Like cats and dogs : Purple Dogs prepare for surprises in opener against LR Central
Posted on Friday, September 5, 2008
ANDY SHUPE Northwest Arkansas Times Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton speaks to his players during walk-through practice Thursday at Harmon Field in preparation for today’s season-opener against Little Rock Central.
Little Rock Central answered the call and now Fayetteville has itself one tough opener.
Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said he made many phone calls but only one team agreed to travel to face the Purple Dogs in the season opener. Bernie Cox's Little Rock Central Tigers will visit Fayetteville today and Patton said fans will likely see a dogfight.
"It certainly wasn't like we decided we wanted to play Central," Patton said. "We didn't plan to play a team of this caliber but they were just the only team that would agree to play us and we didn't want an open bye week.
"It's scary every time you play Central. It's definitely the toughest opener we've had since I've been here. They know how to get the most out of their players and I think we're in for a battle. "
Patton is 5-0 in season openers at Fayetteville but is 0-2 against Cox's Tigers. Fayetteville has opened with Mountain Home, Little Rock Catholic and Batesville under Patton.
Fayetteville's last tussle with Central didn't end well. The Pur- ple Dogs were blanked 30-0 at Central in the first round of the 2004 playoffs.
"We're certainly going to find out what our weaknesses are pretty quickly," Patton said. "In the past, it wasn't like they tried to confuse you. They were just always so good that they beat you up physically."
But this time around, it's defending state champion Fayetteville that has Cox losing sleep.
"There's nothing about Fayetteville that doesn't worry me," said Cox, who is 271-108-8 at Central. "The bus trip, their passing game, the big back, their defense, the fact that they're defending state champs. There's a lot to worry about."
Patton, though, said Central may employ tactics from its newfound bag of gimmicks. Rumors of Central possibly lining up in the Spread has Patton's troops riled. Doubts about what looks Central will show have forced Fayetteville to prepare for a more diverse offense than Cox's past squads.
"We're hearing that they're running a lot of wristband, no-huddle stuff," Patton said. "Hopefully we're not going to be surprised by anything we see but that's just more things we have to prepare for. We'll just monitor and adjust on the sideline as we need to. If the kids see something that we've not worked on, we hope that they're smart enough to follow their rules and adjust."
Cox confirmed that his team has explored aspects of the Spread offense but said his team has much progress to make before it abandons its Slot I power running style for the lure of the four-wide set.
"We've worked on the Spread but we're not very good at it yet," Cox said. "I don't know how much we'll do it against Fayetteville. We may try it a time or two to see what happens. But we're not very polished."
Fayetteville's offense, though, has shined so far under the leadership of sophomore quarterback Brandon Allen, who completed 18 of 29 passes for 214 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 pick in a preseason scrimmage against Shiloh Christian.
Central returns six starters on offense but injuries will severely diminish that number tonight. The strength of Central this season was expected to be its offense line. Cox, though, said four returning starters from the offensive line will miss tonight's game. Guards Dallas Odom and James Giese, center Will Walker and tight end Justin Henderson were all bit by the injury bug and will not play tonight.
The Tigers will also start a fresh face at quarterback in Adam Meeks (6-1, 180 ) along with two inexperienced tailbacks.
"Our whole team is basically starting over," Cox said. "Our quarterback has never taken a snap and we're inexperienced at running back. Then we've got some injuries to returning starters that will hurt us on the offensive line. We've been looking hard for help at several positions."
The Purple Dogs will face a Central defense that underwent a complete overhaul, replacing all 11 starters in the offseason.
"I certainly like it better than if they were returning 11," Patton said. "But they've certainly got some very talented players. They've got a move-in from Pine Bluff, who was their best player on defense last year. They've got two big defensive ends and a man at linebacker. They're not real big in the secondary but they're very athletic, picked off six passes against Benton. By no means do they look weak defensively."
While Cox wouldn't go into detail, he said his staff began dabbling in other schemes to counter his defense's inexperience and to take advantage of its athleticism.
"We're not very good on defense," Cox said. "We're replacing everyone. Right now, we're trying to come up with anything that can make us better. We're not inventing anything or doing something other teams don't do. We're just trying to move some guys around to help make us better."
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