ASU O-line faces challenge

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? Pass protection is one of the areas where Arkansas State?s offense has improved this year. The Red Wolves have already thrown the football almost as many times as they did in the entire 2009 season, yet have given up about half as many quarterback sacks.

A challenge awaits ASU?s offensive line Tuesday night, though.

Middle Tennessee leads the Sun Belt Conference in sacks going into the nationally televised game at ASU Stadium. The Blue Raiders have recorded 20 sacks as a team, including six in their 38-10 victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 23. Senior end Jamari Lattimore has 81⁄2 sacks and 10 tackles for loss to lead the Sun Belt in both categories.


ASU head coach Steve Roberts said MTSU changed its defensive approach during the victory over ULM.
?They?ve gone to a more chaotic blitz, create-negative-play scheme on defense,? Roberts said. ?We know we have a challenge in trying to pick all of that up and make some plays offensively.?
Picking up pass rushers was difficult for last season?s injury-ravaged offensive line. The Red Wolves yielded 31 sacks while throwing 330 passes in 12 games.

ASU quarterbacks have thrown 307 passes in only eight games this year, an average of more than 38 per game, yet opponents have been limited to 16 sacks. Four of those sacks came in the opener at Auburn.
Sophomore quarterback Ryan Aplin?s mobility has helped ASU avoid some sacks, but Roberts said the offensive line has also played much better than it did last season.
?Last year we started the same five guys three times. This year we?ve been able to keep some consistency in our offensive line,? Roberts said. ?We?ve moved a couple of guys in and out at the left tackle spot, but both of them have played a lot of football.?
Experience certainly isn?t an issue. The Red Wolves start an all-senior front with Tom Castilaw at center, Sifa Etu and Dominic Padrta at the guards, and Derek Newton and Kiano Prater at the tackles.
Offensive coordinator Hugh Freeze said the pass protection has been pretty decent for the Red Wolves? first season in his no-huddle, spread scheme.

?We?ve gone some games without sacks, which is very nice,? Freeze said. ?Of course we tell the kids that zero is the number, but I realize that when you throw it 45 times a game or so, particularly against a team like this, probably one or two of those are going to happen.
?We just have to minimize them and hope they?re not at bad times. We?ll preach to our kids and to our quarterbacks that we have to get rid of the football.?
Timely throws figure to be important Tuesday night.

While undersized at 6-3 and 231 pounds, Lattimore is one of the Sun Belt?s most feared pass rushers. He has 171⁄2 sacks for his career, including three in the ULM game.
?He?s a good athlete, a great individual player,? Newton said. ?He knows how to use his athleticism.?


Freeze said Lattimore ?could play at the SEC level? and he?s also impressed with MTSU senior end Emmanuel Perez, who is in a similar mold at 6-1 and 226 pounds.
Perez has two sacks on the season. Junior outside linebacker Darin Davis has 31⁄2 sacks to rank second on the squad. Seniors Dwight Smith and Gary Tucker, the starting interior linemen, have combined to make 45 tackles.
?I think they?re very good at what they do. It?s somewhat unconventional,? Freeze said. ?It?s something you don?t see every Saturday, so it presents its issues for us. They have the most speed we?ve seen off the edge in Lattimore and No. 91 (Perez). It presents a problem for us, and obviously we will challenge our offensive line, particularly on the edge with our tackles, Derek and Kiano and those guys.

?They have a challenge ahead of them, and hopefully they?ll answer that call. They give you so many different looks, too. It?s not like they just line up those pass rushers on the edge and come. There are a lot of different looks they give you, so it?s good we have a few extra days to be sure we?re looking at everything, trying to find some clues.?
Freeze compared MTSU?s defensive scheme to what the Red Wolves saw against Louisiana-Lafayette, adding that the Blue Raiders have better speed on the perimeter with Lattimore and Perez.

Perez registered a sack when the Blue Raiders walloped the Red Wolves 38-14 last season in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Lattimore had four tackles in that game and returned a fumble 31 yards on a play that resulted in a touchdown for MTSU. Jeremy Kellem caught a lateral from Lattimore and covered the final 11 yards.
?We just let the mistakes get the best of us,? Newton said, recalling last year?s game. ?I felt like we didn?t put the mistakes aside and just keep going with the game.?

Newton was the only ASU offensive lineman to start every game last year, when he was a second-team All-SBC selection. When asked about the pressure of facing pass rushers such as Lattimore, Newton said it?s important to know every move and what the offense is trying to do on each play.
Ten of the 16 sacks in ASU?s first eight games came against Auburn, Troy and Louisville. Louisiana-Lafayette, North Texas and Florida Atlantic had two each. Louisiana-Monroe and Indiana did not record a sack against the Red Wolves.

?I feel like we?re doing good. Everybody is sending a lot of blitzes at us,? Newton said. ?Our coaches are giving us a lot of film to study, and we?re studying the film. It?s helping us prepare for the many blitzes people are sending at us.?

More blitzes will be coming ASU?s way Tuesday night, especially if MTSU takes the approach that proved successful against ULM.
Roberts hopes the Red Wolves can use that to their advantage.

?They?ll mix up the coverages, but they have a lot of 3-man fronts, zone blitzes, man blitzes, coming from different angles with different people, just trying to create negative plays, create mismatches, show that they?re coming from one side and come from the other side,? Roberts said. ?They do a great job of mixing all that up and playing very, very aggressive football.
?It will create some negative plays, but hopefully on our end we can create some big plays if we have the right calls at the right time as well.?

 

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Raiders defending November streak

Won 7 straight in the month


Things have greatly improved for MTSU football over the last 48 hours.

Sun Belt Conference front-runners Troy (3-1) and Florida International (2-1) both lost a league game on Saturday, falling into a virtual tie with MTSU (2-1) atop the standings.

And perhaps just as important to MTSU, the calendar flipped to November, a month where the Blue Raiders have not lost since 2007. MTSU will try to extend its November winning streak to eight games when it plays at Arkansas State at 6 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN2 (channel 29).

?In the situation that we?re in, it?s important to keep fighting and stay strong,? MTSU quarterback Dwight Dasher said. ?If we lose, it?s not over with. But it?s so important in this conference that you continue to win when you get late in the season.?

On Saturday, Troy was upset by Louisiana-Monroe 28-14 and Florida International lost to Florida Atlantic 21-9.

MTSU (3-4 overall, 2-1 in Sun Belt) has five games remaining, all in Sun Belt play, against ASU, North Texas, Western Kentucky, FAU and FIU. The next four games will come in November.

Since 2008, MTSU has a 7-0 record in November and an 11-14 mark in the rest of the season.

Senior safety Jeremy Kellem said the Blue Raiders usually hit their stride between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

?This is usually when we win a lot in a row. It?s happened the last couple of years,? Kellem said. ?I don?t know what it is, but if I could have my way we would start a winning streak a lot sooner than this. All we can do is take it one at a time. We?re still aiming for that Sun Belt Conference championship.?

Only once in the Sun Belt?s 10 years has the conference champion had more than one league loss. Kellem said that small margin for error keeps the league?s best teams focused late in the season.

?I look at it like the SEC because in our conference if you get that second loss it?s pretty much over for you (in regards to a conference title shot),? Kellem said. ?That?s our mentality, win or go home.?

When the weather gets colder the Blue Raiders typically heat up, and the improvement stretches to all phases.

MTSU has averaged 11-plus points more in November (36.4) compared to the rest of the season (25.0) since 2008. Its points allowed have dropped from a 27.4 average in the other months to 16.4 in November during that same period. Even kicker Alan Gendreau?s field-goal percentage has made a moderate rise to 80 percent in the last two Novembers.

Cornerback Rod Issac said MTSU has simply fine-tuned its game late in the season.
?We?ve been sawing at that wood all season, but this is the time of the year when you really get deep into it,? Issac said. ?At the beginning of the year, you might have a new package you want to install. But later on in the year, you have everything installed and you just have to keep sharpening those tools and perfect your craft.?

 

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Spotlight shines on ASU, MTSU

JONESBORO ? Arkansas State is back in black.
For one night only, Arkansas State will revisit one of the most successful eras in its football program?s history. In an effort to create a little extra enthusiasm among supporters, and perhaps intimidate their opponent, the Red Wolves will return to their former all-black uniforms when ASU hosts Middle Tennessee State on ?Blackout Night? tonight.

The matchup will be the first-ever national television broadcast from ASU Stadium with ESPN2 televising the game.

While the idea behind the promotion is to fill the seats with as much black as possible, Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts isn?t too worried about making a fashion statement. He wants his team to remain in the Sun Belt Conference race and continue to contend for a postseason bowl game.
?I don?t really care what color we wear,? Roberts said. ?It?s whatever the kids want to wear and whatever fits the situation. It?s not about marketing or gimmicks, and I?m obviously real appreciative of their effort to get the word out and get people here, but it?s about how we play during the course of four quarters.?


Arkansas State (3-5 overall, 3-2 Sun Belt) has traditionally incorporated the color red as its signature color since the football program was started. Obviously, over the years, the colors and styles have changed, but ASU?s look remained relatively constant throughout its history until former coach Larry Lacewell decided it was time for a new look.


Lacewell, ASU?s football coach from 1979-89, decided to give Arkansas State a new brand that might separate itself from another school within the state?s borders that shared the same color scheme. He changed the helmet logo to the block ?A-State? logo that was reinstated just a few years ago, and he put his football team in black jerseys.
Over the years, black pants were added and the look became increasingly popular.
Tonight, the Red Wolves will trade in their red jerseys to become the Black Wolves in all-black uniforms. While many of the players know their look is insignificant, it?s still something that could add to the excitement of a nationally televised broadcast and the only college football game being played across the country.
?It?s kind of special to wear them again,? ASU quarterback Ryan Aplin said. ?We haven?t worn them all year. I think the whole team is excited about wearing them again, but we?re focused on the game more than anything.?

