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ROGER GARFIELDStaff Columnist

By ADAM SPARKSsparks@dnj.com

Running back ReggieArnold may be ArkansasStates most valuable offensiveand defensive player Saturdayversus MTSU.

The Sun Belts leading rush-er is ASUs most dependableoffensive weapon, but his ball-control will be needed to keepMTSUs explosive offense onthe sideline.

Thats our job for this gameand my job; control the clockand keep their offense off thefield so they

cant score andtheyll getcold, Arnoldsaid. I know(MTSUs) of-fense is explo-sive, so thebetter we runthe ball, thefewer chances theyre going toget for big plays.

Arnolds objective is well-founded.

MTSU touts the Sun Beltstop passing offense, but ASU hasaveraged a loftier 511 total yardsper game. That means MTSUsdefensive concerns may begreater than the Red Wolves.

This is the best offense

weve faced, MTSU defensivecoordinator Manny Diaz said.Theres no question. And thatsthe funny thing about playingso-called big name schools (likeMaryland and Kentucky) thisyear when in reality this is thebest offensive football teamweve played against.

They have the best quarter-back weve played against. Idont think there is any discus-sion on that. (Arnold) is one ofthe best running backs wevefaced. Because of their experi-ence at those positions, theyjust know what theyre doing.

By ROGER GARFIELDrgarfield@dnj.com

The high school football landscape inRutherford County is changing.

And so are the rivalries that make thegames between these in-county teams sointensely competitive.

For years, there was Oakland versusRiverdale. And based on the physicalityof the teams Week 0 showdown which Oakland won, 17-6 the Battleof the Boro has not lost any of its luster.

There was also Smyrna and La

Vergne, the two northern county towns

who battled to a 15-13 Bulldogs victory

a year ago. They face each other Oct. 17

this fall.

Since the arrival this decade of Black-

man (2000) and Siegel (2003), however,

there are more dates on the calendar forplayers and coaches to circle. Two of

these newer rivalries take center stage

tonight when Blackman visits Smyrna

and Siegel plays host to Riverdale.

Part of the reason the budding

Blackman-Smyrna rivalry has beenhotly contested in recent years has to

do with the coincidental coaching

pipeline between the two schools.

SportsEXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR:Greg Pogue | pogue@dnj.com615.278.5170

NASCAR This Week | C6Scoreboard | C7

Friday, Sept. 19, 2008

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Football found its way intothe halls of Riverdale Highthis week. Literally.

Junior quarterback CodyWest and some of his team-mates carried footballs fromclass to class to help combatthe fumble woes that haveplagued them through the firstfour weeks of the season.

Theres some people thatllcome up and pound you just kids in the halls, Westsaid, laughing.

Its in Wests nature tolaugh, to smile wide.

It is a defining characteristic

of his magnetic, easy-goingpersonality. It is also the rea-son he should be able to shrugoff his early-season strugglesin the Riverdale backfield.

Three of the Warriors sev-en turnovers last Friday at Lin-coln County were Wests. Hehas admittedly not played tohis potential. But he also has-nt let the miscues get himdown.

The first half, I just playedterrible, West said. I tried tojust keep my head up. I toldmyself Im not going to have abad game, and I think I kind ofpulled that off.

Statistics show he bouncedback to have a good second

half 71 yards rushing, atouchdown and no turnovers but it was one play midwaythrough the fourth quarter thatillustrated Wests resiliencymore than any other.

Trailing by 13, the Warriorscalled for a trick play that re-sulted in an interception. AsLincoln County tried to returnthe interception at midfield,West sprinted toward the Fal-con defender from some 20yards away.

By the time he got there,the Falcon had fumbled. Andwhen refs finally peeled all theplayers off the scrum for theball, it was West laying at the

bottom of the pile, footballclutched firmly.It was a play not typical of

a quarterback. But West is farfrom typical.

A wise juniorHe looks at football with a

mature perspective, one hestrying his best to maintain.

Football is fun and itllhelp get you places in life, butits a learning thing, Westsaid. It makes you stronger,and Ive learned so much al-ready this season.

