Call Me Jones

[Eighties Ball]

The story starts in 2005, where never before heard of Jones Redwood winds up with the head coaching job at Middle Tennessee State, home of the Blue Raiders. A 35 year old alma mater of Boston College, Jones has a lot in front of his plate. A media conference to basically explain who he is, a team meeting to actually meet his players, and the duty of trying to prove he can coach at a D-IA level. Stay tuned.

[Eighties Ball]

Press Conference: Meet Jones [B]Mr. Redwood, what makes you think that you can coach big time college football?[/B] -First off, call me Jones. I grew up with the thought that nothing is impossible, and with hard work and discipline you can make anything possible. I know that if I can reach these boys, I will dramatically improve the team. [B]Jones, what style of offense do you favor?[/B] The option is a beautiful thing when ran correctly. That's all you need to know. [B]What are your expectations this season?[/B] I've been told that we should finish 6th or better. If we're shooting for 6th, what is the point of even playing? This team will be in contention when all is said and done.

[Eighties Ball]

A Meeting with Players and Coaches Notes From Meeting: -We are proud of our quarterback situation. Dan Sanders, a junior, is a fast footed 3.0 player. He will fit the option perfectly. -Freshmen RB Dave Davis has great potential (3.5), but is currently not ready to be the starter. Unfortunately we have to use him. -We are average at tackle and center, and weak at guard. We'll probably have to run a bunch of sweeps and options to utilize this effectively. -We'll be running a 3-4, as we have no talent at DT. We don't have much better at MLB, but it's the best we've got. -SLB Ryan Clayborn is the star on the team, a 3.5 rated player. He is a senior, so hopefully his leadership will carry the low rated defense. -Sanders and Clayborn will be named captains. -We have a 25 prestige. -Recruiting class ranked at 104th -Projected to finish 6th in the Sun Belt

[Eighties Ball]

2005 Schedule We were able to get Ball State, Eastern Michigan, and Utah State in as non-confernece opponents, with Eastern Michigan being the only home game. Here is the schedule: 1) at Ball State 2) OPEN 3) Eastern Michigan 4) at Troy 5) Washington State 6) Florida Atlantic 7) at Louisiana Lafayette 8) OPEN 9) Florida International 10) Arkansas State 11) at Louisiana Monroe 12) at North Texas 13) OPEN 14) at Utah State 15) OPEN

[Eighties Ball]

2005: Week 1 [AP]- If your first game is a sign of things to come, fans in Tennessee will love Jones Redwood. Middle Tennessee State dominated Ball State (favored by 7) on the road today, winning 37-14 in a game they controlled the whole way. "It's obviously a great feeling to win a game like this on the road. However the monkey is still not off my back. This team WILL be successful all year long." -Jones Redwood Whether or not the Blue Raiders are successful all year has yet to be determined, but what is known is that Jones' offensive scheme led to a powerful performance by the offense today. Quarterback Dan Sanders dominated the game on the ground and in the air, by throwing 333 yards passing (on just 10 completions), while also rushing for 108 yards on 21 carries. He went into the endzone three times, two of which were in the air. Both teams traded punts early on, but it was a shocking 86 yard hail mary pass from Sanders to WR Trent Wilson that set the tone. In the second quarter, Sanders was able to bootleg his way to a 31 yard rushing touchdown. Four minutes later he hooked up with wideout Will Collier on another bomb, this time a 77 yard touchdown. Before Ball State knew it, they were down 27-0 heading into the lockeroom. Ball State attempted a comeback in the 3rd, scoring on consecutive drives making it 27-14. However, the offense died out after, failing to produce any extra points. True freshmen HB Dave Davis ran 13 yards on the final play of the game into the endzone, capping the day's scoring and the Blue Raiders win, 37-14. [CODE]

