By John Harris
a. The Pope’s parishioners – A running back in a spread offense often gets ‘lost’ behind a dual threat quarterback or a talented crop ofwide receivers. Excuse Falcon PJ Pope if he has felt as if he’s been a bit overshadowedthe past two years. Well, it’s a safe guess that the Thundering Herd knows all about #33 and the Herd’s ability to stop him is a big key to this football game. Pope is coming off one of the best games in his career, one in which he ran for 205 yards on only 12 carries against Western Michigan – do the math, that’s a 17 yard per carry average. Now, Marshall’s run defense is a bit stouter than the Broncos unit, but Pope remains a big factor nonetheless. Pope has the quicks to get to the corner on the gun zone stretch play and the speed/flash option in which he’s the pitch man, which is a huge problem for the Marshall defense. It’s hard to sell out to stop Pope because of the efficient play of Omar Jacobs throwing the football, but if the Marshall front can’t string out Pope and take away his downhill running lanes, it’ll be a long day away from home.
b. Could you block him? – Erasmus James of Wisconsin has been downright dominating at the defensive end position. David Pollack of Georgia gets the most publicity. But, the guy that has had the best year at that position is Jonathon Goddard of Marshall. Quite simply, the senior from Jacksonville has dominated each and every time he has stepped on the field. He’s second in the nation in sacks with 12.5 and has registered an astounding 23.5 tackles for a loss – a total of 238 yards in losses. Wow. And, it’s not as if Goddard has done this against the Weak Sisters of the Poor, it’s been done against the likes of Georgia and Ohio State. So, how does Bowling Green account for him on Saturday? Take advantage of Goddard’s pass rush ability and run underneath him with counter treys or shovel passes. Also, use the flash option to put him in decision making mode – QB or Pope ; if anything it slows him down a step. Outside zone stretch runs toward Goddard are cutback runs waiting to happen, but if the interior center-guard trio can wall off the backside (that means ‘handling’ Jamus Martin and Reggie Hayes – easier said than done), Pope may be able to squirt underneath Goddard and into the secondary. Bowling Green doesn’t need an introduction to this cat, but they do need to find a way to keep him under control.
c. The Duke of Earl – Discuss Marshall offensive football and much of the talk turns to Stan Hill and Josh Davis, i.e the passing game. With that in mind, the Herd running game, led by power back Earl Charles, should be a major key in this game. The Falcon run defense is giving up nearly 140 yards a game, and Charles and the Herd offensive line have to attack that perceived weakness for a couple reasons. The first one is obvious – run to daylight. A strong rushing performance by Charles opens up the entire playbook for the Marshall offensive staff. Stan Hill can’t throw the football 53 times if Marshall expects to win. Charles’s ability to move the chains takes some pressure off of Hill and Davis, and might convince the Falcons to pull the safety into the box to help stop him. The second reason is that’ll keep the vaunted BGSU offense off of the field. And, that might be the more important of the two aspects.
Conclusion: The dichotomous nature of this game is quite intriguing – Bowling Green’s dominating offense, best in the MAC against Marshall’s unyielding defense, the best in the MAC. The irresistible force against the immovable object. Who’s going to blink first? As fun as that matchup will be to watch, the Herd offense will have something to say about who wins this game. After blowing a sure lead against Akron, Marshall has to get back on track to lock down the MAC East title. Although it’s on the road, it’ll happen. Marshall – 31 vs. Bowling Green – 30
http://www.collegefootballnews.com/2004 ... gGreen.htm
:coo-coo:
