Birmingham News
Thursday, September 09, 2004
MIKE PERRIN
News staff writer
The question is: Who will draw more attention tonight at Troy's Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium, Jill Arrington or Brad Smith?
One is a hotshot Heisman hopeful who holds the Missouri Tigers total offense record after only two seasons at quarterback. The other is, well, Jill Arrington.
The Trojans would like to keep Smith on the sidelines along with Arrington, who will be working the game on ESPN2 with Mike Tirico, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit when No.19 Missouri plays Troy in the 6 p.m. game.
It will be another game full of firsts for the three-year-old Division I-A Trojans.
It's the first time a nationally ranked team has visited Troy, the first time a team from a BCS conference has come to the Wiregrass and the first nationally televised game from the Trojans' stadium.
"There's going to be a great temptation for all of our folks to want to sit at home and watch it on TV," Troy coach Larry Blakeney said. "That's the easy way out and that's not what we need to happen. We need them to come and be on TV and be a part of it."
The televised showdown won't be Troy's first encounter with Smith. As a true freshman in 2002, Smith led the Tigers to a 44-7 win over the Trojans in Columbia. He threw for 213 yards and a touchdown, completing 18 of 34 passes, and ran for 137 yards and a score.
Smith, who came into this season averaging 108.2 yards a game rushing and 152.1 yards passing, lit up Troy's Sun Belt brother Arkansas State for 296 total yards and four touchdowns last week in a 52-20 win. Three of his scores came through the air.
Coach Gary Pinkel's 1-0 squad had six plays against Arkansas State for 20 yards or more - five of those for touchdowns.
"You've got to take your angles. Playing a guy like that you've got to find ways to slow him down, keep him from running," said preseason All-Sun Belt defensive end Demarcus Ware. "We need to make him make mistakes to help us on defense. We're going to blitz him to try to keep him off his feet so he can't get his composure back and hurt us."
Ware registered three of Troy's eight sacks in last weekend's 17-15 upset at Marshall in the season-opener.
Smith said Troy's swarming defense could force him into hurried judgments.
"You definitely have to be aware of them," Smith said, "and you've got to make quicker decisions. That's probably the big thing, to get the ball out and let the guys run with the ball."
Blakeney recalls one other quarterback he's seen with similar skills to the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Smith.
"The last guy like this we saw was (Steve) `Air' McNair," said Blakeney, remembering the former Alcorn State and current Tennessee Titans quarterback. "I said then he was Bo Jackson in quarterback's clothes.
"We didn't tackle him. If we can't tackle Brad Smith he can beat you throwing the ball and he can beat you running. He is a quality player and a guy we really have to concentrate on."
Blakeney hopes his quarterback, Aaron Leak, has recovered from an ankle injury he suffered on a 15-yard touchdown run on the third play of Saturday's win over Marshall.
"It really limited his effectiveness. It hurt him throwing the football, although he did make some good throws," Blakeney said. "It took the option out of the attack totally and took a lot of the boot game out, the misdirection passing game that we had open a couple of times.
"He's a tough guy and I hope he will take this and build on it and not relax on it. For us to have chance, he'll have to be better this week. I think he's the right kind of guy, though."
Thursday, September 09, 2004
MIKE PERRIN
News staff writer
The question is: Who will draw more attention tonight at Troy's Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium, Jill Arrington or Brad Smith?
One is a hotshot Heisman hopeful who holds the Missouri Tigers total offense record after only two seasons at quarterback. The other is, well, Jill Arrington.
The Trojans would like to keep Smith on the sidelines along with Arrington, who will be working the game on ESPN2 with Mike Tirico, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit when No.19 Missouri plays Troy in the 6 p.m. game.
It will be another game full of firsts for the three-year-old Division I-A Trojans.
It's the first time a nationally ranked team has visited Troy, the first time a team from a BCS conference has come to the Wiregrass and the first nationally televised game from the Trojans' stadium.
"There's going to be a great temptation for all of our folks to want to sit at home and watch it on TV," Troy coach Larry Blakeney said. "That's the easy way out and that's not what we need to happen. We need them to come and be on TV and be a part of it."
The televised showdown won't be Troy's first encounter with Smith. As a true freshman in 2002, Smith led the Tigers to a 44-7 win over the Trojans in Columbia. He threw for 213 yards and a touchdown, completing 18 of 34 passes, and ran for 137 yards and a score.
Smith, who came into this season averaging 108.2 yards a game rushing and 152.1 yards passing, lit up Troy's Sun Belt brother Arkansas State for 296 total yards and four touchdowns last week in a 52-20 win. Three of his scores came through the air.
Coach Gary Pinkel's 1-0 squad had six plays against Arkansas State for 20 yards or more - five of those for touchdowns.
"You've got to take your angles. Playing a guy like that you've got to find ways to slow him down, keep him from running," said preseason All-Sun Belt defensive end Demarcus Ware. "We need to make him make mistakes to help us on defense. We're going to blitz him to try to keep him off his feet so he can't get his composure back and hurt us."
Ware registered three of Troy's eight sacks in last weekend's 17-15 upset at Marshall in the season-opener.
Smith said Troy's swarming defense could force him into hurried judgments.
"You definitely have to be aware of them," Smith said, "and you've got to make quicker decisions. That's probably the big thing, to get the ball out and let the guys run with the ball."
Blakeney recalls one other quarterback he's seen with similar skills to the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Smith.
"The last guy like this we saw was (Steve) `Air' McNair," said Blakeney, remembering the former Alcorn State and current Tennessee Titans quarterback. "I said then he was Bo Jackson in quarterback's clothes.
"We didn't tackle him. If we can't tackle Brad Smith he can beat you throwing the ball and he can beat you running. He is a quality player and a guy we really have to concentrate on."
Blakeney hopes his quarterback, Aaron Leak, has recovered from an ankle injury he suffered on a 15-yard touchdown run on the third play of Saturday's win over Marshall.
"It really limited his effectiveness. It hurt him throwing the football, although he did make some good throws," Blakeney said. "It took the option out of the attack totally and took a lot of the boot game out, the misdirection passing game that we had open a couple of times.
"He's a tough guy and I hope he will take this and build on it and not relax on it. For us to have chance, he'll have to be better this week. I think he's the right kind of guy, though."