He also realizes what itmeans to play his position andat his school, for better orworse.

Its an unbelievableamount of pressure to put onone of those Warrior jerseys,West said. Theres so muchhigh expectations, and somany people just come out tosee us and expect so much. Itsa big motivation in a positiveway, but it can also be a nega-tive because of the pressure.

He has the rest of the sea-son to show how he handles it.But if his positive outlook andhis second half at LincolnCounty are any indication,West should be looking up with that football clutchedfirmly.

Its just not all about thesport, West said. Its about

having fun and learning fromit. Im getting better at that.

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: Full coverage of tonightsarea prep football games The DNJ previews Satur-days MTSU-Arkansas Statematchup

U.S. Ryder Cup captain

Paul Azinger has done all

he can to put together a

team that will end Europes

three straight victories in

the Ryder Cup. Now its upto the players and their

putters.

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For the big picture,check out the

Scoreboard

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sPedroia,Boston .326

Ordonez,Detroit .326

Mauer, Minnesota .324

Kinsler, Texas .319

SCOREBOARD

NHLI C

2Preds face questions at

forward as camp begins

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3Vols must control running

game vs. Florida

Hi

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5Riverdales volleyball team

takes on visiting Oakland

Inside

Page editor: J. Patrick Keenan

ASU hasbest attackMTSU hasfaced yetRed Wolves rushing

game 6th in nation

MTSU HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALLWEEK 4

ARNOLD

New era, new rivalsRiverdale, Siegel and Smyrna, Blackman games

have developed into gridiron grudge matches

DNJ file photos

On page C4

Capsule previews of tonights games as well asstandings and stats

Coming SaturdayThe DNJ covers Week One of the high schoolfootball season with its Preps Extra specialsection

N MTSU at Arkansas StateSaturday, 6 p.m. at Jonesboro, Ark.

NWGNS (1450-AM), WNFN (106.7-FM)

MTSUMTSU

I Log on to BlueRaiders.com tosee Rick Stockstills Tuesday pressconference and other MTSU storiesand photos.

Its all about winning now for veteran Bulluck

By JIM WYATT

Gannett Tennessee

NASHVILLE When

Keith Bulluck entered the NFL

back in 2000, he was a little

selfish.Although he was a first-

round pick on a winning team,he wasnt playing much. Priori-

ty No. 1 was to change that,

though it re-

quired pa-tience. He did-nt become astarter until histhird season.

Then hismission wasto be mistake-free. Veterans

around him Eddie George,Steve McNair, Jevon Kearse

and Samari Rolle becamehis role models. He wanted tobe a Pro Bowler just like them.He took pride in becoming aone-man tackling machine.

But in what seemed likethe blink of an eye, the gangwas broken up thanks to asalary cap shakeup. Andwhile Bulluck had great ac-complishments in the years

t h a tseemed topass so

qu i ck l y ,s o m e -thing wasmissing.

Now inhis ninthNFL sea-son, theT i t a n slinebacker has a much differentperspective on whats most im-

portant to him, and it has farless to do with individual ac-complishments than team

goals. He came to that realiza-tion several seasons ago, but aseach year goes by its becomeclearer.

At this point in my career itis all about winning and help-ing the young guys get towhere I am and get them to seethe big picture, Bulluck said.

TITANS

BULLUCK

NTennesseevs. Houston

Sunday, Noonat LP Field in Nashville

N Ch. 5 (WTVF)N 103.3-FM (WKDF)

TITTITAN SAN S

Roger Garfield is prep editor of TheDaily News Journal. E-mail him atrgarfield@dnj.com.

Warrior Westhas a good

hold of things

See MTSU, page C3

See RIVALRIES, page C4

Individual accolades secondary for LB

See BULLUCK, page C7

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ASUs most potent poison comeson the ground, where it ranks sixthnationally at nearly 300 rushingyards per game. The attack is three-tiered, at least. Arnold, a 5-foot-9,220-pound junior tailback, leads theconference at 117 rushing yards pergame. When he sat out most ofASUs 83-10 win over FCS-memberTexas Southern, backup freshmanDerek Lawson raced to 209 yards.

