I don't get why we gave up on D. Scott. UD's D-line did well, but we needed more smashmouth football. The balance in the first half was to quote Duke Dawg "a thing of beauty". But there were countless times that Birdsong had 4-5 seconds in the pocket and made a forced throw or was sacked when he could have thrown it to his outlet in the flat. UD gave up on covering him after we ignored this a few times. It could have completely opened up the offense and sustained more drives resulting in more points. I can't believe the offensive coaches did not see this and/or talk to Birdsong about it. Even the TV commentator mentioned this in the late minutes of the 4th quarter. UD played well, but as has been said - too many penalties and a lack of ability to make in-game adjustments to what's going on. It leaves an empty feeling when you know you should have won handily.

What ever happened to PUNCH THEM IN THE NECK!?

One more stat... 0 sacks! Unforgivable. I credit their QB with a quick release, but there were 2-3 times for sure he should have been eating dirt. Oh well.

(09-29-2013 09:06 AM)JMUDukeDawg Wrote:  In both of our losses we have significantly out gained the opponent.

I am Mickey Matthews fan, but barring turnovers, which we really didn't have, that's on the coaching staff.

JMU had less effective yardage than Delaware if you look at offense, special teams, and penalties.

Factor in the field position battle and you can see why Delaware won by a score.

4 drives inside the Delaware 30, 3 inside the 25. We came away w/ 6 points. Good offenses do better than that. Reminds me of run & shoot offenses who rack up yardage but can't get TDs.

(09-28-2013 09:23 PM)Big Duke Wrote:  #NeedMoreBeers

I had to switch to tequila. Beer wasn't enough.

(09-29-2013 09:59 AM)Yesolitis Wrote:  I don't get why we gave up on D. Scott. UD's D-line did well, but we needed more smashmouth football. The balance in the first half was to quote Duke Dawg "a thing of beauty". But there were countless times that Birdsong had 4-5 seconds in the pocket and made a forced throw or was sacked when he could have thrown it to his outlet in the flat. UD gave up on covering him after we ignored this a few times. It could have completely opened up the offense and sustained more drives resulting in more points. I can't believe the offensive coaches did not see this and/or talk to Birdsong about it. Even the TV commentator mentioned this in the late minutes of the 4th quarter. UD played well, but as has been said - too many penalties and a lack of ability to make in-game adjustments to what's going on. It leaves an empty feeling when you know you should have won handily.

What ever happened to PUNCH THEM IN THE NECK!?

I was screaming at my tv about this for the entire second half. Scott was wide open 5 or 6 times and Bird threw it away or didn't get rid of the football. It was painful to watch.

Not referring to any 1 poster, but after every loss people need to set down the bottle and step away from the keyboard. Drunk and pissed is no way to post. Should wait till Sunday till your sober and calmed down before posting.

Yep why I havent posted yet

Sent from my SCH-R530U using Tapatalk 2

(09-29-2013 03:05 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  Not referring to any 1 poster, but after every loss people need to set down the bottle and step away from the keyboard. Drunk and pissed is no way to post. Should wait till Sunday till your sober and calmed down before posting.

No sir. It's the only way to post...

(09-29-2013 01:04 AM)TheDudeWithTheJMUTat Wrote:  

(09-28-2013 10:09 PM)JMU_Newbill Wrote:  However, I don't think MM is fit to coach our tackle football team any more. He can take Clayton with him where ever he goes. Leave ulrick, leave newsome, and leave O'Cain.

Our OL got destroyed tonight. Absolutely destroyed. Had a too few many MD's to read everything here tonight, but I watched the game on CSN. We were outmatched. Too small, too slow. Also, maybe to your point, maybe not...but our coaches should be able to perform the functions of the job that they are instructing. i'll get ripped apart for that vague statement, but it's true. If you can't do what you're asking our guys to do, you should not be a Division 1 coach. End of story. Rip me apart if you'd like, but everyone here knows it's true...whether they'll admit it or not is a different story.

They may have gotten outplayed, but they didn't get destroyed. On a couple of those sacks they gave Birdsong a good 5 seconds before the sacks. Those weren't the OL's fault. Either were Birdsong's for not seeing an open 2nd or 3rd WR, or for not throwing it away, or for the WRs for not getting getting open.

Yeah, the OL didn't get it done with the run blocking. DQ had only 51 yds on 20 carries.

On the other hand, UD's former All American RB Andrew Pierce had a whopping 40 yds on 20 carries.

And the OL isn't too small you claim. There are 7 guys that play that are listed 6'3"-6'7", 290-310, avg about 6"5"/300.

For all of the people who think we were outcoached, this is why we lost the game:

Agonizingly for the Dukes, it was Arnone’s second attempt, and his first one would have pinned the Hens inside their own 20, but a false start negated the punt. Then, after the second punt was blocked, JMU was called for a personal foul.

Further aided by a JMU defensive offsides on the first play after the punt, Delaware scored two plays later to take its first lead of the game 22-19 with 44 seconds left in the quarter.

