Cortland Gridiron Report: Week 4

Coach MacNeill looks for better execution and “no regrets” heading into the first road game of the season. (Photo's Courtesy of Dan Padavona and Buffalo Athletics)

Q: The Cortland Red Dragons suffered their first NJAC loss since October 27^th, 2007 against The College of New Jersey, falling 24-10 to the Kean Cougars. What did you tell your team after the game?

A: My first priority was to make sure I was talking out of intelligence. I hadn’t seen the final statistics of the game, but I could tell the team my impressions based off my instincts. One of the main things that stood out in my mind was that penalties became a huge stumbling block. We lost a touchdown run due to a holding penalty. This led to our offense leaving more than a few plays on the field last week. We did things defensively that we never do by giving up over 150 yards rushing. The biggest regret is allowing a team to beat you because we beat ourselves out there. We had too many mental errors and we just didn’t execute our game plan. I’m not taking anything away from Kean. They played a great game, but we felt that we just simply didn’t play to our ability. We had to go back and look at our game plan. We also told the players that if they had a question with the game plan going into the game to make sure they asked us.

Q: The Red Dragons threw for 183 passing yards compared to the Cougars 136. The Cougars had 17 first downs to the Red Dragons 16. The time of possession was even for both clubs at 30 minutes, but the Cougars outrushed the Red Dragons. The Cougars had 159 yards on 39 carries to the Red Dragons 68 yards on 30 carries. Are there any adjustments that can be made at practice to help establish a more effective running game this week verse Buffalo State?

A: The running game is there for us after we looked at the tape. Will Loeb has a long touchdown run, but the penalty brought it back. We also had our quarterback take a few sacks that set us back quite a bit. It put the offense into long second and third down type situations. That also affected our running game. The 68 yards rushing tells a tale, but it doesn’t tell everything. We are just simply not finishing plays offensively when it comes to the running game. It comes down to just executing. From a defensive standpoint we take pride in stopping the run. We made it easier on Kean by not effectively stopping the run. This also adds to the “regret” after the game that you can’t get back after a loss. The defense just needs to execute the game plan and finish plays as well.

Q: In his first career start junior quarterback Hudson Woodward went 20 for 39 with 183 yards passing with one touchdown throw and three interceptions. What were your thoughts on Woodward’s first start for the Red Dragons?

A: I thought Hudson did a great job in his first start. Hudson knows that he can’t throw three interceptions if we expect to win games. There were a few sacks that we took as an offense that could have been avoided if the ball was just thrown away. If that occurs we may have stayed away from the long second and third down type situations. That may have prevented a few of those interceptions that Hudson had. The plan was not to leave Hudson with a fourteen point deficit going into the fourth quarter. We weren’t hitting on all cylinders as offense like we in the past few weeks. I believe once the offense gets back into a grove that Hudson will be even more effective.

Q: The Red Dragons defense held the Cougars to one touchdown in the second half. The only touchdown coming on a Tom D”Ambrisi two-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter. The defense seemed to keep fighting in the second half despite the struggles of the offense. What does this speak of in the character of this football team?

A: The effort in the second half showed that no question this team has heart. This game was up in the air late into the fourth quarter. Our team wants to be championship caliber. The effort is there. I believe for us to take that next step we need to execute our game plan effectively and not leave as many plays on the field. We can’t afford to do that this week.

Q: After the three game homestead the Red Dragons travel to Buffalo State this Saturday for their first road game this season. Buffalo State is coming off a 37-26, homecoming victory over Western Connecticut State last weekend. The Bengals are 1-2 overall with a 1-1 record in the NJAC. What are the keys to victory in this game coming off a tough loss last weekend?

A: The big key this week is to get back on track as the cliché goes. Some teams can even go off track even when their winning and everything is going right. Our football team once again needs to get back to executing in the matter we are capable of. It won’t matter who we play and where we put the ball. It never has for me as a head coach. We have a winning culture on this team.

Q: Cortland defeated Buffalo State in the home opener last season in week four, 35-14. Bengals backup quarterback Kenny Murphy relieved Jeremy Mountain and went four for nine passing with 1 touchdown throw. Do you feel that the Red Dragon defense is more prepared coming into this game already seeing some game action of Murphy from last season?

A: I do agree that our defense feels more comfortable, but the offense has a totally different scheme. The offense is now running more out of a two running back, eye-formation set. This is something we need to prepare immensely for. We’ll have to see what the best fit is for our defense this week. Offensively we will be looking at a three down linemen type of look from the Buffalo State defense. It always is a challenge week-to-week in preparing for a different scheme. The head coach of Buffalo State is one of my best friends and he was the best man at my wedding. There will be some extra sentiment for this game because of my relationship with the head coach of the Bengals.

Q: Last week Bengals senior running back William Hordge rushed for 121 yards on 26 carries with three touchdowns. Hordge has rushed 258 yards in three games this season on 48 carries. He is averaging 5.4 yards per carry. How important is it defensively early on to set a tone and shut down Hordge forcing the Bengals to throw the ball?

A: We simply have to limit their running attack this week or our team will be in for a long game this week. Buffalo State is power running football team and we have always taken pride in stopping the run. Our mission from day one is to stop the run defensively and we take pride in that.

Q: Finally we saw the Red Dragon defense unveil a new defensive lineup moving cornerback Joe Lopez over to free safety replacing Jamell Scott as Chad Stalter moved into the cornerback position. Is Jamell Scott injured or are we seeing the Red Dragons try out some new pages defensively in the secondary?

A: Jamell Scott is not hurt in any way. Jamell unselfishly went to the offensive side of the ball last week due to our situation at the quarterback position. We are now very limited on the depth chart at quarterback. The coaching staff is not exactly sure if Jamell Scott will be a short or long term solution on offensive. We are still looking at all our options. The biggest thing to note is that Jamell is real warrior and the value he has on our team. Jamell is sacrificing his starting position to do whatever is best for the team. We were 2-0 with Scott in the secondary and we lost last week. The loss could affect the outlook on our decision making process with keeping him on offense.

The Cortland Gridiron Report can be heard in its entirety every Monday from 6-8 on “Into the Fire” on WSUC 90.5 FM (Cortland.edu/wsuc) and also seen at www.cortlandfootball.com.