I caught only the first quarter, in which both offenses were terrible. Was surprised to read we came away with the win. Looked like Hawaii's front 7 weren't pushed around as effectively as USM, etc.

Was interesting to see German get a few snaps (over Stehling?). Stehling had a special teams tackle?

What'd y'all think?

German had a tackle on a kickoff, I know that. I don't think Stehling did. If either got snaps on offense, I missed it.


Posted from my mobile device using the CSNbbs App

(10-05-2014 12:30 AM)FresnoTXOwl Wrote:  German had a tackle on a kickoff, I know that. I don't think Stehling did. If either got snaps on offense, I missed it.


Posted from my mobile device using the CSNbbs App

The PA announcers were getting names wrong all night. I didn't see the German tackle. I suspect, however, that the PA announcer meant Destri White, also number 13.

We do not look good. That game was ALOT closer than the score, and was just a display of painful futility. We probably need to sit Dryphus for a game, he is all over the place with his game. His demeanor is constant fear and panic....we have wide open guys on every play, but he looks for his first option and then panics....forget all the other open players.
Good to see Taylor back, but he was hardly ever double teamed and had a 5'8 guy on him most the night. Even so, we rarely targeted him. The last touchdown catch was wide open allllllllllll niggghhhhtttttt.
Defense played much better, but it was hawaii.
A very forgettable game.

and when I say sit Dryphus, I mean simply because of the injury. He needs to heal up and get back to his old self.

We have a lot of duplicate numbers. White had two special teams tackles I think. Stehling didn't play. Not sure who the PA announcer would have confused him with .

Rice with 4 TD drives under 4 minutes and lost TOP. Ugly wins are better than ugly losses, but it would be nice to crush someone. Sounds like Driphus has really gone downhill the last 2 games after his great effort against Old Dominion.

Any thoughts on how effective (or ineffective) the changes to the defensive depth chart were? Any big injuries?

Super happy about the win. If any parliamentarians saw me, I was jumping and screaming like a crazy person in the 4Q.

That said
1. We showed some good moments especially on defense, something we have not done all year
2. We were very lucky to not be down by 21 on the first half. Somehow we got away without a huge deficit and that wasn't due to our play
3. The officiating was horse ****. Most blatant horse collar ever
4. Why on earth did we throw at the end? I'm glad it was a TD , but dangerous move

Anyways 2-3 now and should beat army to make it back to 500. I'll take it

Seems many here want to judge Hawaii the same as ODU and USM (maybe some think a step below ODU). Although not at the QB position, Hawaii is a better overall team than both. They are going to win more MWC games than ODU or USM win C-USA games. Similar to TexAgs.com that looked at SMU, Rice, and Lamar being all the same and we know that is not the case.

With that being said..some takeaways

Positives
- Much better performance by the D at all positions. Health mattered. They were challenged and answered. 261 Yards given up and 7 sacks. Amazing how much better secondary is when you have pressure on QB and the QB you are playing is not as good as what we saw first three games.
- Nice to finally see some big plays. Been a three yards/cloud of dust team all season.
- Liked German getting some touches. He has talent and not helping team on bench. Expect him to stay as the 3rd QB as I assume he does not have grasp of entire offense like DJ and Stehling but have a few plays each game to get him on the field.
- Love Hamilton on returns (can he catch punts?)
- Dillard...great night.
- Feel a bit better about Liberty Bowl after watching Miss. St. against A&M and LSU.
- Getting Army. Kryptonite has been Pass D. Not going to be a problem next Saturday.

