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Halfway point on the season. What are your thoughts?

Feels good to be 4-2 heading in to WKU.

Good to see DW knee holding up 6 games in. Like the multiple running back rotation.

Defense is playing great compared to years past.

Bad and Ugly.... 3rd and 4th down play calling. Extra point kicks, muffed balls on kickoff and punt returns.

DW has nearly mastered the slide. He will still dive forward when close to a 1st down, can you blame him? I like the progress of him protecting himself.

We have a kicker! FGs are now an option. This is good news.

Defense takes about 1.5 quarters to warm up, then make adjustments and really hold. I hope they can be strong right out of the gate against top opponents, otherwise we will be playing from behind all game vs WKU and S.Miss.

Our receivers fixed their hands - keeping the dropped passes to a passable minimum.

The bad - play calling is still an issue on offense. Sometimes tackling is an issue as well.

The ugly - our replays at foreman could use some work. What kind of sponsor do we need to see a replay on every play? At least give me replays on the big plays and touchdowns right away!

Our replay game will not be strong until Phase II when we get the massive video board, I fear. We should have a fundamentally-sound replay game then

This is will change after tonight but national ranked stats 6 games in for use.

Passing Yards
Rank 36 David Washington

Sacks
Rank 29 Anthony Wilson

Rushing
Rank 40 Jeremy Cox

Rushing Touchdowns
Rank 2 Jeremy Cox

Receiving Yards
Rank 37 Zach Pascal

Receiving Touchdowns
Rank 33 Zach Pascal

Longest Punt
Rank 4 Bailey Cate

Kickoff Return Yards
Rank 18 Old Dominion

Punt Return Yards
Rank 11 Old Dominion

Offense Efficiency
Rank 61 Old Dominion 50.1

Defense Efficiency
Rank 85 Old Dominion 42.4

Special Teams Efficiency
Rank 76 Old Dominion 46.0

Overall Efficiency
Rank 80 out of 128

Looked good in their wins, looked bad in their losses. How they look against the better teams in CUSA will be interesting; if nothing else, though, they'll have the confidence of three consecutive comfortable wins and a bye week heading into WKU. I'd be pleasantly surprised with a win, but my realistic hope and expectation is a markedly more competitive performance than the ones against App State and NC State.

As one who was most critical of our O-Line after the NC State game, I have to say that they have been very good during this stretch.

(10-08-2016 10:35 AM)ODUBB35 Wrote: [ -> ]As one who was most critical of our O-Line after the NC State game, I have to say that they have been very good during this stretch.

Not exactly but they are improving which is what i wanted to see. Still got a lot of work to do on that holding calls and better protection. I though DW got pummeled a couple of times yesterday like with in seconds of play.

(10-08-2016 10:01 AM)AimHigh Wrote: [ -> ]This is will change after tonight but national ranked stats 6 games in for use.

Passing Yards
Rank 36 David Washington

Sacks
Rank 29 Anthony Wilson

Rushing
Rank 40 Jeremy Cox

Rushing Touchdowns
Rank 2 Jeremy Cox

Receiving Yards
Rank 37 Zach Pascal

Receiving Touchdowns
Rank 33 Zach Pascal

Longest Punt
Rank 4 Bailey Cate

Kickoff Return Yards
Rank 18 Old Dominion

Punt Return Yards
Rank 11 Old Dominion

Offense Efficiency
Rank 61 Old Dominion 50.1

Defense Efficiency
Rank 85 Old Dominion 42.4

Special Teams Efficiency
Rank 76 Old Dominion 46.0

Overall Efficiency
Rank 80 out of 128

Great information. I think the team has worked really hard and after the NC State game a light came on during the 2nd half that they can score. Confidence and hard work can have many rewards and I believe they are excited about the game again. Brad Davis has also be a catalyst to help build confidence along with the emergence of Jeremy Cox while Ray Lawry has been side lined. Personally I think Cox has been unbelievable. The receivers have worked hard for the ball and after the App State player snatched the ball out of the hands of Zach Pascal he has been determined to fight for every reception in every game. This team has taken little steps into a team that believes and now continues to progress and get better.

Not to forget the defense but just to use this week as an example with plays from team members like Rob Thompson and Shadow Williams with their interceptions. The sacks from Bunmi Rotimi, Anthony Wilson and Jude Brenya they all have set the stage for better play and raised the bar. My hope is, just like this team has challenged themselves to reach this level it will continue on into future. The OL has been much better than most of us expected and they have given Washington more time and protected him better than I had anticipated before the season started. All and all it has been fun to watch and I look forward to more success moving forward.

Old Dominion Hail

OL has been ok, not great. Did well pass blocking in all games until last night, but made up for it in the run blocking phase.

Wow, what a difference from previous years where our defense was gassed by the middle of the third quarter
The curious phenomenon of our defense getting better as games go on.
I don't know if this is a matter of focus or a matter of in-game adjustments. Probably some of both
As I stated in the other thread I was very concerned about Marquis Young running on us, and indeed that was exactly what happened. Fortunately UMass started to pass more in a come-from-behind effort in the second half; because except for one 10 yard loss and one 1 yard gain, he was still getting 7, 10, 11 yards on us per carry in the second half when he did run.
I was also concerned about some soft coverage late in the game, but in his post-game, BW indicated that that was by design.

