RE: Kent State Game Thoughts
Lots of mistakes in execution yesterday. We looked like a team that was playing their first home game in a month. It seems weird, but when you adopt that "road warrior" mentality, a lot of times the first game back home is sluggish. It happens in other sports after long road trips all the time. You don't notice it much in football because rarely is a schedule as ass-backwards as ours has been. Not really an excuse, but I think a lot of the sluggishness yesterday was due to that change in what's become the routine.
A lot of NIU's stuff on offense are package plays, where there are several options for the QB. Up front, the line blocks, let's say "power", the base play (double team the DT, kick out the DE, pull a guard for the playside LBer), the RB expects the ball and is running power. But the QB (if he gets the look he wants) can just sling it out to the WR who's running a bubble screen. Since it's a screen behind the LOS, it doesn't matter if the O line ends up downfield. It's a simple concept that works really well. I run it with my guys at the sophomore level in HS occasionally and they love it. Right now, our timing seems way off with that. I could be wrong about some of this stuff, but I've seen way too many bubbles thrown at the WRs knees. Either he drops the ball, or our timing as we tunnel back through the blockers is thrown off by the bad pass. It's one of those things where we got the look we wanted, the call was sound, the decision was sound, but then the execution makes everyone wonder "what the hell was up with that call? That looked like s&*t and had no chance."
Not really the case at all, but in the end, it didn't work.
I disagree that we need to choose one QB and go with him, because I don't think there's been a case of a "main guy's" rhythm being thrown off by it. In fact, I was more pissed when I saw Hare go back in after Maddie led them down the field on the first TD drive (and then again in the 2nd half). To me, that was being unnecessarily devoted to "the starter". Unfortunately, we don't have that guy right now. At least, I haven't seen him yet. I saw Hare get the job based on his play at NU & Macintosh's injury. Yet Maddie is still hanging around and generally executing more efficiently than Hare is. Yesterday, Maddie was, without a doubt, the better QB. Where to go from there? I don't know.
Now, I do agree that we need to cut down the touches for the various RBs and let a couple of guys carry the load. Stingily has his value as a downhill A gap runner. He's a former LBer who plays running back like a former LBer. I'm not sold on Bouagnon. Akeem is not as fast as he was pre-injury. Watch him run the jet way back in 2010 as a true freshman compared to how he does it now. No comparison. I'm intrigued by Huff, but haven't seen enough of him to say.
Somebody mentioned it a week or so ago: It seems like right now we have a lot of offensive parts that are one-trick ponies... guys who do one thing really well, but don't adjust very well beyond that. I'm starting to feel that way, too. Could be just me overreacting to yesterday. though, too. I haven't re-watched the game yet. You're never as good or as bad as you thought you were.
I love the way the defense is playing. Our safeties gave up the inside too much (at least in the first half) yesterday.
But, I'm not going to apologize for a win, especially after all the crazy crap we saw in CFB yesterday. It needs to get better, but I have no doubt it will. I remember us throwing up a clunker vs EMU on Black Friday in 2011 at HS. That was an awesome offense, things just weren't clicking that day. A week later we were MAC Champs (I could have done without the damn 20-0 halftime deficit, but we do things The Hard Way).
Hopefully, they'll have a great week of practice and be ready to get after it next Saturday. There won't be any smoke and mirrors with CMU. They'll come looking to hit us in the f*^&ing mouth. Our guys will need to be ready. It'll be a physical game.
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