Millersville, Pa. - Slippery Rock's defense swarmed Millersville for four quarters and The Rock's offense capitalized on five Millersville turnovers in Saturday's 57-10 win.
The Rock sacked Millersville quarterbacks 10 times and totaled 15 tackles for loss, totaling 93 yards worth of lost yardage for Millersville. The Marauders were limited to -29 yards rushing, largely because of the sacks. Millersville has surrendered 21 sacks and have yet to rush for positive yardage in any of the three games this season.
Slippery Rock's offense wasn't exactly explosive as it totaled just 311 yards of total offense. Quarterback Roland Rivers completed 11 of 26 passes for 126 yards and two scores. But the Marauders threw a pick six for the third consecutive week, lost three fumbles (fumbled the ball six times total), and one of those fumbles turned into a safety.
"We have to go back to the basics," said Millersville head coach
J.C. Morgan. "It's not a matter of what happened today; it's about how it happened. There were too many mental breakdowns, too many mistakes, and we have to do a better job as coaches putting the right players in the right position. I have to figure out how to eliminate the bad starts right out of the gate. This is the second week in a row we got off to a bad start. For the second week in a row we were down in the game less than three minutes in. You can't do that against good football teams."
One week ago, Millersville fell behind 13-0 after IUP had run two offensive players. Slippery Rock needed less than three minutes of football to build a 14-0 lead. The opening drive covered 69 yards in six plays and ended on Rivers' 10-yard run. Millersville running back
Kobe Miranda was stripped on the Marauders' first offensive snap. The Rock took over at the Millersville 26, and Rivers found Henry Litwin four plays later.
"It's really about us shooting ourselves in the foot early with big mistakes," said Morgan. "We have to come out of the locker room ready to go. I have to figure out how to get our guys to come out and not put ourselves in a hole."
The Millersville defense held tough on the next three possessions, even turning over Slippery Rock on downs once, but the offense offered no help. The Rock started four of its first six offensive drives in Millersville territory The Marauders gained just 54 yards on eight first-half drives and its longest drive was six plays. The field position was critical as Slippery Rock's longest scoring drive in the entire game was 69 yards and that was the first drive of the game. Its eight offensive scores came on an average drive of 29 yards.
"Every play it seems like there is one person breaking down and then there's another person breaking down," said Morgan. "The biggest thing right now is the pressure on our quarterback. A lot of that is on the protection and some of that is the routes breaking off. There are times when the quarterback has to put himself in a better position--put the protection in a better position. It's all across the board; it doesn't fall on one particular person. Each play it seems like it's a different person taking their turn to break down."
Collin Shank completed 17 of 26 passes for 145 yards but threw two interceptions. It was the first time in his five career starts that he did not throw a touchdown pass.
Justis Jacobs came on in the fourth quarter and went 6 for 10 for 55 yards and accounted for Millersville's lone touchdown when he found
Joey Farley on a 43-yard strike.
Chris Dolan, one week after making 10 catches against IUP, totaled nine catches for 97 yards.
Farley also connected on a 21-yard field goal, which capped a 14-play, 74-yard drive with 9:25 left in the third quarter.
On defense,
Lucas Bush recorded a career-high 12 tackles and a half tackle for loss.
Jhet Janis tied a career high with 12 tackles.
Trejon Dinkins totaled 10 stops, giving him double-digit tackles in all three games.
Slippery Rock's Chad Kuhn made 4 1/2 sacks and Trey Blandford totaled 3 1/2.
The Marauders travel to West Chester on Saturday, Sept. 22.
