I'm settled in here at Richardson Stadium and have a press box seat this time,so the live blog is a firm go and will start in about 15 minutes. Here's a quick preview of what I'm expecting from the game:
Storylines:
- The absence of Mike Giffin: It's been confirmed that Giffin will start on the sidelines, and it doesn't sound like he's likely to play at all. It will be interesting to see how that affects the game. As I've mentioned before, Marty Gordon and Jimmy Therrien are very capable backups, and Gordon in particular could probably start for several OUA teams. Neither is as threatening as Giffin, though: all year long, defences have been forced to stack the box to stop Giffin, opening up passing lanes for Dan Brannagan. That's not too likely to happen with Gordon and Therrien in there, which may lead to some big rushing gains for them, but will make the passing game more difficult. We'll see how this plays out over the afternoon.
- Dave Mason versus the Queen's defence: Ottawa running back Dave Mason was the difference in last weekend's clash with Guelph, rushing 31 times for a CIS playoff record of 327 yards, breaking the record of current Western coach Greg Marshall. He shouldn't get as many yards today: Guelph's run defence is notoriously bad (Giffin exploded for 214 yards against them on far less carries this year), and he'll have Osie Ukwuoma, Dee Sterling and Thaine Carter to contend with. The question is if they'll be able to contain him, though. If they can hold him to less than 5 yards per carry, that probably would be enough to give Queen's the game: I don't trust Ottawa's passing offence to do the job on its own.
- Josh Sacobie versus Queen's defence: Gee-Gees quarterback Josh Sacobie is brilliant at times, worse than average at others. The question is which Sacobie will show up today. He hasn't proved too adept at handling pressure in the past, and Queen's does boast two of the top four sack leaders in the CIS in Sterling (9.5, tied for first) and Ukwuoma (7.5, tied for third). If they and Carter can bring the pressure on Sacobie all day, he may be hurried into some poor throws and interceptions.
Should be a great game! I'll have the live blog going momentarily.
Showing posts with label Dee Sterling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dee Sterling. Show all posts
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The GBU: Queen's football versus Waterloo
Yes, more happened in sports yesterday than just the continued resurrection of the Boston Red Sox [Marcel Mutoni, Deadspin]. For example, there's the Gaels' football win [Neate Sager, Out of Left Field] over the Waterloo Warriors [this blog], which gave them a perfect regular-season record of 8-0...
The score: Queen's 38, Waterloo 22 (CIS box score is here)
How Isaw heard it: On the CFRC radio broadcast.
The Good:
-Danny Brannagan: Our Queen's Journal Athlete of the Week from last week turned in another solid performance, completing 23 of his 39 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns without being picked off. The early injury to Mike Giffin (see below, also here) meant that the Gaels had to take to the air more frequently than normal. As Neate noted, that's a season-high in pass attempts for Brannagan. He was up to the challenge, though. The zero picks is particularly impressive given his number of attempts (although it sounded like he threw a couple of almost-interceptions early on): that's good game management from Brannagan (although it might not help him on DJ Gallo's Gunslinger Index. Brannagan continued his march into the record books, tying Tommy Denison's mark of 24 touchdown passes in one year (set in 2003, but no one else has ever come close to it: Denison's 22-TD 2002 season is the next closest mark, and the third-best until now was Brannagan's 15-TD 2007 campaign). Brannagan overtook Denison's school-record career yardage numbers (7,592 passing yards) last week, but further extended his lead to 8, 133 yards. However, he also has 931 career attempts to Denison's 823. Brannagan finishes second among CIS quarterbacks this season with 2407 passing yards (well short of Denison's record of 3,001, but behind only Western's Michael Faulds this year). He averaged an excellent 9.44 yards per attempt (16.7 yards per completion) over the season as well. Brannagan distributed the ball well Saturday: five different receivers had at least three catches, and only Scott Valberg had over four. That segues nicely into our next item...
-Scott Valberg: Valberg had yet another tremendous game, reeling in 9 catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns. His longest gain was only 22 yards, so most of those were for 15 yards or more. Valberg finishes1 the year with 1,013 receiving yards, the third-highest mark in Queen's history (behind only Jock Climie's 1,091 in 1988 and James Maclean's 1,031 in 2001: he passed Maclean's 993 from 1999 and Craig Spear's 1,000 from 2003 in this game). However, Valberg's average of 22.5 yards per catch, while not good enough to crack Queen's top-ten all-time, is miles better than the averages Climie and Maclean put up in those years: Maclean had 52 catches in 2001 for an average of 19.8 yards per catch, while Climie had 58 catches in that 1998 season, giving him a still-amazing average of 18.8 yards per catch). Valberg only caught 45 passes this year, showing the depth of Queen's receiving corps. He finishes as the CIS leader in receiving yards (almost 150 ahead of the second-place finisher, Joshua Svec of Waterloo, who only picked up 37 yards Saturday), average receiving yards per game (126.63, ten ahead of McGill's Charles-Antoine Sinotte, and receiving touchdowns (11, five ahead of the three receivers tied for second).
-Osie Ukwuoma: Ukwuoma had another outstanding game at defensive end for Queen's, finishing with two sacks, four solo tackles and one assisted tackle. He finishes as the CIS leader in sacks with 9.5: teammate Dee Sterling is tied for second with 7.5. A hell of a season for both of them.
-Marty Gordon: Just two days after I interviewed him, Gordon stepped up for the Gaels in a big way, rushing 10 times for 103 yards. His most impressive carry was a 51-yard touchdown run. That, combined with Jimmy Therrien's 74 yards on six carries, showed that the Gaels didn't miss Giffin too much in this one. It's good to see some depth at running back.
-Jimmy Therrien: In addition to his rushing prowess, Therrien had a great day on special teams, returning two kickoffs for 117 yards and seven punts for another 68 yards.
-The offence: With the 38 points they put up Saturday, Queen's offence finshed with the most points in one season in school history [Mike Grobe, Queen's Athletics] with 374 points, eclipsing the previous record of 361 set in 2003. The Gaels averaged 47 points per game.
The Bad:
-The penalties: Queen's committed nine penalties for a loss of 100 yards, while the Warriors only took seven penalties for a loss of 70 yards. It didn't make a difference here, but discipline may be more important in the playoffs.
-The slow start: Waterloo scored first, which has been extremely rare for the Gaels this season. They seemed to have trouble adapting to the loss of Giffin at first, and the first few drives ended in failure. Eventually, they solved the problem, but it took a little while to get going.
The Ugly:
-Giffin's injury: Yes, his removal was apparently precautionary, but having your star get hurt on the game's first play from scrimmage is never a good thing, and reports of him limping around and wearing ice packs don't make it sound any better. He's supposed to be checked out by team doctors this week, so we'll see how that goes. Fortunately, the Gaels have a bye this coming week, so that will give him a while to recover.
