2018 Football Recap

[mat1992 2,228]

The 2018 football season ended with a 34-10 loss in the first round of the FCS Playoffs to Duquesne, but how did they get there? How did the Tigers go from a 5-6 mediocre-at-best squad to a much-improved playoff team?

Before the season Rob Ambrose said in order to make the playoffs in 2018 , "We have to stay healthy. We have to secure who we are up front defensively in the run game. We have to develop a better run game and protect the damn football. You take Ryan's (Stover) seven turnvovers in seven plays between Richmond and Villanova and it's an entirely different season just because of that. Turnovers, especially at the quarterback position, and securing that front on both sides of the ball is key. The talent is there. This group, their team chemistry, is as good as I've seen it in five years. It's not about the injuries, it's how we responded. We almost beat Elon and beat Delaware, two ranked teams."

One thing I remembered to do was go back to my first practice report in August. There was very little interest in the team back then even though I said Tom Flacco "looks the best. He has great touch, strong arm and hits a receiver in stride just about every time. There's a reason why he was at Western Michigan and Rutgers had some interest in him. Threw a couple of really nice fade passes around goal line. Is also athletic but glad to see he didn't take off too much."

I couldn't tell that he was that fast was that because quarterbacks aren't allowed to get hit during practice. Once the season started, he was even more than I'd thought he'd be. A quarterback who could extend plays as well as any quarterback in the history of the program, with the speed of a top-flight wide receiver and the touch of a Dan Crowley, Sean Schaefer and Grant Enders. Some of his flaws would show later in the season, but without Flacco, Towson is probably back to their 5-6 ways. That's despite the fact of the improvement of sophomore Ryan Stover, who was used sparingly in a wildcat formation.

Let's go over a few of the highlights and lowlights from every game this season.

Battle of Baltimore: at Morgan State, 36-10 (Win)
So I know you've seen it before. Towson starts out a season with a crucial turnover on special teams. Well, at least it seems that way. Poor Coby Tippett, the true sophomore who did get plenty of reps as a returner last season, tried to catch a ball inside the 5-yard line and fumbled it. Next thing you know, MSU gets the recovery and is 7-0 Bears. Unfortunately for Tippett, he rarely saw the field again, at least not on punt returns. There was also another issue and that's reliance on field goal kicker Aidan O'Neill, who kicked two short field goals in tnhe first half after stalled dries. 

But Flacco and the offense settled down and it was 17-7 at the half and 36-10 by the end. Flacco threw for 245 yards with two TDs and a pic. He was also sacked four times. Kobe Young ran for 66 yards and a score. Diondre Wallace led the Tigers with an interception and a sack.

at Wake Forest, 51-20 (loss)
This was a close game early on as Towson tied the score at 14-14 on a Flacco to Shane Simpson, 8-yard TD pass. But it was pretty much over in the second quarter as as the Demon Deacs ran up 24 points, including two punt returns for TDs from Greg Dortch. Flacco threw for 345 yards with three TDs and a pick, but was also sacked five times. The defense allowed 340 rushing yards and 242 passing yards. The game was also delayed by nearly an hour due to a lightning delay.

at Villanova, 45-35 (Won)
This was the game that may have turned the program back around. Villanova came in as the 10th ranked team in the nation after beating FBS Temple and they got up 14-0 on the Tigers, before Towson went on a 35 unanswered points. The biggest play of the season took place with 29 seconds left in the first quarter. Junior running back Yeedee Thaenrat thumped Jalen Jackson on the kickoff return and Troy Vincent Jr. scooped up the fumble, scoring from 14-yards out to allow the Tigers to take the 21-14 lead. The Tigers scored two more TDs, including a run by Thaenrat and led 35-14. Villanova cut the lead to seven twice in teh second half but the Tigers scored 10 more points and that was enough for the win.

While that run was incredible, the defense had several awful breakdowns, allowing 389 yards in the air but just 101 on the ground. Flacco threw for 320 with three TDs and another pick. The running game picked it up with 208 yards.

