UPA Coyotes Dynasty NCAA 04

[SalamiGrease]

CARTER FUMBLES GAME AWAY

Defensive End Marquis Gardner forces a fumble during the 4th quarter.

Lamont Carter sat, head down on the sidelines, quietly sobbing to himself.

All year long, he had wanted and asked for more carries, never having more than 10 in a game. He came into the stadium ready to play.

But, by the end of the game, the young man had as many fumbles as he had yards. 2. And he had no one to blame but himself.

Let's go back to the beginning of the game: The teams traded three and outs, and then the UPA offense got in a rhythm and marched right down the field. However, Hector Morris was hit as he threw, and a Bull defender ran the ball 75 yards back to the Coyote 5. Buffalo's Aaron Leeper punched it in two plays later. 7-0.

The rest of the half was a defensive clinic. Or, depending on how you view it, a mutual agreement not to play disciplined offense. Morris rarely had more than 2 or 3 seconds to throw before being hit, and the Bulls run game was practically nonexistent. Both teams had little success, although another Coyote red-zone drive was squandered, as Kirk Caldwell dropped 2 consecutive passes on 3rd and 4th down.

With 16 seconds left after a field goal that had no prayer, however, the Coyotes decided to go for broke. And, for one second, something which had evaded the Coyotes seemingly all season came to their aid: good luck.

Flushed out of the pocket, Hector Morris fired a prayer up to Nate Morant (who had been shut down thus far.) A UB defender tipped it, and it looked like it was far out of anyone's reach. However, Michael Reyes, the Coyote's 5th receiver, made a spectacular play. Accelerating past his man, he slid and caught the ball just inches from the ground. The Coyotes seemed to have a chance, and after a Dominique Morant catch at the 12 they were able to get a field goal and go into the half with momentum.

Michael Reyes makes a highlight reel catch during the final seconds of the first half.

The second half, however, that good fortune and momentum came to a halt when Lady Luck herself entered the stadium. And, on this last Saturday, she was wearing blue and white.

The teams had more unspectacular football for most of the 3rd quarter, and then the Coyotes found their rhythm again. Right down the field. All pass plays. 10 yards to Morant. 15 to Russell. 12 to Caldwell. All the way to the 5.

And then, the three luckiest plays in Buffalo Bulls history commenced.

On a draw play up the middle, looking to take the lead on the 3rd redzone possession of the game, Lamont Carter fumbled the ball... after being tackled by the ankles. And, despite UPA blockers all being closer, a Buffalo safety fell on it to give them possesion.

The next play, Randall Secky floated a terrible pass towards the right side, right into the waiting hands of Austin Dukes. Time paused, as the receiver ran out of bounds and dukes stood there, hands poised to intercept, a sure pick 6...

And he dropped it.

But the greatest of the three plays was yet to come. Secky dropped back, and was hit by Irvin Erwin. By some miracle, he was able to stay up as he collided with his tackle, and launched a bomb to a wide-open man. A man who was only open, because Raleigh Sawyer had gotten tangled up with the flanker running a slant route, and tripped. After the catch, 2 UPA safties converged...

And were both shaken off at the same time.

95 yard touchdown pass.

The Coyotes tried coming back, but despite a field goal and a late touchdown to put the game within 7, 21-14, the Bulls were able to win because a certain Lamont Carter put the ball on the turf, and ran out the clock with a touchdown to end the game, 28-14. The Coyotes had a total of 7 red-zone possessions, and scored on only 3 of them.

Stay strong, UPA faithful. Purdue is up next. And the Coyotes are far from ready.

[SalamiGrease]

WEEK 5 TOP 25 POLL

[SalamiGrease]

UPA (0-4) vs #18 Purdue (3-0) Game Preview

This weekend’s matchup between the Boilermakers and Coyotes in West Lafayette should be a dominant win for Purdue and the. #2 defense in the nation. Should be being the key phrase. Purdue’s last contest was riddled with injuries, sidelining several key players including two quarterbacks, Kyle Orton and Brandon Kirsch, leaving redshirt freshman Kyle Smith to run the offense. He comes in at 58 OVR. The Boilermakers will have to rely on a banged-up offensive line (missing LG Matt Turner) and halfback Joey Harris to lead the team. The injuries don’t make it much easier for the Coyotes. While Hector Morris has amassed over 1300 yards on the year, that comes at the cost of being constantly forced to throw by terrible blocking and a historically bad run game. With Lamont Carter being benched, UPA will turn to Darrin Hernandez at running back. The Coyotes have shown they can move the ball against top-notch competition before, but actually scoring is a different matter, and Purdue’s defense is much more stringent than the Buffalo secondary the Coyotes went 3-for-7 in the red zone against last week. An upset is possible, but highly unlikely.

UPA’s keys to victory: Block well and don’t make mistakes in the pass game. Especially in the turnover department. If the Coyotes can have consistent success on offense, it’s likely that Kyle Smith will make a mistake at some point and put them in advantageous position.

Purdue’s keys to victory: Run over the defense. Limiting the amount they have to throw will allow them to wear down an already physically weak defense, and keep the ball in their possession.

