Would like to see some of the thoughts on the game last night.
Started off looking exactly like the team from the past couple of years. After 1 1/2 quarters, my thoughts were that we were going to continue to slide down in the MAC, Campbell was not going to see the end of his contract as the UT coach, the defense was over-rated, started to understand why Saban was ok with Ely transferring out of 'Bama and that the best we could hope for was maybe a 3rd in the West.
Near the end of the game, all of that was wiped away and then I could only wonder if NHU was as good as we thought they were coming out of the FCS. I think they'll do fine in FCS.
Really impressed with Ely by the end of the game. He could be the key for us. The offense is absolutely loaded if he performs that way from here on out. Just hope he starts out better next game and continues to improve. Have to remember, it has been a long, long time since he has played an entire game and the jitters had to be there for him. Seemed to me like he adjusted quite well and the field just opened up for him.
Ealy and Russell seemed to have too many near misses. That combo needs to be automatic and the offense will go far. Hunt and the rest of the RB cast has us covered in the backfield. Our secondary is what will seperate us from having a special season.
Sorry for pointing out the obvious.
I was very impressed with Ely. He has a much, much quicker release than the last couple QBs we had which will help the team a lot. Seems to be able to make all the throws. The TD throw to Olack on the run was very impressive. Even when his throws were a bit off, they were still mostly catchable. All the receivers looked good - don't know if that's cause they have all improved, or just a change in QB who got them the balls on time and on the mark.
OL was solid - near perfect on pass blocking, although it took a while for the run-blocking to get in synch. Great groups of RBs. Swanson looked very impressive, even though it was late in the game and NH was out of gas. Since it looks like they intend to play him this year, it wouldn't surprise me to see his playing time increase.
Defense still didn't look great in my opinion. NH made us look very slow. DL got a lot of penetration and an number of TFLs, but the receivers always seemed to be wide open. How much did Hester play? I only remember seeing him once, which was a big surprise to me. Also, although Quinn started, I never really noticed him at all, and it seemed Murdock played an awful lot of the snaps. The injury to Cole didn't look good - hope he's ok. Coach said they won't have an update until Monday, but I'm not sure we can afford to lose anybody else at corner, with Norrils out.
With our stable of running backs, Toledo doesn't need Ely to win them games right now, he just needs to manage the game and keep defenses honest from loading the box against the run. With our O-Line we should be able to run through most of the pathetic defenses in the MAC. If the secondary can get better as the season goes along, it could be a great year.
The obvious: between the stable of backs we have and the O line, the ground game is in very good shape...LB corps is solid.
The pleasant surprises: Ely settled in, made good decisions, and isn't afraid to put the ball into tight spaces...play calling was good...loved seeing passes to the TE, and Olack could be the prime beneficiary if teams pay too much attention to Russell.
Areas of some concern: still the play in the secondary, especially if Cole is now out for any games...while I like the speed Corey Jones has, and think he will make a big play as a receiver most games, he scares me--not in a good way--as the return guy.
All in all, good first-game test for the Rockets. New Hampshire was no slouch, and will make some noise in FCS this season.
(08-31-2014 10:51 AM)bcunn3128 Wrote: [ -> ]The obvious: between the stable of backs we have and the O line, the ground game is in very good shape...LB corps is solid.
The pleasant surprises: Ely settled in, made good decisions, and isn't afraid to put the ball into tight spaces...play calling was good...loved seeing passes to the TE, and Olack could be the prime beneficiary if teams pay too much attention to Russell.
Areas of some concern: still the play in the secondary, especially if Cole is now out for any games...while I like the speed Corey Jones has, and think he will make a big play as a receiver most games, he scares me--not in a good way--as the return guy.
All in all, good first-game test for the Rockets. New Hampshire was no slouch, and will make some noise in FCS this season.
The Rockets will do fine this season. The defense will get better as we go along. The offense only showed you some of the plays they will run this year. All in all very good game, NHU is a very good team. Go Rockets.
Pretty much agree with above posts. I feel much better going into the game next Saturday with Missouri. This team may be on a mission.
ONE WEEK AT A TIME !!!
Ely looked good after he settled in. Great timing, calm, and he definitely went through the progressions nicely.
kicking and coverage - should be fine with JD booting it out of the end zone every time! JD looks to be back as his same old self. What an asset we have there.
KO/Punt returns - scary. I really want to like Corey Jones back there, but that was a bit scary last night. I think they may want to give the #1 reigns to Swanson and let him concentrate on KR while Jones can concentrate more on being the #1 or #2 receiver that he can be.
OL - stellar, little concern. Run/pass, they don't care and these guys ARE the rocks of this offense.