Negatives
- DJ 1H was bad. He knew it but he grinded through it for a decent 2H. Do think the shoulder is bothering him. Not same guy with his feet since injury which has hurt his game. Not a pocket passer to sit back and progress through reads and that is what he has become. Hope that is just time to heal thing vs. something like what McH had to deal with all year.
- Still some rust on Taylor. Looked better than last week but hopefully next week is back 100%
- We have lots to guys who need to get more touches in some way (Hull, Taylor, Hamilton, etc.). I know Edmonson likes to pound it with Davis and Dillard but we have too many guys who can make plays and aren't getting enough chances to do so.
- OL seemed to regress a bit. Seemed confused on some of Hawaii blitz schemes. Part of this made DJ look worse than he really was.
- Crowd was thin (including students). Saturday night, great weather, not competing with other things, etc. and just struggle to put butts-in-seats.
- Turnovers. Not going to win rest of games with 3 of them each game.

Bottom line after 5 games is this team is not as good as last years team, however much better than the media portrays the Rice Football brand. The optimist in me says disappointment is mostly due to injuries that are now getting better now so we could win out sans-Marshall. But the realist sees us stubbing toe in one other game (@La Tech? @FIU? or UTSA?). NT looks to have regressed much more than us. Result is a team that is contending in West but ultimately goes 7-5 and ends-up in HoD or NO Bowl.

(10-05-2014 03:26 AM)Antarius Wrote:  Super happy about the win. If any parliamentarians saw me, I was jumping and screaming like a crazy person in the 4Q.

You were 50 yard line, top of the bleacher seats, with the blue and white Rice flag?

The biggest positive from Hawaii was we made the adjustments needed after the first quarter and won going away. Agree with everyone who said DJ did not see many wide open receivers.

Three turnovers. Ugh.

1. A win is a win

2. Hawaii was physical. We struggled more to run it against them than the ranked teams. Not clear to me that we have regressed. maybe part of the reason they play Pac 12 teams close

3. Lots of new faces on defense, including true freshman. A lot of folks here were calling for that and useful to acknowledge it. It seemed to me that it might have been the difference in the game

4. Most disappointing to me, under the heading of 69's observations of "I'm not sure what we do in practice"---twice we ran in a sub package to remove DJ with horrific results. The first was a simple waste of a timeout to compound failing to convert 4th and 1. The second was Turner's fumble on the penultimate play of the game.

When your special sub packages become sources of wasted timeouts and turnovers, it is time to question what you are trying to achieve.

5. Agree that the Callahan punt return turnover smacks of extremely poor preparation.

6. Jordan Taylor is worth 7 points per game

(10-05-2014 01:36 AM)tramile12 Wrote:  We do not look good. That game was ALOT closer than the score, and was just a display of painful futility. We probably need to sit Dryphus for a game, he is all over the place with his game. His demeanor is constant fear and panic....we have wide open guys on every play, but he looks for his first option and then panics....forget all the other open players.
Good to see Taylor back, but he was hardly ever double teamed and had a 5'8 guy on him most the night. Even so, we rarely targeted him. The last touchdown catch was wide open allllllllllll niggghhhhtttttt.
Defense played much better, but it was hawaii.
A very forgettable game.

and when I say sit Dryphus, I mean simply because of the injury. He needs to heal up and get back to his old self.

I don't understand our coaching staff. Is so frustrating. DJ is playing awful first half, they don't make any changes. Is like they're afraid of him, bring in Stehling or German. Give those guys a chance. Last year same thing happened McHargue had games, quarters were he simply stunk it up and they would never pull him. DJ only threw 19 balls last year, he could have used some playing time last year. So we go from not trusting him last year to this year being our best option. I don't get it. Frustrating.

Agree with #4 for sure. I didn't like that play call after the timeout (we came back in with Driphus and then did the isolation fade pass to Taylor when everyone was thinking it was an offsides and free play). But I wouldn't call Turner's fumble his fault at all - it was a horrible snap and in fact, it was credited as a team rush and not a rush to Turner.

The offensive line played poorly, and that set the tone for the game.

Despite some very poor plays, the defense did a pretty solid job of stiffening when they needed to.

This isn't the Hawai'i of the last couple years, and we did finish by beating them by a greater margin than the three Pac-12 teams that beat them earlier in the year.

