IthacaMatt
Old Timer / Unofficial Contributor for 25+ years
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- Aug 26, 2011
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Plus:
Defense played pretty well against a quality opponent.
Outstanding at stopping Penn State on 3rd down.
Held their running game in check.
We showed promise with the early 1st quarter offense.
We showed some balls with the long ball to set up the comeback TD.
Jerome ran with purpose.
Allen has pretty good presence and poise.
Broyld looks dangerous, if we can get him the ball more often.
Morris looks just as promising as he did in spring ball. I hope we find more packages for him.
We had a chance to win the game, with the ball at our own 45 with 2 minutes to go. That's all you can ask for, as a coach.
Minuses:
Allen was inconsistent and missed too many easy throws.
Allen also lacked a little feel for the rush and got smashed a couple times.
Offensive line was not cohesive in pass protection, and the RT, in particular, looked to take the inside rather than the outside assignment too many times, leading to sacks and pressure on Allen in the pocket.
Offensive line did not get the offensive push for the running game that I expected. I figured that we should have been able to run to the left with more consistency.
For all the talk about Penn State's talent, I am pretty sure they replaced most of their front 7. That was supposed to be their weakness - stopping the inside run, and that was what we were supposed to be strong at.
I hope there are no issues about Allen being the QB over Hunt. Allen looked like his line left him wide open a couple times too many. And What was up with the Post-Standard putting a stat line in the game box score for Hunt? How professional was that?
Shafer looked like a rookie a bit. Needs to manage himself better on the sideline, which I guess he did in the second half. Plays need to get in and out. It didn't seem like we were capable of running last year's offense at this point. We're far from "crisp".
I was not overly impressed with the play calling or the execution. Long way to go on offense. Mackey's trying to be the leader, and he's got the personality for it, but he's got to get those guys working as a unit. The assignments were all messed up among them yesterday.
OVERALL VIEW
I give them a B- overall. The offense was less than I hoped for. The running game was not very impressive at all. Allen got off to a good start throwing the ball, and maybe if the running game held up its' end of the bargain, he wouldn't have become so predictable with his throws, and exposed as the rookie that he is. Allen has all the tools, though. Let's give him 4 games or so to really see where we're at. They picked him for a reason, give him time to grow.
The defense lived up to expectations. We got some pressure on the QB. We tackled well, but for some talent issues in the open field in the 3rd quarter. Our special teams play is improving, but it's not completely there yet. The missed FG was unfortunate.
Overall, though, this team is going to be competitive and tough, just like Shafer. They need some time to grow into their jobs, but so far, I'm OK with the direction we seem to be headed.
Northwestern is a big ask on the road, but they are also a kind of nouveau riche program. They don't have so much fan support as a more tradition-laden (typical Big 10) program. I know they are Top 25, but this is a team that is beatable. It's kind of like that McNabb team that had a chance to beat Tennessee in the Dome in a season opener, and got robbed on a bunch of weird calls (the 2 socks-too-high calls and the phantom pass-interference on 4th down), and we felt like we lost our chance.
But then the next week at Michigan (the one we thought we were more likely to lose), we literally kicked their butts to win. A dominant performance on national TV.
So, Northwestern could be that game for this team. It will tell us whether this team is more likely to finish 6-6 or 8-4.
Defense played pretty well against a quality opponent.
Outstanding at stopping Penn State on 3rd down.
Held their running game in check.
We showed promise with the early 1st quarter offense.
We showed some balls with the long ball to set up the comeback TD.
Jerome ran with purpose.
Allen has pretty good presence and poise.
Broyld looks dangerous, if we can get him the ball more often.
Morris looks just as promising as he did in spring ball. I hope we find more packages for him.
We had a chance to win the game, with the ball at our own 45 with 2 minutes to go. That's all you can ask for, as a coach.
Minuses:
Allen was inconsistent and missed too many easy throws.
Allen also lacked a little feel for the rush and got smashed a couple times.
Offensive line was not cohesive in pass protection, and the RT, in particular, looked to take the inside rather than the outside assignment too many times, leading to sacks and pressure on Allen in the pocket.
Offensive line did not get the offensive push for the running game that I expected. I figured that we should have been able to run to the left with more consistency.
For all the talk about Penn State's talent, I am pretty sure they replaced most of their front 7. That was supposed to be their weakness - stopping the inside run, and that was what we were supposed to be strong at.
I hope there are no issues about Allen being the QB over Hunt. Allen looked like his line left him wide open a couple times too many. And What was up with the Post-Standard putting a stat line in the game box score for Hunt? How professional was that?
Shafer looked like a rookie a bit. Needs to manage himself better on the sideline, which I guess he did in the second half. Plays need to get in and out. It didn't seem like we were capable of running last year's offense at this point. We're far from "crisp".
I was not overly impressed with the play calling or the execution. Long way to go on offense. Mackey's trying to be the leader, and he's got the personality for it, but he's got to get those guys working as a unit. The assignments were all messed up among them yesterday.
OVERALL VIEW
I give them a B- overall. The offense was less than I hoped for. The running game was not very impressive at all. Allen got off to a good start throwing the ball, and maybe if the running game held up its' end of the bargain, he wouldn't have become so predictable with his throws, and exposed as the rookie that he is. Allen has all the tools, though. Let's give him 4 games or so to really see where we're at. They picked him for a reason, give him time to grow.
The defense lived up to expectations. We got some pressure on the QB. We tackled well, but for some talent issues in the open field in the 3rd quarter. Our special teams play is improving, but it's not completely there yet. The missed FG was unfortunate.
Overall, though, this team is going to be competitive and tough, just like Shafer. They need some time to grow into their jobs, but so far, I'm OK with the direction we seem to be headed.
Northwestern is a big ask on the road, but they are also a kind of nouveau riche program. They don't have so much fan support as a more tradition-laden (typical Big 10) program. I know they are Top 25, but this is a team that is beatable. It's kind of like that McNabb team that had a chance to beat Tennessee in the Dome in a season opener, and got robbed on a bunch of weird calls (the 2 socks-too-high calls and the phantom pass-interference on 4th down), and we felt like we lost our chance.
But then the next week at Michigan (the one we thought we were more likely to lose), we literally kicked their butts to win. A dominant performance on national TV.
So, Northwestern could be that game for this team. It will tell us whether this team is more likely to finish 6-6 or 8-4.
