(08-25-2018 09:32 PM)owl40 Wrote:  Positives

- First and foremost, ugly wins > pretty losses

- Jack Fox

- Team played hard (esp Esukpa); found way to make plays when it mattered

- Halftime adjustments to shut down scramble and Wallace

Negatives

- Love the pound the rock philosophy but hope there is some trickery/misdirection off the telegraph formations with the pitches, isolations, etc. Better talent will make that philosophy a long night w/ current talent.

- Secondary looks suspect (again). If you are going to play man, could be long season. I bet every team from here on out is going to run zone read/pass option play. Was wide open all night.

- Team did not look good from talent perspective. This is PVAM, not P5 and talent looked equal (at best).

- PV lost vs. Rice won this game. Lots of gifts. Can't count on those.

- QB play. Both QB's looked weak. Stank throws a short-arm ball and Tyner is not that accurate. If neither are mobile to pressure the D w/ their feet and both do not have great arms, that is a season-long problem.


- And finally, Rice was a 3 TD favorite. Not sure this team would beat last years team given the bare cupboard offset by better coaching. For 1Q it looked like a better team, but for other 3Q it did not. Heart loves Rice but head likes UH and the points next week. Scrambling QB with lots of receiving options will make for a long night and trying to pound the rock like tonight will be lots of 3 and outs and the Jack Fox show.

Hoping for LOTS of improvement but if same team shows up rest of way...looking at 3-9.

I hope you got your bet down last week. After that performance the line is sure to go up!!

(08-25-2018 10:09 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 10:06 PM)illiniowl Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:48 PM)Intellectual_Brutality Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:44 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  Our biggest problem is the quarterback. Both ,so far, seem below average but time will tell. However, they did not throw any interceptions which is a plus.

Agreed.

Biggest question marks are QB and on defense, scheme for secondary

Coaching deserves a question mark also. The team came out well, then went on a complete walkabout for the next 40 minutes. And the decision to snap the ball the play before the final FG, on 3rd down with the clock running under :10, was simply idiotic.

Why? We had time to kick the winning FG. Lots more to complain about besides something that worked. FYI run plays don’t take 10 seconds

Rice should have been able to EASILY kick the field goal from the 10 yd line where they were on third down. That running play could have been strung out and taken ALL of the 10 seconds left on the clock, resulting in overtime. It WAS a DUMB call that no experienced head coach would make.

In summary, not happy, but not unhappy

(08-25-2018 10:14 PM)owlatheart Wrote:  Offensively I am disturbed tremendously at QB. Defensively I am concerned...….PERIOD. We are thin up front and cant cover to save our lives yet again

Yup

(08-25-2018 10:09 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 10:06 PM)illiniowl Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:48 PM)Intellectual_Brutality Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:44 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  Our biggest problem is the quarterback. Both ,so far, seem below average but time will tell. However, they did not throw any interceptions which is a plus.

Agreed.

Biggest question marks are QB and on defense, scheme for secondary

Coaching deserves a question mark also. The team came out well, then went on a complete walkabout for the next 40 minutes. And the decision to snap the ball the play before the final FG, on 3rd down with the clock running under :10, was simply idiotic.

Why? We had time to kick the winning FG. Lots more to complain about besides something that worked. FYI run plays don’t take 10 seconds

If the play had been strung out a bit more to the outside, it's very possible Eskupa could have run out the clock in regulation on that one play. I would have lined up for a FGA on 3rd down.

I also thought out decision to throw a couple of passes right before half was also odd (and cost us 7 points). Three runs and we would have gone into the half with a 19-14 lead (and the ball to begin the 3rd quarter).

Positives - RB's and the two OT on offense. Austin Trammell too. Defensively I thought the DL and LB played well at times, but not all the time. The secondary was way worse than I expected.

We're lucky CUSA isn't anything special.

(08-25-2018 10:19 PM)Antarius Wrote:  In summary, not happy, but not unhappy
______________________________________________________________
2018: AUA CLT IAH HOU DFW COS DEN CLL ORD PEK PVG PHX SFO SJC OAK PHL YYC STL DTW HNL OGG JFK LGA EWR GIG GRU IGU CWB SDU

RE: Your sig line: How the heck do you not go through ATL, or is that by design?

(08-25-2018 10:22 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 10:19 PM)Antarius Wrote:  In summary, not happy, but not unhappy
______________________________________________________________
2018: AUA CLT IAH HOU DFW COS DEN CLL ORD PEK PVG PHX SFO SJC OAK PHL YYC STL DTW HNL OGG JFK LGA EWR GIG GRU IGU CWB SDU

RE: Your sig line: How the heck do you not go through ATL, or is that by design?

Dont fly Delta. Haha

Not that I wouldn't, but their hubs are inconveniently placed for a Houston traveler. Couple it with the United CF
/Smisek debacle and you end up flying AA.

