Alright folks, there was certainly much to dislike about the game, but what was to like?

Some thoughts:
- The LSU transfer kicker is good
- The D-line wasn't awful, which was definitely a fear of mine
- The O-line looked good
- The punter is solid (would be nice to have more hangtime, even at the cost of distance)
- I liked the play-calling. (Even the nay-sayers must admit it didn't lose us the game)
- DJ looked decent
- Stehling throws a great ball
- Alex Lyons

- JTaylor is returning

(08-31-2014 05:13 PM)ChicagoOwl (BS 07) Wrote:  Alright folks, there was certainly much to dislike about the game, but what was to like?

Some thoughts:
- The LSU transfer kicker is good
- The D-line wasn't awful, which was definitely a fear of mine
- The O-line looked good
- The punter is solid (would be nice to have more hangtime, even at the cost of distance)
- I liked the play-calling. (Even the nay-sayers must admit it didn't lose us the game)
- DJ looked decent
- Stehling throws a great ball
- Alex Lyons

- JTaylor is returning

Good list.

-And Cella is 2-3 weeks into an injury that will cost him 4-6 weeks of playing time. Maybe back for the Ags or Old Dominion?
- we've got two weeks of time off/prep time before College Station.
-no major injuries coming out if South Bend (that we've heard about)

Punting was pretty poor, esp in comparison to ND's guy.

Kicker was maybe ok. Shanked KOs and missed a FG.

Some very poor play choices in critical situations did deprive players of reasonable opportunities at success .

Despite some obvious lapses, pass coverage was pretty good. We really didn't make anything easy for Golson. We chased him around the backfield and forced him to make plays. To his credit, he did.

Our OL looked very good, especially in pass protection. It's hard to expect them to not eventually get worn down by the bigger, stronger ND front seven, which will probably happen again in two weeks, but they should be able to push around just about anyone they'll see after that.

Stehling throws a pretty ball.

(08-31-2014 06:56 PM)talon owl Wrote:  Punting was pretty poor, esp in comparison to ND's guy.

Kicker was maybe ok. Shanked KOs and missed a FG.

Rice averaged 48 yds/punt, with a long of 67 yds. Notre Dame was 48 yds with a long of 55 yds.

Hairston did miss a FG, in the pouring rain. He also hit both PAT's. Which KO did he shank? He kicked a few through the endzone.

Also, I do not think the word "positive" means what you think it means.

(08-31-2014 07:23 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  

(08-31-2014 06:56 PM)talon owl Wrote:  Punting was pretty poor, esp in comparison to ND's guy.

Kicker was maybe ok. Shanked KOs and missed a FG.

Rice averaged 48 yds/punt, with a long of 67 yds. Notre Dame was 48 yds with a long of 55 yds.

Hairston did miss a FG, in the pouring rain. He also hit both PAT's. Which KO did he shank? He kicked a few through the endzone.

Also, I do not think the word "positive" means what you think it means.

The opening KO was a bit short.

Did you watch our punts? Or just check the stat sheet ? Net punting is what matters. Ours had no hang time which meant big ND returns. Got a lucky bounce on the long one/misplay by the ND return man.

There were positives, I just think our kicking/punting weren't quite in that category

(08-31-2014 07:28 PM)talon owl Wrote:  Did you watch our punts? Or just check the stat sheet ? Net punting is what matters. Ours had no hang time which meant big ND returns. Got a lucky bounce on the long one/misplay by the ND return man.

There were positives, I just think our kicking/punting weren't quite in that category

You said our punting was poor "compared to the ND guy." So I compared to the ND guy. You want to compare punt returns or punt coverage, then say so.

(08-31-2014 07:27 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(08-31-2014 07:23 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  

(08-31-2014 06:56 PM)talon owl Wrote:  Punting was pretty poor, esp in comparison to ND's guy.

Kicker was maybe ok. Shanked KOs and missed a FG.

Rice averaged 48 yds/punt, with a long of 67 yds. Notre Dame was 48 yds with a long of 55 yds.

Hairston did miss a FG, in the pouring rain. He also hit both PAT's. Which KO did he shank? He kicked a few through the endzone.

Also, I do not think the word "positive" means what you think it means.

The opening KO was a bit short.

He shanked it about 5 feet off the ground

(08-31-2014 07:31 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  

(08-31-2014 07:28 PM)talon owl Wrote:  Did you watch our punts? Or just check the stat sheet ? Net punting is what matters. Ours had no hang time which meant big ND returns. Got a lucky bounce on the long one/misplay by the ND return man.

There were positives, I just think our kicking/punting weren't quite in that category

You said our punting was poor "compared to the ND guy." So I compared to the ND guy. You want to compare punt returns or punt coverage, then say so.

Hang time is a crucial aspect of the quality of the punt itself

Gross stats hardly give a reliable picture

(08-31-2014 07:33 PM)talon owl Wrote:  Hang time is a crucial aspect of the quality of the punt itself

Gross stats hardly give a reliable picture

So what were the hang times?

(08-31-2014 05:13 PM)ChicagoOwl (BS 07) Wrote:  Alright folks, there was certainly much to dislike about the game, but what was to like?

