Heading into his team’s showdown with Arkansas power Fayetteville, a match up that will be televised nationally on CBS College Sports, Jefferson City (Mo.) head coach Ted DePage knows what his Jays will have to control the tempo of the game and limit the Bulldogs’ main weapon: quarterback Brandon Allen.
Allen was a MaxPreps Sophomore All-American last year and started his junior campaign in impressive fashion, passing for 227 yards in a 31-0 rout of Little Rock Central.
“He’s as good of a drop-back quarterback as there is,” DePage said of Allen. “We need to confuse him, and keep the ball out of his hands.”
Of course, that’s the approach that every Fayetteville opponent takes since Allen emerged last season, with varying degrees of success. Last year, Jefferson City raced out to a 15-point first quarter deficit before Allen and the Bulldogs battled back to win a 42-37 shootout that was sealed by a Bobby Petrino interception in the end zone.
This time around, LePage is hoping to control the game up front and limit Allen’s opportunities.
“We need to control the line of scrimmage,” he said.
The Jays’ offensive line, which returns four starters, will play a crucial role in Jefferson City’s ability to sustain long, time-consuming drives. But the real key will be running back Kody Walker, who is the team’s most talented player and a threat that Fayetteville will need to key on for four quarters.
“You get a kid like Kody and you say, ‘That’s what a next level player looks like.’ He has everything a Division I player has,” LePage said of the 6-foot-2, 225-pound Walker, who has been drawing heavy recruiting interest despite missing much of his sophomore season due to injury.{VIDEO_2c04f0b5-6b80-4eca-8769-bbf6dc2b020d,floatRightWithBar}
“Walker is a hoss,” Fayetteville head coach Daryl Patton said. “We have our work cut out for us.”
While Patton acknowledges that Allen is the best quarterback he’s ever coached, he knows that his squad will also need to be able to gain yards on the ground in order to free up his signal caller to find usual targets Demetrius Dean, Michael Heintzman and Josh Hale.
Hale’s brother, Dylan, will see a bulk of the handoffs, taking over for Heintzman, who has been moved to the slot.
“He’s too good of a player to keep off the field,” Patton said of Dylan Hale. “He’s a home-run hitter. He’s got good balance and great speed.”
The Bulldogs defense will be tasked with the challenged of stopping Walker in DePage’s option offense, something that Fayetteville is not accustomed to seeing.
Defensive lineman Devin Bowers will lead the first wave of defense that features a solid group of linebackers behind him. Fayetteville will need to maintain their assignments and not get overzealous; otherwise, Walker may have a huge day.
While Arkansas and Missouri are not sworn enemies that have a palpable interstate rivalry, the stakes are still high as both Jefferson City and Fayetteville want to represent their state well in front of a national audience.
Fayetteville expects a packed house with a major tailgate; Jefferson City will be debuting brand new road uniforms and expects to have 1,000 of its own fans at the game.
“It’s going to be crazy,” DePage said. “I’m sure they will be fired up and we usually travel very well.”