Corey Leonard is also among theleagues best running quarterbacks.The ASU trio makes up half of theSun Belts top six rushers in terms ofaverage yards per game.

Theyre so good, I dont know ifyoure going to stop the run com-pletely, Diaz said. But we have tomake them earn every yard and cer-tainly no big chunks, no big plays.And the added challenge this weekis that their quarterback can scram-ble, and weve had trouble with thatin the past.

ASU padded its rushing totalswith a 441-yard outburst against in-ferior Texas Southern, but its num-bers are still legitimate. The RedWolves rushed for 255 yards in anupset of Texas A&M and 191 yardsin a loss to Southern Miss.

Theyve run the ball against

good teams, and so this is a huge

challenge for our defense, MTSU

coach Rick Stockstill said. I think

this is the best running attack our de-

fense has faced this year.

Added Diaz: They walked Texas

A&M up and down the field. They

actually shouldve scored over 30

points because they left a bunch of

points on the field in the red zone.

MTSU knows of Arnold as a

bruiser, but he has added speed and

some wiggle to his repertoire. Thats

not the best news for the BlueRaiders.

Yeah, the past couple of years

Ive been a physical runner, a bruis-

er, Arnold said. But I worked hard

in the offseason to become more of a

home run threat, and Ive had a few

big plays. Im not settling for just

getting to the secondary anymore. I

want to take it all the way.

Adam Sparks, 615-278-5174

Continued from page C1

Blackman coach Bobby Wellsspent most of his coaching careeras an assistant at Smyrna, whilefirst-year Smyrna coach MattWilliams was the defensive coor-dinator at Blackman the previousthree seasons.

Said Wells: Its not real com-fortable for either one of us, be-cause somebodys going to comeout on the short end (tonight).

Said Williams: Theres a lot ofcoaches and players over there Istill care a great deal about. ... Itsgonna be a little awkward, but afterkickoff, itll probably go away.

More connectionsThe players have a familiarity

with one another, as well, althoughtheres no room for awkwardnesswhen theyre trying to lay a hit on aformer teammate or family mem-ber.

Smyrna senior lineman TylerEady will face both tonight. He hasa cousin, as well as a handful of for-mer youth league teammates, thatplay for Blackman. In fact, Eadysdad, Mike, and the father of Black-man junior DeShawn Smith, O.J.,used to coach young Tyler and De-Shawn when they played in theSmyrna youth league together.

DeShawns dad and my dadhave been best friends since they

were kids, Eady said.There are other similar relation-ships between the Blackman andSmyrna schools because of theproximity of their community bor-ders. While Eady tries to approacheach opponent the same, he says theconnections add a little extra moti-vation.

I think its somebody we alwayswant to beat because theyre in ourregion, and especially cause coachWilliams comes from there, Eadysaid. So we definitely want to beatthem bad.

Sign of the timesIn Murfreesboro, Siegel senior

Chuck McCord and his fellow Starswill try and make history tonight by

beating Riverdale for the first timein his schools six-year existence.

I want to be a part of the firstclass to ever beat Riverdale, saidMcCord, a tight end/defensive end.

I want to be a part of that, and myother senior brothers feel the sameway.

McCord says his biggest rival isOakland, because so many of hisformer teammates at Central Mid-

dle like Precious Valentine, SamBass and Chanz Boyd currentlystar for the Patriots.

McCord also acknowledgesRiverdale as an emerging rival ofSiegels, although with the growing

parity in Region 4-5A, he says vir-

tually all games must be treated likerivalry games.

(Riverdale) is a real importantgame because it would be a big winin the region, McCord said. And

thats every game this year. Its agood year theres a lot of teamscompeting out there, and the timing

makes it really even. You donthave just one team thats going torun over everybody.

Riverdale junior quarterbackCody West feels the same way.

