GAMENOTES - GAME 7 - WASHBURN

SBU vs. Washburn gamenotes

Washburn University

October 9

Topeka, Kansas

1 p.m.

The Series
Washburn University - Southwest Baptist
This is the 16th meeting between the two institutions in football. Washburn leads the series 10-5, after winning last years contest 41-37. Prior to that, SBU had won the last two meetings on November 16, 2002, 26-20, and on November 10, 2001, 48-20. Washburn had won six of the previous seven contests before won the 2001 and 2002 games.

SBU Head Coach Ray Richards is 2-1 against the Ichabods. The Ichabods will be playing their second year in a renovated stadium, including a new pressbox facility. This will be SBU’s third trip to Topeka in five years.

The Coaches
Washburn University - Craig Schurig
In his third season at Washburn, Shurig has a 11-17 overall record and is 8-14 in the MIAA. He came to WU in December 2001 to revamp the Ichabod progrman. In his first year, he went 3-8 and then improved to 5-6 in the 2003 season. He is a 1987 graduate of the Colorado School of the Mines where he played football for four years. He earned a master’s degree from Pittsburg State in 1996.

He has a history of NCAA Division II coaching and playing from CSoM to working at Pittsburg State. He was at PSU from 1993-2001. His first three years, he was the tight ends coach and then finished up as the defensive backs and punt team coordinator.

Southwest Baptist - Ray Richards
Ray Richards begins his fourth year at SBU. He has led the Bearcats to a 12-21 record in three years and was 6-5 in his first season. The 2001 season was the first winning season in 10 years at SBU and because of his accomplishment he was named the MIAA “Coach of the Year."

Richards came to SBU from NCAA Division I University of Louisiana-Monroe. He spent two years there as the defensive backs coach. Prior to ULM, he was at Southeastern Oklahoma State for 10 years. He has also made one more stop at the NCAA Division I level as he was a graduate assistant at Texas Tech for one season.

Graduating from Northern Michigan in 1981, Richards helped NMU to the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1980.

The Teams
Washburn University
Coming off a hard 70-14 loss to Pittsburg State, the Ichabods did score against the then #3 team in the country. PSU was up by 29 points before WU scored their first touchdown when Jeff Scott caught an eight-yard pass from Jordan Brill in the second quarter. WU did not score again until the fourth quarter with 12:26 to go on a 34-yard touchdown pass to Cason Lehman from Dustin Hickel.

Ra’Shaw Moseley ran for 90 yards on 21 carries and Lehman was the leading receiver with 95 yards on four catches.

Southwest Baptist
The Bearcats came out strong against the Miners and took control of the game in the first 10 minutes of the game. After scoring on the opening drive, SBU made it 14-0 after recovering a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. Ulexis Williams 37-yard interception for a touchdown put SBU ahead, 21-0.

SBU then took a 31-0 lead into halftime on a 37-yard Ryan Smith field goal and a Robert Clardy touchdown run.

UMR scored on their first drive in the second half but SBU added two more touchdowns after that for a 45-7 lead. UMR scored again in the fourth quarter and then Marco Kirven finished off the SBU scoring with a four-yard run to make it 52-17.

Quarterback No More
Freshman Nick Smart has now found a permenant position at wide receiver. Against UMR, he had a career day with nine catches for 121 yards. This was his first 100-yard receiving game and SBU’s first since DeWitt Johnson caught five passes for 146 yards against MSSU last season.

For the season, Smart leads the team in receiving with 358 yards on 30 catches. He is averaging 11.9 yards per catch and has caught two of the four touchdown passes from Clardy. In the MIAA, he is fifth in receiving yards per game at 59.7 and sixth in receptions per game (5.00).

NFL Watch
In his final season at SBU, senior L.V. Hill is being watched by the NFL scouts. Early on in spring practice, through summer, and now two-a-days, several NFL scouts have come to see what L.V. Hill is about. L.V. is a 6’5", 300 pound, offensive tackle that use to play tight end. Last year, he moved from tight end to strong tackle in the middle of the season because of injuries on the offensive line. Since that move, he has not left and was awarded 2003 all-MIAA honorable mention at the tackle spot.

Specs on L.V. Hill
Squat 545
Bench 400
Clean 300
40 5.19
Broad 9 ft.
Pro I 5.2

Tight Hands
Senior Dan Sundberg caught his first career touchdown on a two-yard pass from Clardy. He finished the game with three catches for 17 yards and now has 200-yards receiving on the year. He now has more yardage than any tight end last year. David Rogers had 16 catches for 149 yards and L.V. Hill had eight catches for 64 yards.

Sundberg has converted from his defensive end position and made a home as the starting tight end.

