We made the short hike to the stadium and got to watch our boys warm up and see the Zips mascot arrive in a Humvee.
Admittedly, I arrived at the stadium with some concern and didn't really give my Runnin 'Bulldogs a serious chance to win this game. We have several significant injuries and it just didn't seem that we had the personnel to pull off an upset of an FBS team. Early in the game it seemed that my concerns were valid as GW really wasn't able to mount much of a challenge to the superior size presented by the Zips.
With returning star RB Patrick Hall still out with an injury, GW continued giving the ball to Juanne
Blount and Juanne did not disappoint. Juanne ran for 79 yds and 1 TD.
The coaching staff continues to rotate John Rock - #3 - and Chandler Browning - #12 -at the QB position:
Chandler had a very nice game and very likely put his name in the hat for Big South Freshman of the Week with his performance today [17 of 27 for 198 yds, 1 TD, 0 int.]. Not a bad day for a young fellow. He really shows a lot of poise for a kid who has only played 2 college football games.
While Chandler did have a good game, it does appear that our coaches will continue to play QB by committee for the foreseeable future as Chandler and John both shared the play-calling duties.
Nino Woolridge - #1 - got the first GW TD of the day.
Jamal Patmon caught a TD pass from John Rock as the 1st half came to an end and both teams headed to the locker room with Akron up 21 - 17.
Although GWU was 4 points behind, they had done a good job of keeping up with the Zips statistically during the 1st half. GW had 12 1st downs compared to Akron's 9. GW had 74 rushing yds and Akron had 77 rushing yds. GW had 114 passing yds and Akron had 102 with 1 int. Time of possession was evenly split at 15 minutes per side.
As the 2nd half got started, GW clearly wanted to win this game. It was clear that the big momentum changer was an obvious no call by the refs when a GW receiver was interfered with. Coach Patton really got fired up and let the ref have everything he was willing to give. If you know Coach Patton, you know that his language is pretty tame for a football coach. However, the GW players really seemed to feed off of Coach Patton's actions and they got fired up.
Bryce Nixon - #13 - was a major element of the defense's success. Nixon led the team with 9 total tackles, a fumble recovery, and a blocked extra point during the OT that ended up being the difference in the game.
It was a great day to be a Runnin' Bulldog fan. I'm thrilled that we got to play this game before Coach Ianello had coached the Zips more than 2 games. You can tell that they are going to get better as their season progresses. It appears that we caught them at just the right time.
By the same token, our Runnin' Bulldogs should get some much needed confidence with this win. I doubt many serious football fans gave us much of a chance in this game without the services of Marty Patterson and Jeffrey Williams.
Next Saturday, we host Western Carolina at Spangler Stadium. Promises to be a really good contest. We look forward to seeing the Cats in Boiling Springs next Saturday.
Go Runnin' Bulldogs!
