Scouting Brown

Joe Springer has been more than a adequate replacement QB


The 2010 Brown Bears must feel like they’ve played through half a dozen different seasons just this year alone.

First, there was the start of the season. Those were the first two games of the year. The dramatic overtime win over FCS playoff-bound Stony Brook in the opener, and then the emotional rout of Harvard in the first-ever night game at Brown Stadium in week two.

The Bears were enjoying the highest of highs, all despite not having their star QB Kyle Newhall-Caballero at the helm.

But next came the “second season;” three straight road games that began with two straight losses to URI and Holy Cross, then a squeaker win over a weak Tiger team in Princeton and a predictable easy win at home over Cornell.

During that second stanza, it briefly looked like Newhall-Caballero was coming back. But then he reinjured himself and was lost for the season.

Backup Joe Springer has done better than an average job replacing him, winning two player of the week awards in the process.

The third phase came during two very tough losses in a row to Penn and then Yale. In those games, Brown was a scrappy team with consistent strength in the passing game and in pass defense, but weaknesses in their own running attack and especially in kick coverage.

The team looked a bit different yet again last weekend at Dartmouth, losing a big lead in Hanover and then recovering it and winning in dramatic fashion on the road.

So it’s reasonable to wonder aloud about just which Brown team the Lions will be facing in Providence this Saturday.

There are some obvious partial answers:

-Surely, the Bears passing offense will be strong. Brown leads the league in passing and has arguably the best WR in the league in Alex Tounkara.

-The Brown offensive line will most likely do a great job in pass protection. The Bears have allowed just ten sacks all season even though they throw the ball an average 35 times per game.

-Kicker Alex Norocea will do a great job on PAT’s and short-to-medium range FG’s.

-Coach Estes will have them ready to play.

After that, it’s crap shoot.

Brown can be pretty good at running the ball, but neither Mark Kachmer or Zach Tronti can win a game on their own. They’re both averaging fewer than four yards per carry.

The defense is consistently good against the pass, and solid against the run, but running QB’s can give them problems. Penn’s Billy Ragone torched them at Franklin Field. (Sounds like a good recipe for Sean Brackett)

Overall, this team does not look as good as the Brown squad that lost to Columbia last season. But that game was at Wien Stadium and that makes a big difference when you consider the Lions have beaten the Bears just once at Brown Stadium since 1971.