By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Sports Editor
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Last Saturday looked like vintage "Wyatt-bone" produced by the Bethune-Cookman’s offense.
With double-threat quarterback Jimmie Russell orchestrating the option attack as seamlessly as predecessors Allen Suber and Pa'tell Troutman and B-back Justin Brannon running effectively, the Wildcats rushed for 283 yards in a 31-17 victory over Jacksonville on Saturday.
Just don’t suggest to Bethune-Cookman head football coach Alvin Wyatt the performance marked a revival of his self-coined variation of the Wishbone and Ham-bone offense given how successfully the Wildcats’ passing game worked in last year’s 45-21 rout of Saturday’s 4 p.m. opponent South Carolina State.
"I don’t think it ever left us," said Wyatt about his offense on Tuesday . "We’ve averaged over 31 points a game last year and the year before that and the year before that and the year before that and the year before that and the year before that. So we’ve been putting up the points on the board.
"We kind of let down on our defense last year and I’ve made that perfectly clear with everybody. I was very satisfied with what we did offensively last year. We just had two injured quarterbacks and we had to do what we had to do. A guy with a hurt hand couldn’t get the ball from the center. We had a guy with a bad ankle that couldn’t pull away from the center. So, we knew the only way we could have success was try and throw the football.
With Russell hobbling, it was Jarrod Rucker who came off the bench to shred the Bulldogs’ secondary for 347 yards and five touchdowns. This happened after SCSU jumped out to a 14-0 advantage after capitalizing off two turnovers and containing the Wildcats’ ground game.
Should the same thing happen occur, Wyatt said Bethune-Cookman would resort to a similar strategy against an SCSU pass defense which had its difficulties defending Air Force’s mobile quarterback Shaun Carney.
"If we have to throw, we throw," he said. "If we have to run, we try to run the football. There’s no set thing. It’s whatever the defense gives us is how we’re going to react to the situation. So we ever come in saying we’re going to throw on these people or we’re going to run the football. Whatever the defense gives us, then that’s what we’re going to go from it."
Having a healthy Russell is important to the effectiveness of the "Wyatt-bone" attack. The reigning Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week rushed for 114 yards and three touchdowns, matching his entire total from last season, and was 7 of 19 passing for 103 yards and no picks.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Last Saturday looked like vintage "Wyatt-bone" produced by the Bethune-Cookman’s offense.
With double-threat quarterback Jimmie Russell orchestrating the option attack as seamlessly as predecessors Allen Suber and Pa'tell Troutman and B-back Justin Brannon running effectively, the Wildcats rushed for 283 yards in a 31-17 victory over Jacksonville on Saturday.
Just don’t suggest to Bethune-Cookman head football coach Alvin Wyatt the performance marked a revival of his self-coined variation of the Wishbone and Ham-bone offense given how successfully the Wildcats’ passing game worked in last year’s 45-21 rout of Saturday’s 4 p.m. opponent South Carolina State.
"I don’t think it ever left us," said Wyatt about his offense on Tuesday . "We’ve averaged over 31 points a game last year and the year before that and the year before that and the year before that and the year before that and the year before that. So we’ve been putting up the points on the board.
"We kind of let down on our defense last year and I’ve made that perfectly clear with everybody. I was very satisfied with what we did offensively last year. We just had two injured quarterbacks and we had to do what we had to do. A guy with a hurt hand couldn’t get the ball from the center. We had a guy with a bad ankle that couldn’t pull away from the center. So, we knew the only way we could have success was try and throw the football.
With Russell hobbling, it was Jarrod Rucker who came off the bench to shred the Bulldogs’ secondary for 347 yards and five touchdowns. This happened after SCSU jumped out to a 14-0 advantage after capitalizing off two turnovers and containing the Wildcats’ ground game.
Should the same thing happen occur, Wyatt said Bethune-Cookman would resort to a similar strategy against an SCSU pass defense which had its difficulties defending Air Force’s mobile quarterback Shaun Carney.
"If we have to throw, we throw," he said. "If we have to run, we try to run the football. There’s no set thing. It’s whatever the defense gives us is how we’re going to react to the situation. So we ever come in saying we’re going to throw on these people or we’re going to run the football. Whatever the defense gives us, then that’s what we’re going to go from it."
Having a healthy Russell is important to the effectiveness of the "Wyatt-bone" attack. The reigning Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week rushed for 114 yards and three touchdowns, matching his entire total from last season, and was 7 of 19 passing for 103 yards and no picks.
More important for Wyatt was how Russell’ play enabled first-time B-back starter Brannon to also rush for over 100 yards.
"When he’s healthy, he’s Suber and Pa'tell-like and he’s healthy right now and hopefully, that can continue through the course of the season," Wyatt said. "He had an outstanding choice as far as passing with no interceptions. Running the football, he had no fumbles. He rushed for over 115 yards, had three touchdowns and set up Justin Brannon, our first-time starter at the B-back position where he was able to get 100 yards also rushing. So we had two, 100-yard rushers and Jimmie was a huge part of that as well as that offensive line and the other guys who were on the field at that time."
Those "other guys" included senior wide receiver Paul Neufville, who was just cleared to play by the NCAA following a medical redshirt last season during which he had six catches for 92 yards against SCSU. Defensively, the Wildcats rebounded from a slow start to hold the Dolphins to 69 rushing yards and got a key interception return for a touchdown from defensive end Dennis King.
Preseason MEAC Defensive Player of the Year Bobbie Williams also had an interception, the 14th for his career, and Brendon Odom had a team-high 10 tackles.
"I just take my hats off to those kids simply because we played without five starters and a second guy who would have played a tremendous amount of football on Saturday and we had a lot of newcomers out there and I thought we did an outstanding job. Defensively, once we got on track, they hit us early with a pass that gave them the lead. But we came back and fought back and we shut them down and played well from then on."
Saturday’s matchup marks the renewal of a ‘"rivalry" between head coaches Wyatt and SCSU’s Oliver "Buddy" Pough. Since Pough made comments about how hard it is taking Wyatt seriously given his flashy flair for fashion back in 2002, the two have engaged in gamesmanship both on the field and during press conferences.
Most recently at the MEAC preseason luncheon, Wyatt once again played up the fact that SCSU is a public-supported school with more resources available at its disposal than private-school Bethune-Cookman.
"I enjoy Alvin," said Pough during Monday’s press conference. "He’s funny. I’m sure he’s got all kinds of reasons for all of the things that he does and most of them must work because he’s been very, very successful. What we need to do is maybe emulate some of his more desirable characteristics."
"They have a great football team," said Wyatt about SCSU. "They have great speed. They’re picked to finish number one in the conference. They had an outstanding game against Air Force. They always play tough football, of course, MEAC football is tough anyway. But it’s a rivalry-type atmosphere with these two teams. They really go at each other and it can set the tone for both teams for the season. We’re looking forward to them coming here to Daytona Beach and we know that we have to be at the top of our game. It’s going to be tough competition.and we’re just going to go out there and we’re going to compete and the best team in the end will come out to win the football game."
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