I think Army is less talented than the Rainbow Warriors, but they won't be as mistake prone. We will need to be focused and have our heads in the game from the start.

I liked the call for a pass at the end. I was hoping for it. Whatever play we called, if not successful, would have left time on the clock and Hawaii with a couple of plays and only 7 down. But we followed the path of not doing the obvious, a path many here have been calling for for ever, and it worked to perfection. Not to mention it gave me points for a lock in the BlazerNation pick 'em contest.

The other fourth down pass, not so sure. It looked like we should have had a free play, but I prefer to go for the first there and have the choice of which first down to accept.

BUT, we have had numerous complaints here about conservative play calling and doing the obvious. We started with t game with a passing play on the first play of the game. didn't fool them, ended up costing us for the rest of the first quarter with bad field position.

I liked the play calling for the most part - it didn't seem conservative or obvious to me. Isn't that what we have wanted?

For the second time in three games, we faced a non standard punter, and handled it poorly. He was able to run to the side, either side, let the coverage get downfield, then kick a tumbler that bounced in crazy ways. Not sure how the ST coach should have prepared differently - maybe a stronger rush? On the Callahan fumble, either (1) the coaching staff completely forgot to tell him not to try and pick up a bouncing ball, or (2) the temptation was just too great and he gave in to it. I'll go with #2, but many of you choose #1.

The loss on the penultimate play was due to a bad snap, not a fumble. Bob did exactly what was needed when he fell on the ball.

It was odd that German was sent in but not used. I wonder what the back story is on that?

Ah, the fickle rice fan. Two years ago, we were threatening Bailiff with immediate dismissal unless he installed DJ as the starter before spring practice. Now it is time to sit him?

I have heard it said the most popular player on any team is the QB that is not playing.

I had my doubts about him before the season. Not so much now. True, sometimes he throws off the scramble when I wish he would just continue to run with it. Maybe that is due the injury, or maybe not. But I say leave him in. he seems to find ways to get the job done. But yes, mix in Stehling and German some. Heck, give Billups some time. He's earned it.

Maybe Hawaii was keying on Davis. When we turned to Dillard, maybe it fooled them a little. Or maybe the extra size helped. I don't know - you guys tell me. But whatever, we made adjustments. Adjustments!!! That worked!

The teams that we thought would be our main competitors in the west, UNT and UTSA, are underperforming. The team that was picked last. LaTech, is doing well. All are inconsistent. Looks like it may come down to the last game of the season.

(10-05-2014 09:36 AM)Lumberjack99 Wrote:  

(10-05-2014 01:36 AM)tramile12 Wrote:  We do not look good. That game was ALOT closer than the score, and was just a display of painful futility. We probably need to sit Dryphus for a game, he is all over the place with his game. His demeanor is constant fear and panic....we have wide open guys on every play, but he looks for his first option and then panics....forget all the other open players.
Good to see Taylor back, but he was hardly ever double teamed and had a 5'8 guy on him most the night. Even so, we rarely targeted him. The last touchdown catch was wide open allllllllllll niggghhhhtttttt.
Defense played much better, but it was hawaii.
A very forgettable game.

and when I say sit Dryphus, I mean simply because of the injury. He needs to heal up and get back to his old self.

I don't understand our coaching staff. Is so frustrating. DJ is playing awful first half, they don't make any changes. Is like they're afraid of him, bring in Stehling or German. Give those guys a chance. Last year same thing happened McHargue had games, quarters were he simply stunk it up and they would never pull him. DJ only threw 19 balls last year, he could have used some playing time last year. So we go from not trusting him last year to this year being our best option. I don't get it. Frustrating.

DJ is the team leader. You had better have tremendous reason to think he can't get it done or the team has better options. Quite different than McH I past years.

The coaches faith in him was certainly validated as he made the bug plays at the end to pull it out. Stehling needs a pocket to be effective, which we weren't getting much of. German looked completely unprepared to compete at this level on his two plays, which was disappointing given all the good things that have been said about him.