The Implications and Predictions:
Queen's locked up the OUA first seed last week, but this week saw the rest of the playoff picture get filled in. Next week will see games between #3 Laurier and #6 McMaster, as well as #4 Ottawa and #5 Guelph. That should be a pair of interesting contests. Neate has some more on the second match in his nine-story weekend breakdown at The CIS Blog. The predictions in this corner are for Laurier and Guelph victories: Laurier's been coming on strong for the last while, while Ottawa's just imploding at the moment. Queen's gets the lowest-remaining seed, so that would see a Queen's-Guelph rematch at Richardson Stadium in two weeks.
The score: Queen's 38, Waterloo 22 (CIS box score is here)
How I
The Good:
-Danny Brannagan: Our Queen's Journal Athlete of the Week from last week turned in another solid performance, completing 23 of his 39 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns without being picked off. The early injury to Mike Giffin (see below, also here) meant that the Gaels had to take to the air more frequently than normal. As Neate noted, that's a season-high in pass attempts for Brannagan. He was up to the challenge, though. The zero picks is particularly impressive given his number of attempts (although it sounded like he threw a couple of almost-interceptions early on): that's good game management from Brannagan (although it might not help him on DJ Gallo's Gunslinger Index. Brannagan continued his march into the record books, tying Tommy Denison's mark of 24 touchdown passes in one year (set in 2003, but no one else has ever come close to it: Denison's 22-TD 2002 season is the next closest mark, and the third-best until now was Brannagan's 15-TD 2007 campaign). Brannagan overtook Denison's school-record career yardage numbers (7,592 passing yards) last week, but further extended his lead to 8, 133 yards. However, he also has 931 career attempts to Denison's 823. Brannagan finishes second among CIS quarterbacks this season with 2407 passing yards (well short of Denison's record of 3,001, but behind only Western's Michael Faulds this year). He averaged an excellent 9.44 yards per attempt (16.7 yards per completion) over the season as well. Brannagan distributed the ball well Saturday: five different receivers had at least three catches, and only Scott Valberg had over four. That segues nicely into our next item...
-Scott Valberg: Valberg had yet another tremendous game, reeling in 9 catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns. His longest gain was only 22 yards, so most of those were for 15 yards or more. Valberg finishes1 the year with 1,013 receiving yards, the third-highest mark in Queen's history (behind only Jock Climie's 1,091 in 1988 and James Maclean's 1,031 in 2001: he passed Maclean's 993 from 1999 and Craig Spear's 1,000 from 2003 in this game). However, Valberg's average of 22.5 yards per catch, while not good enough to crack Queen's top-ten all-time, is miles better than the averages Climie and Maclean put up in those years: Maclean had 52 catches in 2001 for an average of 19.8 yards per catch, while Climie had 58 catches in that 1998 season, giving him a still-amazing average of 18.8 yards per catch). Valberg only caught 45 passes this year, showing the depth of Queen's receiving corps. He finishes as the CIS leader in receiving yards (almost 150 ahead of the second-place finisher, Joshua Svec of Waterloo, who only picked up 37 yards Saturday), average receiving yards per game (126.63, ten ahead of McGill's Charles-Antoine Sinotte, and receiving touchdowns (11, five ahead of the three receivers tied for second).
-Osie Ukwuoma: Ukwuoma had another outstanding game at defensive end for Queen's, finishing with two sacks, four solo tackles and one assisted tackle. He finishes as the CIS leader in sacks with 9.5: teammate Dee Sterling is tied for second with 7.5. A hell of a season for both of them.
-Marty Gordon: Just two days after I interviewed him, Gordon stepped up for the Gaels in a big way, rushing 10 times for 103 yards. His most impressive carry was a 51-yard touchdown run. That, combined with Jimmy Therrien's 74 yards on six carries, showed that the Gaels didn't miss Giffin too much in this one. It's good to see some depth at running back.
-Jimmy Therrien: In addition to his rushing prowess, Therrien had a great day on special teams, returning two kickoffs for 117 yards and seven punts for another 68 yards.
-The offence: With the 38 points they put up Saturday, Queen's offence finshed with the most points in one season in school history [Mike Grobe, Queen's Athletics] with 374 points, eclipsing the previous record of 361 set in 2003. The Gaels averaged 47 points per game.
The Bad:
-The penalties: Queen's committed nine penalties for a loss of 100 yards, while the Warriors only took seven penalties for a loss of 70 yards. It didn't make a difference here, but discipline may be more important in the playoffs.
-The slow start: Waterloo scored first, which has been extremely rare for the Gaels this season. They seemed to have trouble adapting to the loss of Giffin at first, and the first few drives ended in failure. Eventually, they solved the problem, but it took a little while to get going.
The Ugly:
-Giffin's injury: Yes, his removal was apparently precautionary, but having your star get hurt on the game's first play from scrimmage is never a good thing, and reports of him limping around and wearing ice packs don't make it sound any better. He's supposed to be checked out by team doctors this week, so we'll see how that goes. Fortunately, the Gaels have a bye this coming week, so that will give him a while to recover.
The Implications and Predictions:
Queen's locked up the OUA first seed last week, but this week saw the rest of the playoff picture get filled in. Next week will see games between #3 Laurier and #6 McMaster, as well as #4 Ottawa and #5 Guelph. That should be a pair of interesting contests. Neate has some more on the second match in his nine-story weekend breakdown at The CIS Blog. The predictions in this corner are for Laurier and Guelph victories: Laurier's been coming on strong for the last while, while Ottawa's just imploding at the moment. Queen's gets the lowest-remaining seed, so that would see a Queen's-Guelph rematch at Richardson Stadium in two weeks.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
The GBU: Queen's football versus Western
Breaking down Queen's win over Western [myself, Queen's Journal]...
The score: Queen's 46, Western 13.
How I saw it: In person.
The Good:
-Queen's defensive line: The Gaels put tremendous amounts of pressure on Western quarterback Michael Faulds all day long, sacking him four times and forcing him to throw the ball away several other times. Dee Sterling and Osie Ukwuoma were particularly effective, recording one sack each and seven solo tackles between the two of them. I particularly liked Neate's take, evoking memories of Grantland Rice: You could almost write of the Queen's D line, "In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Osie Ukwuoma, Kyle MacDonald, Dee Sterling, and Neil Puffer and they formed the crest of the Kingston cyclone."
-The turnover ratio: Queen's forced 11 Western turnovers (four interceptions, three fumble recoveries and four more turnovers on downs, I believe) during the game while refusing to concede a single one. Always good to see that kind of a turnover ratio.
-The fake field goals: The Gaels twice employed a fake field goal to brilliant effect, first picking up an early first down off a Jimmy Therrien bootleg and then getting another crucial first down in response to Western's threat in the fourth quarter. The second one was particularly impressive, given that they were already leading by nine points: many coaches would have just gone for the long field goal attempt, but Jimmy Allin faked a hold and made a tremendous run outside to get 20 yards or so, which eventually led to an important touchdown.
-Alex DaPrato: DaPrato had a tremendous game on several fronts. He was effective in coverage all day, recording five solo tackles and several breakups. More impressive still was his crucial pick in the second quarter near the Gaels' end zone, which he then returned 96 yards to set up Mike Giffin for an easy touchdown plunge on the next offensive series. His play was the difference between a narrow 9-8 lead and a dominating 17-1 margin, huge in terms of momentum.