Some thoughts:
- The LSU transfer kicker is good
- The D-line wasn't awful, which was definitely a fear of mine
- The O-line looked good
- The punter is solid (would be nice to have more hangtime, even at the cost of distance)
- I liked the play-calling. (Even the nay-sayers must admit it didn't lose us the game)
- DJ looked decent
- Stehling throws a great ball
- Alex Lyons

- JTaylor is returning

Pass protection was good, DJ and Stehling both looked good, and I think we could have very strong receiving options with Taylor, Parks, Mayden. This could be our best passing offense since Chase left (though that's a pretty low bar to climb). A concern is that ND didn't really show much defensively so as to keep their pressure schemes unveiled.

The new kicker boomed some KO's and knocked home a FG, though looked a little unsteady in doing so. Every other element of special teams though..

The corners seemed to play well, and the DE's made some plays.

I'm still high on our LB's. The tackling was bad, but these kids are at ND because they're hard to tackle.

If CUSA is as atrocious as it was last year, we should do very well in conference.

Edit to add that it was nice to finally get a TD against ND.

(08-31-2014 07:28 PM)talon owl Wrote:  Did you watch our punts? Or just check the stat sheet ? Net punting is what matters. Ours had no hang time which meant big ND returns. Got a lucky bounce on the long one/misplay by the ND return man.

There were positives, I just think our kicking/punting weren't quite in that category

Re: kickoff, I admit I didn't see the opening kickoff. The missed FG, I actually don't know what happened there. Does anyone know? Was it tipped? A mistake by the holder?

Re: punting, I keep thinking back to the days of the rugby-style- and shanked punts, and I'm glad not to be seeing any of that.

Don't know if they showed it on the broadcast, but the snap/hold was pretty atrocious on the missed FG. Definitely not on the kicker. Ball was laying on its side at one point. Couldn't tell if they ever actually got the ball into a remotely decent position. But at best, timing was shot (and it was pouring rain). At worst, he kicked a ball that was laying on the ground.

(08-31-2014 08:00 PM)picrig Wrote:  Don't know if they showed it on the broadcast, but the snap/hold was pretty atrocious on the missed FG. Definitely not on the kicker. Ball was laying on its side at one point. Couldn't tell if they ever actually got the ball into a remotely decent position. But at best, timing was shot (and it was pouring rain). At worst, he kicked a ball that was laying on the ground.

They did show it well. Snap was bad, but Farrimond was able to secure it and get it in position.

(08-31-2014 07:44 PM)At Ease Wrote:  

(08-31-2014 05:13 PM)ChicagoOwl (BS 07) Wrote:  Alright folks, there was certainly much to dislike about the game, but what was to like?

Some thoughts:
- The LSU transfer kicker is good
- The D-line wasn't awful, which was definitely a fear of mine
- The O-line looked good
- The punter is solid (would be nice to have more hangtime, even at the cost of distance)
- I liked the play-calling. (Even the nay-sayers must admit it didn't lose us the game)
- DJ looked decent
- Stehling throws a great ball
- Alex Lyons

- JTaylor is returning

Pass protection was good, DJ and Stehling both looked good, and I think we could have very strong receiving options with Taylor, Parks, Mayden. This could be our best passing offense since Chase left (though that's a pretty low bar to climb). A concern is that ND didn't really show much defensively so as to keep their pressure schemes unveiled.

The new kicker boomed some KO's and knocked home a FG, though looked a little unsteady in doing so. Every other element of special teams though..

The corners seemed to play well, and the DE's made some plays.

I'm still high on our LB's. The tackling was bad, but these kids are at ND because they're hard to tackle.

If CUSA is as atrocious as it was last year, we should do very well in conference.

Edit to add that it was nice to finally get a TD against ND.

Biggest positive is that we have one of the weakest schedules in Div 1...8 games where we will be favorite to win...Bowl is a must with such a schedule

On the opening kickoff, I believe the wind may have blown the ball off the tee as he was kicking it. He used a holder for subsequent kickoffs, suggesting that he felt something went awry on the first one.

One other thing that I found interesting. Our first touchdown came in large part because on a couple of plays we were able to get Driphus outside the contain, and like Dinger used to do with Bert, that created some open passing lanes as the underneath coverage had to react to Driphus. As the officials were walking back upfield during the TV timeout, Brian Kelly got the attention of one of them and had a brief but animated conversation. The official in question came out of the conversation and and motioned to the wing official on the Rice side of the field, making the signal for holding. I'm guessing Kelly claimed that we were holding and asked the officials to watch for it. I was looking for us to get a holding call on our next possession, but we appeared to back off from running that play on the next couple of series. I'm not sure what to make of it. Maybe the official on our side relayed the conversation to Bailiff.

(08-31-2014 08:12 PM)Lumberjack99 Wrote:  Biggest positive is that we have one of the weakest schedules in Div 1...8 games where we will be favorite to win...Bowl is a must with such a schedule

If true, that won't help elevate Rice's program or our bid to change conferences.

Officials were very much letting the boys play. Holding had to be blatant enough to be seen from the top row for them to call it.