Bearcats’ Wright to take more active offensive role going forward
CODY THORN/SPECIAL TO DAILY FORUM
Northwest Missouri State coach Rich Wright patrols the sideline during Saturday’s loss to Pittsburg State, 20-10 in Pittsburg, Kansas.
The power structure at Northwest Missouri State may undergo some changes after the Bearcats lost their first game in nearly three seasons and the first one with Rich Wright as head coach.
In previous years with an offensive-minded head coach whether it be Mel Tjeerdsma or Adam Dorrel at the helm, the team’s defensive coordinators — either Wright under Dorrel or Scott Bostwick when Tjeerdsma was in charge — were given freedom to run their unit and call the shots. Both Bostwick and Wright were eventually named head coaches after displaying their abilities to run the defensive units.
“With Coach Tjeerdsma, Coach Bostwick had been the longtime defensive coordinator and they worked separate,” Wright said. “With my working relationship with Coach Dorrel, it was very much the same. He was an offensive guy only and I was the defensive guy and it worked well.”
This season Wright has begun the season trying to use that approach, only reversed.
Wright has retained the titles of defensive coordinator and defensive line coach, but while the Bearcats have the top-ranked defense in total defense, scoring defense and rushing defense; the offense has had an up-and-down start to the year under offensive coordinator Charlie Flohr.
On Saturday in the 20-10 loss to Pittsburg State, the offensive struggles reached a season high.
“After last week, I have decided to insert myself a little more into what is going on with that side of the ball,” Wright said.
The offense committed six turnovers with four interceptions, and although the Bearcat defense held the Gorillas to just 236 yards of total offense, it wasn’t able to overcome the offense’s mistakes.
“It is difficult to win a college football game when you turn the ball over six times,” Wright said.
Wright blamed the turnovers and lack of points on simply trying to do too much on offense.
“For the first time last week, you saw some guys trying to do too much and they learned the lesson the hard way that those are the repercussions,” Wright said. “We just have to focus on our job and our 1/11th.”
He stresses that he certainly won’t be involved as far as micro-managing the game plan, but that he will help more with some over-arching concepts and provide his insight on the game plan as a whole.
“I know what I look at as a defensive coach,” Wright said. “The other thing is that I have been in a leadership position for a long time and I think that there are some things that I can provide to help with some stuff on that side of the ball.
“Everything offensively begins with — I’m a defensive guy so I tend to simplify — who are your go-to guys, who are the guys you want to touch the ball and how many times do you want them to touch the ball. What are ways that we can exploit matchups one-on-one and create ways to give those guys opportunities.”
While the offensive struggles reared their head on Saturday, the kicking game has been a continual issue for the Bearcats all season with Brett Garner stepping into to replace the always-reliable Simon Mathiesen this season.
In four years as the Bearcats’ kicker, Mathiesen only missed 13 kicks, going 61-for-74. In Garner’s nine games this season, the junior has already missed 11 field goal attempts, going 9-for-20.
Wright opened up about Garner’s struggles on Tuesday, saying that the team has opened the job up for competition several times this year, but Garner has consistently outperformed freshman Parker Sampson in practice.
“It has been an issue all year,” Wright said. “We have a freshman kicker, who is a talented kicker. We have created a competition in practice on several occasions to see if we take the redshirt away and every time, he hasn’t won the competition.”
Wright indicated that a competition for the job will occur this week in practice, as well, after Garner went 1-of-3 against Pittsburg State including missing a 33-yarder on the first possession of the game.
Plugging in Sampson would require pulling his redshirt and using up a year of eligibility to finish the season. Wright is not excited by the prospect of doing that, but if it gives this team a better chance to win, he is willing to and so is Sampson.
“We are going to evaluate again this week,” Wright said. “I talked to Parker yesterday at the complex. When you get to Week 10 and it is a freshman, you are dealing with burning a year, I think you have to be a little sensitive to that. … I sat down and asked him what his thoughts were and he said, ‘Selfishly, if I could keep my redshirt, that’d be great, but I want to do what is best for the team.’ We will have a kicking competition this week. … If I could put somebody out there that I think could execute better in those situations, I would.”
With the defense playing the way it is, the sky is still the limit for these Bearcats, but the offense and the field goal kicking will remain major topics of discussion for the rest of the season.
REGIONAL RANKINGS
With the NCAA coming out with its regional rankings this week, the Bearcats are sitting in a fairly unfamiliar place as the No. 5 team in the first rankings.
With a matchup against Fort Hays State, the No. 1 team, on Saturday, the Bearcats will have a chance to soar up the rankings, but if they can’t knock off the Tigers, the next couple weeks could get complicated as far as playoff scenarios.
The top seven teams advance to the playoffs.
Regional 3 Rankings
1. Fort Hays State 9-0
2. Indianapolis 9-0
3. Ashland 8-1
4. Ferris State 7-1
5. Northwest Mo. St. 8-1
6. Grand Valley State 7-2
7. Ouachita Baptist 7-2
8. Arkansas Tech 7-2
9. Central Missouri6-3
10. Harding 6-3
AFCA RANKINGS
For the first time this year, Northwest is not the No. 1 team in the nation.
AFCA Rankings
1. Minnesota State 9-0
2. Shephard 8-0
3. Indiana (Pa.) 9-0
4. Midwestern State 7-0
5. Indianapolis 9-0
6. Fort Hays State 9-0
7. Central Washington 9-0
8. Northwest Mo. St. 8-1
9. TX A&M-Comm. 7-1
10. Assumption 8-0
11. Ashland 8-1
12. Ferris State 7-1
13. Sioux Falls 8-1
14. Wingate 8-0
15. Colorado Mesa 8-1
16. Virginia State 8-0
17. Humboldt State 7-1
18. Winona State 8-1
19. Grand Valley State 7-2
20. Bowie State 8-1
21. Eastern New Mex. 7-1
22. Findlay 8-1
23. West Alabama 7-2
24. Colo. St.-Pueblo 7-2
25. West Georgia 7-2
Others Receiving Votes: Shippensburg, 41; Central Missouri, 25; Slippery Rock, 15; Ouachita Baptist, 7; Minnesota-Duluth, 5; Washburn, 4; California (Pa.), 2; Arkansas Tech, 1; Notre Dame (Ohio), 1.
