Murray State Football Preseason Practice #10 & #11

The Murray State football team held their third two-a-day practice of the preseason today, practicing for around 90 minutes at 8:15 a.m. on the practice field, followed by a 3:35 p.m. practice in full pads at Stewart Stadium that lasted a little over an hour.

On offense today, the quarterbacks worked with the receivers and tight ends on stop-and-go routes, where the receiver would run downfield, stop, then continue downfield, cut across the middle, or curl toward the sideline. The wide receivers worked on a drill where they had to catch two balls thrown in any location at a quick pace. Assistant coach Kevin Cahill would throw the first ball, allow time for the receiver to catch it and drop it, and then fire a second ball immediately after the first ball was dropped.

Defensively, the cornerbacks worked on quick footwork, driving forward then dropping back into coverage, while the defensive line worked with assistant coach Johnny Jernigan on diving on a large pad after a snap count, focusing on recovering the football after a botched snap.

At the conclusion of the afternoon practice, head coach Matt Griffin emphasized game situations, holding brief scrimmages to emulate a different situation. Griffin's stopwatch served as the play clock, and each "head coach" (offensive coordinator Mickey Fein and defensive coordinator Rich Nagy) were allowed one timeout for each game situation, and the option to accept or decline penalties, called by Griffin.

The first game situation pitted the offense deep in their own territory, starting at the 2-yard line, with the offense's objective to march downfield and score, and the defense's objective to secure a safety.

The first instance included a first down by the offense after an offsides penalty on the defense, but on the next play, linebacker Nathan Williams stripped the ball from the ball carrier for a fumble, and the defense recovered for a turnover.

The next rep showcased a dominant defensive stand, allowing only three yards before punter Sean O'Brien had to punt from eight yards deep in his own end zone. After the punt returner fumbled the ball, Taylor Lanigan scooped it up and ran the distance, 50 yards for a touchdown.

The offense found it's touch on the third rep, with running back Paul McKinnis breaking off a run of 25 yards, then catching a screen pass for 40 yards on the very next play. After a few defensive stops including a Pass Break Up by defensive end Austen Lane, on 3rd-down-and-9 to go, quarterback Chris Franklin found receiver Rod Harper for a 33-yard fade route for a touchdown. The Point After Touchdown attempt was no good however, after a botched snap forced the holder Franklin to scramble and throw an incomplete pass.

The fourth rep also belonged to the defense, holding the offense to only seven yards, forcing a punt from three yards into their own end zone. The punt was not returned, as the ball hit and bounced out-of-bounds.

The next game situation placed the ball on the offense's 29-yard line, with the offense down by six points.

On the first rep, Franklin found Harper for a 15-yard pass for a first down. The next play was a 30-yard pass from Franklin in which Harper tipped to himself with his right hand before coming down with the pass, keeping his feet in-bounds for a completion and another first down. The defense then got stingy and held the offense for the next two plays, forcing a 3rd-and-10 play where Franklin found receiver Lee McGinnis in the corner of the end zone for a 26-yard touchdown pass for a tie score. The PAT by Tyler Weiss was good, giving the victory to the offense.

The next rep found quarterback Jeff Ehrhardt immediately hitting receiver Marcus Harris for a 50-yard fade route, then Ehrhardt went to the no-huddle offense. The next play resulted in a PBU by Darrell Davis, Jr., setting up 2nd-and-10 from the 29. The next play featured a surprise blitz by the defense, with Jordan Malay getting the sack on Ehrhardt for a 10-yard loss setting up 3rd-and-20 from the 39. Malay once again got the sack on third down, pushing Ehrhardt back eight yards to set up a 4th-and-28 for the offense from the 47-yard line. Ehrhardt's desperation Hail Mary was then intercepted by Davis at the 1-yard line, sealing the victory for the defense.

The next game situation put the offense on the 38-yard line with 2nd-and-8 to go, with only 12 seconds left in the game and down two points.

The first play was an incomplete pass, making it 3rd-and-8 with eight seconds to try and get off a field goal for the win. The next play resulted in a five-yard pass to Harper in the middle of the field, prompting Fein to call a timeout with two seconds left and a 4th-and-5 from the 33-yard line. Seconds before the field goal was attempted, Nagy called a timeout of his own to freeze the kicker. Nagy's timeout was effective, as the 50-yard game-winning field goal was just short, giving the victory to the defense.

The next game situation was overtime, with Murray State receiving the ball first, the ball on the 25-yard line.

A reverse to Derrick Townsel was good for 15-yards, setting up a 1st-and-Goal for the offense. After a rush from Ehrhardt was no gain, running back Josh Jones scored from 10-yards out on a draw play for a touchdown. Weiss' PAT was good, putting the Racers up by seven and putting the pressure on the opponent's offense to score and convert their PAT.

Next up was the offense being featured as the "opponent", which put the pressure on the Racer defense to hold, as the Racers offense just scored seven points to put them ahead. Harris, playing quarterback, faked a hand-off and scrambled 15 yards, setting up a 1st-and-Goal from the 10. An incomplete pass and a two-yard gain from McKinnis later, the offense went back to McKinnis on 3rd-and-Goal from the 8, and McKinnis found the end zone, putting the Racers down by one point with the PAT pending. O'Brien split the uprights, forcing another tie.

The next game situation still focused on overtime, but the situation was that the defense had allowed zero points, and all the offense needed was a field goal to win.

Defensive tackle Will Roach stuffed the running back for a 1-yard loss to begin the first rep, and then Lanigan tackled Charlie Jordan after a gain of three to set up a 3rd-and-8 from the 23. On the play, the quarterback was rushed under pressure and threw an interception to linebacker Zach Kutch, giving the victory to the defense.

On the second rep, the offense focused solely on punching it in with Jones. Jones ran for a gain of three on the first play, and then an incomplete pass set up 3rd-and-7 from the 22. A draw to Jones picked up 13 yards, giving the offense a 1st-and-Goal from the 9. The offense then went back to Jones for a gain of five. Jones rushed again on the next play for a gain of four, setting up a 3rd-and-Goal from the 1, where Nagy then called a timeout to set up his goal-line defense. The next play was another handoff to Jones, who juked a defender and then dove over the pile for the touchdown, giving the offense the victory.

Griffin then announced a best-of-three field goal competition would conclude practice, each kick from 40 yards. The attempt from the middle of the field was no good, putting the pressure on the kicker to force a third kick. The kick from the right hash was true, setting up the showdown for the victory. The third kick from the left hash was wide left, giving the defense the win.

Griffin was pleased with the way the players responded to the game situations during their third two-a-day of the preseason.

"We try to cover as much of these situations as we can," Griffin said. "Most of this stuff we had worked on before, but this was the first time we worked on the overtime situations this preseason, and the kids responded well. It's still hard to simulate, because you don't have the crowd or you're not under the lights, so it's a step slower than the real game. But it's a step better than practice."

MORE FACILITY UPGRADES: Today's practice also featured a new sight for the Racer fans in attendance to see: new play clocks. The new Sportable Scoreboards play clocks were installed in the ground about ten yards past the end zone, on the right end of the south end zone and on the right end of the north end zone. A new scoreboard is also expected to be installed before the home opener against Lambuth University on Sept. 15., to add to the new FieldTurf that was placed over the summer, and the locker room renovation that occurred before the 2006 season.

"From top to bottom, the whole facility is 1,000 times better," Griffin said.

Murray State opens its 83rd season of college football on Aug. 30 at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, where they will face the University of Louisville Cardinals. Kick-off time is set for 6:30 p.m.

Murray State University Athletics

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