-The linebacking corps: Thaine Carter, Chris Smith and T.J. Leeper were a dominant unit all day, holding Western running back John Leckie to just 44 yards on 12 carries and getting through to put several big hits on Faulds.
The Bad:
-Western's offence: The Mustangs put up some very impressive offensive numbers Saturday despite the loss, picking up 33 first downs and 510 total yards of offence. They were ineffective in the red zone, but some of their close-in fumbles and turnovers were just gifts. They also spent 46 minutes with the ball, which is far too much for comfort from a Queen's perspective. The Gaels did a good job of restricting their big plays and shutting them down near the end zone, but there's still room for improvement.
-Queen's running game: Western did a tremendous job of shutting down Giffin for most of the game. In fact, if not for a 29-yard touchdown run in the last couple minutes, Giffin would have been held to just 40 yards on the day. His streak of 14 straight 100-plus rushing yard games came to an end. It's not all Giffin's fault: Western was clearly keying on him most of the day and stacking linebackers inside to stop the run, and the horribly muddy field certainly didn't help. I think Giffin is a bit misrepresented as a power back: he's got some good power, but his real strength comes from his ability to read the play and make quick lateral cuts, which is obviously more difficult on a slippery field. He still was effective on shorter runs and punched in three touchdowns, but this game showed that he can be contained with the proper defence and weather, which may be a concern going forward.
The Ugly:
-The on-field vandalism: Some RMC students apparently broke into Richardson Stadium Friday night and burned their school's initials into the centre of the field. Classy move, cadets. It was an eyesore and a half, but the bigger problem was this meant even more mud around midfield, which wasn't good for the game.
-Devan Sheahan's drops: This wasn't entirely Devan, as the rest of the receivers dropped some reasonably easy catches as well, but he was the most prominent suspect. Again, he showed plenty of promise on running routes and getting open, but he didn't seem to be able to reel much of anything in, only making three catches for 19 yards.
-Queen's offensive numbers: The Gaels didn't put on an offensive clinic, finishing with just 295 net yards of offence and 18 first downs. As mentioned, Western shut down the run early, but Queen's was only able to achieve marginal success on the pass. Quarterback Dan Brannagan completed 16 of 36 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns. Those numbers could have been better if his receivers had pulled in some catches, but there were still plenty of times when he overthrew or underthrew them. On the plus side, he was composed in the pocket and didn't try to force too many throws, avoiding interceptions in the process. That's good to see, even if the completions and yards numbers weren't as high as normal.
-Western's long-snapping: Initial Western long-snapper Conor Elliott botched his first two snaps, sending them both a mile over the head of Western kicker Daryl Wheeler. The first led to a safety, the second to a forced fumble and a Queen's touchdown, giving the Gaels a 9-0 lead. Elliott was relieved of his snapping duties after the second mistake.
The Reaction:
Alex DaPrato, Queen's defensive back:
-On what it was like to get revenge on Western: "It's unbelievable. These guys have been consistently the biggest rival we've had."
-On the impact of his interception: "Everyone got pretty pumped up afterwards."
-On the amount of time the defence had to spend on the field, and if they were getting fatigued: "There were a few of us who were getting pretty tired."
Jimmy Allin, Queen's defensive back:
-On if he was concerned with the early offensive struggles: "No, our offence is just way too good to be held down forever."
-On if he was nervous or excited to get the chance on the second fake field goal attempt: "I think everyone on the team wants the ball in their hands."
Dan Brannagan, Queen's quarterback:
-On the impact of the field conditions: "Everyone would like ideal conditions all the time, but it doesn't happen. ... It's not really an issue."
-On if the passing game was harder to get going than normal due to the running game being shut down: "This is a team game, and if one aspect of the team doesn't play as well as you expect, you have to adjust."
-On if he was disappointed with the offence's play: "Our defence was awesome, our special teams were awesome. As long as we're getting the wins, it doesn't matter where we're getting the wins from, [but] as an offence, it's a little unsettling. You don't want to be loafing."
Pat Sheahan, Queen's head coach:
-On Queen's defensive play: "Unbelievable defence today. ... It was more slow 'em down, bend but don't break."
-On Queen's offence: "We didn't move the ball well on offence all day."
-On Faulds and Western's offence: "They've got a very prolific offence. ... He's a very good quarterback, and their kids caught the ball."
-On what Queen's had to do to stop Western: "This week was a huge challenge for the defence. To their credit, they were fired up. ... They fought them for every inch."
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-On the impact of DaPrato's pick: "The DaPrato interception there where it's 9-1, in my mind, that's the TSN Turning Point."
-On the importance of the turnovers: "All those turnovers we got today had a major impact. Almost every one had ramifications."
-On how the rain affected the defensive line, particularly in the second half: "We're very athletic on the defensive front, and one of the concerns about the mud out there is we lose some of our mobility."
-On the importance of the fake field goals to the team's motivation: "They were timely, they were explosion plays. They shook everyone up and they elevated the psyche."
-On why they chose to go for the second fake field goal after their offence stalled, and why Western wasn't expecting it: "We needed something. Oftentimes, when you see a fake kick in a ball game, you never see another one."
Greg Marshall, Western head coach
-On the problems they had early on: "We kind of dug ourselves a pretty big hole in the first half. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong."
-On how it was disappointing to see Michael Faulds, who had been so effective on third and short situations, stopped by Queen's defence on third down with less than a yard to go early in the fourth quarter, setting up a decisive drive for the Gaels: "That's disheartening a bit that we were on third and one with a chance to win the football game and we couldn't get it done."
On how his defence should have read the second fake field goal attempt: "There was no way they were going for a field goal. A field goal didn't give them anything." (A good point: a field goal there would have merely made it a two-TD game instead of a two-possession game, whereas the touchdown made it a three-possession game).
On the importance of the trench war: "Most games are won and lost on the offensive/defensive line."
On the impact of Dee Sterling (98) and Osie Ukwuoma (91): "98 and 91 there didn't surprise us. I knew what they could do. ... We worked on blocking Dee Sterling all week, but seeing him live is different than watching him on tape."
On how his team never gave in: "The one thing I thought our guys were doing was they were battling, they were fighting. When you put that kind of effort in and you try and you still lose, that's disappointing."
On why he went for it on third and long so much in the final half: "I don't care if we lose by 100 points. I never do. ... We're not going to win the game by punting the football away. ... All I want our guys to always think about is keeping trying to win."
[Note: I thoroughly approve of this strategy. Too many coaches are overly concerned with keeping the scores close these days rather than throwing caution to the wind in an attempt to earn the W. ESPN's Gregg Easterbrook had a great column on this a little while ago, and I think he'd love Marshall's strategy.]
On what he liked from the game: "If there was a bright spot in today's game, it was the play of our defence."
[Note: An interesting statement for a team that gave up 46 points, but most of those were off atrocious field position picked up off of turnovers. If you look at yardage and first downs, Western's defence did amazingly well against a powerful Queen's offence.]