Lacewell?s fashion touch has remained through the last two decades, although John Bobo put the 1996 team in red jerseys and Joe Hollis, who had been an assistant at Ohio State, emphasized a color scheme that featured red during his tenure. Since the late ?90s, the school alternated using red over black until Roberts was hired in 2001.
Under Roberts, ASU played almost all its games in black uniforms, wearing all black on special occasions. Then came the mascot change to Red Wolves in 2008, and Arkansas State introduced a red and black decor for a big home game against Southern Mississippi.

Since then, ASU?s dress code has emphasized red more often, and the popular all-black scheme has faded. But it hasn?t been forgotten, and there is still an appreciation for it.
?It?s a game no matter what we wear and that?s what?s important,? ASU defensive back Marquette Williams said. ?The fans may love it, but we have to prepare and we have to do what we have to do to win another ballgame. But, yeah, it may give us a little rush of adrenaline right there at the first.?
No matter how long the adrenaline rush lasts or doesn?t, the Red Wolves have plenty of reasons to play and have had extra time to prepare. Arkansas State hasn?t played since beating Florida Atlantic on Oct. 23.
With 10 days between games, the Red Wolves have used their time wisely. They took three days off from practice to nurse injuries, get healthy and recharge mentally. They believe they?re rested, relaxed and ready for Middle Tennessee.
?I think the time off helped everybody,? Aplin said. ?Not with just everybody?s body, because everybody has been tired and sore, but it also gave us a few more days to get some more film study in and we took advantage of it.?
Williams agreed, saying it was good to take a break and come back sharp.
?Anytime you get some rest, it helps you out mentally,? Williams said. ?There?s a lot of wear and tear on your body, and a lot of wear and tear on your mind. We got a lot of rest, watched a lot of film, so yeah, it helped in a lot of ways.?



The Blue Raiders (3-4, 2-1) have won six of the last seven meetings in the series, although that one loss was a 31-14 setback in their last visit to Jonesboro. MTSU is also in the thick of the Sun Belt Conference race, with just one conference loss, and is hoping to make a strong finish to catapult past league-leader runner Troy and into the New Orleans Bowl.

Like Arkansas State, the Blue Raiders haven?t played in 10 days, either. They clobbered Louisiana-Monroe 38-10 in their last outing.
Roberts knows Middle Tennessee has the talent to leave ASU Stadium with a victory. He just hopes his team benefits the most from the extra time off.

?We?ll find out Tuesday night. There?s no way that it can hurt,? Roberts said. ?After playing eight games in a row, very physical games, with the wear and tear and all the practices leading up to those games, it?s great to have had a couple of days off.?

Time to find out how much it helped.

 

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Sun Belt stakes on line at ASU


Just as the Sun Belt Conference race widens, one contender could be virtually eliminated tonight.

MTSU (2-1 in Sun Belt) and Arkansas State (3-2 in Sun Belt) are among five teams separated by one loss in the league standings, after front-runners Troy (3-1) and Florida International (2-1) each suffered their first conference loss on Saturday.

MTSU and ASU face off today at 6 p.m. on ESPN2. On Monday's Sun Belt coaches teleconference, both coaches said their players recognize the added significance now on tonight's game.

"Our players know about it. We talked about it (Sunday)," MTSU coach Rick Stockstill said. "But Troy losing and FIU losing has no relevance on our football game. We can't worry about what Troy does because Arkansas State will be ready to play no matter what."

ASU coach Steve Roberts said he did not address the conference race with his team because the game's importance has not changed.

"I think if anything, it opens up the talk around the league," Roberts said. "Our players are aware of it ? that the two teams that didn't have a loss now have a loss. But I don't know if it changes anything for us. We still need to win to stay in it."

MTSU and ASU have both lost to Troy, but they play FIU in regular-season finales in back-to-back weeks.

Troy has won four straight Sun Belt titles, but two were shared with other teams. Despite already beating the Blue Raiders head-to-head, the Trojans are currently tied with FIU and MTSU in the loss column atop the standings.

Troy coach Larry Blakeney said he will watch tonight's game with a keen interest but he will not root for either team.

"We always have an interest in our conference, and everybody is still in it," Blakeney said. "Middle has one loss in the conference, and Arkansas State has two losses.

" ... But we need to take care of Troy. We're not pulling for someone to lose. That's not our motif."

FIU coach Mario Cristobal knows his team has a long way to go. His Golden Panthers have only one conference loss and a meeting with Troy on Nov. 13. But FIU (2-5 overall) must win at least four of its remaining five games to reach bowl eligibility.

MTSU (3-4 overall) and ASU (3-5 overall) are also chasing the six-win mark to get into bowl contention. Cristobal said he likely will not watch tonight's game.

"You really can't watch it if you're doing your job," Cristobal said. "We'll be watching film and preparing for our next game. We may catch a little bit of it during a break from a meeting, but we can't worry about those teams. We have to worry about ourselves.

"We felt all along that (the league race) would be tight down to the last week. (Last Saturday's games) just show that if you don't play your best, you will get beat on any given weekend in this conference."