Not much talk about WMU from an opponent standpoint.

[JeremyCuse]

New HC who wants to run a super quick style (they ran 90+ plays last week) and wants to run the ball a lot (330+ yards last week).

WMU needs to run the ball as they have very little in the way of a passing game at this point and seems likely they will play multiple QBs. If SU can stop the run or significantly limit it WMU is likely to struggle mightily as again they were a bad passing team last year and even a slight improvement isn't going to move the needle much and WMU was a disaster in pass blocking last year.

WMU had a fairly good Defense last year and the new staff kept the prior D coordinator. They lost a lot of pieces to graduation and their best two lineman to the portal. They should be susceptible especially in the secondary. They did a decent job in the game against St. Francis but gave up I believe 2 or 3 big plays, again an area where SU should be able to take advantage be it a long pass play or one of the backs breaking a long run.

SU is a massive favorite for a reason but will be interesting to see how the defense does against the run and how we respond to what I assume will be multiple trick plays and misdirection from WMU. Oline play is another factor I will be watching closely.

 

[UpstateSM]

45-10

 

[shandeezy7]

I think if I were a betting man, I wouldn't take cuse to cover the 23.5 point spread. I still think they win fairly handily, but we seem to not play well against run heavy offenses and if WMU ends up with a significant higher TOP, that leaves less opportunity for SU's offense to put up a lot of points.

 

[GoSU96]

New HC who wants to run a super quick style (they ran 90+ plays last week) and wants to run the ball a lot (330+ yards last week).

WMU needs to run the ball as they have very little in the way of a passing game at this point and seems likely they will play multiple QBs. If SU can stop the run or significantly limit it WMU is likely to struggle mightily as again they were a bad passing team last year and even a slight improvement isn't going to move the needle much and WMU was a disaster in pass blocking last year.

WMU had a fairly good Defense last year and the new staff kept the prior D coordinator. They lost a lot of pieces to graduation and their best two lineman to the portal. They should be susceptible especially in the secondary. They did a decent job in the game against St. Francis but gave up I believe 2 or 3 big plays, again an area where SU should be able to take advantage be it a long pass play or one of the backs breaking a long run.

SU is a massive favorite for a reason but will be interesting to see how the defense does against the run and how we respond to what I assume will be multiple trick plays and misdirection from WMU. Oline play is another factor I will be watching closely.

Same as UConn last year. Gave up two long busts because they were playing a heavy box, but it resulted in a blowout.

 

[TheHaze315]

I think if I were a betting man, I wouldn't take cuse to cover the 23.5 point spread. I still think they win fairly handily, but we seem to not play well against run heavy offenses and if WMU ends up with a significant higher TOP, that leaves less opportunity for SU's offense to put up a lot of points.

I have my doubts that WMU will be able to implement their gameplan though. If we can’t stop WMU under a new coaching staff with lots of turnover, I don’t think it bodes well for our season. If we want to reach our ceiling we have to manhandle WMU.

 

[GoSU96]

I think if I were a betting man, I wouldn't take cuse to cover the 23.5 point spread. I still think they win fairly handily, but we seem to not play well against run heavy offenses and if WMU ends up with a significant higher TOP, that leaves less opportunity for SU's offense to put up a lot of points.

One dimensional offense that wants to go fast that has consistent three and outs is a bad formula. We’ve seen that.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I think if I were a betting man, I wouldn't take cuse to cover the 23.5 point spread. I still think they win fairly handily, but we seem to not play well against run heavy offenses and if WMU ends up with a significant higher TOP, that leaves less opportunity for SU's offense to put up a lot of points.

It's an interesting game, WMU is far from a great team but as you noted SU has a history of uneven performances against these kind of teams. I am fascinated to see if this team comes out and dominates again or is it a 10-3 or 7-7 or 14-10 type of game in the 2nd quarter.

 

[Orangello]

We'd better bring our A game on defensive substitutions tomorrow. I have seen multiple illegal substitution/too many men on the field penalties being called on defenses already this year when facing hurry up offenses. A lot of it depends on how quickly the refs release the QB and center to snap.

 

[RF2044]

It's an interesting game, WMU is far from a great team but as you noted SU has a history of uneven performances against these kind of teams. I am fascinated to see if this team comes out and dominates again or is it a 10-3 or 7-7 or 14-10 type of game in the 2nd quarter.

That isn't what I'm expecting at all.

 

[Consigliere]

I think if I were a betting man, I wouldn't take cuse to cover the 23.5 point spread. I still think they win fairly handily, but we seem to not play well against run heavy offenses and if WMU ends up with a significant higher TOP, that leaves less opportunity for SU's offense to put up a lot of points.

I think Rocky has some wrinkles for that and showed some different looks even last week. Going to be something to watch for.

 

[djorange1989]

I have my doubts that WMU will be able to implement their gameplan though. If we can’t stop WMU under a new coaching staff with lots of turnover, I don’t think it bodes well for our season. If we want to reach our ceiling we have to manhandle WMU.

Exactly, our run D got crushed last year against teams like Clemson and ND, not teams from the MAC, and that only happened when we were losing guys left and right in our front 6. Yeah, St Francis is a good FCS team but they are an FCS team, and WMU struggled against them beyond putting up a lot of rushing yards.

 

[djorange1989]

It's an interesting game, WMU is far from a great team but as you noted SU has a history of uneven performances against these kind of teams. I am fascinated to see if this team comes out and dominates again or is it a 10-3 or 7-7 or 14-10 type of game in the 2nd quarter.

