MOBILE, Ala. - The look was called “Soul Train” by interim Coach John Thompson, and it rattled Ball State quarterback Keith Wenning more than he had been all season.
Thompson unfurled a defensive package that resulted in a key second-quarter sack and later produced an interception against Wenning, Ball State’s all-time career leader in completions, passing yards and touchdowns.
“We knew we had to get to him and we had to hit him,” said Thompson of Wenning, who completed 23 of 44 passes and was held to a season-low 215 yards in Arkansas State’s 23-20 victory in the GoDaddy Bowl on Sunday night.
Part of that was the package Thompson said “had been around awhile” throughout his coaching career that has spanned five decades.
Three linemen form an I-formation about 2 yards from the line, giving them a running start toward the quarterback, while also disguising where the pressure is coming from.
It worked once in the second quarter when Ball State,leading 7-0, faced third down at its 10.
ASU’s Eddie Porter, Dexter Blackmon and Chris Stone lined up single file, with Charleston Girley and Kyle Coleman flanking on either side. Coleman came off the right edge untouched to sack Wenning for a 9-yard loss, forcing a punt and ASU answered with a 41-yard Brian Davis field goal to make it 7-3.
Porter, Blackmon and Stone again stood back from the line in the fourth quarter, and linebacker Qushaun Lee intercepted a Wenning pass and returned it to the Ball State 8. It was Wenning’s seventh interception of the season,.
Earlier, not using the “Soul Train,” cornerback Rocky Hayes came off the edge for a sack to force a punt on Ball State’s first series, while ASU also broke up five of his passes.
“It threw his game off,” Lee said of the pressure. “We got the pressure up front, and he was scrambling for his life back there.”
Sports, Pages 22 on 01/07/2014