The Citadel, 44-27 (Won)
After a bye, the Tigers took on an option team in The Citadel. Towson jumped on them, getting out to a 31-10 lead and never really looked back. The Citadeal ran for 341 yards but passed for just 63. Flacco threw for 253 with 2 TDs and one pick. He also ran for 185 yards and two TDs. The rushing mark for a quarterback was obliterated by Flacco. Connor Frazier set the record with 132 in 0-at Elon (the rain game). 

Stony Brook, 52-28 (Won)
Towson's next big test took place at home against No. 13 Stony Brook. The Tigers jumped out to a 21-0 lead and then the Seawolves cut the lead to 21-14 before the Tigers scored two more touchdowns to end the half and lead 35-14. Flacco had another brilliant game with 319 yards passing with four TDs and a pick. He also hit his roommate tight end Chris Clark with two TD passes. 

William & Mary, 29-13 (Won)
This was a game where some of the warts were starting to show. Towson came back from being down 13-10 at the half to outscore the Tribe, 19-0 in the second half. But W&M was able to slow down Flacco,playing more coverage and sending three and four. He threw for just 188 yards and was sacked three times. He did run for 109 yards and the Tiger ran for 255 overall. Defensively, Towson was excellent, holding the Tribe to just 233 yards of offense. Or course, who can forget Jabari Allen's incredible one-handed catch.

at Albany, 56-28 (Won)
Towson rolled in this one, outscoring the Great Danes, 38-21 at the half. But they gave up two long passes from Vinny Testaverde to Juwan Green in the first half. The secondary went from a strength to a concern, mainly at safety, where juco transfer Mantriel Reaves was having his issues. Flacco had a good but not great performance. He had 306 yards passing with two TDs but also had two picks and was sacked twice. He had 95 yards rushing. Shane Leatherbury had a huge game with 7 catches for 114 yards and a TD.

at Delaware (40-36 loss)
The beginning when things began to unravel. Towson brought a 6-1 record to cold and rainy Newark. Delaware needed the game more but the Tigers jumped out to a 18-6 halftime lead. They were helped out by two horrific long snaps on punts by Skyler Korinek, two missed extra points and a fumbled kick return by Dejoun Lee. They were only up 28-13 with 7:51 left in the third quarter before the Hens scored three straight touchdowns in to take a 33-28 lead. Flacco led them right down the field and Simpson finished with a 11-yard run to give the Tgiers a 36-33 lead with 2:01 left. But the Tigers' defense couldn't finish it and a long kickoff return put the Hens in position to win it. Delaware needed just five plays to score from 3-yard out with 30 seconds left for a 40-36 lead But Simpson gave Towson one more chance with a long kickoff return. Flacco once again put the Tigers in position but a Brent Richardson drop in the end zone with 4 seconds left helped stall the drive. 

Maine (35-28 loss)
Homecoming came to Towson with first-place on the line. Not your typical Homecoming game. The so-called "hangover effect" from the Delaware game may have been effect in the first half when Towson got behind, 21-7. Towson couldn't stop WR Earnest Edwards, who caught two TDs passes and gave up a 64-yard TD run from Ramon Jefferson (against 3-man front). The Tigers battled back to tied it at 28-28 on a Flacco short pass to Simpson with 10:14 left in the game. Even though the defense came on strong in the second half, they couldn't stop Chris Ferguson and the Black Bears. Jefferson ran it in from 6-yards out with 6:29 left to give them the 35-28 final score. But of course, Flacco drove them downfield again, this time with four tries inside the 10. Towson had the ball at the Maine 2 but Simpson was stopped on a fake-reverse and that was ballgame. It came down to one more win for Towson to get to 7, which at the time, didn't appear to be an automatic playoff berth.

at No. 5 Elon (38-17 Win)
Let's face it, Elon was not one of the five best teams in the nation. Not without their starting quarterback and running back. But they had managed to remain in the top 5 due to their shocking win over James Madison on the road. Towson stepped up in the clutch and dominated this game, especially in the second half, scoring 27 points to win 41-10. With a mediocre passing game, the Tigers had to stop the run or at least slow it down and they held the Phoenix to 208 yards rushing and 243 overall. Backup quarterback Jalen Greene was held to 30 yards passing and was sacked three times. Flacco had 326 yards passing with three TDs and one pick. Allen had a big game receiving with 9 catches for 143 yards, while Leatherbury scored twice.