On how there's still plenty of hope for the Mustangs: "We still have an opportunity to get first place or second place. We still have an opportunity to win the Yates Cup."
On what they'd do differently against the Gaels next time on the offensive line: "We'd better get our pass protection schemes where there's a little more simplicity, a little less complexity and focus on their big guys. ... Instead of trying to double [team] one guy, we'd double a couple guys."
On what they'd do differently in the running game: "We have to use different guys, bite the bullet and say maybe we need to run the ball better [instead of switching to a pass-first offence like they did Saturday]."
On how they'd need to give their defence better field position: "We've got to hold the ball better. We can't have our long-snapper fire the ball over our punter's head a couple of times. ... We put our defence in bad situations."
On how the real test will come if they face Queen's again in the playoffs: "They have Round One, but Round Two is worth all the marbles."
The score: Queen's 46, Western 13.
How I saw it: In person.
The Good:
-Queen's defensive line: The Gaels put tremendous amounts of pressure on Western quarterback Michael Faulds all day long, sacking him four times and forcing him to throw the ball away several other times. Dee Sterling and Osie Ukwuoma were particularly effective, recording one sack each and seven solo tackles between the two of them. I particularly liked Neate's take, evoking memories of Grantland Rice: You could almost write of the Queen's D line, "In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Osie Ukwuoma, Kyle MacDonald, Dee Sterling, and Neil Puffer and they formed the crest of the Kingston cyclone."
-The turnover ratio: Queen's forced 11 Western turnovers (four interceptions, three fumble recoveries and four more turnovers on downs, I believe) during the game while refusing to concede a single one. Always good to see that kind of a turnover ratio.
-The fake field goals: The Gaels twice employed a fake field goal to brilliant effect, first picking up an early first down off a Jimmy Therrien bootleg and then getting another crucial first down in response to Western's threat in the fourth quarter. The second one was particularly impressive, given that they were already leading by nine points: many coaches would have just gone for the long field goal attempt, but Jimmy Allin faked a hold and made a tremendous run outside to get 20 yards or so, which eventually led to an important touchdown.
-Alex DaPrato: DaPrato had a tremendous game on several fronts. He was effective in coverage all day, recording five solo tackles and several breakups. More impressive still was his crucial pick in the second quarter near the Gaels' end zone, which he then returned 96 yards to set up Mike Giffin for an easy touchdown plunge on the next offensive series. His play was the difference between a narrow 9-8 lead and a dominating 17-1 margin, huge in terms of momentum.
-The linebacking corps: Thaine Carter, Chris Smith and T.J. Leeper were a dominant unit all day, holding Western running back John Leckie to just 44 yards on 12 carries and getting through to put several big hits on Faulds.
The Bad:
-Western's offence: The Mustangs put up some very impressive offensive numbers Saturday despite the loss, picking up 33 first downs and 510 total yards of offence. They were ineffective in the red zone, but some of their close-in fumbles and turnovers were just gifts. They also spent 46 minutes with the ball, which is far too much for comfort from a Queen's perspective. The Gaels did a good job of restricting their big plays and shutting them down near the end zone, but there's still room for improvement.
-Queen's running game: Western did a tremendous job of shutting down Giffin for most of the game. In fact, if not for a 29-yard touchdown run in the last couple minutes, Giffin would have been held to just 40 yards on the day. His streak of 14 straight 100-plus rushing yard games came to an end. It's not all Giffin's fault: Western was clearly keying on him most of the day and stacking linebackers inside to stop the run, and the horribly muddy field certainly didn't help. I think Giffin is a bit misrepresented as a power back: he's got some good power, but his real strength comes from his ability to read the play and make quick lateral cuts, which is obviously more difficult on a slippery field. He still was effective on shorter runs and punched in three touchdowns, but this game showed that he can be contained with the proper defence and weather, which may be a concern going forward.
The Ugly:
-The on-field vandalism: Some RMC students apparently broke into Richardson Stadium Friday night and burned their school's initials into the centre of the field. Classy move, cadets. It was an eyesore and a half, but the bigger problem was this meant even more mud around midfield, which wasn't good for the game.
-Devan Sheahan's drops: This wasn't entirely Devan, as the rest of the receivers dropped some reasonably easy catches as well, but he was the most prominent suspect. Again, he showed plenty of promise on running routes and getting open, but he didn't seem to be able to reel much of anything in, only making three catches for 19 yards.
-Queen's offensive numbers: The Gaels didn't put on an offensive clinic, finishing with just 295 net yards of offence and 18 first downs. As mentioned, Western shut down the run early, but Queen's was only able to achieve marginal success on the pass. Quarterback Dan Brannagan completed 16 of 36 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns. Those numbers could have been better if his receivers had pulled in some catches, but there were still plenty of times when he overthrew or underthrew them. On the plus side, he was composed in the pocket and didn't try to force too many throws, avoiding interceptions in the process. That's good to see, even if the completions and yards numbers weren't as high as normal.
-Western's long-snapping: Initial Western long-snapper Conor Elliott botched his first two snaps, sending them both a mile over the head of Western kicker Daryl Wheeler. The first led to a safety, the second to a forced fumble and a Queen's touchdown, giving the Gaels a 9-0 lead. Elliott was relieved of his snapping duties after the second mistake.
The Reaction:
Alex DaPrato, Queen's defensive back:
-On what it was like to get revenge on Western: "It's unbelievable. These guys have been consistently the biggest rival we've had."
-On the impact of his interception: "Everyone got pretty pumped up afterwards."
-On the amount of time the defence had to spend on the field, and if they were getting fatigued: "There were a few of us who were getting pretty tired."
Jimmy Allin, Queen's defensive back:
-On if he was concerned with the early offensive struggles: "No, our offence is just way too good to be held down forever."
-On if he was nervous or excited to get the chance on the second fake field goal attempt: "I think everyone on the team wants the ball in their hands."
Dan Brannagan, Queen's quarterback:
-On the impact of the field conditions: "Everyone would like ideal conditions all the time, but it doesn't happen. ... It's not really an issue."
-On if the passing game was harder to get going than normal due to the running game being shut down: "This is a team game, and if one aspect of the team doesn't play as well as you expect, you have to adjust."
-On if he was disappointed with the offence's play: "Our defence was awesome, our special teams were awesome. As long as we're getting the wins, it doesn't matter where we're getting the wins from, [but] as an offence, it's a little unsettling. You don't want to be loafing."
Pat Sheahan, Queen's head coach:
-On Queen's defensive play: "Unbelievable defence today. ... It was more slow 'em down, bend but don't break."
-On Queen's offence: "We didn't move the ball well on offence all day."
-On Faulds and Western's offence: "They've got a very prolific offence. ... He's a very good quarterback, and their kids caught the ball."
-On what Queen's had to do to stop Western: "This week was a huge challenge for the defence. To their credit, they were fired up. ... They fought them for every inch."
.
-On the impact of DaPrato's pick: "The DaPrato interception there where it's 9-1, in my mind, that's the TSN Turning Point."
