The Statesmen can put the defending champions’ repeat chances in jeopardy with a win on Homecoming Saturday at Parker Field-McCool Stadium.
Valdosta State (5-2, 3-2) makes its longest drive of the season to Cleveland, Miss. as they try to bounce back from a 57-7 catastrophe to North Alabama – a third in-conference loss makes a chance of a South Region playoff berth slender.
Depending on the result of the No. 20 West Alabama/UNA game, Delta State (5-2, 3-1) could take the top spot in Gulf South Conference standings if they can record its third straight win over a struggling Blazer team.
The last meeting at DSU in 2011 ended with VSU quarterback Cayden Cochran sprawled out after being sacked on a crucial fourth down play that squandered a potential comeback drive in the final seconds.
Cochran lands an opportunity to revitalize himself from last week’s tribulations, and is also aiming to earn his first career win at DSU.
“It doesn’t matter who we play - we’re coming in here do or die,” Cochran said regarding the importance of the game. “It’s about going out and winning to make the playoffs. We only got one game left in our minds.”
The senior quarterback is still nursing a delicate right ankle injured a couple weeks ago. Nonetheless, he will start his eighth game of the season.
Coach Dean maintained at practice this week that his team has recently lacked the intangibles needed to succeed.
“The only thing I encourage them to do is to go out and play. Play this game like they want to play it, it’s like playing in the side yard. Get out there and have fun,” Dean said.
Dean credits senior wide receiver Reggie Lewis as a shining example of the kind of intensity he is craving from the Blazers.
It’s vital that the Blazers establish the running game that has elevated VSU to its prior wins.
UNA held VSU to a season-low 168 rushing yards last Saturday.
Similar to their previous opponents (UNA), the Statesmen operate a dual-quarterback system featuring junior starter Travis Champion and Tyler Sullivan.
Champion leads the Gulf South Conference in passing yards (1,628) and completion percentage (71.2)
“We’ve got to put pressure on the quarterbacks – that’s the thing we haven’t done in the last two games,” Dean said. “We get back there sometimes but don’t wrap up the quarterback. We got to play better pass defense. We’ve got to close the cushion.”
DSU’s defense is led by arguably the best pass rusher in the GSC, defensive end Diego Lubin.
The Statesmen are holding opponents to 32 points a game on average.
“I told them we start the first round of the playoffs today. They know it so we don’t have to put a lot of emphasis on it,” Dean said.
Note: DSU leads 17-13-1 in all-time meetings.
No comments:
Post a Comment
What do you think?