Blue Devils seek consistency against San Jose City

Nyquel Alexander showed a rare moment of displeasure on the Merced College sideline last weekend.

The sophomore offensive tackle, known as “Big Easy,” has worn a perpetual smile on his face since stepping on the MC campus two years ago. But he vented some frustration regarding the offensive unit’s lack of focus.

It wasn’t the stuff of a Dez Bryant blowup on the Dallas Cowboys’ sideline, but the seldom-seen moment of unhappiness from the 6-foot-6, 420-pound lineman hammered home its point. The Blue Devils were never particularly pushed in their 50-17 victory over Redwoods but were never particularly sharp, either.

Merced College hopes to perform a little cleaner in all aspects of the game as it hits the road for the first time this season for a game against San Jose City College on Saturday at 7 p.m.

“Mostly we just need to evaluate, look at the film for the mistakes we made last week and fix them,” Alexander said. “We also need to see what kind of front they’re running, and then we’ll see what happens in the game.

“They’re freshmen. I was a freshman once and got snapped at on the sideline. I’m out here just playing my captain role and teaching them the right things so they know what to do.”

There were plenty of bright spots in the victory. The defense forced three interceptions, recovered a fumble and earned a safety. Sophomore kicker and punter Noah Croninger helped the Blue Devils (1-0) own the field-position battle all afternoon, either pinning Redwoods deep or getting Merced out of trouble.

For all the good, there was still plenty to improve. Merced College had 12 penalties for 119 yards, was just 4 of 12 on third-down conversions, ran just 52 plays to the Corsairs’ 83 and had seven offensive series of five plays or fewer.

“I think part of it was a feeling-out period,” Blue Devils coach Bob Casey said. “We were seeing a lot of guys in game action for the first time and have a better feel for our personnel now. Our offensive line wasn’t as quick off the ball or as aggressive as they were in the second half. Even starting in the second quarter, I liked how we were playing.

“There were definitely a few missed assignments and other things that we’re cleaning up, but I think we’ll be a much more efficient team on offense this week.”

Merced showed signs of life with its first two drives of the second half. The Blue Devils scored touchdowns on both, racking up 107 of the team’s 277 yards before the first-team offense exited the game.

They’ll try to build upon that against a SJCC squad that yielded 431 yards in a season-opening loss to Gavilan.

“They definitely appear to have a few more guys than Redwoods did,” Casey said. “They definitely have athletes that jump off the film at you, but we feel like we match up with them really well.

“Their quarterback is your typical dual-threat guy. He passed for 300 yards last week, but he can very easily burn you if you aren’t disciplined with your rush. Their game against Gavilan was actually really even; it was just a couple mistakes that really cost them. We were the team that benefited from some mistakes last week, so we can’t take anything for granted.”

This story was originally published September 9, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Blue Devils seek consistency against San Jose City."