In the Record Books
By making seven-of-seven extra point attempts against UMR, sophomore Ryan Smith made a spot for his name in the record books as he broke the record for extra points made in a game. The record was held by Scott Winters as he went 6-6 in three different seasons. In 1989, 1990, and 1991 he made six extra points. Smith has now made 19 straight extra point attempts on the year and is tied for first in the MIAA for PAT %.
In the MIAA, Smith is fifth in field goal percentage (33 %), tied for fifth in field goals per game (0.5), and fifth in kick scoring (4.7 ppg).

Taking it to the House
With a 37-yard interception return for a touchdown, junoir Ulexis Williams scored his first career touchdown. On a second-and-8 from the UMR 29 yard line, Williams scooted infront of the UMR receiver and darted 37 yards to put SBU up by 21. It was also his 10th career interception

Kick It to Me
SBU now has two weapons on kickoff returns. Both Deon Boykin and JoJo Rawls are among the top 10 in the MIAA for kickoff returns. JoJo is currently tied for eighth while Deon is 10th.

Rawls is averaging 19.8 yards per return and has 116 yards in returns. Boykin has netted 187 yards on 10 returns for an average of 18.7 yards per return.

On punt returns, Dimetric Lyons is ninth in the MIAA. He has seven returns for 44 yards. That puts him at 6.3 yards per return.

Top Five in the Nation
When it comes to getting the ball, the SBU defense has done a tremendous job in getting turnovers. The SBU offense then has returned the favor by not turning the ball over. With this combination, SBU has a +11 turnover margin. That is the best in the MIAA. With the +11 margin, the Bearcats are #4 in the nation for turnover margins.

Valdosta State is #1 with a +12 margin and average 2.4 per game while Saginaw Valley and C.W. Post are second with +10 and a 2.0 average per game. SBU is averaging 1.8 per game.

SBU has forced 21 turnovers in 12 fumbles and nine interceptions. Only Harding University has forced more turnovers in having 22. The nine interceptions ties the lead in the MIAA with PSU.

Eyeing the Quarterback
Compiling 12 sacks in six games, SBU is just one shy of their total from last year. They are tied for fifth in the MIAA for sacks. Both Brigham Rowe and Brad Hill have two sacks for the Bearcats.

Against UMR, the defense picked up three sacks. Terry Jones and Josh Hodges each had a sack. For Hodges, it was his first career sack. Both Craig Edwards and Brigham Rowe shared a sack.

Watch Your Back
Michael Pearl and Zach Porter have both made some key plays this season in the defensive backfield. For their efforts, they are both ranked in the top five in the MIAA for passes defended.

Pearl, a sophomore, is tied for second with seven passes defended. He has had five breakups and two interceptions. Porter, a freshman, is in third with six passes defended. He has one interception and five breakups.

Dirty Laundry
Coming into the UMR game, SBU was the second least penalized team in the MIAA. They were averaging 47.0 yards per game in penalties and had committed 29 penalties for 235 yards. After the UMR game, SBU dropped to one spot to #3. They had 12 penalties for 103 yards. That is the most this year. UMR only committed four penalties.

Big Offense
Putting together four quarters of offense against UMR, SBU came away with 499 yards of total offense. This was their best offensive game since the Kentucky Wesleyan game in 2002 when the Bearcats had 523 yards of total offense.

Against UMR, the Bearcats threw for 271 yards and gained 228 yards on the ground. Nick Smart was the leading receiver with 121 yards while Marco Kirven had 83 yards on the ground.

In the KWU game, SBU passed for 255 yards and rushed for 268 yards. Kirven ran for 192 yards while Chris Lowe threw for 145 yards and Mark Schuck 110 yards.

Holy Hodges
Freshmen Josh Hodges is starting to make some noise for the SBU defensive line. He had a career day in the win over UMR. He recorded two solo tackles, one tackle-for-loss, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble, and picked up a sack.

For the season, he has seven total tackles, 1.5 tackles-for-loss, one sack, and one fumble and fumble recovery.

Who Caught That Interception
Junior Brandon Taylor picked off his first career interception against UMR. The defensive lineman dropped back into coverage and then stepped in front of the receiver, bobbled it, held onto the ball, and then returned it 13 yards to the UMR eight-yard line. On the very next play, Deon Boykin rumbled in from eight yards out for a 45-7 score.

Try and Get By Us
The SBU offensive line is second in the MIAA when it comes to giving up sacks. The senior lead line has only given up eight sacks. PSU is the leader with only one sack which came against SBU. Washburn is tied for second with SBU as they have only given up eight sacks, too.

In the game vs. UMR, the offensive line did not give up any sacks.