(10-05-2014 10:11 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  For the second time in three games, we faced a non standard punter, and handled it poorly. He was able to run to the side, either side, let the coverage get downfield, then kick a tumbler that bounced in crazy ways. Not sure how the ST coach should have prepared differently - maybe a stronger rush? On the Callahan fumble, either (1) the coaching staff completely forgot to tell him not to try and pick up a bouncing ball, or (2) the temptation was just too great and he gave in to it. I'll go with #2, but many of you choose #1.

I have two questions about their punter (who was a lot of fun to watch by the way - how many times have you ever seen a punter also be a punt returner and starting wide receiver who catches two TD's in a game?),

First of all, when a rugby-style punter moves to the side, is he now eligible to be touched? Several times, we shoved the punter after he punted and didn't get flagged for it, but I'm assuming that's because it was legal to do so?

And secondly, what is the rule again for when the interior line can go downfield to defend the return? I thought they couldn't leave until the ball is punted, but Hawai'i left early on every punt and was never called for it. Or am I confusing the rules between the pros and college, or maybe this is an old rule they got away from?

I think we did make some adjustments.

I hope it comes down to last game. That would mean we have avoided losing to one or more inferior teams.

I'm not bailing on DJ. IMHO, we have gotten better QB play than in first 5 games last year. Have folks repressed memories of UH and FAU? And DJ has done it for the most part without Jordan Taylor and facing two top 10 teams, not just one.

the difference between my calling for DJ last year and those calling for Stehling this year comes down to one fact--we had seen DJ get it done against Air Force in a bowl game.

I'd look at it as a positive to get a win in a game where the QB played poorly.

(10-05-2014 10:22 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  And secondly, what is the rule again for when the interior line can go downfield to defend the return? I thought they couldn't leave until the ball is punted, but Hawai'i left early on every punt and was never called for it. Or am I confusing the rules between the pros and college, or maybe this is an old rule they got away from?

NFL rule

I don't see this team being worse than last season's. Does anybody remember the FAU home game last year? It was a far worse performance than last night. We beat FAU 18-14 after forcing a late fumble deep in their territory. McHargue went 7-24 for 69 yards in that one. Driphus makes played even when he's having poor games, that's a reason to stick with him even though he's not 100%. 248 and 2 td's on a bad day. Our offense is better this year IMO, we've just had a little worse luck with injuries and our schedule is a little tougher. On defense, Gaines is the only player we can't make up for. We're not much worse on defense; we've just had injuries to our best player and starting free safety. The ODU loss was a perfect storm of injuries to our several of our best players and lack of game plan to make up for that. That has been only real disappointment so far.

Also, can't say enough about the true freshmen. Recruiting continues to improve. Ellerbee could be a star player for us at LB, Mayden at WR, and Banks at DB. All made plays yesterday. Mayden is the fastest WR we've had since...?

We're fine.

(10-05-2014 10:38 AM)Buho00 Wrote:  I don't see this team being worse than last season's. Does anybody remember the FAU home game last year? It was a far worse performance than last night. We beat FAU 18-14 after forcing a late fumble deep in their territory. McHargue went 7-24 for 69 yards in that one. Driphus makes played even when he's having poor games, that's a reason to stick with him even though he's not 100%. 248 and 2 td's on a bad day. Our offense is better this year IMO, we've just had a little worse luck with injuries and our schedule is a little tougher. On defense, Gaines is the only player we can't make up for. We're not much worse on defense; we've just had injuries to our best player and starting free safety. The ODU loss was a perfect storm of injuries to our several of our best players and lack of game plan to make up for that. That has been only real disappointment so far.

Also, can't say enough about the true freshmen. Recruiting continues to improve. Ellerbee could be a star player for us at LB, Mayden at WR, and Banks at DB. All made plays yesterday. Mayden is the fastest WR we've had since...?

We're fine.

Great logical post.