-On the importance of the turnovers: "All those turnovers we got today had a major impact. Almost every one had ramifications."
-On how the rain affected the defensive line, particularly in the second half: "We're very athletic on the defensive front, and one of the concerns about the mud out there is we lose some of our mobility."
-On the importance of the fake field goals to the team's motivation: "They were timely, they were explosion plays. They shook everyone up and they elevated the psyche."
-On why they chose to go for the second fake field goal after their offence stalled, and why Western wasn't expecting it: "We needed something. Oftentimes, when you see a fake kick in a ball game, you never see another one."
Greg Marshall, Western head coach
-On the problems they had early on: "We kind of dug ourselves a pretty big hole in the first half. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong."
-On how it was disappointing to see Michael Faulds, who had been so effective on third and short situations, stopped by Queen's defence on third down with less than a yard to go early in the fourth quarter, setting up a decisive drive for the Gaels: "That's disheartening a bit that we were on third and one with a chance to win the football game and we couldn't get it done."
On how his defence should have read the second fake field goal attempt: "There was no way they were going for a field goal. A field goal didn't give them anything." (A good point: a field goal there would have merely made it a two-TD game instead of a two-possession game, whereas the touchdown made it a three-possession game).
On the importance of the trench war: "Most games are won and lost on the offensive/defensive line."
On the impact of Dee Sterling (98) and Osie Ukwuoma (91): "98 and 91 there didn't surprise us. I knew what they could do. ... We worked on blocking Dee Sterling all week, but seeing him live is different than watching him on tape."
On how his team never gave in: "The one thing I thought our guys were doing was they were battling, they were fighting. When you put that kind of effort in and you try and you still lose, that's disappointing."
On why he went for it on third and long so much in the final half: "I don't care if we lose by 100 points. I never do. ... We're not going to win the game by punting the football away. ... All I want our guys to always think about is keeping trying to win."
[Note: I thoroughly approve of this strategy. Too many coaches are overly concerned with keeping the scores close these days rather than throwing caution to the wind in an attempt to earn the W. ESPN's Gregg Easterbrook had a great column on this a little while ago, and I think he'd love Marshall's strategy.]
On what he liked from the game: "If there was a bright spot in today's game, it was the play of our defence."
[Note: An interesting statement for a team that gave up 46 points, but most of those were off atrocious field position picked up off of turnovers. If you look at yardage and first downs, Western's defence did amazingly well against a powerful Queen's offence.]
On how there's still plenty of hope for the Mustangs: "We still have an opportunity to get first place or second place. We still have an opportunity to win the Yates Cup."
On what they'd do differently against the Gaels next time on the offensive line: "We'd better get our pass protection schemes where there's a little more simplicity, a little less complexity and focus on their big guys. ... Instead of trying to double [team] one guy, we'd double a couple guys."
On what they'd do differently in the running game: "We have to use different guys, bite the bullet and say maybe we need to run the ball better [instead of switching to a pass-first offence like they did Saturday]."
On how they'd need to give their defence better field position: "We've got to hold the ball better. We can't have our long-snapper fire the ball over our punter's head a couple of times. ... We put our defence in bad situations."
On how the real test will come if they face Queen's again in the playoffs: "They have Round One, but Round Two is worth all the marbles."
Friday, September 19, 2008
Campus Corner: Preview of Queen's-U of T football game
Today’s football game between the 3-0 Gaels and the 2-1* University of Toronto Varsity Blues, which will be live-blogged right here (kickoff at 1 p.m.), should be an interesting clash. It’s a great matchup for Toronto, as the vast majority expects them to be beaten to an unrecognizable pulp, so the weight of expectations on the Blues is reduced to a single feather.
*It still feels weird writing Varsity Blues with a number other than zero in front.
For Queen’s, the situation’s approaching Kobayashi Maru-like levels of difficulty, as there’s almost no way this game can improve their standings. Everyone expects a big win, so even a superlative performance will be shrugged off with a “aw, it was against Toronto.” A closer game would lead to intense questioning, while a loss would lead to calls for heads, perhaps displayed John the Baptist-style on a platter. Very little good can come from this game, and there’s the potential for a lot of negatives to arise.
Looking on the bright side of life, as we should always do, this still should be a relatively easy victory for the Gaels. U of T has improved drastically from last year, but so has Queen’s, and the Gaels were a far better team in the first place.
Moreover, the Gaels have depth on their side. U of T has a few stars like quarterback David Hamilton and wide receiver/running back/everything else Mark Stinson, but they’re relatively young and have a lot of players without a ton of CIS experience. If Queen’s shuts down their marquee players, it’s tough to imagine where the offence will come from.
On the other hand, Queen’s has a tremendous variety of star players in the likes of quarterback Dan Brannagan (second in the country with 1163 passing yards), running back Mike Giffin (leading CIS players with 472 rushing yards), wide receiver Scott Valberg (who has 405 receiving yards, second in the CIS), defensive tackle Dee Sterling (top of the league with five solo and one assisted sack) and halfback/punt returner Jimmy Allin (leading CIS players with 327 punt return yards, and he also has two interceptions).
What may be more significant, though, is the calibre of the rest of the team. If the offensive line decides to double-team Sterling, that opens up holes for the likes of Osie Ukwuoma and Kyle MacDonald. Valberg is nicely supported in the receiving corps by the likes of Scott Stinson and Chris Ioannides, while Giffin can be spelled off by the also-effective Marty Gordon. If Toronto decides to keep their punts away from Allin, backup returner Jimmy Therrien has picked up a measly 119 yards so far, second amongst OUA players and fifth-best in the country.
The danger for Queen’s is if their players start looking past this one to next weekend’s Homecoming game against Western. That probably would be pretty easy to do, given Toronto’s past performance and the magnitude of next week’s clash, and it could be dangerous. The Blues have shown plenty of talent so far, so if the Gaels’ minds start to wander, there’s the chance of a comeback and perhaps even an upset.
I spoke with head coach Pat Sheahan about that very possibility at the team’s media session on Thursday afternoon. His quotes on focus, and a few other matters of interest, are below.
On the Varsity Blues:
“Toronto’s a better football team than they have been in the last couple of years. ... Their quarterback looks like he’s playing the best football of his career.”
“Their depth could be an issue. ... They have their strengths. If they can get the ball to their key contributors, they’re going to have a good day.”
“They do some things on offence that make you have to conjure up some good answers.”
On if Toronto can make the playoffs this year (an unthinkable question last year): “They’re in the hunt.”
On what he told the team this week in practice: “The challenge [to them] was to stay focused.”
On how the team will be looking to build confidence with a strong performance against Toronto:
“That 10-letter word, confidence, is everything in football.”
On how one of their goals will be to reduce the number of turnovers they committed last week:
“We have to eliminate turnovers moving forward.”
On the play of the receiving corps so far:
“We have had a few drops, but on a positive note, the guys are getting open.”
On Queen’s defensive line:
“We also thought [at the start of the season] that our defensive line could be a dominant unit in the league, and they’re really stepping up and showing their mettle.”