[SalamiGrease]

WEEK 5 HEADLINES

SI Headline: Blanked!: Miami’s defense baffles rival Boston College on their way to a 41-0 win.

The LSU Tigers find themselves in a good position this week, being ranked 10th after beating undefeated SEC opponent Georgia. Death Valley was as loud as it ever was, and a late interception allowed the Tigers to hold off a Georgia 4th-quarter comeback. The Tigers set their eyes on an SEC championship, being far from the clear favorites, as they share the division with Auburn and Arkansas, both of whom are ranked and undefeated. Halfback Joseph Addai commented on this, expressing that they need to establish themselves offensively, and get in a rhythm early so that they don’t need to rely on the defense as much. “Those guys are great, don’t get me wrong” says Addai. “But offensively we’re going to be needing to put up 30, 40, 50 points a game against some of these stronger teams, because mistakes on our part will make it that much harder on the defense to stop the likes of Carnell Williams, Ingle Martin, Brodie Croyle, and all those other players we play on a yearly basis.

Michigan has fallen again, being limited to 6 points in the first 3 quarters before scoring a pair of touchdowns late in the 4th to make a 27-20 loss seem closer than it actually was. The program, which has not won a national title in decades despite plenty of top-tier talents who have spent their time there, will have to find a direction before the end of the season if they want to become serious B1G contenders in the future.

The top of the polls saw no movement, and the established powers look to have some serious clashes later on in the season. The Red River Rivalry will pit #1 vs #3 barring a massive upset, and the week before that Texas will take on Kansas State in another top-5 battle. Miami will have to play Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech down the line, and LSU/Auburn will have to face Alabama, Arkansas, Ole Miss and Florida. Expect the following weeks to whittle down the long list of contenders for the Natty this year.

[SalamiGrease]

#18 PURDUE DOMINATES COYOTES DESPITE INJURIES

A Purdue halfback hurdles a UPA defensive back in garbage time, to make the score 35-7.

Until the Coyotes learn how to play football in the red zone, they will not win a game. The bad execution inside the 20 continued, as Hector Morris overthrew an open Kirk Caldwell and Purdue got another pick to start the game. It was Morris' 8th pick of the season, not to mention the 8 his backup has thrown (mostly in garbage time or desperate situations.)

Purdue was much more ineffective offensively than other teams in the first half, as third-string QB Kyle Smith struggled to find his receivers early.

However, that didn't matter much once the hog-mollies up front started to push, and Purdue ran all over UPA. They roared out to a quick 14-0 lead, burning a lot of clock combined with long, slow Coyote drives which failed to yield any points.

Coach Goss spoke to the team at halftime, and really got them fired up. They marched right down the field and scored. However, Hector Morris' foot was injured on a late hit, and he was out for the rest of the game.

Backup Keenan Caldwell, brother of Kirk, led the team right down the field in wake of a Purdue 3-&-out, and they found themselves with a chance to tie the game.

But as with many previous picks on the season, the next one due to a tipped pass came in the opponent's territory, and turned what was supposed to be a close game into a rout. The Boilermakers kept on getting the ball, and elected to keep their starters in and throw rather than play conservatively.

The Coyotes had several opportunities to turn the game around, but could not come up with the big pick when it mattered, seen below. Smith looked like Tom Brady, firing passes perfectly and absolutely picking apart the defense.

Two sure interceptions result in big Purdue gains, during what was a defensive embarrassment for UPA last Saturday in West Lafayette.

From there, the Coyotes simply tried to run out the clock. They punted, Purdue drove and scored. The defense was helpless to stop the Boilermaker passing attack, which had all day to throw, even on blitzes.

When the final gun sounded, the score was 45-7.

Purdue continues its undefeated season, and hopes to continue its success in B1G play starting next week. The Coyotes will face easier opponents the rest of the way, hosting Temple next week.

Stay strong, Coyote fans, Morris returns next week, and the hardest team remaining is a subpar Wake Forest squad.

[SalamiGrease]

TEMPLE GAME PREVIEW

[SalamiGrease]

To anyone reading this thread, I’m more than likely going to end the dynasty.

I’ve been especially busy with school and family over the last couple of weeks, and while I have had some free time it has generally been devoted to other pursuits, mainly family and another much more fun dynasty I have been playing.

This dynasty’s main purpose was to revive an old team and to try and teach myself how to use the forum, and while I certainly have had fun, I’ve run into issues with time, memory card issues with the gamecube, and overall the difficulty was making it hard to enjoy. I’m okay with losing and all, but having to pass on every play and spam cover 3 to stay remotely competitive got old, and other difficulties I experimented with either made it too easy or didn’t really change anything.

If I try another dynasty on here, I’ll probably try to make it cleaner looking or make better use of the tools that OS has to offer. This one is especially ugly-looking compared to the others on here, and I have some new ideas which can’t really work with the simple, text-based style I’ve already set for this dynasty. (Hopefully no more Google Sheets top 25 images)

Anyway, it’s been fun and I hope to be back with a better dynasty at some point. Perhaps the Coyotes can get some Ws some other day, but they will lie dormant for now.