Preview of the UT-Martin Skyhawks
The Skyhawks have a fairly prolific offense. They have a 3-2 record this season so far with wins over Union College (63-0), #24 Murray State (48-26) and Austin Peay (61-23). They dropped their opening game of the season to #9 Jacksonville State 24-23 and Tennessee Tech 34-31. They average 45.2 points per game while giving up an average of 21.4 points per game to their opponents.
UT-Martin has racked up 2,558 total yards of offense in quite a balanced attack. They have 1,144 yards rushing and 1,414 yards passing. Rushing, they have 230 attempts for an average of 5 yards per rush with 14 touchdowns and an average of 228.8 yards per game.
Passing, the Skyhawks quarterbacks have gone 100-for-168 with 6 interceptions and 13 touchdowns. They average 14.1 yards per catch and 8.4 yards per passing attempt for 282.8 yards per game.
Offensively, the skyhawks average 6.4 yards per play and averages 511.6 yards per game.
Defensively, UT-Martin allows an average of 316.6 yards per game for a total of 1,589 yards. Which averages out to 4.8 yards per play. Their rush defense has been pretty solid. They only allow an average of 130.4 yards per game which is 3.7 yards per rush and only 3 rushing touchdowns all season. Through the air, they have allowed 931 yards total which is an average of 186.2 yards per game, 11.2 yards per catch and 6.2 yards per attempt. They have allowed 8 passing touchdowns so far this season and have intercepted opposing quarterbacks five times.
However, they are heavily penalized with an average of 92.8 yards per game of penalty yardage while their opponents average 50.2 yards of penalties against them. The Skyhawks protect the ball very well with only three fumbles all season while only losing one of them. They have forced five fumbles of opposing teams and recovered four of them. So they are +1 in the turnover margin.
Again, the skyhawks are solid offensively by converting 49% of their 3rd down attempts and 50% of their 4th down attempts. Defensively their opponents only convert 22% of their 3rd down attempts and 40% of their 4th down attempts.
UT Martin scores well in the first three quarters but have been lacking in fourth quarter scoring. Defensivley, they are stingy in the first quarter but give up more points in the remaining three quarters, but still not a whole lot.
The Skyhawks have a good rushing tandem in McNair and Barksdale. Between the two, they have over 800 of the teams rushing yardage. Their quarterback Derek Carr isn’t much of a rusher but completes almost 60% of his passes.
Again receiving, they have two receivers who have seperated themselves from the rest of the receiving corps. Stephen Shiver and Quentin Sims have combined for 38 recptions and 591 yards and 6 touchdowns.
They have returned a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns while only allowing one kickoff return for a touchdown.
Behind Derek Carr passing, the next player with the most offensive yardage is McNair with 465 yards or 93 yards per game. But down rule out Barksdale with his 64.6 yards per game average too.
In order for the Jags to win the game, they will have to be able to stop this high-powered offense. They have to get pressure on Carr and keep McNair, Barksdale, Shiver and Sims all in check.
Offensively, C.J. Bennett will have to be efficient. The Jags cannot afford turnovers stalling drives. I would expect Coach Gregory to work high percentage passes to open up the run behind the experienced offensive line.