Penalties, once again cost us the game. Same thing at Akron. Stupid mistakes. The players need more discipline.

We were outcoached, and undisciplined players are the product of an undisciplined coaching staff. Keep looking at each game in a bubble and it's easy to blame the players, look at the past 4+ seasons and you'll see a pattern of strong starts and weak finishes that points directly to a coaching staff that can game plan but not adjust. I watch it every Friday night at Atlee HS, then every Saturday at JMU. Quite frankly, I'm tired of watching it. Crucial penalties, lack of late game execution, conservative play-calling with a lead, lose in the 4th quarter to ALMOST EVERY quality team we face. I posted our record against winning teams and the top half of the CAA over that time span somewhere, and now you can add this game to that list. Excuses, excuses, excuses.

Okay, I referenced our record since 2009. Here it is in a nutshell.

2009
6-5, 4-4
vs. teams > .500
2-4
Wins vs Liberty & UD (6-5)
vs. top of CAA
0-3
Key Loss: UR - led 17-14 at half, lost 21-17

2010
6-5, 3-5
vs. teams > .500
3-5
Wins - VT, Liberty, W&M
vs. top of CAA
1-5
Key losses:
UD - led 10-7 at half, lost 13-10
UNH - led 14-10 at half, lost 28-14
UMass - led 14-3 at half, lost 21-14
UR - led 10-7 at half, lost 13-10

2011
8-5, 5-3
vs. teams > .500
2-4
Wins: Liberty, Eastern Kentucky
vs top of CAA
0-3
Key loss: ODU - led 20-14 at half, lost 23-20

2012
7-4, 5-3
vs. teams > .500
1-3
Win: Towson
vs top of CAA
1-3
Key Loss: ODU - led 21-10 at half, lost 38-28

So, over that time we are a cumulative 30-21 to this point. In the CAA, we are 17-16. Through 2012, we are 8-16 vs teams with winning records (not counting this year yet, we don't know how it will turn out). Of those 8 wins, 3 are against Liberty and 1 against Eastern Kentucky. Also, I didn't count the 3 FBS losses against us (as teams with a winning record) but did count the VT win. We are 2-14 vs the top of the CAA during that time, not including UD this year. We have 8 losses where we led at halftime, and either failed to score in the 2nd half or scored only once.

I have no idea where CCSU, ST. Francis, Morehead St., etc finished during that time. We aren't seriously going to count those as quality wins, I hope.

Yeah, that's on the players........

unacceptable for a program with the resources available at JMU.

please note - IMO ! I'm not an idiot, unintelligent, immature or nonsensical.

(09-30-2013 07:46 AM)JMUSteeler Wrote:  Okay, I referenced our record since 2009. Here it is in a nutshell.

2009
6-5, 4-4
vs. teams > .500
2-4
Wins vs Liberty & UD (6-5)
vs. top of CAA
0-3
Key Loss: UR - led 17-14 at half, lost 21-17

2010
6-5, 3-5
vs. teams > .500
3-5
Wins - VT, Liberty, W&M
vs. top of CAA
1-5
Key losses:
UD - led 10-7 at half, lost 13-10
UNH - led 14-10 at half, lost 28-14
UMass - led 14-3 at half, lost 21-14
UR - led 10-7 at half, lost 13-10

2011
8-5, 5-3
vs. teams > .500
2-4
Wins: Liberty, Eastern Kentucky
vs top of CAA
0-3
Key loss: ODU - led 20-14 at half, lost 23-20

2012
7-4, 5-3
vs. teams > .500
1-3
Win: Towson
vs top of CAA
1-3
Key Loss: ODU - led 21-10 at half, lost 38-28

So, over that time we are a cumulative 30-21 to this point. In the CAA, we are 17-16. Through 2012, we are 8-16 vs teams with winning records (not counting this year yet, we don't know how it will turn out). Of those 8 wins, 3 are against Liberty and 1 against Eastern Kentucky. Also, I didn't count the 3 FBS losses against us (as teams with a winning record) but did count the VT win. We are 2-14 vs the top of the CAA during that time, not including UD this year. We have 8 losses where we led at halftime, and either failed to score in the 2nd half or scored only once.

I have no idea where CCSU, ST. Francis, Morehead St., etc finished during that time. We aren't seriously going to count those as quality wins, I hope.

Yeah, that's on the players........

That is pretty damning. Not coaching, huh?

I haven't read anything in this thread, but I get the idea people are asking for Mickey's head...again.

Not sure if it's been brought up, but let's say we announce a move up, does anyone really think Mickey will be the guy to usher us in? Does he have the energy for that? One way or another, I just don't see Mickey staying around unless we stay in the CAA.

(09-30-2013 07:46 AM)JMUSteeler Wrote:  Okay, I referenced our record since 2009. Here it is in a nutshell.