RB - Kareem may not get as many yards as I anticipated this year because DJM, Remy, Swanson, (and also Pringle if we need him) really are talented in their own right. A 1-2-3 punch of any three of these five backs will keep our backs fresh in most of our games. Against the better teams, we need to keep Hunt and DJM healthy and not overwork a single back like we sometimes saw with Flu.
Passing defense/DBs - still suspect in my mind, but NH was fairly seasoned. "Sean Goldrich matched career highs in passing yards (291) and attempts (39) with a personal-best 27 completions for the University of New Hampshire football team."
Rushing defense - DL and LB's looked good and active. Rushing D looked stout and should continue to be, but we'll have to see how it can hold up against better OL's and the Bronson Hill types. Just because we can shut down Nico Steriti and the NH backs doesn't mean that we are out of the woods here yet. The sweeps can be trouble for us with a fast player like RJ Harris...some extra practice on those is warranted.
Overall grade last night, considering the competition: B+
(08-31-2014 11:53 AM)ToledoMike Wrote: [ -> ]Ely looked good after he settled in. Great timing, calm, and he definitely went through the progressions nicely.
kicking and coverage - should be fine with JD booting it out of the end zone every time! JD looks to be back as his same old self. What an asset we have there.
KO/Punt returns - scary. I really want to like Corey Jones back there, but that was a bit scary last night. I think they may want to give the #1 reigns to Swanson and let him concentrate on KR while Jones can concentrate more on being the #1 or #2 receiver that he can be.
OL - stellar, little concern. Run/pass, they don't care and these guys ARE the rocks of this offense.
RB - Kareem may not get as many yards as I anticipated this year because DJM, Remy, Swanson, (and also Pringle if we need him) really are talented in their own right. A 1-2-3 punch of any three of these five backs will keep our backs fresh in most of our games. Against the better teams, we need to keep Hunt and DJM healthy and not overwork a single back like we sometimes saw with Flu.
Passing defense/DBs - still suspect in my mind, but NH was fairly seasoned. "Sean Goldrich matched career highs in passing yards (291) and attempts (39) with a personal-best 27 completions for the University of New Hampshire football team."
Rushing defense - DL and LB's looked good and active. Rushing D looked stout and should continue to be, but we'll have to see how it can hold up against better OL's and the Bronson Hill types. Just because we can shut down Nico Steriti and the NH backs doesn't mean that we are out of the woods here yet. The sweeps can be trouble for us with a fast player like RJ Harris...some extra practice on those is warranted.
Overall grade last night, considering the competition: B+
I honestly think the DB's only made a couple of mistakes out there. The timing on those dink and dunk passes to the sidelines was amazing and the receivers made some incredible catches.
The mistakes: first TD pass. I don't know what the defensive coaches were looking at, but we really screwed that up. I was yelling from 100 yards away that they had single coverage on the wideout with another receiver inside of him who was uncovered while we showed a corner blitz. That guy #15 - had just made about 4 consecutive catches - and we left one guy to cover two. The QB even audibled the play - and we still did not adjust. That needs to be reviewed and tightened up. That was poor coaching.
The other was the blown coverage to #15 downfield when he dropped a sure TD pass. Have no idea where the safety went, but the coverage was from the line of scrimmage by the same guy - (not Haden who was announced as the defender by PA). He was looking for something short and over the middle, and 15 ran past him and there was no one else to pick him up in the secondary. I realize the QB must have seen the coveage and audibled the play, but he was 7 yards past the closest defender, and luckily dropped the pass.
Other than that, we did a reasonable job of coverage against a seasoned team and QB. We need to get better pressure on the QB - forget the sacks. We have to get more pressure consistently. Easier said than done, and the NHU line looked to have good size and was well coached.
BTW - who were the officials in this game? The buffoon who came rushing in from the side to signal the 2-pt conversion was good has to be cross-eyed. I was sitting about the 15 yard line and had a perfect view of the play. He was easily 1 yd short (ok - maybe 1/2 yard short) of the end zone and did not try to extend the ball across. Not sure what he was trying to pull, but the first assumption is that he either had money on the point spread, had some eye troubles and was seeing double, or just wanted to have some attention. Call on the field was confirmed. Not that it "stands" because it was too close to overturn the call. It was not close.
The other issue was on a punt where the ball hit the ground, then nudged against an NHU player on the leg as it was doing it's best imitation of a Phil Mickelson sand wedge to a fast green and was spinning back toward the kicker. Net punt of about 15 yards? Then another buffoon starts signaling that the ball was touched down by an NHU player 15 yards up the field. The funny thing was, the umpire just keep looking at him and trying to ignore him as he was wildly signaling for him to toss the ball back to him so he could mark the spot. The umpire held onto the ball - and I think he asked him "what game are you watching?" - and made the guy come towards him to explain his call. The marked it in the right place, then I think did the review just to keep the original buffoon from looking like - well, a buffoon. The point was simple - nobody from NHU downed the ball or it would not have ended up where it did. You have to have possession of it to down it. Pretty basic. If it hit a UT player, then it should have been signaled as NHU's ball once they did take possession to down it. Then you could have reviewed it to see if it actually hit a UT player. Instead, we waste more time with a review to confirm the obvious.