Our offense continues to become more varied, and a number of us stood and cheered the option we ran last night.
DW continues to look more comfortable, but he is still not getting the time he needs from the OLine. A non mobile QB would still be getting killed back there. Additionally, Cox and Lawry seemed to make extraordinary runs, not because of the line, but in spite of it.
The receivers are fighting for balls and winning those fights now.
Play calling continues to be head scratching at times, and we still have serious issues on the OL.
All in all, though, our offense is looking better every week and we are protecting the ball; and that is very important.

Special teams:
I still don't understand why, with our speed, we rarely, if ever, return to the wide side of the field.
Our coverage is notably better than previous years.
Three games ago it looked like the kicking game would be our death knell for the rest of the season. In just one week that was corrected to the point of becoming acceptable.
That is a remarkable turnaround.

What remains now, win or lose, is to have a solid performance against a legitimate FBS team with winning record.

The good, we have two very solid running backs.
The bad, letting receivers get behind the safeties for big plays.
The ugly, has to be blocked extra points.

The good - we have shown improvement and we are a decent team.
The bad - we are still a year away from being a top team in the league. We have looked much better against the worst FBS has to offer.
The ugly - how quickly our fan-base was ready to fire our coaching staff after 3 games. Did anyone see the size difference between our linebackers and UMASS's? We are still undersized for FBS. Two years from now we are going to be much bigger and athletic at LB.

Just win

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(10-08-2016 12:54 PM)ODUMONARCHZ1 Wrote: [ -> ]Just win

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I am impressed with the strides we have made defensively. Just looking back several years ago, the speed and size of our defensive players has improved greatly. Not saying we are where we need or expect to be but we have made great strides in tackling and plugging up the middle. In the past if a team needed yardage they just ran it down our throat.

Also impressed with the size and ability of our receivers. As pointed out by others, the kicking game has come a long way in just a couple of weeks.

Still a lot of room for improvement on the OL but some of the young kids there are going to be very good. I like Clark a lot as our center. Thank goodness we have a mobile ( and tough) QB.

The running game A++

(10-08-2016 12:45 PM)odufansam Wrote: [ -> ]The bad - we are still a year away from being a top team in the league.

I hope you are right, but who will be our QB????

(10-08-2016 01:41 PM)Quagmire Wrote: [ -> ]

(10-08-2016 12:45 PM)odufansam Wrote: [ -> ]The bad - we are still a year away from being a top team in the league.

I hope you are right, but who will be our QB????

Idk but cox and Lawry will be here next year. Don't like the term but with a running game and improved defense and special teams just need a qb who can manage, make a few plays when necessary and not cough up the ball Imo

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The ugly was the 3 guys on UMASS that dont believe in unity.

(10-08-2016 03:21 PM)ODUMONARCHZ1 Wrote: [ -> ]

(10-08-2016 01:41 PM)Quagmire Wrote: [ -> ]

(10-08-2016 12:45 PM)odufansam Wrote: [ -> ]The bad - we are still a year away from being a top team in the league.

I hope you are right, but who will be our QB????

Idk but cox and Lawry will be here next year. Don't like the term but with a running game and improved defense and special teams just need a qb who can manage, make a few plays when necessary and not cough up the ball Imo

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How great would it be to find a great Juco QB. I would think it would even be a hard sell with what we have returning.

(10-08-2016 04:56 PM)monarx Wrote: [ -> ]

(10-08-2016 03:21 PM)ODUMONARCHZ1 Wrote: [ -> ]

(10-08-2016 01:41 PM)Quagmire Wrote: [ -> ]

(10-08-2016 12:45 PM)odufansam Wrote: [ -> ]The bad - we are still a year away from being a top team in the league.

I hope you are right, but who will be our QB????

Idk but cox and Lawry will be here next year. Don't like the term but with a running game and improved defense and special teams just need a qb who can manage, make a few plays when necessary and not cough up the ball Imo

Sent from my SM-G928P using CSNbbs mobile app

How great would it be to find a great Juco QB. I would think it would even be a hard sell with what we have returning.

VT found a plug and play QB with Jerod Evans Would be great if we could find a gem in JUCO

(10-08-2016 05:05 PM)AimHigh Wrote: [ -> ]

(10-08-2016 04:56 PM)monarx Wrote: [ -> ]

(10-08-2016 03:21 PM)ODUMONARCHZ1 Wrote: [ -> ]

(10-08-2016 01:41 PM)Quagmire Wrote: [ -> ]

(10-08-2016 12:45 PM)odufansam Wrote: [ -> ]The bad - we are still a year away from being a top team in the league.

I hope you are right, but who will be our QB????

Idk but cox and Lawry will be here next year. Don't like the term but with a running game and improved defense and special teams just need a qb who can manage, make a few plays when necessary and not cough up the ball Imo

Sent from my SM-G928P using CSNbbs mobile app

How great would it be to find a great Juco QB. I would think it would even be a hard sell with what we have returning.

VT found a plug and play QB with Jerod Evans Would be great if we could find a gem in JUCO

Joey Verhaegh looked like he might fill that bill before his injury.

Right now Shuler Bentley is on the outside looking in.
Once again last night he was away from the coaches with RS/FR Blake Larussa and Freshman Redshirt Drayton Arnold calling signals and wearing the headsets.

All three are on the smallish side (despite "official numbers", BL appears to be about an inch taller than SB). All three are under 6'.
DA seems to possess the best physical tools but is also the smallest of the group.

The key will again be the OLine. If our Oline tightens up, and there IS some indication that it may, then any one of the three should be at least adequate - at minimum. If not, a mobile QB will be a "must" making BL and DA much more more likely to contend for the starting job w/o a mobile JUCO.

We need to be better at Oline and Linebacker next year.