Some Citadel Thoughts

While I seriously considered putting together a detailed, coherent post previewing the Citadel Bulldogs, that seemed like a significant amount of work and therefore not really my style. Instead you get a rambling post full of "thoughts" on this week's game. The Citadel's weekly notes were tremendously helpful here.

-The Citadel is not good, even by Southern Conference standards. They were picked by both the media and the coaches to finish 7th in the conference.

-On the other hand, I give the Bulldogs credit for having the noble goal of playing a team from all six BCS conferences in the next five years. In addition to A&M and Pittsburgh this season, in the coming years they are scheduled to play Wisconsin, Clemson, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Arizona.

-As far as good players go, three Bulldogs were named to the preseason All-Southern-Conference 2nd Team. They are WR Ta'Mar Jernigan, LB Andrew Rowell and DL James Wilson. Wilson's production will be limited however by a "mid-foot sprain."

-The Citadel's starting QB will be Duran Lawson who is returning from an ACL tear suffered on October 1st of last year.

-Mark Kaspar is the Bulldog's Punter. He graduated from Navasota High School and is looking forward to punting in front of friends and family. Kaspar should get plenty of opportunities to impress the home crowd.

-While paging through the media guide, I came across the following snippet about Head Coach Kevin Higgins, and realizing that I couldn't top it, I'll just quote it.

Prior to his appointment at the helm of Bulldog football, Higgins served as the quarterbacks coach for his first three years with the Lions and was responsible for the tutoring and developing of Detroit’s first-round draft pick, quarterback Joey Harrington. During his second season he assumed the position of wide receivers coach and was responsible for the development of one of the most exciting trios of wide outs in the NFL: Az-Zahir Hakim, Charles Rogers and Roy Williams. Higgins coached Williams to the Lions single season records for a rookie in receptions (54), receiving yards (817) and touchdowns (8).

-The Citadel runs a spread option attack with a single tailback, three wide receivers and a tight end. Last season's leading rusher Nuru Goodrum (800 yards, 7 TD) returns and is expected to start. At WR, Ta'Mar Jernigan (40-359, 5 TD) and Rontreal Tyler (29-172, 0 TD) are the most accomplished returnees. They will be joined in the starting lineup by TE Taylor Cornett (9-49) and WR Gary Domanski (4-47, 1 TD). Four of five starters return on the o-line.

-In all seriousness, the Bulldogs are not to be taken lightly. At one point in last season's game in Talahassee they led Florida State 10-3. In the end they couldn't hang on though, as FSU was able to pull out a squeaker, edging the Citadel 62-10. Hopefully the Aggies can get a better start than the Seminoles did and show how much improved they are this season. Make it Texas A&M 51, Citadel 7.