SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
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- I’ve had better trips home from the Dome. Lots of them. How Many will have I have this year?
- The dream of going 6-0 against the unranked teams we will play for we can go to a bowl regardless of what happens against the 6 likely ranked teams we will be playing is gone. But frankly, off these first two games, we are closer to fighting to avoid going 1-11 than we are to trying to figure a way to get to 6-6.
- The Dino Babers- Scott Shafer duel was a unanimous decision for Scott Shafer. Our not-ready-for-prime-time offensive line was not ready for the pressure Scott brought on them and our offense was never able to function efficiently the whole game. Our in3ffecutal running game was not a concern so Scott sent his defenders to guard the sidelines, noting that our pass offense is all about the sidelines. We never even through a pass toward the middle of the field that got past the line of scrimmage, (there were a couple of inside screens that got blown up). In his press conference, Dino said that there were passes intended to go over the middle but that they never got off due to the pass rush, (“All the gaps were plugged so we had vision problems”). It’s strange that the passes to the sideline were the only ones, (44 of them) that we were able to get off.
- Brian Ward was able to provide a reasonable imitation of a Scott Shafer defense for much of the game. The difference is, MTS was able to make some adjustments that gave Brent Stockstill a chance to pick us apart late in the game and they scored on three straight possession, something that we couldn’t match.
- Shafer’s successful tactics reduced “Orange is the New Fast” to dink and dunk. I was disappointed that, against an FCS team that went 2-9 last year, we were able to only get four “explosive” plays, (a gain of 20+ yards). We got exactly one today- Dungey’s touchdown run that tied it in the fourth quarter. We’ve scored on all 5 drives that had explosive plays this year but there should have been a lot more than 5 such plays. WE completed three passes for negative yards and two more for no gain. In the final possession we never throw a pass to someone beyond the downs marker, much less downfield to try to get the big gains we needed.
- There were a tremendous number of drops by SU receivers in this game, enough, as Babers said, to have made this a different game if they’d caught the ball.
- Other missed opportunities: The interception by Thomas: He was being tackled from behind at the MTS 4. There was an SU player right next to his he could have virtually handed the ball to but he kept it and went down. Maybe that was the smart play but we only got a field goal out of that and it could have bene a touchdown. The fumble recovery by Brandon Berry: it bounced into his hands as he was running toward the goal line with an escort. He bobbled it, (well, he is a lineman), and had to fall on it. We wound up punting. 2nd and goal t the MTS 11 in the second quarter. Dungey runs the option. The trailing back, (I think ti was Neal), was wide open and could have waltzed into the end zone but Dungey keeps it and get sonly 2 yard. We did later score on that drive but it was a lot harder than it should have been. Babers talked about the emotion and mental action of the game and said we came up short. He was right.
- I keep wishing we had a second running back in the backfield. We do: Eric Dungey, who led the team in rushing for the second straight game. Sacks count as runs to the NCAA so he really didn’t have 19 carries. He was sacked 6 times so it was really 13. And I don’t recall any true scrambles: they all seemed to be planned running plays or roll-outs where no one was open so he ran as an option rather than an improvisation. I’m glad we have a quarterback who can run as well as he does. (He would be great in the “freeze-option of the old days). But if your quarterback is your leading rusher, you don’t really have a running attack. Dontae Strickland now has 22 carries for 62 yards and Moe Neal has 14 carries for 35 yards. That’s 2.8 and 2.5 yards per carry, respectively.
- Steve Ismael and Erv Phillips had 21 catches but for only 152 yards. That’s 7.2 yard per catch. They are our big ‘threats’. Neither scored.
- Special teams gave us: A bad snap on a punt leading to a safety; a 64 yard kick-off return (by MTS); A missed field goal and a fumbled punt that led to an MTS score and turned the game around. .
- The refs missed a great game. There were several times when MTS seemed offside or to have too many men on the field because we snapped the ball while they were making substitutions and the refs ignored it. A second quarter drive ended when what appeared to be a “free” fourth down play resulted in an incomplete pass and the fourth quarter interception came a a throw Dungey made because he assumed that a flag had been thrown. Maybe he shouldn’t have made those assumptions but it appeared the refs had missed the call.
- We lost to a team that gave us three first quarter turnovers and 113 yards in penalties, including three personal fouls. It was a chippy game, probably owing to the emotions over Coach Shafer and the fact that are a mid-major and we are a power conference team, if not a very good one at this point.
