A-State Prepares for Memphis and the Paint Bucket Rivalry
I know it’s been a couple weeks but ASU had that quick turnaround, so I figured we could learn more from the Troy game about the Red Wolves.
We learned that quarterback Adam Kennedy ain’t half bad.
The 6-5, Utah St. transfer has grown some guts and heart the past two games. After taking a shot to the head against Auburn, he sat out for two plays and finished what he started, not to mention led the team in rushing.
Against Troy he had a bit of a limp, but powered through it and ended up with a nice stat line. Kennedy has shown us he is a gamer and can throw the ball very well and is a smart quarterback, as evidenced by the countless times when nothing is there, he will throw the ball out of play rather than force the issue.
We saw that Michael ‘Flash’ Gordon is the real deal. It is one thing to break off some big runs against UAPB, but against similar competition, it’s nice. He has grown to be a patient runner who does not get ahead of his blockers, and we’ve seen what that leads too (Flash! Ahhhh.)
Defensively, I think we still don’t know. A-State has gone from one extreme to the other for three weeks now. Against UAPB their talent was vastly superior; against Auburn they were hit with a wavy dose of running, and against Troy the Red Wolves faced a team that throws the ball – a LOT!
The team didn’t allow a lot of passing yards against Auburn but did to Troy; not a lot of rushing for Troy but a lot of passing; see what I’m getting at? Against Troy they made plays when they had too and did force four turnovers, and Troy traditionally takes pretty good care of the ball.
We do know that Qushaun Lee is a BALLER, if you didn’t already know. He was in every play it seemed whether it was coverage or run stopping. Rocky Hayes and Frankie Jackson have settled into their defensive roles just fine, as both recorded pivotal interceptions in the Troy game. Hayes’ pick helped lead to Fredi Knighten’s game-winning score (a fantastic play call by the way) and Jackson’s pick sealed the deal.
Next is the Ol Paint-Bucket Rivalry in what should be a win for The Red Wolves against the Memphis Tigers. However, a rivalry game against another young, hungry head coach in Justin Fuentes (he and Harsin are both 36) could make things a little more interesting as has been demonstrated in recent games with Memphis.
The thing about this game is this: it could be a while before A-State and Memphis play again, so it should definitely be worth seeing.
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