The only thing that i remember about that game was that JC picked him off 3 times as well. Maybe their is a trend going here with JC playing national notable QB's.

 

Actually, I think that game we sacked Couch seven times and intercepted him four (and if I remember correctly, Coach Estep had two of those picks).

 

Chris Smith is a legitimate player. He never had time to breathe tonight. I was amazed by how many tackles he slipped out of, and the most amazing one was late in the game, where he somehow dodged what would've been the kill shot on most other quarterbacks from Michael Tackett streaking toward him down the sideline. Marshall may have gotten a steal with this guy. If you put him behind some people who could pick up a blitz...

 

That being said. there are still some things to work on. Central put the ball on the ground WAY too many times tonight - killed a couple of big drives that way. The running into the punter penalty hurt. Several holding calls at crucial moments on the receivers hurt us as well. It was probably a B or B+ kind of game. There's still plenty of room for improvement, but we gave a credible performance, from what I saw. Was especially impressed with Nathan Dillon carrying the ball (after already playing a full JV game earlier in the night). He has an incredible upside.

When coach Bill Musick and his 2000 team went 11-1, the atmosphere was nothing like it was tonight. JC has wanted and needed a football team to be proud of. And it feels so great to finally have a respectable program. The crowd tonight was a big crowd for a home opener. As the weeks go by and the wins keep rolling in... we could see 2005 apple bowl size crowds for the remainder of the home games.

When coach Bill Musick and his 2000 team went 11-1, the atmosphere was nothing like it was tonight. JC has wanted and needed a football team to be proud of. And it feels so great to finally have a respectable program. The crowd tonight was a big crowd for a home opener. As the weeks go by and the wins keep rolling in... we could see 2005 apple bowl size crowds for the remainder of the home games.

 

I agree. The game that i look to be packed out is going to be in Week 10 of the season against none other than those good ole' Tomcats from Ashland. I know that WYMT has already circled this one on their calendar according to Milam.

I agree. The game that i look to be packed out is going to be in Week 10 of the season against none other than those good ole' Tomcats from Ashland. I know that WYMT has already circled this one on their calendar according to Milam.

 

I hope so. I saw play by play man (very nice job for a weather man) Jim Freeman later that evening, and said if Ashland was in the viewing area, that would be a nice TV game. He agreed, and we talked about "the field goal", but never got any confirmation. Regardless, I've got it "circled" and will be filming it from the stands with my little Sony. Hope the "Pond Creek" (makes no sense if you think about it) nation watches too, so we can compare that "scrimmage" laugher to a head-to-head (or as close as we'll get...chickens) regular season game.

And one more thing - how about James Barrett's kicking?

 

Perfect on extra points, and almost every kickoff down to the five yard line of South Point. That's the kind of weapon Central needs on the special teams to be a legitimate contender. It's good to see him doing so well!

And one more thing - how about James Barrett's kicking?

 

Perfect on extra points, and almost every kickoff down to the five yard line of South Point. That's the kind of weapon Central needs on the special teams to be a legitimate contender. It's good to see him doing so well!

 

And I was for a field goal attempt at the end of the first half. That's what I thought they were setting up for with the spike.

And one more thing - how about James Barrett's kicking?

 

Perfect on extra points, and almost every kickoff down to the five yard line of South Point. That's the kind of weapon Central needs on the special teams to be a legitimate contender. It's good to see him doing so well!

 

I agree with you totally. A legit kicking game is something that JC has need for a long long time. The last kicker that JC has was back in the 97 season i believe and the kid was a foreign exchange student from somewhere in Europe. In tight games field position is a huge part of the game and with the kick off ability of Barett, JC looks to be solid in that regard. I thought that Matney would use Barrett when JC went for its fourth down attempt on about the 20 yd line. Just estimating here, i would say that Barrett would be solid out to the 25yd line.

And I was for a field goal attempt at the end of the first half. That's what I thought they were setting up for with the spike.

 

I thought so too. I think the staff were debating it heavily. If they'd had a time out left, I suspect you would've seen it teed up after some further discussion. However, they didn't have much time to talk, so they just let it roll with J.K. I think Barrett would've been good from 42 yards (I know he's got the leg, from watching warm-ups; of course, game situations are always different), but with not much time to consider, it's a tough call to make in less than 25 seconds.

It's called not having an offensive line. He is the real deal.

I agree and so does the coaches from Marshall, West Virginia, Iowa, NC State, and Stanford. For anyone to say that Chris Smith isn't very good, well all I can say is they weren’t watching the game and/or they can't accurately judge football talent. He's the best QB that Johnson Central has played against since playing Tim Couch back in the mid 90's.

Not shock here a good team will always beat a good player in this game.

Not shock here a good team will always beat a good player in this game.

 

I dont know what everyone else at the game thought but i thought that he had some pretty solid skill players around him just didnt have a line. The line was absolutely terible which didnt allow him to (Chris Smith) time to showcase his skills last night. If he had a line, watch out, cause this team would be solid.

I dont know what everyone else at the game thought but i thought that he had some pretty solid skill players around him just didnt have a line. The line was absolutely terible which didnt allow him to (Chris Smith) time to showcase his skills last night. If he had a line, watch out, cause this team would be solid.

 

Our defense sure made them look bad, as it tends to do, but I also thought they protected him about as well as we protected JK in passing situations. We need to work on that. After starting the game with 10 or 15 straight runs, I really thought it would have them looking for the run all night, but whether it was a bad snap or defensive pressure, JK needs just a little more time. Maybe that's why we turned to the option a few times, which is something I didn't think we'd see much of this year.

Our defense sure made them look bad, as it tends to do, but I also thought they protected him about as well as we protected JK in passing situations. We need to work on that. After starting the game with 10 or 15 straight runs, I really thought it would have them looking for the run all night, but whether it was a bad snap or defensive pressure, JK needs just a little more time. Maybe that's why we turned to the option a few times, which is something I didn't think we'd see much of this year.

 

During the first half of the game JK Ratiff fumbled the ball out of the snap 2 or 3 times. And the thing that i noticed was the Ousley was not in at center at this time which has a lot to do with it. Dont know who the center was but i can tell you and inexperienced center will tend to not put the ball back far enough for the QB thus causing fumbles on the snap. JC didnt have this problem when they used Ousley in the 2nd half. The option was something i didnt expect to see as well. I think that JK often pitches it to fast before allowing the defender to commit to him so i think they need to work on that.

I thought so too. I think the staff were debating it heavily. If they'd had a time out left, I suspect you would've seen it teed up after some further discussion. However, they didn't have much time to talk, so they just let it roll with J.K. I think Barrett would've been good from 42 yards (I know he's got the leg, from watching warm-ups; of course, game situations are always different), but with not much time to consider, it's a tough call to make in less than 25 seconds.

 

You have it on the Eagles' coaching staff's biggest weakness: clock management. We have a great coaching staff which helps the team focus on areas needing improvement after each game. But they haven't made progress on their inability to manage the clock at the end of a half, consistently using all 3 timeouts long before the last two minutes.

 

You can debate the decision of whether to try the kick, but you are right that they didn't have time to. Having the timeout to set up a FG attempt is pretty basic strategy, but we often (as in the Ashland game last year) don't.

 

We have seen real improvement this year in special teams, and especially kickoff coverage, for which the special teams (not just the kicker) deserve great credit. Now let's hope for some improvement in the way the Eagles use the clock and their timeouts. This weakness doesn't show in four and five touchdown victories, but we can't rely on having that margin all season.

Those timeouts had to be used to stop confusion on the defensive side of the ball...So it was rather that, or give South Point another 6 on the board.