Regular season finale
No. 7 James Madison (38-17)
Towson had seven wins going into the JMU game. A win and the Tigers had a chance to earn a bye (but probably not as it turned out). JMU was also hoping to get that bye and just outclassed the Tigers at Unitas Stadium, outscoring them 24-10 at the half and 14-7 in the second half for the 38-17 win. This time, the secondary wasn't to blame. It was the front seven that gave up helped contribute to allowing 395 yards rushing including 100 yards apiece to Cardon Johnson, Trai Sharp and quarterback Ben DiNucci. Flacco threw for 372 yards with two TDs but was sacked four times. Towson ran for 143 yards had spent just three times in the red zone, scoring twice. They had 515 yards of offense but just 17 points to show for that. The league's top offense had issues finishing drives and it showed against the Dukes and to a lesser extent Delaware and Maine.

FCS Playoffs first round Duquesne (31-10 loss)

Let's face it, nobody saw this coming, even in the torrential downpour. Not even Duquesne, but give the Dukes credit. They didn't fold when they were down 10-0 on the road and a Simpson fumble at the 1 with Towson likely going up 17-0, turned the game around. In the second half, up 10-3, the rain came down harder as seen in the video, though that was mid-second quarter when O'Neill made a 26-yarder. Flacco was held to 127 yards on 10-of-33 and was sacked four times. Receivers had trouble hanging onto the ball and some passes were way off target. But to Duquene's credit, they took advantage. Daniel Parr completed just six passes but one went for 71 yards ona screen where A.J. Hines basically went untouched. The 225-pound Hines had 28 carries for 175 yars in a T-West-type performance. The Dukes ran for 282 yards in a game where you really couldn't pass. Run defense? Non-existent for the second straight week. The longest run was 48 yards by Daquan Worley but the average per carry was 5.5 yards and if ou are giving up 250 yars on 36 carries to the top two runners, something is wrong.

Let's take a look at the good, bad, and ugly in terms of seasonal stats.

The bad?
Red zone offense. At least considering the talent on offense and production, this should have been much better. Towson scored touchdowns just 54% of the time compared to 69% for the opponent. That was an upgrade over last season with Ryan Stover at the helm when they scored 43% of the time on TDs and 69% FGs or TDs, allowing the opponent to score 79%. Overall, they ranked sixth in the CAA out of 12 teams in terms of scoring on 78.5% (also FGs). The red zone defense ranked last in the CAA (12th), allowing 88.1 percent, including 29 TDs (tied for last). They ranked just eighth in sacks with 22 in 12 games and tied for ninth with 35 sacks allowed.

The ugly?
Passing defensive efficency ranked 10th (129.3) and rushing defense was horrendous. It didn't start out that bad so this was a bit misleading after allowing over 600 yards in their last three games but they finished last in rushing defense (187.2ypg) and last in total defense (389.5ypg). Compare it to last season when they gave up 169.6 ypg on the ground and just 187ypg in the air. So they gave up 32 yards more per game this season, maybe playing JMU added to those defensive issues and losing Kaniya Anderson, who had nine sacks didn't help. They were also last in opponent third down conversions at 40.5%. 

The good?
The offense. Especially Flacco, who led the Tigers to the No. 2 scoring offense in the CAA (34.5ppg), No. 3 rushing offense (190ypg), No. 1 passing offense (275ypg), No. 3 in pass efficiency, and No. 1 total offense (465ypg). Special teams also improved as the Tigers ranked fifth in kickoff returns thanks to Simpson (22ypr, 1 TD), 6th in punt returns (6.3ypr), 6th in punts (40.1ypp, 34.8net), 2nd in kickoff coverage (41.5 net rating). Even though they ranked next-to-last in attendance, averaging 8,565, that was much better than last season when they averaged 5,376.

