'Don't think about it': UWF football keeps internal focus with two weeks left in regular season
The end of the University of West Florida football team’s practice on Wednesday was just like any other.
Certain players stayed a few minutes after to get some individual work in, and that included quarterback Peewee Jarrett with wide receivers John Jiles and Caden Leggett. New to the trio was offensive lineman Oake Stipes, working on his snaps to Jarrett in the shotgun.
There were a couple times that Stipes kept going back and forth on where he would hold the ball on the ground, trying to decide what felt more comfortable. He showed frustration when he produced a low snap to Jarrett.
“Don’t think about it,” Jarrett said. And on the next few snaps, the ball went right into the hands of Jarrett, drawing praise from the quarterback and assistant head coach/offensive line coach Steve Saulnier, who quickly interjected, “There you go, Oake!”
“See? You stopped thinking about it,” Jarrett said.
After Saturday’s 31-28 heartbreaking loss against Valdosta State, the Argos saw their chance at a conference championship slip away. UWF now sits with a 4-2 Gulf South Conference (6-3 overall) record, and is fourth in the conference behind Delta State, Valdosta State and the University of West Georgia.
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With two games left in the regular season, starting with Mississippi College on Saturday, Jarrett said the “don’t think about it” statement could be used as the team’s mantra as the Argos close out their regular season. Ranked fourth in Super Region 2 in the NCAA, if UWF wins its last two games, it puts everything in the NCAA’s hands, Jarrett said after last Saturday’s game.
“You get thinking about it too much, and you just get to stressing. Stress doesn’t do anything but make it worse. I just want everyone around me to be happy and play free,” Jarrett said. “We’ve got to keep going. The world doesn’t care that we lost. People in the conference are probably happy that we lost. … If we win out, we control everything that we can control.”
Revisiting Week 9
It came down to the last second during the UWF and Valdosta State game. Literally.
Trailing by just a field goal, the Argos marched their way down the field to the Valdosta State 34-yard line, setting kicker Griffin Cerra up for a game-tying 51-yard field goal with one second left in the game.
But the kick sailed just wide right, securing the comeback victory for the Blazers, who scored on their final offensive drive. They went 77 yards on 11 plays, capped off by a 28-yard touchdown pass from Sammy Edwards to Ted Hurst.
The Argos’ defense got Valdosta State to fourth down twice on that drive, but the Blazers converted twice. The first was a fourth-and-1, where Edwards found B.K. Smith for a 10-yard pass; the second was a fourth-and-5 when Edwards connected with Council Allen for a 9-yard pass up the middle.
Valdosta State didn’t do anything different on offense, both defensive lineman Byron Puryear and head coach Kaleb Nobles said.
“They were just picking us apart a little bit. We got out of flow, and we tried to get back into it but it was too late, I guess,” Puryear said on Wednesday. “They had momentum on their side.”
Nobles added that it comes down to playing a “full 60 minutes,” something he’s noted after the games against North Greenville University and West Georgia. Nobles said the Argos didn’t “play great” in the second and third quarters, followed by a failed fourth-down conversion from the Argos prior to the Blazers’ game-winning touchdown.
Jarrett tried to run the ball, needing just a yard, but there was a missed block and he was tackled for a 1-yard loss. Nobles said after the game had UWF converted on that fourth down – or stopped the Blazers on their two fourth-down attempts – the game was likely the Argos’.
“We didn’t play as well as we needed to in the third quarter. It came back to bite us in the butt a little bit,” Nobles said. “Our guys are trying to put the puzzle pieces together that a full 60 (minutes) doesn’t mean just the beginning or end of the game – it’s got to be in the middle as well.”
Around the GSC
The conference championship race appears to be between two teams now: Valdosta State and Delta State. Both teams have 5-1 conference records. West Georgia, also 5-1, could throw a wrench into those plans, however.
The Wolves also have two games left in the regular season: against the Statesmen this Saturday, and at Valdosta State on Nov. 11. West Georgia is currently on a four-game win streak after falling to UWF, 49-21, on Sept. 23.