On what happens if the Toronto offensive line double-teams Sterling:
“If you have a plan for one, you create some space for the others.”
On avoiding injuries: “We can’t afford to lose too many of our key contributors.”
On the loss ["Goodbye, Moose," myself, Queen’s Journal] of legendary coach Hal “Moose” McCarney Tuesday night:
“He’s done more living in his 81 years than people have in centuries. ... One of his laments was that he was really upset about aging. His body had failed him but his mind was brilliant. I couldn’t imagine him living hooked up to machines or incapacitated in any way. ...I talked to his son this morning and his instructions were to give Toronto what for in his [McCarney’s] name.”
On the plans to honour McCarney next week:
“We certainly are planning a tribute for the Homecoming game where we will have a lot of our supporters.”
On how the loss of McCarney came in the same week as that of former CFL star Ron Lancaster, who passed away early Thursday:
“Those are two names that are synonymous with Canadian football. They will be missed. ... It has not been a good week.”
On Lancaster:
“Anyone who’s a CFL fan knows not only the history of Ron Lancaster but the relevance. He was a football icon in this country.”
On Toronto director of football Bob Howes, a former Queen’s coach:
“To go in there and be able to impart his knowledge and philosophy on some of their guys has been extremely valuable. ... He’s done a great job there.”
On pulling receiver Rob Bagg last season before he could break the Queen’s and CIS single-game receiving record, which he later told Tyler King(for a Journal piece, shockingly enough: this was before he unleashed the full venom of his hatred for our media outlet) was because he didn’t want to see the record tainted. Here’s the original quote: “I felt that, with all due respect to Robert [Bagg], that for him to set a record against a team that is winless would have been tainted,”
And his quote Thursday:
“That’s what I said at the time because I didn’t know how many yards he had, to be honest.”
Sheahan said he’d consider leaving starters in to break records this time around, as long as it wasn’t too late in the game and the score wasn’t too lopsided.
“There’s breaking records and then there’s maintaining professional decorum and sportsmanship. ... I don’t think Rob’s losing any sleep over not getting another 15 yards.”
*It still feels weird writing Varsity Blues with a number other than zero in front.
For Queen’s, the situation’s approaching Kobayashi Maru-like levels of difficulty, as there’s almost no way this game can improve their standings. Everyone expects a big win, so even a superlative performance will be shrugged off with a “aw, it was against Toronto.” A closer game would lead to intense questioning, while a loss would lead to calls for heads, perhaps displayed John the Baptist-style on a platter. Very little good can come from this game, and there’s the potential for a lot of negatives to arise.
Looking on the bright side of life, as we should always do, this still should be a relatively easy victory for the Gaels. U of T has improved drastically from last year, but so has Queen’s, and the Gaels were a far better team in the first place.
Moreover, the Gaels have depth on their side. U of T has a few stars like quarterback David Hamilton and wide receiver/running back/everything else Mark Stinson, but they’re relatively young and have a lot of players without a ton of CIS experience. If Queen’s shuts down their marquee players, it’s tough to imagine where the offence will come from.
On the other hand, Queen’s has a tremendous variety of star players in the likes of quarterback Dan Brannagan (second in the country with 1163 passing yards), running back Mike Giffin (leading CIS players with 472 rushing yards), wide receiver Scott Valberg (who has 405 receiving yards, second in the CIS), defensive tackle Dee Sterling (top of the league with five solo and one assisted sack) and halfback/punt returner Jimmy Allin (leading CIS players with 327 punt return yards, and he also has two interceptions).
What may be more significant, though, is the calibre of the rest of the team. If the offensive line decides to double-team Sterling, that opens up holes for the likes of Osie Ukwuoma and Kyle MacDonald. Valberg is nicely supported in the receiving corps by the likes of Scott Stinson and Chris Ioannides, while Giffin can be spelled off by the also-effective Marty Gordon. If Toronto decides to keep their punts away from Allin, backup returner Jimmy Therrien has picked up a measly 119 yards so far, second amongst OUA players and fifth-best in the country.
The danger for Queen’s is if their players start looking past this one to next weekend’s Homecoming game against Western. That probably would be pretty easy to do, given Toronto’s past performance and the magnitude of next week’s clash, and it could be dangerous. The Blues have shown plenty of talent so far, so if the Gaels’ minds start to wander, there’s the chance of a comeback and perhaps even an upset.
I spoke with head coach Pat Sheahan about that very possibility at the team’s media session on Thursday afternoon. His quotes on focus, and a few other matters of interest, are below.
On the Varsity Blues:
“Toronto’s a better football team than they have been in the last couple of years. ... Their quarterback looks like he’s playing the best football of his career.”
“Their depth could be an issue. ... They have their strengths. If they can get the ball to their key contributors, they’re going to have a good day.”
“They do some things on offence that make you have to conjure up some good answers.”
On if Toronto can make the playoffs this year (an unthinkable question last year): “They’re in the hunt.”
On what he told the team this week in practice: “The challenge [to them] was to stay focused.”
On how the team will be looking to build confidence with a strong performance against Toronto:
“That 10-letter word, confidence, is everything in football.”
On how one of their goals will be to reduce the number of turnovers they committed last week:
“We have to eliminate turnovers moving forward.”
On the play of the receiving corps so far:
“We have had a few drops, but on a positive note, the guys are getting open.”
On Queen’s defensive line:
“We also thought [at the start of the season] that our defensive line could be a dominant unit in the league, and they’re really stepping up and showing their mettle.”
On what happens if the Toronto offensive line double-teams Sterling:
“If you have a plan for one, you create some space for the others.”
On avoiding injuries: “We can’t afford to lose too many of our key contributors.”
On the loss ["Goodbye, Moose," myself, Queen’s Journal] of legendary coach Hal “Moose” McCarney Tuesday night:
“He’s done more living in his 81 years than people have in centuries. ... One of his laments was that he was really upset about aging. His body had failed him but his mind was brilliant. I couldn’t imagine him living hooked up to machines or incapacitated in any way. ...I talked to his son this morning and his instructions were to give Toronto what for in his [McCarney’s] name.”
On the plans to honour McCarney next week:
“We certainly are planning a tribute for the Homecoming game where we will have a lot of our supporters.”
On how the loss of McCarney came in the same week as that of former CFL star Ron Lancaster, who passed away early Thursday:
“Those are two names that are synonymous with Canadian football. They will be missed. ... It has not been a good week.”
On Lancaster:
“Anyone who’s a CFL fan knows not only the history of Ron Lancaster but the relevance. He was a football icon in this country.”
On Toronto director of football Bob Howes, a former Queen’s coach:
“To go in there and be able to impart his knowledge and philosophy on some of their guys has been extremely valuable. ... He’s done a great job there.”
On pulling receiver Rob Bagg last season before he could break the Queen’s and CIS single-game receiving record, which he later told Tyler King(for a Journal piece, shockingly enough: this was before he unleashed the full venom of his hatred for our media outlet) was because he didn’t want to see the record tainted. Here’s the original quote: “I felt that, with all due respect to Robert [Bagg], that for him to set a record against a team that is winless would have been tainted,”
And his quote Thursday:
“That’s what I said at the time because I didn’t know how many yards he had, to be honest.”
