 5-50, Easterling 4-56,Thompson 4-54, Pryor 3-23, Haulstead 2-40,R.Smith 1-42, Thomas 1-21, Smiley 1-6, Hag-gins 1-4.