If West Georgia beats one, or both, of those teams, things get crazy looking at the GSC standings. But now’s not the time for hypotheticals. More will become clear after this weekend.
After last weekend, Valdosta State defensive back Jacob Harris was named the GSC’s Defensive Player of the Week. He had 14 tackles and a scoop-and-score for a 3-yard touchdown that started to give the Blazers momentum over the Argos. Punter Noah Bostford was named the Special Teams Player of the Week after seven punts for 324 total yards, with one punt inside the 20-yard line.
Also receiving recognition after Week 9 were West Georgia running back Rajaez Mosley (Offensive Player of the Week) after 191 yards rushing with two touchdowns, and West Georgia quarterback Cameran Brown (Freshman of the Week) who put up 206 yards passing with three touchdowns and 66 yards rushing.
Here are the current GSC standings and the team’s opponent in Week 10:
Valdosta State (8-1 overall, 5-1 GSC) at West Alabama
Delta State (7-1, 5-1 GSC) at West Georgia
West Georgia (5-2, 5-1 GSC) vs. Delta State
West Florida (6-3, 4-2 GSC) at Mississippi College
West Alabama (4-4, 3-3 GSC) vs. Valdosta State
North Greenville (4-5, 3-4 GSC) vs. Shorter University
Mississippi College (3-5, 2-4 GSC) vs. West Florida
Shorter University (3-6, 1-5 GSC) at North Greenville
Chowan University (0-9, 0-7 GSC) BYE WEEK
Scouting Mississippi College
Similar to West Alabama, Nobles said Mississippi College shouldn’t be judged by its record. The Choctaws have played a couple tough non-conference teams, including Midwestern State, and faced a strong conference schedule so far with losses to West Georgia, West Alabama and Valdosta State.
The losses to the Wolves and Tigers were three-point losses.
“They’ve got a really good quarterback who can throw and run, just a big, long-bodied guy. They’re just as athletic on defense as they’ve ever been,” Nobles said. “We know we’ve got a tough challenge with Mississippi College on Saturday.”
After watching film, Puryear, even though this is his first year with the Argos, said he noticed a few changes from Mississippi over the years. Notably, the Choctaws play their quarterback under center a lot.
Puryear, who had 2.5 sacks against Valdosta State, added there might be “a little bit of a path to get to the quarterback."
“It’s always a challenge to get to the quarterback,” Puryear said. “But it’s always fun.”
But one thing hasn’t changed: Mississippi’s strong run game. The Choctaws have ran for a total of 1,775 yards with 15 touchdowns. The effort is led by Marcus Williams, who has 695 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Five other players have scored at least one rushing touchdown this season.
The Argos have allowed just 1,033 yards rushing (84.8 per game). Twice, opposing teams have finished with negative rushing yards.
That’s opposed to the Choctaws' limited passing game, where they have thrown for just 772 yards. Quarterback Cameron Davis has a 48.2 passing percentage (67-for-139) with three touchdowns and three interceptions.
“Our guys take pride in trying to hold an opposing team to as little rushing yards as possible. If you can run the ball – and stop the run – you’re going to be really good as a team,” Nobles said. “Our run game has been a little bit better the last couple weeks, but our defensive line has won the line of scrimmage and controlling the line of scrimmage when it matters the most.”
“We know it’s going to be a big run game. We’re just trying to pick up on some keys from their offensive line,” Puryear said.
The Choctaws are allowing an average of 368.6 yards per game, but are holding opponents to just 22.75 points per game. Jason Betz leads Mississippi with 55 tackesl (32 solo, 23 assisted). The defense has recorded eight interceptions and 17 passes broken up.
Jarrett said last year, the Choctaws do “a lot of movement” in the backfield, sometimes with three safeties. In 2022’s 45-17 regular-season win against Mississippi, Jarrett had 137 yards passing. A couple weeks later in the GSC Regional Game at Mississippi, he threw for 246 yards passing in the Argos’ 56-21 victory.
“I feel like I was comfortable with it,” Jarrett said of going against the Choctaws’ defense. “Hopefully this year we come out clicking on all cylinders.”
Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: UWF football goes to Mississippi College for GSC contest in Clinton