There was also the review where the official said "the call on the field stands", then after a few seconds, got on the mic again and said "correction, the ball will be moved back to the 2 yard line" of course Kareem punched it in 1 play later to make it moot, but what was going on there, were they still reviewing the play when he announced it? 'Cause I thought when the play stands it means not enough evidence to change the call. He was totally confused.
(08-31-2014 12:35 PM)therockets046 Wrote: [ -> ]There was also the review where the official said "the call on the field stands", then after a few seconds, got on the mic again and said "correction, the ball will be moved back to the 2 yard line" of course Kareem punched it in 1 play later to make it moot, but what was going on there, were they still reviewing the play when he announced it? 'Cause I thought when the play stands it means not enough evidence to change the call. He was totally confused.
I think he mistakenly said the ball was at the 1, when it was really on the 2. I didn't see them move the ball back.
(08-31-2014 12:09 PM)MotoRocket Wrote: [ -> ] (08-31-2014 11:53 AM)ToledoMike Wrote: [ -> ]Ely looked good after he settled in. Great timing, calm, and he definitely went through the progressions nicely.
kicking and coverage - should be fine with JD booting it out of the end zone every time! JD looks to be back as his same old self. What an asset we have there.
KO/Punt returns - scary. I really want to like Corey Jones back there, but that was a bit scary last night. I think they may want to give the #1 reigns to Swanson and let him concentrate on KR while Jones can concentrate more on being the #1 or #2 receiver that he can be.
OL - stellar, little concern. Run/pass, they don't care and these guys ARE the rocks of this offense.
RB - Kareem may not get as many yards as I anticipated this year because DJM, Remy, Swanson, (and also Pringle if we need him) really are talented in their own right. A 1-2-3 punch of any three of these five backs will keep our backs fresh in most of our games. Against the better teams, we need to keep Hunt and DJM healthy and not overwork a single back like we sometimes saw with Flu.
Passing defense/DBs - still suspect in my mind, but NH was fairly seasoned. "Sean Goldrich matched career highs in passing yards (291) and attempts (39) with a personal-best 27 completions for the University of New Hampshire football team."
Rushing defense - DL and LB's looked good and active. Rushing D looked stout and should continue to be, but we'll have to see how it can hold up against better OL's and the Bronson Hill types. Just because we can shut down Nico Steriti and the NH backs doesn't mean that we are out of the woods here yet. The sweeps can be trouble for us with a fast player like RJ Harris...some extra practice on those is warranted.
Overall grade last night, considering the competition: B+
I honestly think the DB's only made a couple of mistakes out there. The timing on those dink and dunk passes to the sidelines was amazing and the receivers made some incredible catches.
The mistakes: first TD pass. I don't know what the defensive coaches were looking at, but we really screwed that up. I was yelling from 100 yards away that they had single coverage on the wideout with another receiver inside of him who was uncovered while we showed a corner blitz. That guy #15 - had just made about 4 consecutive catches - and we left one guy to cover two. The QB even audibled the play - and we still did not adjust. That needs to be reviewed and tightened up. That was poor coaching.
The other was the blown coverage to #15 downfield when he dropped a sure TD pass. Have no idea where the safety went, but the coverage was from the line of scrimmage by the same guy - (not Haden who was announced as the defender by PA). He was looking for something short and over the middle, and 15 ran past him and there was no one else to pick him up in the secondary. I realize the QB must have seen the coveage and audibled the play, but he was 7 yards past the closest defender, and luckily dropped the pass.
Other than that, we did a reasonable job of coverage against a seasoned team and QB. We need to get better pressure on the QB - forget the sacks. We have to get more pressure consistently. Easier said than done, and the NHU line looked to have good size and was well coached.
Yeah, I don't want to harp too bad on them because I think, especially for the first game against a pesky team, we did well after we figured them out. It really is the big picture...because, as you say, if we can get more consistent pressure, then our pass coverage efficiency will improve, just like it did last night when we were active. This is a new team and a new year with a new DC. In years past we always seem to be better at the run, and we are I think, because we are a great "hats to the ball" type of defense. We are athletic, strong, and pretty fast. This conceals our mistakes well at times. But, as for the ability to shut down a good QB and a couple decent receivers, we have struggled for the last decade. This is why I am still a skeptical camper in this area. The NH QB Goldrich has played in quite a few games against FCS defenses and yet he hit ours last night for more yards than any other he played against last year. That makes me pause with a bit of concern. If the offense continues to show some brilliance as in years past, then our defense may just be "good enough".
lot of speed. we will be a tough team to contain for 4 quarters. also like the speed on defense.