The other positives included individual honors. Flacco was named CAA Offensive Player of the Year as he averaged 270.9 yards per game passing, ranked third in pass efficiency and first in total offense (332.8ypg). Simpson ranked eighth in rushing per game with 59.2ypg, while Flacco ranked seventh with 61.8. He also ranked tied for fourth in scoring per game with 6.0 and first in all-purpose yards per game with 171.5. Leatherbury ranked third in yards per game receiving with 73.8 and second in receptions per game with 5.6. Allen ranked 7th in receptions per game (4.33) and 9th with 62 yards per game.

Defensively, junior LB Robert Heyward led the Tigers with 99 tackles, adding two forced fumbles and 10.5 TFls with 1.5 sacks. Senior LB Diondre Wallace added 89 tackles and two forced fumbles with a sack. Sophomore DE Bryce Carter led the 6.5 sacks and 14 TFls with 52 tackles. Senior backup DE Grant Udinski added 4.5 sacks and three forced fumbles. Junior transfer DE Ricky DeBerry added 2.5 sacks, four QB hurries, one fumble recovery, and 34 tackles.

In terms of CAA honors, Simpson was named to the first team offense along with Leatherbury, Flacco, PK Aidan O'Neill and RT Matt Kauffman. All are juniors aside from Kauffman, who will graduate and possibly get a look at the next level. Simpson was also named Special Teams Player of the Year and second team Kick returner and third-team All-Punt returner. Heyward was named second-team All-Defense and Wallace was named to the third team. Sophomore guard Aaron Grzymkowski was named to the third team and junior running back Yeedee Thaenrat was named third-team Specialist.

That brings us back to the spring and next season. Towson doesn't have major holes to fill on offense. All players are expected to return expect for Kauffman at right tackle, RG Zane Ventemiglia and slot receiver Sam Gallahan, who graduate. RT Josh Diaz (6-5, 301) was the backup this year to Kauffman and will be a sophomore. Freshman Alex Desire (6-5, 291) doesn't have experience but they could move him to the right side.  It will be interesting in the spring how the depth works out because Desire was the only recruit on the roster. Cole Cheripko (6-4, 285) is the likely starter at right guard after starting twice for an injured Ventemiglia this season. He's athletic and could be a great one, considering he was an FBS-type of recruit before choosing his brother Drew's school. Another possibility is moving John Mullins (6-4, 290) to offensive tackle to add depth. Mullins has struggled on the DL and did not even make the rotation as a r-freshman, even when there were injuries.

At receiver, Towson returns Leatherbury and Allen, who are coming off fantastic seasons. Gallahan was solid, with 35 catches for 458 yards. Brent Richardson is a redshirt junior (thought he could get another year due to injury). He had 28 catches for 353 yards and two TDs. He could be the slot guy, though he needs to become more consistent. Ryan Rutkowski (6-2, 200)could see more time but they really need to implement speedsters Rodney Dorsey (5-9, 180), who didn't play this season due to injuries and Chris Greaves (5-11, 185), who played sparingly. Both can run and will be sophomores assuming Dorsey gets a redshirt this season although the stat sheet has him with two catches in six games so that would rule him out. The mystery man is upcoming senior Jabari Greenwood, who caught just 7 passes for 61 yards in 7 games after leading the team the previous season with 50 catches. 

They also have a big freshman greyshirt in Daniel Thompson (6-3, 210) along with another tall Virginia receiver in Logan Justice (6-3, 191), who could be in the mix in the spring. Thompson is a hellacious blocker and could be a red-zone threat. Freshman D'Argo Hunter (5-6, 165) is diminutive but explosive.

At running back, Towson should be ok with Simpson, sophomore Kobe Young (455 yards, 3 TDs) and Thaenrat (250 yards, 5 TDs), who will be a senior next season The could use another big back heavier than the 215-pound Yeedee, either as a freshman or transfer. Adrian Platt (5-7, 191) missed the entire season with an injury and will be r-sophomore. Freshman Sean Bryan (5-7, 175) sat out this season.

