Bear Huggins hits a 30 yard FG with 0:05 left to put the Bulldogs at 4-1 overall
(Sept 30, 2023 - Greeneville, TN) -- Barton had to win this game. Going into the hardest part of their schedule (Newberry, LR, Wingate), the Bulldogs HAD to get some momentum in their favor. Following two games where they played incomplete games and didn’t perform to their own expectations in the 2nd halves vs UVA Wise & Mars Hill, Barton found themselves bending but not breaking at Tusculum. They also found a way to make big plays for the win by getting Bear Huggins in position to hit the 30 yd game winning FG.
We’ve seen this team blow a team out, punch above their weight class, give up a commanding lead then to win on a big TD, get shut out in the 2nd half vs another undefeated team, and now let another team back to an even score to stop their late drives and win it on a FG with 0:05 left. That covers about every scenario a team can face.
I’m gonna call this what my grandma would call it: Barton is seasoning the pan. Barton has found a way to expose itself to all of these scenarios and find themselves 4-1 in the process. You could say they’ve had the ups & downs of a complete season in roughly 5 games.
In my preseason analysis, I said that if Barton could find itself finishing the 2023 season up one game over .500 (6-5) you would see that as a good season bouncing back after going 4-7 in 2022. If I could tell you Barton would be 4-1 at this point I’m sure we would ALL take it, especially with that Davidson win.
The team has battled with manageable injuries to this point outside of Quayon Gilbert going down with his foot injury. The LT spot is going to need to be a focus of recovery with Trey Pickard going down. Shane Perry has had arm and ankle issues the last few weeks, and Matt Smith has had some nasty bumps & bruises. I know there are many more dealing with these types of bumps & bruises. It's college football, it's gonna happen.
This team is in a growing phase and finding out more about itself each week. While I can hear HC Chip Hester say his normal "We've got things to work on" line that he uses in post game speeches and press conferences, he's correct to say this. I firmly believe that this team has studied and understands the 30,000 foot view of itself. Now as the view closes in as the season progresses, they are seeing these small things Hester has referenced, and they are learning to adjust each week.
An analogy I use in work situations is that we are being asked to change the tires on our car while driving 80 mph on the interstate. Luckily, the team has each week to review the little things and focus on how to make the proper adjustments in the games. That's part of the "fun" of sports. A lot of times people will say they know how you will perform based on you're track record. What they don't see is the in-between work and reps the players and coaches put in that could be the changing mindset in the overall plan of trajectory a team has for itself. When the game starts, you'll usually see what you anticipated seeing could be spot on or it could be way off. As the prophet Mike Tyson once said, "everyone has a plan until you get punched in the mouth." Once the ball is kicked off, you're going to see how your plans stack up.
Barton will now face off against Newberry (3-2, 2-1) at Truist Stadium in Wilson, NC Saturday October 7th at 4:00 pm. If you would have asked me how this game would shape up before the season, I would have said I could see a pretty decent offensive contest like we saw in the 2022 matchup. Barton currently sits at 6th overall in the South Atlantic Conference in total offense while Newberry is 7th.
On defense, Barton is giving up an average of 17 points per game (85 pts total) while Newberry gives up an average of 21.6 points per game (108 total). Newberry's strength on defense would have to be their rush defense as they rank at 5th overall giving up an average of 130.4 yards per game. This will be the big matchup versus Jordan Terrell, Jaquan Lynch, and the rest of the Barton rushing offense, averaging 206.6 yards per game. Will we see QB0 working the RPO or will it be extra servings of The Certified 1?
Be sure to join the rest of Bulldog Nation this weekend at Truist Stadium for this big time matchup and see how things play out.
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