2009
6-5, 4-4
vs. teams > .500
2-4
Wins vs Liberty & UD (6-5)
vs. top of CAA
0-3
Key Loss: UR - led 17-14 at half, lost 21-17

2010
6-5, 3-5
vs. teams > .500
3-5
Wins - VT, Liberty, W&M
vs. top of CAA
1-5
Key losses:
UD - led 10-7 at half, lost 13-10
UNH - led 14-10 at half, lost 28-14
UMass - led 14-3 at half, lost 21-14
UR - led 10-7 at half, lost 13-10

2011
8-5, 5-3
vs. teams > .500
2-4
Wins: Liberty, Eastern Kentucky
vs top of CAA
0-3
Key loss: ODU - led 20-14 at half, lost 23-20

2012
7-4, 5-3
vs. teams > .500
1-3
Win: Towson
vs top of CAA
1-3
Key Loss: ODU - led 21-10 at half, lost 38-28

So, over that time we are a cumulative 30-21 to this point. In the CAA, we are 17-16. Through 2012, we are 8-16 vs teams with winning records (not counting this year yet, we don't know how it will turn out). Of those 8 wins, 3 are against Liberty and 1 against Eastern Kentucky. Also, I didn't count the 3 FBS losses against us (as teams with a winning record) but did count the VT win. We are 2-14 vs the top of the CAA during that time, not including UD this year. We have 8 losses where we led at halftime, and either failed to score in the 2nd half or scored only once.

I have no idea where CCSU, ST. Francis, Morehead St., etc finished during that time. We aren't seriously going to count those as quality wins, I hope.

Yeah, that's on the players........

Most telling part of all that, to me, is if you look at the points we (didn't) score in the second half of those losses where we led at the half. If those stats are right, and you add in yesterday's loss, in four years we lost eight CAA games after leading at the half. In those eight losses, we got shut out in the second half six times, only managed 7 points in the most recent loss to ODU, and only managed 3 points this past weekend against UD.

Do you think the players went into half time, in all eight of those instances, and said "eh screw it, let's stop executing and playing well". Or is it more likely that the other team made adjustments while our coaches didn't get the job done? Come on guys, you can stand up for MM with a lot of different angles, but giving him a pass for our inability to hold leads at halftime, in conference games, is ridiculous.

Not making adjustments at halftime is something that I have noticed about the MM led Dukes for a couple of years now. A smart coach going into halftime with a lead will understand that the other coach is going to be making adjustments that he should be prepared for. Even if your team is ahead you have to assume that the team that is behind is going to come out and do things differently in the second half so you have to anticipate those changes and adjust accordingly.

UD coach said today they made no adjustments, just executed better.

(09-30-2013 07:46 AM)JMUSteeler Wrote:  Okay, I referenced our record since 2009. Here it is in a nutshell.

2009
6-5, 4-4
vs. teams > .500
2-4
Wins vs Liberty & UD (6-5)
vs. top of CAA
0-3
Key Loss: UR - led 17-14 at half, lost 21-17

2010
6-5, 3-5
vs. teams > .500
3-5
Wins - VT, Liberty, W&M
vs. top of CAA
1-5
Key losses:
UD - led 10-7 at half, lost 13-10
UNH - led 14-10 at half, lost 28-14
UMass - led 14-3 at half, lost 21-14
UR - led 10-7 at half, lost 13-10

2011
8-5, 5-3
vs. teams > .500
2-4
Wins: Liberty, Eastern Kentucky
vs top of CAA
0-3
Key loss: ODU - led 20-14 at half, lost 23-20

2012
7-4, 5-3
vs. teams > .500
1-3
Win: Towson
vs top of CAA
1-3
Key Loss: ODU - led 21-10 at half, lost 38-28

So, over that time we are a cumulative 30-21 to this point. In the CAA, we are 17-16. Through 2012, we are 8-16 vs teams with winning records (not counting this year yet, we don't know how it will turn out). Of those 8 wins, 3 are against Liberty and 1 against Eastern Kentucky. Also, I didn't count the 3 FBS losses against us (as teams with a winning record) but did count the VT win. We are 2-14 vs the top of the CAA during that time, not including UD this year. We have 8 losses where we led at halftime, and either failed to score in the 2nd half or scored only once.

I have no idea where CCSU, ST. Francis, Morehead St., etc finished during that time. We aren't seriously going to count those as quality wins, I hope.

Yeah, that's on the players........

Interesting stuff 'Steeler. It confirms what I had suspected all along. More importantly, it's hard to ignore such data.

If I'm an AD and I see this trend, I am searching for the reasons why. I'm not interested in our head coach's slant on it...it's all happened w/ him at the helm. I want to hear from other knowledgeable people in the field who may be able to shed light as to why this is repeatedly occurring. Coaches have retired coaches they still bounce ideas off of ( Mickey has Sonny Randle). ADs should have their own group of retired former coaches who might be able to analyze such trends or assist in hiring/firing decisions. Maybe it is bad luck, lack of depth whatever. But maybe it's something more, something that an experienced set of eyes could pick up on. All coaches have trends. Maybe Mickey is even more predictable to his peers than even we think he is.

As several have already stated, Mickey seems to draw up good game plans. It's the adjustments to counter the other teams' adjustments that are not effective.