Never thought we'd be undefeated at this juncture. And given our recent struggles at Muncie and the way the game started, this was one where I'll support the "a win is a win" crowd. But I don't think we are a top 25 team...at least not yet.
Defense is clearly our strength this year (never expected to write that either). I'm concerned that our offense won't be able to stay out of its way enough to win games in November that we will have to win. The penalties were ridiculous. On one play, we had TWO lineman get flagged for a chop block. Procedure calls, receivers not lined up properly, low snaps that do take a fraction of a second off of a play's development...I agree with others who have posted about the lack of points production in the second half of these 2 past games now--shouldn't have happened. And I'm not all that certain Hunt "fixes" things. What good will it do for him to peel of 30 yard runs just to have them called back for penalties?
The good news is it isn't November yet. I've been critical in the past of this coaching staff's ability to make adjustments/corrections. They're more experienced now. Hopefully they find a way to reach the players this season.
There's growth but one "fix" (passing game) was followed by another "break" (penalties). The penalties could have been just a thing or could have been a loss of team focus. There have been MANY Board comments since the Arkansas win noting the possibility of a team losing focus after success, several from those posters familiar with playing DI football so I would think any reasonable person not water centered might see a possibility of that. Whatever the source, I hope the staff takes it on themselves to find a way to improve that aspect instead of the player blame game because almost everything else is firing all cylinders.
If Toledo does make it through undefeated and get invited to a bigger bowl, they will need 4 quarters of better execution as well as their usual strengths. They might possibly need it for games in conference.
Important to peak in November and on. Glad we are winning while not playing our best. Mistakes are correctable. Keep improving every game. Put it all together when we need it most.
BSU fans were saying the Rockets were better than Northwestern. Last time I looked the Wildcats were a top 25 team.
There were some bad calls by the officials but when are the coaches going stop these guys from making the bone head mistakes. Man sit those kids down for a series or two. They know chop blocks are not legal. The QB knows how many men are supposed to be on the line and in the backfield. It's just basic football that you are taught from the first day you step on the field.
From another thread
OK here goes..... Let's face it Coach Campbell is a young coach still learning on the job. I think Ball St. adjustments at half were better than his, but I'm not sure that isn't to be expected. Lembo has been a HC for a long time. Campbell a great recruiter (we have superior talent), and the offensive line is developing nicely (he's a former O line coach). Our disciple on the field needs to be better, and that's on the coach. Too many delay of game penalties coming out of dead ball situations. Too many illegal formations and personal fouls.... that's on the coach. None the less we are on the verge of the top 25, and a road win in conference play is good.
Improvement needs to continue. I hope he sticks around long enough for us to reap the benefits of his apprenticeship.
(10-04-2015 07:18 AM)bcunn3128 Wrote: [ -> ]On one play, we had TWO lineman get flagged for a chop block.
It takes 2 players to perform an illegal chopblock
The BS Receivers should have been flagged numerous times along with
their OL getting called for holding. I find it funny that UT started getting the flags thrown late in the 3rd and 4th quarters.
(10-04-2015 09:18 AM)Boca Rocket Wrote: [ -> ]The BS Receivers should have been flagged numerous times along with
their OL getting called for holding. I find it funny that UT started getting the flags thrown late in the 3rd and 4th quarters.
I did notice multiple BSU holds go uncalled. But then again that is something im always looking for
Well, this week some improvements were evident, so hopefully that is indicative of a trend. OL continues to protect the QB and is now improving at opening holes for the RB's. All 3 RB's were productive and I like that each brings something a little different which offers a change-up. Didn't have so many dropped passes like last week. Good to see Johnson get a couple catches, one a tough one. Probably Ely learned something from the 2 picks, although the second one looked like pass interference to me. It looked like the defender virtually threw the receiver (Jones?) out of the way before catching the ball.
Need to clean up the penalties. We only scored in 1 quarter. That seems like a little bit of a concern to me.
Defense and special teams did really well.
Kent and EMU should be winnable. UMass could be good. We need to continue to improve because it definitely gets real in November.
