BLUEFIELD — Where does Bluefield College wants its program to be at some point in the future?
How about where Georgetown has been, and continues to be?
All the Tigers have done is win three NAIA national championships, dominate the football-strong Mid-South Conference and become one of the best programs in all of NAIA.
Bluefield (3-5) will gets its opportunity to measure itself against the fifth-ranked Tigers (6-1) today at Mitchell Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m.
Georgetown, which has 12 coaches on its staff, led by Bill Cronin, has won the previous two meetings between the schools 49-7 and 77-9. Georgetown is the former training camp home of the Cincinnati Bengals, which has helped with the excellent facilities the Tigers have.
"Their school definitely makes an investment in the program, if you look at their staff, they have a lot of longevity, many of the guys are alumni so those guys are connected and they stay," Bluefield College head coach Ordell Walker said. "They have an ability to retain players and develop them."
Both teams enter having won two in a row, a first for the Rams since the program was restarted in 2012. Bluefield rolled up 643 yards on the ground in its game two weeks ago in a 68-56 win at Union, with both Sam Bennett (276) and Adrian Pope (225) eclipsing the 200-yard mark.
"That is crazy, we had never had that kind of success with our offense," said Walker, who will also have a healthy Marion Harris in the backfield. "Our offensive line is just getting better and better, and that is really where we roll, we felt like we controlled the game running inside.
"Those backs are just very good, and it is a change of pace. You have got Pope that is really quick and has great lateral movement. Sam is the power back so they are really a good complement to each other."
Both could be key today on what is expected to be cold, rainy, and possibly even snowy afternoon, with Walker most concerned about wind and wet footballs.
"We practice in it with wet balls and things like that," said Walker, whose Rams thrived in cold temperatures at Union. "It does make things more difficult, but their balls are wet too and they are cold also so it still comes down to execution...
"I would assume that both offenses will have to try to control the line of scrimmage and run a little more than what they normally would do..."
Georgetown, whose lone setback was a 28-24 decision at Campbellsville, is balanced, led by quarterback Neal Pawsat (1,733 yards, 17 td pass, 151, 3 td rush), running back Demonte Smith (376 yards, 8 td), and a slew of talented receivers. Defensively, Max Nussbaum has 43 tackles, while Tommy Campbell has 12 tackles for loss and 8 1/2 sacks. The Tigers have held five of seven opponents this season to 14 points or less.
"They really don't have a lot of weaknesses, on offense they can run and pass, have a really, really solid quarterback, they have weapons...," Walker said. "Defensively, what stands out is how technical they are and well coached, it will probably be the best defensive line we will have faced..."
Bluefield is ranked third among all NAIA teams in rushing with 329.6 yards a game, including a total of 1,089 yards in consecutive wins. They're fifth in first downs (25.6) and eighth total offense (459.1).
"Ultimately, football comes down to who gets the most explosive plays and who wins that turnover/takeaway battle," said Walker, whose Rams defeated Union despite five turnovers. "When it comes down to it, we will look at those two stats, can we control the ball without turning it over, did we find a way to get it from them, and did we hit more home runs plays than they did."
Bluefield will conclude its home slate next Saturday by hosting No. 11 Lindsey Wilson, which put up 91 points last week against Belhaven.
"That is crazy," Walker said. "It is starting to look like basketball scores, football is really changing and that is becoming normal."
"Normal" for Georgetown is consistently being a winner. Bluefield is working toward that same goal.
"We are getting better, but we are not where we need to be," Walker said. "It is a great thing to compete against and watch so we can learn from them, and at the same time try to beat them."
bwoodson@bdtonline.com / Twitter @bdtwoodson
Source : http://www.bdtonline.com/sports/rams-entertain-georgetown/article_54b37790-6162-11e4-beed-0fee3e9bf091.html
