Overall, I think it was excellent game. We put them away early, which is always key.

Once again, Feve was incredible. There is just no way MAC teams (or MAC level opponents like Army) can stop him. He is the total package.

I have been real impressed by the defense the last few weeks. They shut down Ball State, and did the same to Army. Getting Gordy back was huge, he is an excellent corner, and only a sophomore. Bellore also had a real strong game, and he will be a fixture for a long time. And Red had another ho-hum 15 tackles. His NFL stock keeps skyrocketing.

Now, I dont expect the winning streak to continue next week. Playing at Clemson is so tough. Hopefully we make it much more respectable than our games against Kansas and Purdue. I think we will put up a good fight, but Clemson will be too much in the end.

I am excited by this team because we are the clear front runners in the MAC West. We already beat Ball State, and Western looks like nothing they were cracked up to be. Lost to Akron, and barely got by Toledo and NIU. The spread offenses of us and BSU may really do them in.

I agree cajun...we played very good and I might add...our defense just has a diferent attitude within the last two weeks. I don't know what it is, but they are out to hurt you. I was very impressed with the defense flying around out there.

One word...LeFevour. Feve is playing really, really good right now. BJ is giving the Feve the opportunity to showcase his talents and within the last two games...the Feve has been putting on some Heisman type performances. I just hope he can do the same against Clemson.

Credit to the staff this week. I'm not sure if BJ has toned down the hitting during the week, because the players looked fresh, even in the 4th quarter. Good playcalling and the team looked prepared.

As for Army, they played very tough, Trimble is a playmaker. Army imploded and made our victory a little too easy by giving up a mind blowing SEVEN (7) turnovers. I'm surprised we only scored 47 points with that many turnovers. If Army didn't hand us the ball 7 times...who knows what the score would have been. However, at the same time...our defense made some plays to force some of those and we took advantage of them.

We're rolling right now, however I'm realistic and I understand Clemson is much, much better than Toledo, NIU, Ball St and Army. So...I just hope we can keep it RESPECTABLE and not play the way we did against Kansas, Purdue and NDSU.

Quote:As for Army, they played very tough, Trimble is a playmaker.

Per an article on the Scout Army site, Trimble is now their career receptions leader with 155, so he can play. Really, considering that Army's offense and QBs in particular aren't that scary, that's an accomplishment and suggests good talent. Still, he should not have been that open on the last TD reception. Methinks a safety bit on something that play. His previous TD catch was nothing short of terrific (and yes, I know it was debatable whether or not he caught it inbounds, but it was really too close to overturn on replay evidence).

I wish we'd start getting a jam on some of these guys; we have CBs who are a little bigger and more physical these days. Which would also require us to not give that cushion on so many plays. Bend-but-don't break is OK against some teams, but Clemson may eat us alive, if we don't switch to attack mode.

The only thing that bothered me besides the soft coverage by the corners were the penalties. Way too many stupid penalties. One crucial personal foul penalty came after a good offensive play, killing the drive. Bellore's very, very late hit absolutely shocked me.

I know people will point to the turnovers and say Army handed us the game. Two of those came after the game had been decided, and I really didn't see anything that the Army defense was doing that would have stopped the offense. Turnovers are part of the game. We forced them with pressure on the qb, a tipped pass, and good hitting. Army has disciplined kids, and they just don't hand over the ball to the other team.

Great effort by the players and coaching staff, the teams from the service academies never quit and roll over, so it was nice to see us match Army's intensity.

I also noticed a conservative offense in the 2nd half, save for the pass down the sideline to Brooks that was broken up.

Coaching staff: JJ Watt down the middle works. More than one pass his way per game would be great.

Quote:Bellore's very, very late hit absolutely shocked me.

Yeah, it was a true freshman bonehead move. What I liked was the way Butch handled it on the sidelines. Instead of screaming, since we mostly had the game in-hand at that point, he basically put both hands on Bellore's pads, gave him a serious talking to and a pat on the helmet, and let it go. I think Butch's rapport with the players is definitely improving, just based on what I've seen on the sidelines.

