Mountaineers wary of Terriers

Credit: Robert Franklin Photo

Armanti Edwards needs 52 yards rushing to pass the 4,000-yard mark.

By: By Tommy Bowman | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: October 17, 2009

Wofford, which won more games than any Southern Conference team besides Appalachian State the last three years, has found wins hard to come by this season.

The Terriers are 1-4 overall -- with losses by an average of 24 points -- and 0-2 in the SoCon heading into today's game against ASU at Gibbs Stadium in Spartanburg, S.C.

But, Coach Jerry Moore of ASU said, Wofford's past success is cause enough for concern.

The Terriers still run the Wingbone offense, an option attack that features misdirection and demands discipline from a defense, and still do it relatively well -- they average 232 rushing yards a game this season (No. 3 in the FCS).

"It's always been hard to prepare for Wofford," Moore said. "Mike (Ayers) is a terrific football coach, he's great at making calls or adjusting on the run…. You better have an answer for their answer. It's like a cat-and-mouse game."

Quarterback Armanti Edwards of the Mountaineers, who needs 52 rushing yards to join Brad Smith of Missouri as the only players in NCAA Division I history to pass for 8,000 yards and run for 4,000 in a career, said: "We've never seen Wofford have a bad start like they have, but at the same time we're struggling, too."

The Mountaineers (3-2, 2-0) are still searching for four quarters of solid play in all phases.

The Terriers lost most of last season's starters and have been hampered by injuries this season, including the loss of top running back Eric Breitenstein and top linebacker Mike Niam to knee injuries. They allow 350 yards and 32 points a game, and two of the losses have been to FBS teams South Florida and Wisconsin.

Despite their rushing yards, the Terriers average only 18.6 points a game, in part because of turnovers. Wofford has eight turnovers, twice as many as Appalachian.

"The thing that we've lived on around here is being able to run the football," Ayers said. "We're running the ball OK, nothing great. Teams are better structurally at defending us. Some of our problem has been we just haven't executed the way we've wanted to."

Ayers said that an open date last Saturday came at a good time.

"What we've tried to do is look back and see the things that have caused us issues and tried to correct the issues," he said. "A lot of times it's not so much how the other team is playing against us as how we're executing, and we're just not doing it at a high enough level."

The Mountaineers lost to the Terriers two years ago, the last time they met in Spartanburg, but rolled to a 70-24 victory last season in Boone. Wofford had five turnovers, and ASU scored on its first six possessions.

"The thing we've tried to emphasize to our guys," Ayers said, "is that it's another year, it's another day, and we've got to get ready for this year's team.

"Hopefully, we will play better than we did a year ago."

tbowman@wsjournal.com | 727-7320