Early season jitters, inexperienced players, OOC challenges. The fact is, we overestimated our talent. And all the new coaches didn't help continuity.

Another issue is we didn't appreciate how much Jennings and Sheffler helped pump up Hiller's stats. They turned mediocre passes into big gainers and scores. How many passes that Hiller is missing today did Jennings salvage for a completion? I think the answer to that is painfully obvious.

What we see on the field today is what we take into the rest of this seasons contests. The early game jitters are over with, this is it. Doesn't fill you with confidence with BSU and CMU coming up, does it?

No, but a lot can happen in a week. Let's be happy we won and trust that the team knows what lies ahead and will prepare accordingly.

A four point win counts as much in the standings as a 50 point beating. Our Broncos still have no losses in the West.

I'm trying to be an optomist.

I think our offense is doing a good job. We average 31 points per game. With 30 points in a game we should be winning more games. I wonder about our LBs. Does Ismail have any elegibility left?

We give up 35 points per game.

Congrats on your win.... Thats -2- tight wins in a row for the Broncos...

Your road uni's are sweet..... Is Hiller hurt? You never really threw down field yesterday is that your scheme or is something else up.

We lost the game last week to Akron on a last play runback of a Safety punt for a TD. Score was 39-38, I believe.

Hiller is not hurt that I know of.

BroncoPhilly Wrote:We lost the game last week to Akron on a last play runback of a Safety punt for a TD. Score was 39-38, I believe.

Hiller is not hurt that I know of.

BP,

Hope you are not insulted but in respect to two close wins he was talking about NIU-WMU games, I believe

BroncoPhilly Wrote:Early season jitters, inexperienced players, OOC challenges. The fact is, we overestimated our talent. And all the new coaches didn't help continuity.

Another issue is we didn't appreciate how much Jennings and Sheffler helped pump up Hiller's stats. They turned mediocre passes into big gainers and scores. How many passes that Hiller is missing today did Jennings salvage for a completion? I think the answer to that is painfully obvious.

What we see on the field today is what we take into the rest of this seasons contests. The early game jitters are over with, this is it. Doesn't fill you with confidence with BSU and CMU coming up, does it?

The fact that we still don't have any idea what is going to happen against CMU and Ball State at this late date is not good. I am encouraged by the game the defense played in the 2nd half against NIU, but the offense looked conservative and over coached so that was kind of a wash. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens. Every goal is still on the table, but so is the possability of a losing season. The only conclusion that I have been able to draw from this season is that this team isn't going to give up. A loss like the one we suffered against Akron can hang around a team and hurt confidence, but this group pulled out a tight win on the road one week later. They didn't fold after the non conference beatings, or the Akron meltdown so there is no reason to believe that they aren't a very mentally tough squad.

Quote:The fact that we still don't have any idea what is going to happen against CMU and Ball State at this late date is not good.

My hat's off to you for talking sports.

I'm not sure why we should know where we stand in relation to CMU and BSU? I don't think anyone has any idea where anyone stands. The MAC has never been the Big 2 and the Little 8, like the Big Ten. It's always been a league with parity, where one or two teams have a slight edge. A very slight edge.

People get all wigged out seeing the offense BSU and CMU put up, but they rarely stop anyone. Furthermore, teams get exposed for their tendencies as the year goes on, and both Ball and CMU are fairly one dimensional. Ball is a passing team, plain and simple. CMU is a passing team with a QB who can break contain, but not much of an Oline, or running game. Defensively, neither of these teams are scary, and neither of them have much depth. They can be worn down.

That being said, if Miller doesn't get some pressure on Davis, our DB's will have a rough day. Considering the lack of running game that BSU I believe we can take some risks in sending some people after him.

/\ /\
This feud is hilarious.

^ That's what I miss about Shafer as DC. He was always willing to take a chance and give a veriety of blitz looks at time you'd never expect it.

This is a thread that I really wish OldB would chime in on. I was intregued by his take on Miller's defense, and would like to hear how he'd attack a team like Ball with a great QB and an average running game.

I did not get to watch the whole game last week but for those who did you should now know what a cover 2 shell is. I am not sure we did anything else against NIU. Which is strange because NIU is a running team(atleast has been) and against a running team you would usually drop a safety into the box and go cover 3 behind it atleast some of the time.

I have not seen Balls enough to really know what I would do because it depends on what type of passing team they are. If they screen alot man blitzes will burn you. If they get rid of the ball quickly then blitzing can be a waste of time and you are better off trying to disguise your coverage and try to bait him into making a mistake. If they do throw the ball down field more which I think they do then coming after him in the right situations can force him into mistakes. Our blitz packages this year have left alot to be desired. Shafer (as stated a million times before) kept the qb off balance by showing blitz from one side and then coming from the other side. He liked to blitz on 1st down which many older coaches don't like. When Miller rolls the dice like with Hardy from Indiana at the goalline on 4 or 5 straight plays it just makes you scratch your head(I understood the idea the first time but not the 5th). Miller is just an old school 4-3 coach. I don't see much changing and it could hurt us against Balls.

I do agree that it could help against CMU. Shafer's style fits right into what kelly wanted a D to do. He wants you to take chance and give him man coverage so that he can screen you to death and run rub routes and break a few for big plays.

I would like to see miller take out a DT vs. CMU and put in an extra DB(maybe a safety for tackling purposes) Go with more of a 3-4 look with one being a safety. Use some zone blitzes but for the most part sit on the screens use the dropped safety to spy on the QB. Make cmu have 10-12 play drives.

It is really difficult to say exactly how I would defend certain teams without the benefit of film. But if we sit in the same old strong 4-3 and cover 2 all day long against Balls. We might just make Davis the offensive MVP. He will be able to sit back and eat us up. We don't have a Dlineman right now that is a great pass rusher(If we do I have not seen him yet) so it is difficult to get pressure with the front 4. We are missing the speed we had at LB last year and not just Ismail, Buskirk and Pritchard. The speed we have at LB seems to be young. The starters are doing a better job but they are not great blitzers. Which might be why we are not seeing as much blitzing.

Not sure if anyone can make sense of this post. Have fun trying. I am in bed today with extra pain killers, the back did not want to cooperate today. Maybe I will have a chance to go back and watch the NIU game.

OB1 - Very astute take. By the way - when we do Blitz (which is not very often), almost without fail - it is a man blitz, not zone. I think BSU runs quite a few screens....if they catch us in a man blitz it could go for big yardage. I don't think we can just sit back & allow Davis to look over the field & throw. CMU actually did get a fair amount of pressure on Davis & did alot of it with a straight 4 man rush. Hopefully, we can do the same as I don't think CMU's front four are any better than ours.

Just my thoughts on blitzing......at the college level I'm alot more fond of a zone blitzing espcially playing games with disguising where it is coming from. Alot of times, the QB will read blitz, but if he misreads where it is coming from, he'll pick the wrong "hot route" & end up throwing right into coverage. He only has to make that mistake a few times & we get some turnovers.