Plus UA Polaris is worthless

I didn't think that we would beat these guys by 3 TDs. I'm glad we won. Period. I predicted 4 wins because after last year and the off season departures we are in a TOTAL re-building mode. And it showed tonight.
I thought it a bit odd, given that we were and are ranked as one of the worst teams in the nation, that we had so many posters predicting 6+ wins this year. New HC. New staff. Lots of Freshmen. Not many Srs. And no proven QB.
But Coach told us what he was going to do. Run. Run. Run. And try to over-power the opponent. "Impose our will", I think, was what he said. The fact that's what we tried to do tonight...all night, shouldn't surprise anybody. It's what he plans to do. It's probably all we can do, given our talent and experience. We are NOT going to throw much at all. We will get better, probably, in that department, but big improvement there is not going to happen.
I'm fairly happy tonight. Great, gutsy 4th quarter. Took advantage of our opponents mistakes and we didn't commit suicide.
It'll be a long season. But next year will be better.

(08-25-2018 10:55 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  I didn't think that we would beat these guys by 3 TDs. I'm glad we won. Period. I predicted 4 wins because after last year and the off season departures we are in a TOTAL re-building mode. And it showed tonight.
I thought it a bit odd, given that we were and are ranked as one of the worst teams in the nation, that we had so many posters predicting 6+ wins this year. New HC. New staff. Lots of Freshmen. Not many Srs. And no proven QB.
But Coach told us what he was going to do. Run. Run. Run. And try to over-power the opponent. "Impose our will", I think, was what he said. The fact that's what we tried to do tonight...all night, shouldn't surprise anybody. It's what he plans to do. It's probably all we can do, given our talent and experience. We are NOT going to throw much at all. We will get better, probably, in that department, but big improvement there is not going to happen.
I'm fairly happy tonight. Great, gutsy 4th quarter. Took advantage of our opponents mistakes and we didn't commit suicide.
It'll be a long season. But next year will be better.

Agree.

Special teams were finally special. Fox was great. I like our KO return game.

Offense was way too conservative but Bloom said we would run our basic offense and we sure did that. I thought Stankavetch managed the game better than Tyner but agree he was throwing changeups. Definitely would like to see some option plays as well as some throws underneath if we have receivers deep. RBs all did their job. Last 3rd play I was OK with and I thought I saw us trying to call TO with 3 seconds on the clock but wasn’t getting recognized from the officials.

Defense...pretty much everyone else has covered that mess. I said the defense was going to take more time and it appears to definitely need that. But the PV QB was solid and when operating not in the shadow of his goal line was effective rolling out and a real dual threat. We won because of Fox punting them inside the 5 where we could contain their offense.

There were minimal halftime adjustments but I think the main thing was the staff settled down the team. We were definitely rattled going in at halftime. I thought we showed good composure mostly during the comeback and thought we looked more like we did in 2006 sneaking out late wins. I don’t think we comeback if we still had the previous staff.

PV should do well in the SWAC and they seemed to have picked up what the new staff wants to do. They have 3 special players that nearly pulled off a win.

Would have liked to have maintained our start and had a workman like victory of 14+ but right now I will just take Ws. Next week will probably be brutal and I am sure Major feels like he is already coaching for his job and Briles wants it so they will go all out. Good thing as I mentioned earlier is that we faced a fast pace no huddle offense tonight so that helps.

Will look at the replay and see if I agree with what I just wrote tomorrow.

Definitely made PV pay for the mistakes. And something I left out was the series before the half. Didn’t understand the throws either.

Positives:
- Special teams play, especially Fox, but the return game now has a pulse.
- OL blocking-- some really nice holes on interior runs
- RB group
- Dramatically reduced number of penalties
- No turnovers
- Only one relatively minor injury?
- Played to win; not to avoid losing (DB would never have taken the risk on that 4th and 3 play deep into the 4th quarter)

Negatives:
- Defensive secondary-- no signs of improvement over the past 2 seasons of hell
- Invisible linebacking play
- Passing attack is on life support. A team like UH is going to stack the box against us with more physical players and dare us to pass (especially with Oliver providing the pass rush)

(08-26-2018 12:00 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Positives:
- Special teams play, especially Fox, but the return game now has a pulse.
- OL blocking-- some really nice holes on interior runs
- RB group
- Dramatically reduced number of penalties
- No turnovers
- Only one relatively minor injury?
- Played to win; not to avoid losing (DB would never have taken the risk on that 4th and 3 play deep into the 4th quarter)

Negatives:
- Defensive secondary-- no signs of improvement over the past 2 seasons of hell
- Invisible linebacking play
- Passing attack is on life support. A team like UH is going to stack the box against us with more physical players and dare us to pass (especially with Oliver providing the pass rush)

I think this (playing to win) can be applied to the pass plays right before halftime, though obviously it did not work and lead to a PVAM score. In hindsight we should have been conservative there. But, I like the aggression. Play to win.

