SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
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- Before leaving I checked in on the Delaware-Penn State game. I’ve always had a thing for the Blue Hens and wanted to see how they would do against a powerhouse. They fell behind 0-14 but then a player, (Marcus Yarns) broke away for a 66 yard touchdown run. He leaped across the goal line in celebration. I thought to myself, “Well those feisty Blue Hens are showing the Nittany Lions that they are in a game today!” When I got to the Dome, I checked the score and State was up 56-7 in the fourth quarter. They eventually won 63-7.
On the first play from scrimmage we stuffs a Western Michigan run. I thought, “You guys are not going to rush for 339 yards today!” I looked up at the replay on the big scoreboard and saw, with satisfaction that their back had run into a wall of his own blockers that our guys pushed back into him. Then I heard a noise that sounded like a wave crashing against rocks and looked down. The Broncos, who love to “quick-pitch” the opposition, (Brown is the new fast), ran a rather basic play but Marlowe Wax went to the right of the tackle rather than the left, leaving a gap and Jalen Buckley, aided by some bad angles taken by the remaining defenders, went 75 yards for a score. I thought, well, this is Western Michigan, not Colgate and we can’t make that lovely assumption that nothing bad is going to happen when we’re on defense. And yet, after that play, they were Colgate, rushing for a net 2 yards the rest of the game, averaging just 4.3 yards per passing attempt and never coming close to scoring again while we scored 48 unanswered points. In other words, we’re Penn State. (Is Western Michigan worse than Delaware?) Those Western Michigan comebacks of 2018-2019 never even began. Part of that is that they aren’t as good. Part of it is that we are much better on defense than we were then.
- Garrett Shader is putting up some numbers. In two games he’s completed 37/54 passes (.685) 543 yards (10.1 per attempted, 14.7 per completion) for 5TDs with 1 interception while running the ball 11 times for 71 yards and a score. Multiply those numbers by 6 and you get 3,258 yards passing for 30TDS and 6 picks while running for 426 yards and 6 scores. That’s the sort of thing we’ve seen Heisman candidates get that our guys never get close to, (Garrett last year threw for 2,640 17TDs/7int). And he’s only played two halves! He has a passer rating of 179.37. CJ Stroud led the NCAA in passer rating last year with 177.70. He’s shown a great sense of where the pressure is coming from, is great at throwing on the run and throws a catchable ball, (you hear that, Carlos?) He’s our leader – and he’s indispensable.
- Despite losing star receiver Oronde Gadsden early in the game, we still had some spectacular guys for Shrader to throw to. Ten different receivers caught passes for Syracuse. The biggest one of all was the 86 yarder from Shrader to Donovan Brown that gave us the momentum we never gave up until halftime, by which time the game was long decided. It was a truly spectacular play with Garrett escaping the rush, a wave of defenders right behind him, finding Brown along the right sideline and Brown cutting across the field, using his trackman’s speed to outrun any angles the D-backs might have had on him and running upfield to motor into the end zone to give us a 17-7 lead. The game was far from over but you felt that we were in control of it from that point on. Next time you look at that play, note that the guy throwing the last block, down near the goal line is #1- LeQuint Allen, who came all the way from the backfield to do it. He was also directing traffic, showing Brown the way to go and organizing the blockers.
- Isaiah Jones caught 5 balls for 86 yards, including a spectacular catch on a play I couldn’t see because a bunch of people who arrived for the game 25 minutes after the kickoff were standing in front of me. I could see it was spectacular from the replay. Ike fought a defender for the ball and won while they were both falling backwards.
- Umari Hatcher, he of the suddenly dull nightlife, had 5 catches for 83 yards, including a 48 yarder perfectly led by Shrader and caught over his shoulder by Hatcher.
- True freshman Darren Gil Jr. didn’t show the explosive speed or moves that he has but caught four balls for 27 yards.
- Then there was the play Dino loved the most: the last play of the first half, when Jason Simmons went 85 yards to score with no time left on an interception. Let’s have Dino describe it: “He showed nice vision. The ball was overthrown. He was playing zone at the time. Some guys will ‘FO’, freak out, attack that thing. He sat there and caught the ball as if it was tossed to him in a park. He had faith. We have returns we do in practice. He did exactly what he was coached to do: slow it down, speed it up, slow it down again and pick up a lot of blocks from the La Familia, the Ohanan, the family. He got it in, which is a big, big deal. A) to get an interception and B0 to run it back to the house and to have it happen in back-to-back weeks, that’s good stuff. I’ll leave it at that because I’m not a cuss guy. Just a fabulous job by Rocky Long and all the defensive players to hold that team to 7 points.”
- Brady Denaburg’s number might as well be 25 because that’s where the ball winds up after he kicks off: 19 of 19 times. He’s also 14/14 in extra points and 3 for 3 in field goals. That’s 36 kicks with the desired result achieved 36 times.
- We finally got to see more of Jack Stonehouse after he punted on the first possession vs. Colgate and never again. In this game, he punted four times for a 46 yard averages. Including the Colgate punt, he’s 46.6 and they have been high punts we could get our coverage down under, turning the returner into General Custer.