TEAM 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q OT FINAL Middle Tenn St (1-0) 7 20 0 10 0 37 Ball State (0-1) 0 0 14 0 0 14
Team Statistics MTSU BALL First Downs 20 16    Rushing 11 9    Passing 9 6    Penalty 0 1 3rd-down Efficiency 8-19 2-13 4th-down Efficiency 1-2 0-1 Total Net Yards 547 294    Total plays 81 60    Average gain 6.8 4.9 Net Yards Rushing 214 159    Rushes 57 29    Average per rush 3.8 5.5 Net Yards Passing 333 135    Completed-attempted 10-21 15-30    Yards per pass 15.9 4.5    Sacked-yards lost 3-5 1-6    Had intercepted 1 1 Punts-average 5-34.8 9-38.4 Return Yardage 99 153    Punts-returns 4-22 1-2    Kickoffs-returns 3-73 7-145    Interceptions-returns 1-4 1-6 Penalties-yards 2-22 3-35 Fumbles-lost 2-0 2-2 Touchdowns 4 2    Rushing 2 2    Passing 2 0 Extra Points 4-4 2-2 Field Goals 3-4 0-0 Red Zone Efficiency 4-4-100% 2-2-100% Time Of Possession 34:07 25:55	First Quarter MTSU TD 05:42 7-0 Trent Wilson 86 YD Pass from Dan Sanders (Jeff Hobbs Kick). Second Quarter MTSU FG 11:17 10-0 Jeff Hobbs 26 YD MTSU TD 08:52 17-0 Dan Sanders 31 YD Run (Jeff Hobbs Kick). MTSU TD 05:02 24-0 Will Collier 77 YD Pass from Dan Sanders (Jeff Hobbs Kick). MTSU FG 00:41 27-0 Jeff Hobbs 40 YD Third Quarter BALL TD 08:11 27-7 Mike Reagor 1 YD Run (Jerramy Pugh Kick). BALL TD 03:19 27-14 Mike Reagor 3 YD Run (Jerramy Pugh Kick). Fourth Quarter MTSU FG 10:47 30-14 Jeff Hobbs 32 YD MTSU TD 00:00 37-14 Dave Davis 13 YD Run (Jeff Hobbs Kick).
MTSU PASSING CP/AT YDS TD INT LG SACK QB D. Sanders 10/21 333 2 1 86 3-5	BALL PASSING CP/AT YDS TD INT LG SACK QB D. Bishop 15/30 135 0 1 21 1-6
MTSU RUSHING ATT YDS YPC TD LG QB D. Sanders 21 108 5.10 1 31 RB D. Davis 20 75 3.80 1 17 RB W. Crumpler 4 23 5.80 0 21 FB T. Rucker 7 10 1.40 0 4 WR W. Collier 1 3 3.00 0 3 WR T. Wilson 1 0 0.00 0 0	BALL RUSHING ATT YDS YPC TD LG RB M. Reagor 22 154 7.00 2 35 RB R. Simms 4 10 2.50 0 7 QB D. Bishop 2 1 0.50 0 1
MTSU RECEIVING ATT REC YDS YPC YAC TD LG DRP WR T. Wilson 4 3 121 40.30 13 1 86 0 WR W. Collier 9 1 77 77.00 12 1 77 0 WR F. Lane 2 2 61 30.50 2 0 42 0 WR M. Fuqua 2 2 50 25.00 10 0 47 0 FB T. Rucker 1 1 14 14.00 5 0 14 0 TE H. Urlacher 2 1 10 10.00 1 0 10 0 RB D. Davis 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 1	BALL RECEIVING ATT REC YDS YPC YAC TD LG DRP WR K. Haddad 8 4 53 13.20 2 0 21 0 WR S. Groce 9 4 31 7.80 3 0 12 0 WR R. Kadela 8 3 21 7.00 0 0 10 2 WR C. Kingsriter 2 1 19 19.00 2 0 19 1 TE M. Shy 2 2 8 4.00 3 0 5 0 WR D. Rolle 1 1 3 3.00 0 0 3 0 RB M. Reagor 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0
MTSU O-LINE KRB PCK SA HLD FS OT F. Miller 2 3 0 0 0 C T. Badon 1 1 0 0 0 FB T. Rucker 1 0 0 0 0 RB W. Crumpler 0 0 1 0 0 OG L. Johnson 0 0 2 0 0 OG E. Franz 0 0 1 0 0 OT W. Barry 0 0 1 0 0	BALL O-LINE KRB PCK SA HLD FS OG C. Winston 3 0 0 0 0 OT R. Hall 1 0 1 0 0 OT H. Weinmeister 0 0 0 1 0 C C. Walls 0 0 0 1 0
MTSU FUMBLES FUM LOST REC YDS WR W. Collier 1 0 0 0 WR J. Brown 1 0 0 0 TE H. Urlacher 0 0 1 0 DE J. Behrman 0 0 1 0 OLB J. Bell 0 0 1 3 RB K. Rambo 0 0 1 0	BALL FUMBLES FUM LOST REC YDS RB M. Reagor 2 2 0 0
MTSU KICKING FG LONG XP PTS K J. Hobbs 3/4 40 4/4 13	BALL KICKING FG LONG XP PTS K J. Pugh 0/0 0 2/2 2
MTSU PUNTING NO AVG NET I-20 TB LG P C. Okobi 5 34.80 30.40 0 1 44	BALL PUNTING NO AVG NET I-20 TB LG P S. Wonsley 9 38.40 33.80 2 1 50
MTSU KICK RETURNS NO AVG TD LONG WR W. Collier 3 24.30 0 35	BALL KICK RETURNS NO AVG TD LONG CB G. Brown 1 21.00 0 21 WR R. Kadela 6 20.70 0 27
