Coach Choate Moves Up to Division I-A

[kennywanchizoate]

[b][u]Preseason Top 10 Coaches Poll[/u][/b] 1. USC 2. Wisconsin 3. Michigan 4. Oklahoma 5. Washington 6. Purdue 7. Georgia 8. Minnesota 9. LSU 10. Texas [b][u]Preseason Top 10 Media Poll[/u][/b] 1. USC 2. Wisconsin 3. Oklahoma 4. Michigan 5. Washington 6. Miami 7. Purdue 8. Georgia 9. LSU 10. Auburn Boy, I'm furious over not only us being excluded from the top 10 in the polls, but over being excluded completely! We're going to show all these nay-sayers that we're going back to a top bowl game, if not all the way back to the national title game and winning it this year.

[kennywanchizoate]

[b][u]Week One[/b][/u] We get a good Air Force team in Colorado Springs to open the season, and we come in as a 10 point favorite. The Mountain West has been doing well, and this Falcons team is expected to contend for the conference title Junior Rosevelt Crosswhite is their opening day starter, and he's good. Last year he started 10 games, and even in a run based offense, he had 11 touchdowns passing. The strength of the offense is Kamil Thomason, who sat behind last year's starter Malaefou Redden, who is now the backup. Receiving wise, they're decent, with C.J. Kitchings and Garrick Rue. On defense, they've got some big holes, especially in the defensive line, so we're going to look for a big running game today. [u]First Quarter[/u] It's Air Force ball to begin the season, and boy, they're offensively set as they march right down the field, thanks to a 47 yard pass from Crosswhite to Rue, and Thomason caps it off with a 6 yard touchdown run. We get a nice return up to our 38, and a couple of good passes and a few good runs get us inside the Air Force 10, but we are forced to settle for a 23 yard field goal. Crosswhite leads his troops back down the field again and makes another nice 39 yard pass to his tight end before we stiffen up and force the field goal. A nice run on first down by Stacy Kadela after a collapsed pocket flushes him out is punctuated by some nice passes before Linzy Dockery scores our first touchdown of the season with a 5 yard touchdown run. Air Force moves the ball into our territory before the quarter ends. [i]Tech 10, Air Force 10[/i] [u]Second Quarter[/u] Crosswhite continues his dominance of our defense and Thomason reels off runs of 11 and 22 before Crosswhite goes to his tight end again for a 17 yard touchdown. We get the ball back at the 20 and on the 2nd play, Dockery bounces the run outside and outruns everyone for a 77 yard touchdown to tie the game back up! Air Force gets the ball out to midfield before we tighten up on defense and hold, and we hold after a fake punt. Next play, Dockery makes them pay again with his third touchdown run of the day with a 50 yard scamper! We hold Air Force to 3 and out, and we march down the field to less than a minute left in the half before we get stopped again inside the Air Force 5 and we settle for the field goal. Crosswhite wisely takes a knee and we take a 10 point lead into the half. [i]Tech 27, Air Force 17[/i] [u]Third Quarter[/u] Our offense sputters a bit after moving into Air Force territory, but Ickey Angulo pins them nicely. We turn around Air Force for a 3 and out, and we take over at our 42. A 20 yard run by Dockery is followed up by a 38 yard touchdown run, and it's now all Linzy Dockery in this game as he's right at 200 rushing yards! A bad decision by Air Force to bring a deep kickoff out pins them at their 12, and we hold before a booming punt to our 38. We get into Air Force territory, but we're forced to punt and they take over at their 15. We hold after a first down, and we march into Air Force territory and kick a field goal before the quarter ends. [i]Tech 37, Air Force 17[/i] [u]Fourth Quarter[/u] Air Force answers back with a nice drive before a 31 yard pass to Kitchings that gets 15 added to it by a roughing the passer call on Donovan Sirmon. They cap it off with a Redden touchdown run of 5 yards. We get a nice return, but we can't get it going and Ickey Angulo pins them at their 11. Crosswhite makes his first mistake of the game as he gets picked off on a tipped ball by Teag Bannan, our outstanding defensive tackle, and we take over at their 5. Dockery finishes it off a play later with a touchdown run. We hold Air Force again, and we take over at our 23. 3 and out for us, and Air Force takes back over. Air Force moves the ball nicely, but they miss a field goal and we take over at our 28. We give Dockery the rest of the night off, and Curley Dial comes in and serves nicely as we run out the clock and win our first game of the season. [i]Tech 44, Air Force 24[/i] Not a bad showing at all for us, as Linzy Dockery shows that he can run all over a decent defense, with over 270 yards rushing and 300 yards total, but our defense was definitely running on it's heels most of the game. Still, 5 touchdowns on the day for Dockery proves that we're in good hands this season. [b]Total Yards 523-390 Passing 164-209 Rushing 359-181 TOP 31:27-28:23[/b] [b]Tech Stats[/b] [u]Passing[/u] S. Kadela 23-27, 164 yards [u]Rushing[/u] Linzy Dockery 28-278 5 TD S. Kadela 3-40 C. Dial 4-25 J. Bernet 1-16 A. Armour 6-7 [u]Receiving[/u] J. Bernet 7-65 L. Dockery 4-25 M. Shields 3-22 T. Swartz 5-21 A. Armour 3-17 F. Osika 1-14

[kennywanchizoate]