- Colgate and Western Michigan may not be much but we beat them the way a powerful team beats such teams. 37-0 and 45-7. And those were the halftime scores.
2-0 with 10, (or 11) to go
Let’s Go Orange!
On the first play from scrimmage we stuffs a Western Michigan run. I thought, “You guys are not going to rush for 339 yards today!” I looked up at the replay on the big scoreboard and saw, with satisfaction that their back had run into a wall of his own blockers that our guys pushed back into him. Then I heard a noise that sounded like a wave crashing against rocks and looked down. The Broncos, who love to “quick-pitch” the opposition, (Brown is the new fast), ran a rather basic play but Marlowe Wax went to the right of the tackle rather than the left, leaving a gap and Jalen Buckley, aided by some bad angles taken by the remaining defenders, went 75 yards for a score. I thought, well, this is Western Michigan, not Colgate and we can’t make that lovely assumption that nothing bad is going to happen when we’re on defense. And yet, after that play, they were Colgate, rushing for a net 2 yards the rest of the game, averaging just 4.3 yards per passing attempt and never coming close to scoring again while we scored 48 unanswered points. In other words, we’re Penn State. (Is Western Michigan worse than Delaware?) Those Western Michigan comebacks of 2018-2019 never even began. Part of that is that they aren’t as good. Part of it is that we are much better on defense than we were then.
- Garrett Shader is putting up some numbers. In two games he’s completed 37/54 passes (.685) 543 yards (10.1 per attempted, 14.7 per completion) for 5TDs with 1 interception while running the ball 11 times for 71 yards and a score. Multiply those numbers by 6 and you get 3,258 yards passing for 30TDS and 6 picks while running for 426 yards and 6 scores. That’s the sort of thing we’ve seen Heisman candidates get that our guys never get close to, (Garrett last year threw for 2,640 17TDs/7int). And he’s only played two halves! He has a passer rating of 179.37. CJ Stroud led the NCAA in passer rating last year with 177.70. He’s shown a great sense of where the pressure is coming from, is great at throwing on the run and throws a catchable ball, (you hear that, Carlos?) He’s our leader – and he’s indispensable.
- Despite losing star receiver Oronde Gadsden early in the game, we still had some spectacular guys for Shrader to throw to. Ten different receivers caught passes for Syracuse. The biggest one of all was the 86 yarder from Shrader to Donovan Brown that gave us the momentum we never gave up until halftime, by which time the game was long decided. It was a truly spectacular play with Garrett escaping the rush, a wave of defenders right behind him, finding Brown along the right sideline and Brown cutting across the field, using his trackman’s speed to outrun any angles the D-backs might have had on him and running upfield to motor into the end zone to give us a 17-7 lead. The game was far from over but you felt that we were in control of it from that point on. Next time you look at that play, note that the guy throwing the last block, down near the goal line is #1- LeQuint Allen, who came all the way from the backfield to do it. He was also directing traffic, showing Brown the way to go and organizing the blockers.
- Isaiah Jones caught 5 balls for 86 yards, including a spectacular catch on a play I couldn’t see because a bunch of people who arrived for the game 25 minutes after the kickoff were standing in front of me. I could see it was spectacular from the replay. Ike fought a defender for the ball and won while they were both falling backwards.
- Umari Hatcher, he of the suddenly dull nightlife, had 5 catches for 83 yards, including a 48 yarder perfectly led by Shrader and caught over his shoulder by Hatcher.
- True freshman Darren Gil Jr. didn’t show the explosive speed or moves that he has but caught four balls for 27 yards.
- Then there was the play Dino loved the most: the last play of the first half, when Jason Simmons went 85 yards to score with no time left on an interception. Let’s have Dino describe it: “He showed nice vision. The ball was overthrown. He was playing zone at the time. Some guys will ‘FO’, freak out, attack that thing. He sat there and caught the ball as if it was tossed to him in a park. He had faith. We have returns we do in practice. He did exactly what he was coached to do: slow it down, speed it up, slow it down again and pick up a lot of blocks from the La Familia, the Ohanan, the family. He got it in, which is a big, big deal. A) to get an interception and B0 to run it back to the house and to have it happen in back-to-back weeks, that’s good stuff. I’ll leave it at that because I’m not a cuss guy. Just a fabulous job by Rocky Long and all the defensive players to hold that team to 7 points.”
- Brady Denaburg’s number might as well be 25 because that’s where the ball winds up after he kicks off: 19 of 19 times. He’s also 14/14 in extra points and 3 for 3 in field goals. That’s 36 kicks with the desired result achieved 36 times.
- We finally got to see more of Jack Stonehouse after he punted on the first possession vs. Colgate and never again. In this game, he punted four times for a 46 yard averages. Including the Colgate punt, he’s 46.6 and they have been high punts we could get our coverage down under, turning the returner into General Custer.
- Colgate and Western Michigan may not be much but we beat them the way a powerful team beats such teams. 37-0 and 45-7. And those were the halftime scores.
2-0 with 10, (or 11) to go
Let’s Go Orange!
