UCLA Football Preview: Expect Bama State Offense to Slow Down the Pace
Through two games, the Hornets have run only a few more offensive plays than UCLA did last week against Bowling Green.
The Alabama State offense looks to be an anachronism. That’s because, unlike many modern offenses, their offense makes absolutely no attempt to play with a fast tempo. Over two games, the Hornets have run the ball 64 times and they have 44 pass attempts for a total of 108 plays.
By comparison, the Bruin offense had almost that many plays last week against Bowling Green. UCLA ran 45 times and threw 47 times for a total of 92 plays last week.
Keeping in mind that those are stats against more comparable teams, the reality of the situation is that UCLA could end up with as many as three or even four times the total plays the Hornets run on Saturday.
But the speed of the respective offenses isn’t the only reason the Hornet offense is an throwback to another era has to do with the fact that Bama State plays with two running backs.
Very few offenses actually play with a fullback and tailback any more but the Hornets will do that come Saturday.
Quarterbacks
Dematrius Davis will get the start under center for the Hornets. It seems so long since I referred to a QB being under center, but that’s what we should see most of the day from Davis.
He transferred to Bama State this year after spending last season as Auburn’s third string quarterback. He never played a down for the Tigers last year.
In the Hornets’ first game of the season, Davis completed 16 of 23 pass attempts for 184 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Last week against Miles, Davis completed his only pass for a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jaycie Medlock. He left the game for good midway through the next series following a two-yard run due to what Eddie Robinson called a “shoulder burn.”
Robinson turned to sophomore Myles Crawley for the rest of the game. The backup QB attempted just 18 passes for the rest of the game, completing nine of them, as the Hornets milked a 21-point first quarter lead to beat Miles.
If Davis cannot play, expect to see Crawley on Saturday.
Running Backs
Eddie Robinson will start a pair of sophomores as the Hornet running backs. Jacory Merritt-Croskey will get the start at tailback while Dylan Creech will be the starting fullback. Merrit-Croskey has had his number called the most by the Bama State coaching staff. So far this season, he has carried 24 for 67 net yards.
Meanwhile, backup tailback Ja’Won Howell has carried 15 times for 59 net yards. Santo Dunn, who isn’t even on the two-deep depth chart, has added 56 net yards on nine carries.
Interestingly, the two guys listed as fullbacks on the depth chart have not touched the ball so far this season. Perhaps, the fact that both Dylan Creech and Devin Chambliss are listed on the roster as a linebacker and defensive lineman explains why that’s the case. Hopefully, the defense is prepared for the event that either of these two big bodies is asked to carry the ball for the first time this week. After all, giving what may be your toughest opponent of the season an unscouted look like that would seem to be a surprise to catch the defense offguard.
Receivers
Through two games this season, ten different Hornets have caught passes and seven of those ten have caught more than one. So far, Isaiah Scott leads the team with six receptions for 143 yards while the team’s next leading receiver is a familiar name to Bruin fans. La’Vontae Shenault has five receptions for 94 yards. Of course, Shenault played for the Colorado Buffaloes the past two seasons and his brother Laviska was a standout at the school before being drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Starting tailback Jacory Merrit-Croskey is the team’s third leading receiver with 52 yards on four receptions. Jayce Medlock and Jeremiah Hixson each have three catches for 48 and 19 yards, respectively. Darius Edmonds and Santo Dunn have each added a pair of receptions while Tyree Saunders, E’Shawn Mayes, and Robert McMinn all have one catch each.
So, while Alabama State seems to prefer to run the football so far, when they do throw, their quarterbacks certainly spread the ball around to different receivers.
Analysis
The Bruins are going to have to stop the run game this weekend. Once the team settled down following the sloppy start, the defense was impressive, holding the Falcons to just 37 yards on the ground and 125 through the air. Now, of course, that was Bowling Green.
But Alabama State is an FCS school and, if the defense played like that against the Falcons, it would stand to reason that they should be even tougher this weekend. I'd really like to see the entire UCLA team, including Bill McGovern’s defense, pitch a shutout for a full sixty minutes while the offense puts up enough points to cover the nearly 50-point point spread.
Go Bruins!!!
Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.