No Time For Debate

Craig Turner
Bluedeathvalley.com
Sept. 22, 2009

Coaches are always saying that good football teams have to come mentally prepared to play each week so that when breaks do come their way they can take advantage of them.

This past weekend both A&T and Hampton had their chances offensively from turnovers. Hampton took advantage of theirs. A&T did not in a 24-14 loss at home to the Pirates Saturday night.

The fact of the matter is that the Aggies blew three chances early in this contest to get some points and a little breathing room but suffered a fumble deep in Pirate territory and were stopped on a fourth and short on another possession, all in the first quarter.

A&T played fairly good defense most of the night with the exception of blown coverage on Florida State transfer Damon McDaniel’s 68-yard touchdown catch and run. A perfectly placed deep throw from All-MEAC quarterback Herb Bynes against a full blitz resulted in another McDaniel touchdown and a 14-7 Hampton lead just before halftime.

Although it may not have seemed like it, the A&T defense did adjust the coverage at halftime and held the Pirates to only a field goal in the second half to stay within striking distance.

The lack of offense was the single damning culprit in this first loss of the season.

Those three key missed offensive sets in the first quarter most likely cost the Aggies a real chance at pulling off a major upset against the much larger, deeper, and more explosive Pirates. The Aggies again had another shot of taking back the momentum but literally threw it away with an interception on its first play of offensive play of the second half after the defense forced a Hampton fumble on their first series.

This was a classic case of “coulda, woulda, and shoulda” as A&T suffered a major case of missed opportunities both early and late. This game marked the return of A&T’s old ways of committing turnovers at the wrong place at the wrong time. And while A&T fanned on its chances, the Pirates took full advantage of theirs, converting 3-of-4 turnovers into three touchdowns and that was the difference in the end.

Even though the Aggies dropped their first game of the season, they did play hard and well in spots. But against a team as talented as Hampton, an underdog simply cannot continue to turn the ball over or go without capitalizing near the red zone area when handed a gift.

After the first quarter, the A&T offense was stagnant much of the night. Now Hampton had a lot to do with that with a defense buoyed by a shipload full of huge Division One transfers up front and at linebacker. The Pirates controlled the line of scrimmage from the middle of the second quarter on and that shut the door on just about everything the Aggies attempted to do.

Inconsistency at the quarterback position was also something that bogged down the offense. There were errant passes, misreads, and just plain unforced errors. A&T’s offensive line did not help the situation with missed blocking assignments in the running game and A&T’s receivers dropped several passes before a another turnover gave Hampton a quick “pick six” interception midway in the fourth quarter to ice the game away.

So now what? How will A&T react to this loss? Will there be a change in quarterbacks this week? And will there be a change in the offensive attack to try to generate more ball movement, give the defense some rest, and become less predictable?

Well the first thing is that the A&T offensive line play must turn up it’s game a couple of notches from here on out because only one non conference game remains to fine tune themselves before the Aggies hit the conference schedule full tilt. There are no more test drives to be taken after this week.

Second, a real quarterback competition will take place this week in practice, as incumbent Carlton Fears did not exactly get a ringing endorsement of his play through three games from Head Coach Alonzo Lee.

“We weren’t getting the ball moving,” Lee said afterwards. “We really feel like we could have been, even in these last two games, more productive. When you’re not pushing the ball, you’re not moving the ball, you have to give your young guys an opportunity.”

And with that quote Lee will probably give ample opportunity this week to highly-regarded true freshman Lewis Kindle against Coastal Carolina.

Yes, Kindle did throw an interception that Pirates took back as mere five yards for the clinching points. But to be fair to the Atlanta, GA product, being given your first snap of your collegiate career from the two yard line, trailing 17-7 in the fourth quarter, and having a bad play call to boot is not the ideal situation for any quarterback, let alone a freshman.

What Kindle does bring to the table is a pocket quarterback’s mentality, a gifted deep arm and great touch passing skills. What he doesn’t have and it will be something that Lee must have accepted before making this move, is his lack of collegiate experience.

So why put him in now versus staying with Fears a little longer you may ask? It’s about three reasons really.

First, A&T has to have a moderate to deep vertical passing threat that must be respected. Kindle provides that kind of arm. Second, Lee is looking down the road knowing that Kindle will most likely be his main quarterback in the future and for lee the future is now, not a year from now. Third, this football team has the potential to actually be a real force somewhere this season and set a foundation for the future. However, the offense has to start moving right now for that to happen and Lee is determined not to allow his first season fall into the all too familiar trend of “oh well, wait until next year.”

Aggies fans need only look back at the last three years where a coach has held on too long to a veteran who was having difficulty for whatever reason. You could turn on the Carolina Panthers the last two Sundays and see the same scenario being played out on the pro level. However, unlike John Fox, it appears Lee is not going to wait on things to change on their own. Like it or not, he is making a decision and a move right away to get his offense on track.

Be it for better or worse, one thing you have to say about “The General,” if you’re not producing he will find someone who will. A&T fans will have to be patient and temper some of their moans and groans over youth and get used to it.

I’ll say this for sure. There is going to be some real interesting football played this upcoming weekend down in Myrtle Beach.