The Colonels concluded a three-game home stand with a third win on Saturday. EKU dominated Robert Morris to stay undefeated at home this season. Coach Walt Wells was generally pleased with his team’s performance, but still sees areas of growth for the Colonels. While a 31-7 win is great, there is definitely still room for improvement in my opinion. Here is my EKU week five pros and cons.
Pros
First Drives:
EKU started both halves the right way. On the first drive of the game the Colonels went 75 yards on eight plays capped with a Joshua Carter TD run. To start the second half the defense forced a three-and-out, then the offense went 75 yards on six plays and again scored on a Joshua Carter run. Starting halves with TDs will lead to a lot of success.
Joshua Carter:
Carter ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday. Carrying the ball 19 times and averaging 6.5 yards per carry. Joshua Carter has been the study source of yards for the EKU offense and has now had four games with 100+ yards in his time at EKU.
Darrian Baker:
The stat sheet will not do justice to the impact that Darrian Baker is having this season. Saturday D Bake did not record a single tackle, but he may have been the best defender on the field. He is finding himself around the quarterback consistently, setting the edge in the run defense, and had an interception on Saturday. Coach Wells said, “Darrian is an athlete.” I say Darrian is a grown man! Do yourself a favor and just watch Baker for a series in the next game.
Big Plays:
The EKU offense hit a number of big gain plays in Saturday’s win. Matt Morrissey had four passes of 20+ yards, including a 57-yard TD pass to Dequan Stanley. The run game had ten rushes of 10+ yards. Morrissey had a 27-yard scamper on a 3rd and 8, and a 23-yard run on a 3rd and 6. Joshua Carter had a number of big runs, including his 18-yard TD to start the second half.
Cons
Bad Penalties:
The Colonels have been plagued with bad penalties this season. Saturday they only committed six penalties, but three of them were 15-yard penalties. Jaheim Ward was ejected with a targeting foul, and Jeremiah Bailey was called for a personal foul and an unsportsmanlike penalty. Those are things they can not afford in the UAC schedule.
Offensive Lull:
While the Colonels started well, they hit a nasty lull for the rest of the first half. They ended the half with a nice drive, but between the first and last drive of the half, EKU punted four times. One person with deep ties to the program stated it was the most boring half of football he had watched, and he almost fell asleep. The offense did get on track, but lulls like that can come back to bite you in conference play.
Final Thoughts
This was a fun home stand, too bad so many “fans” missed out. The Colonels will be off next week before two UAC road trips. The offense has shown signs of being dangerous, and the defense has been very solid.
Tune in Thursday night at 8:00 for the Sports Stove Local Hour with Jonathan Duff. We will recap Saturday’s win and talk with a couple of players. Follow me on Twitter/X for more EKU opinions. All photos used in this article were taken by members of the EKU staff.