Since Ward left we have taken care of business against teams like this, minus 2020 against Liberty, and we all know that season was a joke(and Liberty was a lot better than this WMU team).

 

[All4SU]

SU is not really a “Stop the Run” defense, but I suspect they will be enough to make WMU have to throw, and that’s not going to be a good plan.

 

[721Comstock]

SU is not really a “Stop the Run” defense, but I suspect they will be enough to make WMU have to throw, and that’s not going to be a good plan.

Agreed. Rocky has a lot of tricks in his bag, and he’ll surely use them if need be.

Rocky prolly leaves both corners on an island, and has Barron & Clark focus almost exclusively on run support.

Plus - Wax & Thompson are nearly as big as DE’s, so we can effectively play a 4 or 5 man front, if they try to just run run run the whole game.

They’ll get some run yardage, and score some points, but eventually we will pull away on more big plays, and that will force them to throw more.
Which they suck at.

 

[RF2044]

I'll also add that WMU might want to run the ball, but that isn't going to be easy going against a DL that goes 10 deep with legitimate quality, and a LB corps that is hostile / mobile / agile / and BIG.

 

[GoSU96]

Wonder if we see 4 DL front.

 

[UpstateSM]

That isn't what I'm expecting at all.

I'll be shocked if it is less than a two score game at halftime. And I didn't come away from Colgate thinking anything special about us so it isn't reactionary. I also watched a good chunk of WMU's game against SFPa last week.

I rarely bet my teams when they are a favorite but I laid the -23.5. We are way, way, way better than them and it will be very disappointing if this game is remotely close in the 4th quarter.

If we can get a big enough lead to rest starters at some point in the 2H that is huge going into Purdue with them coming off two battles.

 

[texascpa]

If you watched any of the SFU/WMU replays you would have seen SFU receivers wide open or beyond the safety numerous times. Their secondary is a mess.

 

[Newhouser]

I'll be shocked if it is less than a two score game at halftime. And I didn't come away from Colgate thinking anything special about us so it isn't reactionary. I also watched a good chunk of WMU's game against SFPa last week.

I rarely bet my teams when they are a favorite but I laid the -23.5. We are way, way, way better than them and it will be very disappointing if this game is remotely close in the 4th quarter.

If we can get a big enough lead to rest starters at some point in the 2H that is huge going into Purdue with them coming off two battles.

I agree - I think we thump them and still go into Purdue not knowing a ton about what we are, or aren't.

 

[djorange1989]

I'll be shocked if it is less than a two score game at halftime. And I didn't come away from Colgate thinking anything special about us so it isn't reactionary. I also watched a good chunk of WMU's game against SFPa last week.

I rarely bet my teams when they are a favorite but I laid the -23.5. We are way, way, way better than them and it will be very disappointing if this game is remotely close in the 4th quarter.

If we can get a big enough lead to rest starters at some point in the 2H that is huge going into Purdue with them coming off two battles.

Agree and another advantage regarding Purdue is, assuming they have another dogfight this week, we will have a LOT more of what they actually are on film and they will not have that with us, since we hopefully can play pretty vanilla again this week.

 

[SUskibum]

Exactly, our run D got crushed last year against teams like Clemson and ND, not teams from the MAC, and that only happened when we were losing guys left and right in our front 6. Yeah, St Francis is a good FCS team but they are an FCS team, and WMU struggled against them beyond putting up a lot of rushing yards.

I get what your saying and I agree overall that we should not have a problem with WM but Tony White defenses had trouble stopping almost all non-FCS schools on the ground. The teams we had the most success with just decided not to run it as much, more so than us ever stopping them.

For example, last year's vaunted D, while mostly still healthy against UConn gave up 104 yards on 23 carries to their 3 running backs for 4.5 YPC. 7 of the top 9 tacklers were DB's, including 3 of the top 4. This was against a team that ran it more than they passed it.

It seemed to be the dirty little secret part of White's defenses that nobody wanted to talk about because of all the other improvements he made, but his teams never stopped anybody (D1) on the ground. I am happy to have Rocky and can't image a team deciding to go 1 dimensional on us and him not responding (that's how we almost lost to VT and Liberty 2 years ago)

 

[PhatOrange]

Not much to talk about it's going to be a blowout.

 

[baggerbob]

That isn't what I'm expecting at all.

I expect the 2 best runners on the field to be Allen and Shrader.

 

[djorange1989]

Not much to talk about it's going to be a blowout.

This

 

[OrangeinBoston]

I get what your saying and I agree overall that we should not have a problem with WM but Tony White defenses had trouble stopping almost all non-FCS schools on the ground. The teams we had the most success with just decided not to run it as much, more so than us ever stopping them.

For example, last year's vaunted D, while mostly still healthy against UConn gave up 104 yards on 23 carries to their 3 running backs for 4.5 YPC. 7 of the top 9 tacklers were DB's, including 3 of the top 4. This was against a team that ran it more than they passed it.

It seemed to be the dirty little secret part of White's defenses that nobody wanted to talk about because of all the other improvements he made, but his teams never stopped anybody (D1) on the ground. I am happy to have Rocky and can't image a team deciding to go 1 dimensional on us and him not responding (that's how we almost lost to VT and Liberty 2 years ago)

A couple of games into the season we were down to 2 DTs, one of which is Darton who is great but undersized. No surprise we had a problem with heavy run offenses. So far, very different this year.