- It just never seemed as if we were going to win, even when we were ahead. .
- The dream of going 6-0 against the unranked teams we will play for we can go to a bowl regardless of what happens against the 6 likely ranked teams we will be playing is gone. But frankly, off these first two games, we are closer to fighting to avoid going 1-11 than we are to trying to figure a way to get to 6-6.
- The Dino Babers- Scott Shafer duel was a unanimous decision for Scott Shafer. Our not-ready-for-prime-time offensive line was not ready for the pressure Scott brought on them and our offense was never able to function efficiently the whole game. Our in3ffecutal running game was not a concern so Scott sent his defenders to guard the sidelines, noting that our pass offense is all about the sidelines. We never even through a pass toward the middle of the field that got past the line of scrimmage, (there were a couple of inside screens that got blown up). In his press conference, Dino said that there were passes intended to go over the middle but that they never got off due to the pass rush, (“All the gaps were plugged so we had vision problems”). It’s strange that the passes to the sideline were the only ones, (44 of them) that we were able to get off.
- Brian Ward was able to provide a reasonable imitation of a Scott Shafer defense for much of the game. The difference is, MTS was able to make some adjustments that gave Brent Stockstill a chance to pick us apart late in the game and they scored on three straight possession, something that we couldn’t match.
- Shafer’s successful tactics reduced “Orange is the New Fast” to dink and dunk. I was disappointed that, against an FCS team that went 2-9 last year, we were able to only get four “explosive” plays, (a gain of 20+ yards). We got exactly one today- Dungey’s touchdown run that tied it in the fourth quarter. We’ve scored on all 5 drives that had explosive plays this year but there should have been a lot more than 5 such plays. WE completed three passes for negative yards and two more for no gain. In the final possession we never throw a pass to someone beyond the downs marker, much less downfield to try to get the big gains we needed.
- There were a tremendous number of drops by SU receivers in this game, enough, as Babers said, to have made this a different game if they’d caught the ball.
- Other missed opportunities: The interception by Thomas: He was being tackled from behind at the MTS 4. There was an SU player right next to his he could have virtually handed the ball to but he kept it and went down. Maybe that was the smart play but we only got a field goal out of that and it could have bene a touchdown. The fumble recovery by Brandon Berry: it bounced into his hands as he was running toward the goal line with an escort. He bobbled it, (well, he is a lineman), and had to fall on it. We wound up punting. 2nd and goal t the MTS 11 in the second quarter. Dungey runs the option. The trailing back, (I think ti was Neal), was wide open and could have waltzed into the end zone but Dungey keeps it and get sonly 2 yard. We did later score on that drive but it was a lot harder than it should have been. Babers talked about the emotion and mental action of the game and said we came up short. He was right.
- I keep wishing we had a second running back in the backfield. We do: Eric Dungey, who led the team in rushing for the second straight game. Sacks count as runs to the NCAA so he really didn’t have 19 carries. He was sacked 6 times so it was really 13. And I don’t recall any true scrambles: they all seemed to be planned running plays or roll-outs where no one was open so he ran as an option rather than an improvisation. I’m glad we have a quarterback who can run as well as he does. (He would be great in the “freeze-option of the old days). But if your quarterback is your leading rusher, you don’t really have a running attack. Dontae Strickland now has 22 carries for 62 yards and Moe Neal has 14 carries for 35 yards. That’s 2.8 and 2.5 yards per carry, respectively.
- Steve Ismael and Erv Phillips had 21 catches but for only 152 yards. That’s 7.2 yard per catch. They are our big ‘threats’. Neither scored.
- Special teams gave us: A bad snap on a punt leading to a safety; a 64 yard kick-off return (by MTS); A missed field goal and a fumbled punt that led to an MTS score and turned the game around. .
- The refs missed a great game. There were several times when MTS seemed offside or to have too many men on the field because we snapped the ball while they were making substitutions and the refs ignored it. A second quarter drive ended when what appeared to be a “free” fourth down play resulted in an incomplete pass and the fourth quarter interception came a a throw Dungey made because he assumed that a flag had been thrown. Maybe he shouldn’t have made those assumptions but it appeared the refs had missed the call.
- We lost to a team that gave us three first quarter turnovers and 113 yards in penalties, including three personal fouls. It was a chippy game, probably owing to the emotions over Coach Shafer and the fact that are a mid-major and we are a power conference team, if not a very good one at this point.
- It just never seemed as if we were going to win, even when we were ahead. .