by Guest Writer, Joe James
Wofford head coach Josh Conklin, enjoying the glow of a conference championship and playoff win in his inaugural season, decided to take the Terriers away from the triple option attack this year. The system, put in place by his predecessor Mike Ayers and perfected by offensive coordinator Wade Lang, had won hundreds of games, including nine in the FCS playoffs and six southern conference championships.
However, the season looked over after two games. With upset losses to South Carolina State and Samford, alumni were restless. The internet commentariat exploded. Comparisons to Rick Gilstrap (Mike Ayers’s predecessor who only won a single game in 1987) and Brian VanGorder (Georgia Southern head football coach in 2006 who removed the triple option, demoting a playoff team to only three wins in a single season) were common.
Yet Josh Conklin didn’t panic. He also didn’t “bring back the option,” as many observers claim. He did something better: he showed the FCS why Wofford hired him in the first place.
Against South Carolina State and Samford, Wofford not only had two losses, but also less than 600 yards of offense and only 27 total points scored. For an offense that had averaged over 400 yards per game the year before, this was jarring, especially considering Samford had at the time (and still has) one of the FCS’s worst defenses.
Against South Carolina State, the Terriers called 20 passes in the first half, more than any half in recent memory, completing less than 50 percent of those passes. Wade Lang was less aggressive in play-calling in the second half, but Quarterbacks Joe Newman and Miller Moseley still completed more passes to the other team in that stretch, putting away any comeback hopes.
The next week, the Terriers only threw the ball seven times for six yards. Though the Terriers were able to rush for over four yards per carry and limit the total possessions for each team to eight, the inability to bust big plays–in the option or otherwise–proved to be the downfall of the Terriers.
But the losses didn’t just mount on the schedule, but on the roster as well. Two all-conference defensive linemen, Mikel Horton and Thad Mangum, went down with season-ending injuries before halftime of the South Carolina State game. What looked to be the deepest and perhaps most talented unit on the field was now the thinnest. And it showed up in production.
The Terriers only managed a single sack in their first two games, a fatal error against an air raid offense such as Samford. The Terriers had already lost three experienced defenders in the secondary and NFL talent Miles Brown in the trenches. Though they were able to hold the strengths of both SC State (run) and Samford (pass) in check, they had a hard time containing big plays due to their inability to get pressure.
If Conklin, Lang, and defensive coordinator Sam Siefkes didn’t find solutions soon, this season would be a terrible disappointment.
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