Things are changing, West

said, and everythings evened outmore. I dont think that the past re-

ally should matter.While games like the Battle of

the Boro arent disappearing by

any means, the most heated rival-ries of the future are still unknown.And in this era of change, it may be

awhile before theyre entirely clear.I think it kind of varies from

year to year, Siegel coach David

Watson said. The main thing is,you can tell a big difference whenits an in-county game. The intensi-

ty of the (Week 0) Smyrna gamewas far more than Glencliff, Cen-tennial and even Wilson Central.

... Theres always the Oakland-Siegel rivalry, but I think some-times it gets a little overbuilt. (The

players) get up just as much to playBlackman and Riverdale and Smyr-na as they get up to play Oakland.

Roger Garfield, 615-278-5168

Continued from page C1

That to me is more about what it isall about. I still want to get this de-

fense an MVP, but it is more aboutgetting a ring, and bringing all theguys with me. All I want to do is wingames and do everything I can tomake that happen.

Bulluck, 31, has certainly done hispart over the years, leading the Titansin tackles five of the past six seasons.Hes currently third on the fran-chises all-time tackle list, has 16 ca-reer interceptions, and just last weekscored his sixth career touchdown,albeit on special teams.

More than anything else, Bulluckhas been reliable. Sunday hell starthis 100th consecutive game, thelongest active streak of any Titan andthe fourth longest among NFL line-backers.

Bulluck takes great pride in the

streak because it means hes beenthere for his teammates.Keith is one of the most depend-

able players on this football team,defensive end Kyle Vanden Boschsaid. You can always count on No.53 being out there on Sundays. If theTitans are playing, hes going to beon that field making plays to help uswin.

Counting his blessingsSince taking over as the full-time

starter in 2002, Bulluck has startedevery game 99 in the regular sea-son, five in the playoffs.

While other linebackers selectedin the first round of the 2000 NFLDraft Brian Urlacher (Bears) andJulian Peterson (Seahawks) are

still enjoying NFL success, playersincluding LaVar Arrington and RobMorris are out of the league.

As for the secret to his ability toremain injury-free, Bulluck said: Ipray before every game to getthrough safe.

But he has to work at it, too. Bul-luck increased his offseason training,although he still has the same rou-tine. He spends time in California,Florida and Arizona working outwith the same trainers and other NFLathletes, in addition to the time hespends in the Titans offseason pro-gram.

He has to be blessed, too, cor-nerback Cortland Finnegan said.Not a lot of guys can say theyveplayed that long and the way Kei-

th plays without getting hurt.Titans defensive coordinator JimSchwartz called Bulluck a consum-mate pro who is more motivatednow than ever.

He sort of hit us when we were

going to the playoffs every year ...

and it was almost like he took it for

granted, Schwartz said. Thenwhen we started losing and went

through some tough years I think it

made him appreciate the good times

more and made him realize it wasnt

the way it was always going to be.

Team player

The good times are definitely

back for the Titans defense.

After being at or near the bottom

of the league in defense in 2004 and

2006, the Titans finished fifth last

season and are second after two

games this season.

The Titans have quality players at

every defensive position, which was-

nt always the case when Bulluck

had unheard-of tackle totals like 180,

171, 171, 150 and 161. Those totals

might make his 109 last year look

like hes slacking off, but thats hard-

ly the case.

I am sure it was difficult on Kei-

th for a stretch because he saw all

those guys he played with and had all

the success with all go out the door,

and he was sort of like the last of the

Mohicans, Schwartz said. But

slowly weve been able to surround

him with better players and not only

does he have confidence in himself,

he has confidence that those guys can

get their job done.

There was a part of Bulluck who

enjoyed making so many tackles. His

numbers are down through two

games hes sixth on the team with 11

tackles but hes OK with that. The

days of worrying about that kind of

stuff are gone.

I just know and understand foot-

ball. When you have two All Pros in

front, including a defensive tackle

who is unblockable, how are you

supposed to make 14 or 15 tackles a

game?Bulluck said. I am not mak-

ing as many tackles, but we are win-

ning more games. If it was three or

four years ago, yeah it might have

bothered me. But at this point in mycareer I dont care, and I still find a

way to make my plays and contribute

on this team.

Continued from page C1