Sheahan said he’d consider leaving starters in to break records this time around, as long as it wasn’t too late in the game and the score wasn’t too lopsided.
“There’s breaking records and then there’s maintaining professional decorum and sportsmanship. ... I don’t think Rob’s losing any sleep over not getting another 15 yards.”
Monday, September 15, 2008
Campus Corner: Congrats to Sterling and Byers...
It was an impressive week for Queen's sports, which resulted in two Gaels taking OUA Athlete of the Week honours. I've already covered defensive tackle Dee Sterling's superlative performance in Saturday's football game against Laurier both here and at Out of Left Field, and will have more on his win in tomorrow's Journal, but his stats deserve repeating again: five solo sacks, one assisted sack, six solo tackles, four assisted tackles and six tackles for a loss, leading to a net loss of 37 yards. He broke the all-time Queen's record of four sacks, jointly held by Jim Aru and Marc Mitchell, and there's a good chance he'll earn CIS Defensive Player of the Week.
I didn't write about Jackie Byers yet, though, so she deserves some play here as well. The first-year lacrosse player turned in an incredible nine-goal, two-assist performance in Queen's three games over the weekend, leading the Gaels to a 3-0 record with wins over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, the McMaster Marauders and the McGill Martlets. Very impressive: we should see great things from her this year.
This is a pretty rare accomplishment as well. The last time a university swept the OUA male and female athletes of the week was in November 2007, when Nick FitzGibbon and Jaclyn Butterworth of the Guelph Gryphons both took home the honours. It's nice to see some Gaels get recognized for their superb efforts, especially when those individual performances also translated into team success.
I didn't write about Jackie Byers yet, though, so she deserves some play here as well. The first-year lacrosse player turned in an incredible nine-goal, two-assist performance in Queen's three games over the weekend, leading the Gaels to a 3-0 record with wins over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, the McMaster Marauders and the McGill Martlets. Very impressive: we should see great things from her this year.
This is a pretty rare accomplishment as well. The last time a university swept the OUA male and female athletes of the week was in November 2007, when Nick FitzGibbon and Jaclyn Butterworth of the Guelph Gryphons both took home the honours. It's nice to see some Gaels get recognized for their superb efforts, especially when those individual performances also translated into team success.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
The GBU: Queen's football vs. Laurier
Breaking down Queen's win over Laurier this afternoon (which you may have missed while pondering that the U of T Varsity Blues are now 2-1 [Varsity Blues Sports Information]...)
The score: 41-7, Queen's.
The recap: Here [My recap, Out of Left Field].
How I saw it: In person.
The Good:
- Dee Sterling: Defensive tackle Sterling had a monster game for the Gaels, recording five solo sacks (a Queen's record) and adding a shared sack with Osie Ukwuoma. He also led Queen's with six solo tackles, four assisted tackles and six tackles for a loss (which added to a total loss of 37 yards). As a result, Sterling was named the Boston Pizza Player of the Game.*
*I don't normally use corporate names for awards, but I make an exception in this case because I worked at Boston Pizza for two years (as a delivery driver) and loved it. Very, very good pizza. Also, they gave plenty of pizza to the press box at halftime, which was awesome.
- Queen's defensive line as a whole: Sterling had the best game, but defensive ends Ukwuoma and Neil Puffer also turned in tremendous performances, as did defensive tackle Kyle MacDonald. Together, they accounted for eight of Queen's nine quarterback sacks and held Laurier to just two yards rushing on 17 attempts (a 0.1 yards-per-carry average).
- Scott Valberg: Valberg had a career-high 193 yards on six catches, and also picked up two touchdowns. His longest play came off a 64-yard catch, and he was impressive all day.
- Mike Giffin: It wasn't a dominating performance from Giffin, but he rushed 25 times for a net gain of 115 yards, which is still a decent average of 4.6 yards-per-carry. He also picked up his 13th-straight game with over 100 rushing yards.
- The linebacking corps: T.J. Leeper (who went down with an injury partway through), Thaine Carter and Chris Smith all played vital roles today as well in pressuring Laurier quarterbacks Ian Noble and Luke Thompson and stopping Laurier running back Ryan Lynch, who ran for over 1,000 yards last year. They played a big part in holding Laurier to 123 net yards of offence and just six first downs.
The Bad:
- First-half Dan Brannagan: Brannagan doesn't fully deserve to be in this column, as he was only two yards away from a career-high passing yards mark, which he would have gotten if he hadn't been rested by head coach Pat Sheahan with five minutes to go. Still, he threw four interceptions on the day, including three in the first half. In the first half, he completed 14 of 25 passes for 234 yards, but had no touchdowns and the three picks. In the second, he was much better, and he finished the day 22 for 38 for 438 yards, with three touchdowns as well as the four picks. He also ran for 62 net yards over the course of the game, and delivered one very impressive 48-yard rush to set up the Gaels' first touchdown.
- The crowd: The official attendance was 4,127, which is good but not great for an opponent of this calibre (for comparison, last year's crowd at the Laurier game was 5,582). Part of the problem is some of the alumni stands are still roped off for repairs. On the bright side, there were about 250 students there, and few if any left at halftime, unlike the first week's game. I'd love to see more students come out to watch these games, but at least we got some committed fans this time around.
The Ugly:
- Laurier's rushing game: How is it possible to gain two net yards rushing on 17attempts over the course of a game, especially when you have a 1,000-yard rusher in your backfield? I'm thinking running back Ryan Lynch may either be injured or have lost a step, as so far this season he's picked up 50, 56 and 31 net rushing yards. The other explanation is a weaker offensive line, and they were certainly getting pushed around by Queen's four-man front.
- Revisionist history: Laurier's press package included some interesting stuff, such as "The Hawks have only played Queen's once in the past three years defeating them 45-0 in week one of the 2005 season." Well, if they want to forget last year's 23-4 shellacking [Mike Woods, Queen's Journal] that ruined the Gaels' undefeated season, that's fine with me. However, the package also included this doozy: "Last week Laurier defeated Western in front of 6,432 fans at University Stadium". Um, Western won that game 31-20 [Andy Watson, westernmustangs.ca.
(As an aside, this is not meant as an indictment of Laurier's communications manager, Ari Grossman (who I met today, by the way): the overall package was extremely helpful and included a lot of good information, and he's been doing a lot of good work on their website, including today's recap (which did use "Queen's Gales", though). I know sports information types have to do these packages and recaps quickly, and mistakes are inevitably made: I make them too, both here and in the Journal. The problem is that those mistakes can get picked up as gospel truth by people who don't know better, and that leads to a whole wave of inaccurate reporting, which is never good.)
Post-game reaction:
Queen's quarterback Dan Brannagan:
- On the importance of the win: "It was big for momentum."
- When I asked about the first-half offensive struggles: "We're still moving the ball in the first half, we're just not putting the points on the board." [Ed: A fair comment, by the way].