(10-04-2015 09:20 AM)T4C8 Wrote: [ -> ] (10-04-2015 09:18 AM)Boca Rocket Wrote: [ -> ]The BS Receivers should have been flagged numerous times along with
their OL getting called for holding. I find it funny that UT started getting the flags thrown late in the 3rd and 4th quarters.
I did notice multiple BSU holds go uncalled. But then again that is something im always looking for
I thought the same thing. No way their offensive line all of the sudden became so good at keeping pressure off their QB in the 3rd quarter. He did throw the ball a lot quicker, though, so I think it was harder for the refs to catch the lineman holding. Now their receivers--those holds could have been caught.
(10-04-2015 09:21 AM)Toledo Football 1st Wrote: [ -> ]Well, this week some improvements were evident, so hopefully that is indicative of a trend. OL continues to protect the QB and is now improving at opening holes for the RB's. All 3 RB's were productive and I like that each brings something a little different which offers a change-up. Didn't have so many dropped passes like last week. Good to see Johnson get a couple catches, one a tough one. Probably Ely learned something from the 2 picks, although the second one looked like pass interference to me. It looked like the defender virtually threw the receiver (Jones?) out of the way before catching the ball.
Need to clean up the penalties. We only scored in 1 quarter. That seems like a little bit of a concern to me.
Defense and special teams did really well.
Kent and EMU should be winnable. UMass could be good. We need to continue to improve because it definitely gets real in November.
I'm torn on the non PI call. There was contact, but the defensive player has to be allowed to make a play on the ball. And he got there quicker than the receiver.
OL was impressive this week. Seemed to be running more complex blocking schemes on runs than at the start of the season, which means the coaches are more confident that the OL is gelling as a unit. Still 0 sacks allowed for the season.
I also thought that in addition to the defensive players doing an excellent job individually, the schemes were right on. Voss talked about that in the presser. Much of the 2nd half, they seemed to be using a contained rush with Quinn spying the QB. That kept him in the pocket and forced him to make the throws, which he did a couple times, but also missed quite a few - not unexpected from a true freshmen in what, his 2nd game? In past seasons the Rockets D would be sure to give up 4-5 big runs on QB scrambles but they contained very well this time. Other than the long TD and the one where the QB missed a wide open receiver for a sure TD, I can't remember any other breakdowns by the defense. I think Heacock deserves a lot of credit.
On the other side, special teams took a step back with bad penalties and bad snaps. The bad snaps are coming a bit too often on both special teams and in the offense. That needs to be cleaned up. Of course the penalties really hurt. Most I blame on the coaches. I don't recall any offensive holding penalties - maybe 1, just off sides, false starts, and personal fouls. They need to clean that up before November. It's gonna only get tougher from here.
What about PI on Ely's 2nd int? The BSU defender gave Corey Jones a hip check that knocked him over just before the int.
And when they called the PI on Cheatham in the endzone (SW corner) in the 4th qtr, the BSU WR grabbed Cheatham's shoulder a couple seconds before that and did a swim move over Cheatham! How was that not PI???
(10-04-2015 10:27 AM)Rocket4Life Wrote: [ -> ]What about PI on Ely's 2nd int? The BSU defender gave Corey Jones a hip check that knocked him over just before the int.
Yes, but he was making a play on the ball. If he had gone straight through him, it would have been PI, but the grazing hit while making a play on the ball usually won't be called.
(10-04-2015 10:34 AM)northcoastRocket Wrote: [ -> ] (10-04-2015 10:27 AM)Rocket4Life Wrote: [ -> ]What about PI on Ely's 2nd int? The BSU defender gave Corey Jones a hip check that knocked him over just before the int.
Yes, but he was making a play on the ball. If he had gone straight through him, it would have been PI, but the grazing hit while making a play on the ball usually won't be called.
I also forgot about the PI they called on UT in the NE corner when the UT defender's feet got caught up with the BSU WR. I'm almost positive that feet getting caught up is not a PI.
There were 3 poor calls on PI in the game, IMHO. The first was on Ely's 2nd INT, the defender obviously made contact with the receiver before the ball was there, that is PI.