At tight end, the Tigers lose seniors Joe Green, Zach Herron and TE/QB/HB Ellis Knudson. Bryce Perkins (6-2, 263) is back as the blocking tight end/fullback and freshman Colin Hirschmann (6-6, 235) sat out to bulk up. The key will obviously be the return of super-talented but oft-injured and well-travelled Chris Clark (6-5, 255) and r-freshman Myles Wright (6-2, 246), who has seen very limited time this season. Clark played in nine of the 12 games and caught 17 passes for 199 yards with four TD. They need him to play more and become more of a part of the passing game, especially in the red zone.

Now for the biggest concern on the team and that's the defensive line. This spring, if they do not bring in a transfer, they will be extremely thin on the line, especially at tackle with Zain Harps-Upshur and Niquekko Cook graduating. There are also concerns with sophomore Tibo Debaille (played just two games) and his back, so he might be out of the picture. So the only players returning at tackle with experience at tackle are sophomores Sam Gyeni (12 tackles)and Tommy Danagogo (2 tackles). D2 transfer Vinny Shaffer (6-0, 290) will be in the mix but they have to add at least two transfer DTs and probably a DE.

Malik Tyne (31 tackes, 3 sacks, 6QBH) also returs. He's more of rotational DE/OLB, while Carter should be a starter. What they need is a pure pass rusher. Freshman Bryce Lauer (6-3, 243) and Prince Ukpai (6-3, 240) will get looks in the spring after redshirting this year.

That's assuming they move Deberry to linebacker to replace Wallace. Chris Tedder, who was the backup and rotational guy is gone. Heyward and Keon Paye (74 tackles, 2 INTs) will return. Heyward could move the Mike but they also have options in r-freshman Nygil Johnson (5 tackles), Dymelle Parker (2 tackles) and true freshman Chizurum Umunakwe (6 tackles), who mainly played on special teams. 

And then there's the secondary. Monty Fenner (71 tackles, 1 INT, 9 PBU) is gone. Reaves (52 takes, 9 PBU, 1 INT) is back after an erratic junior season. So is Coby Tippett (11 tackles), who should be moved to receiver or running back. Jamal Gay (36 tackles, 1 FB) showed some potential and made his share of mistakes as a true freshman but has potential. If Troy Vincent has another year left, he could take Fenner's place or start at CB. But he needs to stay healthy. 

Brandon Shuman and Terrill Gillette all return for their senior seasons. Shuman had his moments. Gillette is better suited for a slot corner spot. Vashon Mcants Jr. (6-0, 170) did have two picks and might be the answer. They have several options for corner including Jirhe Love (6-0, 182), who was excellent in the spring, but sat out this year. Robert Javier (6-0, 175) also shined at times in the summer. Both will be redshirt freshmen along with Reese Clarke (5-11, 190) and Michael Wilson Jr. (5-10, 154).

Another safety transfer is possible but if they don't get more pressure on opposing QBs, it really won't matter who is back there. They do need better safety play to limit big plays downfield.

[etiger 77]

Matt, this is a very in-depth review of the team and season. Thank you. 

[Blazer49 184]

Not surprising at all.  Mat, great recap, keep doing what you do.  

[Blounge 520]

Was Jabari greenwood injured this season? I couldn’t believe how he went from our top receiver to Mr. Irrelevant. 

[mat1992 2,228]

27 minutes ago, Blounge said:

Was Jabari greenwood injured this season? I couldn’t believe how he went from our top receiver to Mr. Irrelevant. 

He was injured and then I think he went down the depth chart. Just never could catch up. 

[TSU88 1,068]

Does he still have any eligibility left? Would be great if we had the 2 Jabari’s contributing next season.

Btw, great job on the season recap & keep the recruiting updates coming!! 

 

 

[mat1992 2,228]

Thanks and yes, Greenwood has one year left.

[sr16 158]

So some key defensive pieces needed and we are due for another strong season

[TigerFan54 102]

What did you mean when you said "Desire was the only recruit on the roster"?

[mat1992 2,228]

1 hour ago, TigerFan54 said:

What did you mean when you said "Desire was the only recruit on the roster"?

Only OLINE recruit