It's been said before in this board's analysis, but it bears repeating... Fox won the game for us. Unbelievable punting and KO's. He deserves the game ball. And a steak dinner for him and his girlfriend. In a limo.

I think at least half a dozen true freshmen played? Some are likely to get additional playing time after the coaches review the game film. I thought a couple guys on defense (Wilkins, Garcia, Silcox and Ekpe near the end) made some nice highlight plays.

Could have been very embarrassing - no SWAC team had beaten a Division I opponent since 1985.

We'll be at least a 4 touchdown underdog to Houston is my guess. We need to play the Cougars like we did in the 1st and 4th quarters against the Panthers (where we outscored them 25-0) than the 2nd and 3rd quarters (where we got outscored 28-6).

(08-26-2018 06:23 AM)ArmChairOwl Wrote:  

(08-26-2018 12:00 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Positives:
- Special teams play, especially Fox, but the return game now has a pulse.
- OL blocking-- some really nice holes on interior runs
- RB group
- Dramatically reduced number of penalties
- No turnovers
- Only one relatively minor injury?
- Played to win; not to avoid losing (DB would never have taken the risk on that 4th and 3 play deep into the 4th quarter)
Negatives:
- Defensive secondary-- no signs of improvement over the past 2 seasons of hell
- Invisible linebacking play
- Passing attack is on life support. A team like UH is going to stack the box against us with more physical players and dare us to pass (especially with Oliver providing the pass rush)

I think this (playing to win) can be applied to the pass plays right before halftime, though obviously it did not work and lead to a PVAM score. In hindsight we should have been conservative there. But, I like the aggression. Play to win.

The pass plays just before the half were probably the worst calls of the game. The most important consideration at that point is to run the clock so that only one team (Rice) has a chance to score. That is playing to win in that situation.

Playing to win is doing what gives you the best chance to win in that situation. Playing to score is doing what gives you the best chance to score. The two are not the same.

Quote:Rice should have been able to EASILY kick the field goal from the 10 yd line where they were on third down. That running play could have been strung out and taken ALL of the 10 seconds left on the clock, resulting in overtime. It WAS a DUMB call that no experienced head coach would make.

What I thought was dumb was that PV didn't use their final timeout on our last drive. We could have scored a TD and they would have had at least some time to work with.

(08-26-2018 06:54 AM)greyowl72 Wrote:  It's been said before in this board's analysis, but it bears repeating... Fox won the game for us. Unbelievable punting and KO's. He deserves the game ball. And a steak dinner for him and his girlfriend. In a limo.

I need an explanation about one thing in the kicking game. We opened the game with a fine kick to the back corner of the end zone. One the next two kicks he took a three step approach and kicked it high and short. Then he went back to the long run-up and kicked it deep the rest of the game. Why?

(08-26-2018 07:53 AM)DFW Owl Wrote:  

Quote:Rice should have been able to EASILY kick the field goal from the 10 yd line where they were on third down. That running play could have been strung out and taken ALL of the 10 seconds left on the clock, resulting in overtime. It WAS a DUMB call that no experienced head coach would make.

What I thought was dumb was that PV didn't use their final timeout on our last drive. We could have scored a TD and they would have had at least some time to work with.

I wondered the same thing. But in the end it didn't matter. We would have just run the clock down on the play before the FG. But they should have, although it's not entirely clear when would have been the proper time.

As far the call on third down, that was very gutsy clock management. The last time I saw something similar was UAB in 2006. We did the same thing in a similar situation except 1) we didn't have a time out, so we had to spike the ball, 2) we had more time, like 20 seconds, 3) we were not tied, we were down one point, so if it didn't work we would have lost, not gone to overtime, and 4) the kick was considerably longer. In both cases we were able to run the clock down to where the kick was the final play. The next day in 2006, an NFL team, I think it was the Steelers, had the same situation and blew it, did not get the kick off, and lost. My point them is what out is now. You can't execute properly in those situations without practicing. The back needs to have an internal clock and if the play gets strung out, get on the ground.

What I think it shows is that this staff is going to squeeze every bit out of what talent is here. There just isn't much here right now.

(08-25-2018 10:09 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 10:06 PM)illiniowl Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:48 PM)Intellectual_Brutality Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:44 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  Our biggest problem is the quarterback. Both ,so far, seem below average but time will tell. However, they did not throw any interceptions which is a plus.

Agreed.

Biggest question marks are QB and on defense, scheme for secondary

Coaching deserves a question mark also. The team came out well, then went on a complete walkabout for the next 40 minutes. And the decision to snap the ball the play before the final FG, on 3rd down with the clock running under :10, was simply idiotic.

Why? We had time to kick the winning FG. Lots more to complain about besides something that worked. FYI run plays don’t take 10 seconds

It’s textbook football to kick a critical FG on third down, especially from such a short distance. At that point, Bloomgren needs to trot out Fox and allow himself the extra down in case something goes awry with the snap.