[b][u]Week Two[/b][/u] Another opening game, another win, and this week we're playing host to the Temple Owls. Last year, we embarrased Temple with a 37-9 drubbing, and I'm sure they'd love to get some revenge. We'll just have to see about that. Junior Marquis Hostetler leads them onto the field, and in their opening game, he had just 90 yards passing and 2 picks. Wilbert Soliday and Kalvin Stryzkalski are his main targets, and Stoney Dressel is his main back again. On the line, they're decent, but nothing to jump up and down about. Defensively, they have corner Omar Tracey and end Ronnie Dean as their leaders, with a lackluster crowd surrounding them. [u]First Quarter[/u] Temple ball to begin the game, and they get a single first down before they have to punt, and a 31 yard return from Terrance Swartz sets us up at our 41. A pair of 15 plus yard runs from Dockery and a few passes from Stacy Kadela ends with a 2 yard swing pass to Abdual Armour for the first points of the game. After the kickoff, 2nd down and 9, Donovan Sirmon takes Dressel out of his shoes with a jarring hit, and Montrae Martinez recovers the fumble at the Temple 25. A single run is followed by a play action pass, and Terrance Swartz catches the 19 yard pass for a touchdown! Our special teams falters, and we give up a 98 yard run all the way to our 4 yard line, and they convert a play later for the touchdown to pull within one score. We take over at the 40 after a out of bounds kick, but we can't get moving and have to punt it away, and Ickey Angulo pins them at the 1. We hold, and after an 18 yard return, we also get an unneccesary roughness call to put us at the Temple 27. We get inside the 5, but falter, and Moe Upshaw has the field goal blocked, and Temple takes over at the 20. [i]Tech 14, Temple 7[/i] [u]Second Quarter[/u] 3 and out for Temple, and we take over near midfield. We get 3rd and 3, and Terrance Swartz snakes free on a play action for the 42 yard touchdown catch! A pair of first down's for Temple, but we hold near midfield and take over at the 20 after a touchback. We move down the field with a nice pass/run mix but stall out and settle for a 42 yard field goal. After the kickoff, first down, Darwin Craft nails Hostetler, and Teag Bannan picks up the fumble at the Temple 12. On 3rd and long, Terrance Swartz catches his 3rd touchdown of the day from 12 yards out, and we take a 31-7 lead. Temple turns in the 2 minute drill well, and Hostetler gets his troops down the field for a field goal with 30 seconds left. Jake McGraw brings the kick out to the 35, but another unnecessary roughness call puts us at midfield with 22 seconds left. We don't get anything going, and we take it to the half. [i]Tech 31, Temple 10[/i] [u]Third Quarter[/u] 24 yard gain on first down by Linzy Dockery opens the half, and after a pair of passes, Dockery takes it 41 yards to the house to extend our lead. We hold Temple after a single first down, and we take over at our 34. 3 and out for us though, and we kick it back. 3 and out for Temple, and a long, low line drive kick to Terrance Swartz is taken back 80 yards for Swartz's 4th touchdown of the game! We hold another 3 and out on Temple, and we take over at our 36. We march down the field, but again stall out inside the 5, and Moe Upshaw gets blocked yet again! I toss down my headset and haul my entire kicking team to the side and burn their ears off as the quarter expoires. [i]Tech 45, Temple 10[/i] [u]Fourth Quarter[/u] We hold Temple after a pair of first downs, and we take over at our 7 now. 3 and out for us now, and Temple takes over at their 41. Next play from scrimmage, Donnie Gurley stays home after a play fake and picks the ball off at our 26, and takes it to the 30. We move down the field and I take Linzy Dockery out of the game for Curley Dial, and we stall out and take a 39 yard Upshaw field goal. Temple gets into our territory, but we force another punt, and take over after the touchback at our 20. We get to the Temple 37, and with the game well in hand, I let Upshaw attempt a 55 yarder, and it bonks off the inside of the left upright to fall back out. Temple gives one last gasp before failing on 3rd down, and Kadela sits on the ball to lock in a 2-0 record! [i]Tech 48, Temple 10[/i] We gave up more yardage in the second half than in the first, but no points, and outside of the big kickoff return, Temple wouldn't have had an opportunity to score a touchdown. Offensively, another good game, but Stacy Kadela got the passing game going with more yardage than last week, and Terrance Swartz was named player of the game. [b]Total Yards 498-206 Passing 271-153 Rushing 227-53 TOP 33:51-26:01[/b] [b]Tech Stats[/b] [u]Passing[/u] S. Kadela 22-29, 271 yards, 4 TD [u]Rushing[/u] L. Dockery 30-168, 1 TD C. Dial 6-37 J. Bernet 4-31 A. Armour 2-0 [u]Receiving[/u] T. Swartz 7-118, 3 TD J. Bernet 4-70 L. Dockery 4-45 A. Armour 3-21, 1 TD F. Osika 2-11 M. Shields 2-6

[kennywanchizoate]

[b][u]Week 3 Top 10 Coaches Poll[/u][/b] 1. USC 2. Miami 3. Wisconsin 4. Oklahoma 5. Michigan 6. Washington 7. Purdue 8. Georgia 9. Minnesota 10. LSU [b][u]Week 3 Top 10 Media Poll[/u][/b] 1. USC 2. Wisconsin 3. Michigan 4. Oklahoma 5. Miami 6. Purdue 7. Washington 8. Georgia 9. Minnesota 10. LSU We're still not in the top 25, and I haven't seen us get any votes yet. After the week off, we're starting conference play, and things are gonna get fun from here on out.