MTSU PUNT RETURNS NO AVG TD LONG FC WR J. Brown 3 6.30 0 14 1 WR W. Collier 1 3.00 0 3 0	BALL PUNT RETURNS NO AVG TD LONG FC WR C. Kingsriter 1 2.00 0 2 1
MTSU DEFENSE T-A SCK STF HUR DP INT FF PD OLB R. Clayborn 5-4 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 ILB J. Burford 3-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 SS J. Faison 3-1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 CB C. Pearson 3-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 DT F. Cooper 3-0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 FS J. Tongue 2-4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 FS B. Schnellbacher 2-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 CB H. Scott 2-1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 ILB D. Baynham 2-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 SS L. Feeley 2-0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 CB K. Grant 1-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DE K. Bryson 1-0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 DE J. Behrman 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 OLB J. Bell 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0	BALL DEFENSE T-A SCK STF HUR DP INT FF PD OLB R. Peters 9-1 1 3 2 0 0 0 1 SS C. Beisel 7-1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 SS D. Bradley 6-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 OLB B. Sharper 5-3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 CB G. Brown 5-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 CB C. Martin 5-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 ILB A. Coleman 3-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DT K. McAddley 3-0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 FS S. Coates 2-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 OLB I. Curtis 2-0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 WR K. Haddad 1-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 C B. Kennedy 1-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 DE J. Martinkovic 1-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 DE S. Johnson 1-0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 FS H. Kuehl 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 CB J. Bunch 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Player of the Game Dan Sanders, Quarterback CP/AT Yards TD INT RUSH 10/21 333 3 1 108	Game Information Attendance: 12,976 Temperature: 73 Weather: Slightly overcast

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[Eighties Ball]

2005: Week 1 Coach Review [B]The Good:[/B] -Dan Sanders really stepped up in terms of making the big plays. 15.9 yards per attempt is almost unheard of. -Dave Davis showed some promsie out of the backfield, with two +10 yard runs. At times he got stopped for losses, but he's very unpolished so we can't expect too much from him, yet. -Trent Wilson was the playmaker we need at WR. He caught 3 of the 4 balls thrown his way, for a combined 121 yards and a TD. -Our defense had a bend but not break philosophy. Twice we forced fumbles in situations where Ball State was driving, and twice we recovered them. -Ball State was 2 for 13 in 3rd down conversions. Our defense stepped up. [B]The Bad:[/B] -WR Will Collier caught only one pass thrown his way, OUT OF NINE. If you take him out of the game Sanders was 9 for 12 passing. -Two hurries and one sack the entire game. No pressure at all out of our defense. -1.5 rated Reagor of Ball State ran for 154 yards and 2 TD on just 22 carries. I repeat, 1.5 rated.