Gorilla offense looking for its usual quick-scoring ways

In football, needless to say, the key is scoring more points than your opponent.
For Pittsburg State, their offense has been a mainstay over the last several years.
Over the last three seasons, the Pitt State offense has generated 240 scoring drives (213 touchdowns, 27 field goals) and averaged just 2 minutes, 37 seconds of elapsed time per drive.
“We hope that we can get to that point,” said PSU offensive coordinator Tim Beck. “We are not at that point right now, at least we have not seen it in practice but we do have some seniors that have significant playing time under their belt and we hope to get to that point.”
The Gorillas have scored on their opening drive 20 times in the last 37 games, posting a 20-0 record in those games.
Last season, Pitt State ranked 21st nationally in total offense averaging 37.4 points per game and 454.8 yards.
“We’d like to think that, offensively, we have a lot of weapons but we have to have more consistency than we have been having,” Beck said. “We are hoping to get to that point and then we can be pretty dangerous.”
The PSU offense has long been known as a rushing game. With the likes of Germaine Race and current senior Caleb Farabi, the Gorillas have rushed for 200-plus yards in 241 of 272 overall games.
Since 1986, the Gorillas have rushed the ball for the highest number of yards among all NCAA Division II programs. They average 299.3 yards per game in 272 games.
Coming into 2008, Farabi has 1,905 career rushing yards and 29 touchdowns.
“We went from Germaine Race to Caleb Farabi and people thought that we were going to drop off at that position and we really haven’t,” Beck said. “We are still going to be a team that is going to run the football and make teams stop the run.
“We will still run power football and Caleb has been a nice curveball for us because we went from a bigger back (Race) who was very powerful to Caleb who is not always going to run over you but he will make you miss.”
Brandon Clark and Terrance Isaac will also give depth at the tailback slot and Todd Herzog will pick back up where he left off last season as the Gorillas’ fullback.
But one thing that defenses will overlook is the Pitt State passing game.
Since 2004, the Gorillas have passed for 11,509 yards and 105 touchdowns.
Behind that passing attack will be third-year starter Mark Smith. Smith enters his senior campaign after completing 111-of-176 passes in 2007 with 12 touchdowns.
Smith has compiled a 13-4 record as the Gorillas’ starter and has 4,238 yards of total offense over those games.
“He’s where we start,” “We feel very comfortable putting a lot on his shoulders as far as going into the first game with a bunch of plays packaged. If you had a new quarterback in that situation you would not be able to do that.
“When you have a guy at the top that can get you in and out of good plays and bad plays, it is easier for us.”
Smith will have plenty of targets to choose from including three seniors — Harrison Kush, Marques Nelson and Nathan Thomas.
Nelson was a favorite of Smith’s last season catching 15 passes for 247 yards and one touchdown. Kush had nine receptions for 325 yards and three touchdowns and Thomas added 11 catches for 133 yards last season.
“You want to have balance in your offense,” Beck said. “There are a lot of teams that try to go 50/50 run to pass,” Beck said. “We still think that balance is important but we want to be able to be a team that runs the football and a team that can do that against a team that cannot stop the run will be successful.”
Beck said that the Gorillas’ success with play-action passing, as well as the running game, will start with the line up front.
The Gorillas return three-year starters Kendall Molz at guard and Travis Greer and Shane McGinnis at tackle.
Molz earned second-team All-MIAA honors as a junior while Greer and McGinnis were also All-MIAA as sophomores in 2006.
With Girard native Josh Paoni earning the guard spot opposite Molz and junior Jay Nunez getting the start at center, the Gorillas average 6-feet-4 and 294 pounds.
“We feel good about the guys coming back and the experience under their belts,” Beck said. “We are not as happy with them as far as the production to this point but, then again, going up against the same defense for a bunch of days in a row it can get old and we are at that point in the year where it is time to go against someone else and see what we can do.”
Martin Burke, from Baxter Springs, pulled down a couple of touchdowns in 2007 as a tight end.
“Game experience will be important for three or four of our tight ends,” Beck said. “We feel like Martin is bigger and stronger than he was a year ago and that will make a big difference as he transitions from the X tight end to the Y tight end. You want to put your aggressive guy in the Y slot.”
With the Gorilla offense, Beck said that there is one big key for success.
“We have good senior leadership and the potential to be pretty explosive is there,” Beck said. “We don’t know if we are there yet but it is the same as anywhere else in America and you have to have a little luck and stay healthy.”

Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140