Agree about conservative in the 2nd half, but again, we had the game well under control. At least we scored again, unlike the NIU game, and Army has a better defense, I think. Certainly a better secondary. Army actually had a good gameplan for us: deny the deep ball, which worked all but a couple of times, and limit our running game. However, LeFevour was the wildcard they just had no answer for. Their focus on stopping Hoskins allowed those fakes where LeFevour took off with the ball for good yardage. Late in the game, we had them on their heels enough to run N-S with Archer and Doane to good effect.

It was a great win over an improving program.

The offense looked really good. However as stated above watt across the middle would just be a another weapon for LeFevour.

The defense forced 7 turnovers. Great effort by these kids

I am realistic as is everyone else. I just hope we can make this game respectable against an ACC opponent on ESPN U.

One other note on Saturdays game. I am glad others noticed the penalties... a few too many to commit against a really good team.

So far no one has said anything about the kickoffs, short. I know the wind was a factor and you were trying not to get a return run on you from the big return guy but every one that was returned was not even close to being broken. Giving a team the ball on the 40 every time and playing half a field is not a wise decision. Hope we don't do that against Clemson.

A good game all in all.

Is anyone else going down to Clemson?
Fire Up!

Talking about the kicking game how bout 2 missed extra points.

Can't be doing that going down the stretch.

Yeah. And from the stands, it looked like both of those PAT tries were good??? :muttering:

They were definately high enough, but, I wasn't directly behind the goal posts. I was surprised by the no-good signal, especially on the first missed PAT.

Here are my thoughts.

Since most people have already pointed out the obvious i am going to post a few things that i left the game with.

Our D continued to hit like it did against Ball State. We had a few blown coverages and it looked like Gordy had a miss-read on one of them. Though, he did have 3 picks so i am not going to bust him too hard.

I didnt understand why we did not run a WR or RB screen when we had the ball with 1:45 left in the 2nd quarter. We have a few players that can go the distance in a play or two. If we were going to work the clock, why not work it with something that is safe, and gives our playmakers a chance to break it. Thats just me.

Our LB situation for the future looks good. Bellore and Berning (Killer B's as a friend of mine named them) are studs.

Ike played well again, i still dont think he has played as well as he has wanted to though.

Red is everywhere, all over the place making plays. I love red.

EJ Mclaughlin looks like the real deal as well.

I believe bradley left with a rib injury. That play happend right in front of me, and he took a helmet to the mid section. Might of broke a rib, but probably was just bruised.

I'm happy to see our offense open with 5 wide in 3 straight games now (I think at least). This just reflects our new mentality as a team, were going to open things up, spread you out, and then run JH up through and around you.

I'm also glad to see were not forcing the ball to A.Brown like we were against Purdue. Yes he is special, but so are our other players.

I think we can get creative against Clemson with Brooks / Brown being former QBs. Hopefully we do something to keep them off balance. An QB/RB read with the option for a pitch back end around with either one of the before mentioned players would work well. Even could work a pass series off that as well.

Maybe a RB/QB read with brooks in would provide a lil more speed, kind of like ARK's WildHog formation.

Our coaches have seemed to add something new each week since NIU, lets hope they continue to do so! (Hopefully with something along the lines of what i mentioned... To make me look smarter than i am)

We have the athletes to get creative and try to get a W from clemson this week.

The first PAT looked just barely good to me too from the student section, but it was hard to tell. The second one did look wide.

We watched the game from the hill. Never did that before. Pretty neat how you can watch the action, then look at the videoboard for the replay. When the team was at the students' end, it we watched the videoboard.

My son's first three games (BSU '06, Toledo, Army), all wins. No, we have no plans for a roadtrip this year. Hopefully we'll make it for EMU.

At the end of the game, he rolled down the hill. Had there been fewer people there, I would have too.