Sheehan will present problems for football team
Coach Butch Jones sees Saturday’s football game against Bowling Green coming down to the Falcon’s offense and its quarterback Tyler Sheehan.
Sheehan leads the Mid-American Conference in passing yards per game and total offense. Many of those yards go to wide receiver Freddie Barnes, who leads the conference in receptions (85) and receiving yards (882).
“It’s hard because they’re extremely creative in how they get him the ball,” Jones said. “He plays every receiver position and they’ll put him in the backfield and let him play quarterback, so they do a great amount of moving him around, and he’s going to get his touches.”
He added that CMU’s defense, which ranks first in the Mid-American Conference in scoring defense, but third in defending the pass, will have its hands full trying to contain the Falcons’ passing duo.
“Just like last week, we had a great challenge with (Western wide receiver Juan) Nunez, we just have to go out there and do what we do,” said senior cornerback Josh Gordy. “Play tight coverage and make it a hard throw for the quarterback.”
One of the keys, Gordy said, will be to play tight on Barnes and not give him too much room or play him soft.
“That’s where we noticed a lot of teams have success with him,” he said. “Is getting up in his face and getting physical with him.”
But at the same time, Jones said they can’t let one player take up too much of the defense’s attention.
“You just have to hope to contain him because you know he’s going to get his,” Jones said. “Because he’s a focal point, if you make too much of him then, the other wide outs step up, and they’re very talented as well.”
As for Sheehan, the team’s key to stopping him is to pressure him and make him feel uncomfortable in his own backfield, Jones said.
“I think any time you face a team that has a great quarterback and great wide out, it all stems up front and it stems at the line of scrimmage,” he said.
A focus, once again, will be on the pass rush and pressuring the quarterback.
“If we let him (Sheehan) sit back there and set his feet, it’s going to be a long day,” Jones said. “So, as in the case of the last couple of weeks, our D-line has to do a great job of establishing the line of scrimmage and coming off the ball.”