The other two were the UT DB and BSU WR getting their feet tangled, not PI, should have been a no call. And the PI on Cheatham in the EZ, and Cheatham might have committed PI, but the BSU WR used a swim move on Cheatham while the ball was in the air, should have been either 2 offsetting PI calls, or no call.
There was also defintely a play in the second half where a UT pass rusher (I THink it was Stepec was tackled by a BSU O-Lineman), UT ran a stunt, Stepec has a clear lane up the A gap, until he was tackled.
The officiating was poor and HELPED to contribute to UTs poor second half performance.
This is the best defense by far than anything UT has fielded in well over a decade. As the old saying goes "offense sells tickets but defense wins championships" so maybe this will be the Rockets' year, but it is way too early at this point to clear off a new spot in the trophy cabinet. However, with a good D you are never out of any game until the final whistle and you will never be on the embarrassing end of a blow out score.
I see a lot of good news coming out of the Ball State game:
1) there were NO dropped passes today. After that 2 for 2 interceptions I was starting to believe that the BSU d-backs had better hands than our WR corps, however, the WRs stepped up yesterday and caught the ball when it was there.
2) Hunt had some success against Iowa State but to me this was the first game where the UT running game showed that at times it could take over and dominant the game. Those second quarter TD drives and particularly that 5+ minute final drive to end the game was ball control at its best. The UT ground attack is still not yet the monster that it was last year, but it was much improved yesterday----IDK if this improvement was due to the UT OL getting better with experience or if the BSU DL was a lesser challenge than UT faced the prior three weeks.
3) UT has not yet come close to executing a near perfect game; however, they are 4-0 against reasonably good opponents. If they ever come close to putting together a near perfectly executed game (say on the level that the 2000 team routinely played at) I believe that they would have a chance against anyone.
Other thoughts
Key Play: There a lot of big plays in every game, but I thought that one of, if not, the biggest play of the game was Covington's tip of what would been a sure BSU short TD lob to a wide open receiver in the fourth. At that point Ball State had all the momentum and UT's offense had gone flat as far as scoring points goes. A Ball State TD there would have made it a 24-17 game but with Ball State having all the momentum and plenty of time. Covington's play essentially closed the door on any possibility of another historic heroic BSU comeback against UT.
Officiating: I think that UT made enough "dumb" mistakes to get the refs' attention and after that the refs, either consciously or subconsciously, started looking for UT to commit penalties and thus called a much tighter game against UT than against Ball State. I haven't watched a replay of the game yet but the one call that I saw enough of to think that it was bad was the defensive pass interference against UT on that Red Zone BSU drive in the 4th quarter. However, a couple of plays later BSU was call for offensive pass interference. I didn't see that play clearly enough to judge but I just figured that it was either a make up call or, more likely, the BSU receivers were routinely pushing off but were not normally getting called for it.
Two hours before kickoff the parking lots were full of tailgaters as well as number of roving BSU students, many already pretty well wiped out. I was impressed by the numbers that early before a game (IMO the sheer number put a typical Lot 10 pregame festivities to shame) and I was expecting a major turn out approaching 20,000 for the game so I was quite surprised when the official count was only a few above 10,000. I was sitting on the press box side of the field so I couldn't see how filled those stands were. The opposite side was the student section and looked to be 75-80% full in the first half, but after halftime most of the students (except for the band) left.
I would also note that the BSU staff working the stands were extremely helpful and cordial. They allowed all UT fans (with General Admission or Reserved tickets) to sit together in the two end sections (reserved seats) on the Press Box side. When we first walked in I actually asked one staff guy where the GA seats were and he pointed me to UT contingent (a few hundred fans) and told me "those are reserved seats but a lot of times they will let you in"------we just walked in and the security people didn't check our tickets or hassle us. However, a bit later I did see them turn away and redirect a few BSU students who were planning to enter our section.
IMO the BSU WR pushed off to gain separation coming out of his break on their lone TD pass. Seemed like offensive PI to me. Agreed about Ely's 2nd int and the PI calls when the players just got their feet tangled. A very poorly and biased bit of officiating all game long.
Was the chop block really a chop block? I watched it a few times. I could see Norton go for the ankles, but the contact up top was minor and looked incidental. It didn't look to me like they were really intending to chop the guy. I don't think he even fell down.