(08-31-2014 03:33 PM)pono Wrote: [ -> ]lot of speed. we will be a tough team to contain for 4 quarters. also like the speed on defense.
I didn't really get that impression. No Ints from speed. Not many QB rushes coming from the ends. Sacks? Don't seem to recall their WRs having difficulty getting open. The kick returner didn't seem to get up to speed quickly. Another thing for me to look for on re-watch.
It will definitely show or not show against Missouri.
After the spring game I said I thought we would see a definite upgrade over last year at both the QB and WR positions, and I saw nothing to change that opinion last night.
I still think the coaches should show a little more confidence in the DBs and let them guard receivers more closely----New Hampshire had that 7-9 yard pass perfected particularly during the first half. Obviously the best DB play of the night was the Johnson interception---from our seats it looked as if the receiver was wide open but all of sudden Johnson appeared out of nowhere (from on the field and from off the depth chart) and made that circus catch. It was one of the best plays by a UT DB that I remember seeing in a long time.
Things I liked best: 1) good OL play and offensive balance --run vs. pass 2) absence of stupid penalties (I am not sure that the targeting call was even a real penalty but it certainly was not a stupid penalty) 3) the ability to score TDs from the red zone 4) Ely had great awareness of the field and spread the ball around. He also appeared to be in firm control in managing the game. 5) the DL and LB nicely contained the NH ground attack
One point of concern----the radical difference between the first 1.5 quarters and the last 2.5 quarters of the game last night was hopefully a function of 1st game jitters, rustiness or whatever and was not indicative of a Jekyll-Hyde complex that has plagued the Rockets at times in recent years. No team is always perfectly consistent but the Rockets have been a lot like the little girl with the curl way too often over the past several years.
The next two weeks will give a give a good indication as to where this season is likely headed. OK crowd last night and they should have gotten their money's worth so hopefully they will be back (beyond just next week's game).
Looking ahead, I appreciate Gary Pinkel's willingness to bring a ranked SEC team into the Glass Bowl and I hope he receives a nice personal welcome (and, of course, is then handed a defeat).
Just watched the ten replays of Whitaker's hit. No helmet to helmet. Didn't lead with his head. QB didn't slide. None of those were the issue. This was the issue:
Quote:No player shall target and initiate contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent with the helmet, forearm, fist, elbow or shoulder. When in question, it is a foul.
Whitacker's hit wasn't brutal or malicious. From what I could tell, the QB was probably more dazed by hitting his own head on the ground but Whitacker's hit was three for three on the guidelines.
(08-31-2014 05:01 PM)T-Town Wrote: [ -> ]After the spring game I said I thought we would see a definite upgrade over last year at both the QB and WR positions, and I saw nothing to change that opinion last night.
I still think the coaches should show a little more confidence in the DBs and let them guard receivers more closely----New Hampshire had that 7-9 yard pass perfected particularly during the first half. Obviously the best DB play of the night was the Johnson interception---from our seats it looked as if the receiver was wide open but all of sudden Johnson appeared out of nowhere (from on the field and from off the depth chart) and made that circus catch. It was one of the best plays by a UT DB that I remember seeing in a long time.
Things I liked best: 1) good OL play and offensive balance --run vs. pass 2) absence of stupid penalties (I am not sure that the targeting call was even a real penalty but it certainly was not a stupid penalty) 3) the ability to score TDs from the red zone 4) Ely had great awareness of the field and spread the ball around. He also appeared to be in firm control in managing the game. 5) the DL and LB nicely contained the NH ground attack
One point of concern----the radical difference between the first 1.5 quarters and the last 2.5 quarters of the game last night was hopefully a function of 1st game jitters, rustiness or whatever and was not indicative of a Jekyll-Hyde complex that has plagued the Rockets at times in recent years. No team is always perfectly consistent but the Rockets have been a lot like the little girl with the curl way too often over the past several years.
The next two weeks will give a give a good indication as to where this season is likely headed. OK crowd last night and they should have gotten their money's worth so hopefully they will be back (beyond just next week's game).
Looking ahead, I appreciate Gary Pinkel's willingness to bring a ranked SEC team into the Glass Bowl and I hope he receives a nice personal welcome (and, of course, is then handed a defeat).
Pinkel may be bringing his team here because his QB is from northwest Ohio.
If the ncaa doesn't want the QB to be a football player once they cross the line of scrimage, then the offense should get penalized 10 yards every time they don't slide.