- On getting pulled before he could break his passing-yards record: "Records are a great thing, but wins are bigger." [Ed: He didn't seem too upset about it, and it makes some sense: he'd probably want to remember a record-breaking game without four interceptions. There's still a good chance he passes that 440 mark this year.]
Queen's head coach Pat Sheahan:
- On the interceptions: "I don't know how much longer I'm going to last in this business with games like this." [Ed: he jokingly mimed a heart attack while he said this].
- On if they can keep up the intensity for Toronto, given the Blues' poor history over the last several years: "The only history that matters is what they did last week."
- On if the team will get overconfident against the Blues: "They got a victory today. Everyone's happy about that, everyone understands that there's still more work to do."
Laurier head coach Gary Jeffries:
- On his team's play: "I think that our defence played an outstanding game today, regardless of the points on the board. [Ed: Also a valid point. See my argument about time of possession on Out of Left Field.]
- On the Hawks' offensive struggles: "We had no offence today whatsoever."
- On the Gaels' play: "Full credit to Queen's defence, they were outstanding."
- On his offensive line: "Our kids up front just got flat-out beaten."
- On his team's two losses in a row, the first time that's ever happened in his six years running the program (according to Laurier's press kit): "It's new ground for us. ... We're going to see the kind of character we're made of."
The score: 41-7, Queen's.
The recap: Here [My recap, Out of Left Field].
How I saw it: In person.
The Good:
- Dee Sterling: Defensive tackle Sterling had a monster game for the Gaels, recording five solo sacks (a Queen's record) and adding a shared sack with Osie Ukwuoma. He also led Queen's with six solo tackles, four assisted tackles and six tackles for a loss (which added to a total loss of 37 yards). As a result, Sterling was named the Boston Pizza Player of the Game.*
*I don't normally use corporate names for awards, but I make an exception in this case because I worked at Boston Pizza for two years (as a delivery driver) and loved it. Very, very good pizza. Also, they gave plenty of pizza to the press box at halftime, which was awesome.
- Queen's defensive line as a whole: Sterling had the best game, but defensive ends Ukwuoma and Neil Puffer also turned in tremendous performances, as did defensive tackle Kyle MacDonald. Together, they accounted for eight of Queen's nine quarterback sacks and held Laurier to just two yards rushing on 17 attempts (a 0.1 yards-per-carry average).
- Scott Valberg: Valberg had a career-high 193 yards on six catches, and also picked up two touchdowns. His longest play came off a 64-yard catch, and he was impressive all day.
- Mike Giffin: It wasn't a dominating performance from Giffin, but he rushed 25 times for a net gain of 115 yards, which is still a decent average of 4.6 yards-per-carry. He also picked up his 13th-straight game with over 100 rushing yards.
- The linebacking corps: T.J. Leeper (who went down with an injury partway through), Thaine Carter and Chris Smith all played vital roles today as well in pressuring Laurier quarterbacks Ian Noble and Luke Thompson and stopping Laurier running back Ryan Lynch, who ran for over 1,000 yards last year. They played a big part in holding Laurier to 123 net yards of offence and just six first downs.
The Bad:
- First-half Dan Brannagan: Brannagan doesn't fully deserve to be in this column, as he was only two yards away from a career-high passing yards mark, which he would have gotten if he hadn't been rested by head coach Pat Sheahan with five minutes to go. Still, he threw four interceptions on the day, including three in the first half. In the first half, he completed 14 of 25 passes for 234 yards, but had no touchdowns and the three picks. In the second, he was much better, and he finished the day 22 for 38 for 438 yards, with three touchdowns as well as the four picks. He also ran for 62 net yards over the course of the game, and delivered one very impressive 48-yard rush to set up the Gaels' first touchdown.
- The crowd: The official attendance was 4,127, which is good but not great for an opponent of this calibre (for comparison, last year's crowd at the Laurier game was 5,582). Part of the problem is some of the alumni stands are still roped off for repairs. On the bright side, there were about 250 students there, and few if any left at halftime, unlike the first week's game. I'd love to see more students come out to watch these games, but at least we got some committed fans this time around.
The Ugly:
- Laurier's rushing game: How is it possible to gain two net yards rushing on 17attempts over the course of a game, especially when you have a 1,000-yard rusher in your backfield? I'm thinking running back Ryan Lynch may either be injured or have lost a step, as so far this season he's picked up 50, 56 and 31 net rushing yards. The other explanation is a weaker offensive line, and they were certainly getting pushed around by Queen's four-man front.
- Revisionist history: Laurier's press package included some interesting stuff, such as "The Hawks have only played Queen's once in the past three years defeating them 45-0 in week one of the 2005 season." Well, if they want to forget last year's 23-4 shellacking [Mike Woods, Queen's Journal] that ruined the Gaels' undefeated season, that's fine with me. However, the package also included this doozy: "Last week Laurier defeated Western in front of 6,432 fans at University Stadium". Um, Western won that game 31-20 [Andy Watson, westernmustangs.ca.
(As an aside, this is not meant as an indictment of Laurier's communications manager, Ari Grossman (who I met today, by the way): the overall package was extremely helpful and included a lot of good information, and he's been doing a lot of good work on their website, including today's recap (which did use "Queen's Gales", though). I know sports information types have to do these packages and recaps quickly, and mistakes are inevitably made: I make them too, both here and in the Journal. The problem is that those mistakes can get picked up as gospel truth by people who don't know better, and that leads to a whole wave of inaccurate reporting, which is never good.)
Post-game reaction:
Queen's quarterback Dan Brannagan:
- On the importance of the win: "It was big for momentum."
- When I asked about the first-half offensive struggles: "We're still moving the ball in the first half, we're just not putting the points on the board." [Ed: A fair comment, by the way].
- On getting pulled before he could break his passing-yards record: "Records are a great thing, but wins are bigger." [Ed: He didn't seem too upset about it, and it makes some sense: he'd probably want to remember a record-breaking game without four interceptions. There's still a good chance he passes that 440 mark this year.]
Queen's head coach Pat Sheahan:
- On the interceptions: "I don't know how much longer I'm going to last in this business with games like this." [Ed: he jokingly mimed a heart attack while he said this].
- On if they can keep up the intensity for Toronto, given the Blues' poor history over the last several years: "The only history that matters is what they did last week."
- On if the team will get overconfident against the Blues: "They got a victory today. Everyone's happy about that, everyone understands that there's still more work to do."
Laurier head coach Gary Jeffries:
- On his team's play: "I think that our defence played an outstanding game today, regardless of the points on the board. [Ed: Also a valid point. See my argument about time of possession on Out of Left Field.]
- On the Hawks' offensive struggles: "We had no offence today whatsoever."
- On the Gaels' play: "Full credit to Queen's defence, they were outstanding."
- On his offensive line: "Our kids up front just got flat-out beaten."
- On his team's two losses in a row, the first time that's ever happened in his six years running the program (according to Laurier's press kit): "It's new ground for us. ... We're going to see the kind of character we're made of."
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