The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(11-17-2012 10:26 PM)CameramanJ Wrote:  The Monarchs came alive in the second half and made some key adjustments on both sides of the ball. They earned this win. Looking forward to a possible playoff seed and BYE.

I was listening to the Mickey Mathews interview on the ride back to the hotel. Apparently we didn't make any adjustments; they just stopped executing. (Yeah right)

lol god way classy put it on your players.

Villanova took awhile to gel, but they were our only loss and I sure as hell don't want to see them in the playoffs. We were better throughout the season, but they are pretty good now. I hope they are on the other side of the bracket.

Its very hard to beat a team back to back.

I had an amazing time this weekend. My best friend proposed to his jmu grad girlfriend and she said 'yes'. We tailgated for hours with both JMU fans and ODU fans. I had some great conversations on football with some jmu fans. I loved high fiving ODU fans all throughout the game and after. It was an awesome experience. Now for the drive home.

(11-17-2012 11:58 PM)Tribrocavs Wrote:  

(11-17-2012 10:26 PM)CameramanJ Wrote:  The Monarchs came alive in the second half and made some key adjustments on both sides of the ball. They earned this win. Looking forward to a possible playoff seed and BYE.

I was listening to the Mickey Mathews interview on the ride back to the hotel. Apparently we didn't make any adjustments; they just stopped executing. (Yeah right)

Well, Wilder said they did make some adjustments and that Craig Wilkins went off at halftime. Hope we eventually hear some details.

As a member of the band and a fan, that was an incredibly fun game! I hope other people thought our pep band put out some good sound! Now, onto the playoffs!

Traveled out to the game and here are some take-aways:

-We need to model the shuttle bus system the Dukes have in place. They are very parking restricted and the shuttle bus system takes you from commuter lots, hotels, and general pick-up points. It was seamless getting back and forth to our hotel and was fun meeting other fellow Monarchs and especially celebrating the victory. If we expand or build a new stadium with another +15,000 seats we need a shuttle system like JMU has in place.

-Eric Saylor is playing like a mean machine lately. I watched him flip a JMU running back like a rag doll. If he focuses that energy and plays smart....he will help us on the line and may actaully require double teaming and create gaps for pursuit for others on the line.

-Once we get our passing attack clicking in a game with 5 receivers going out simultaneously.....we are a force hardly anyone in the FCS can reckon with. I could see the JMU frustration in the 4th Q.....it was like their Dbacks were shakin their heads at our receivers speed and elusiveness. You could literally see it in the JMU defensive players faces.

-For those in section 401 and 402.....did you like the vertigo? Well if we expand Foremen Field......we may have a steeper angle (in the upper deck) toward the field than that. '

-Taylor H. He has come into his own now. He commands the offense, reads the defense, plays smart, is very fast, and if you watched our Qback vs. the Dukes......thank your lucky stars for how lucky we are to have him in a Monarchs uniform.

-Spoke to JMU fans after the game and the win hurt bad. They wanted the win for more reasons than just having a shot at the playoffs. It was a sign of how quickly we are moving ahead with our program. Bragging rights in the state I guess is what may be at stake. Again, they stressed how blessed we are with coaching, recruiting, and general support of the program. They commented how our fans could be heard all over the stadium.

-I wish we were playing JMU each year for the foreseeable future. It is a good in-state rivalry. You felt it in the stadium if you there.....it was face to face with people that might as well been neighbors.

-Thank god for adjustments at half time. We don't seem to take the field with high level of football awareness on defense. We are getting better on D (too much better really).....yet the first half becomes hard to understand when you see how open some receivers are. Coach Wilder and Coach Dee wrap things up tight at half time and thank god they do.....or maybe it’s partly the players that pull each other together.

-Stupid penalties keep mounting…..what was going on with all the encroachment on Saturday night?

-It was a very chilly temperature on Saturday night. I think that had something to do with our sluggish first half. Have we played in a cold temperature at night like that before? It was a good football environment with the stadium at near capacity (if you were there you would agree)……and also with the students nearly all gone on Thanksgiving break. Once we gained control of the game we looked dominant. Overall, it was a game I will relish for a good while.

(11-18-2012 06:26 PM)gilla Wrote:  Traveled out to the game and here are some take-aways:

-We need to model the shuttle bus system the Dukes have in place. They are very parking restricted and the shuttle bus system takes you from commuter lots, hotels, and general pick-up points. It was seamless getting back and forth to our hotel and was fun meeting other fellow Monarchs and especially celebrating the victory. If we expand or build a new stadium with another +15,000 seats we need a shuttle system like JMU has in place.

-Eric Saylor is playing like a mean machine lately. I watched him flip a JMU running back like a rag doll. If he focuses that energy and plays smart....he will help us on the line and may actaully require double teaming and create gaps for pursuit for others on the line.

-Once we get our passing attack clicking in a game with 5 receivers going out simultaneously.....we are a force hardly anyone in the FCS can reckon with. I could see the JMU frustration in the 4th Q.....it was like their Dbacks were shakin their heads at our receivers speed and elusiveness. You could literally see it in the JMU defensive players faces.

-For those in section 401 and 402.....did you like the vertigo? Well if we expand Foremen Field......we may have a steeper angle (in the upper deck) toward the field than that. '

-Taylor H. He has come into his own now. He commands the offense, reads the defense, plays smart, is very fast, and if you watched our Qback vs. the Dukes......thank your lucky stars for how lucky we are to have him in a Monarchs uniform.

-Spoke to JMU fans after the game and the win hurt bad. They wanted the win for more reasons than just having a shot at the playoffs. It was a sign of how quickly we are moving ahead with our program. Bragging rights in the state I guess is what may be at stake. Again, they stressed how blessed we are with coaching, recruiting, and general support of the program. They commented how our fans could be heard all over the stadium.

-I wish we were playing JMU each year for the foreseeable future. It is a good in-state rivalry. You felt it in the stadium if you there.....it was face to face with people that might as well been neighbors.

-Thank god for adjustments at half time. We don't seem to take the field with high level of football awareness on defense. We are getting better on D (too much better really).....yet the first half becomes hard to understand when you see how open some receivers are. Coach Wilder and Coach Dee wrap things up tight at half time and thank god they do.....or maybe it’s partly the players that pull each other together.

-Stupid penalties keep mounting…..what was going on with all the encroachment on Saturday night?

-It was a very chilly temperature on Saturday night. I think that had something to do with our sluggish first half. Have we played in a cold temperature at night like that before? It was a good football environment with the stadium at near capacity (if you were there you would agree)……and also with the students nearly all gone on Thanksgiving break. Once we gained control of the game we looked dominant. Overall, it was a game I will relish for a good while.

What was your take on the attendance?
The official "paid" number was 23,051, which in and of itself was about 2k
below capacity. It looked to me like actual was a few K below that.

So; the most important home game in years, and they couldn't even sell that out.
I suspect that if there was any consideration of FBS for JMU, it is being reevaluated today.

A Dukes poster on the 'Zone who was at the game lamented:

Quote:My season ticket seats were surrounded by ODU fans...how come those seats were not filled with JMU faithful?

(11-18-2012 04:00 PM)smudge12 Wrote:  

(11-18-2012 03:36 PM)Murray007 Wrote:  As a member of the band and a fan, that was an incredibly fun game! I hope other people thought our pep band put out some good sound! Now, onto the playoffs!

Credit where credit is due. Y'all didn't have the numbers, but you guys sounded 10x louder and were more "pep" than the vaunted MRDs.

We were in section 109 on the JMU side. The crowd in front and around were mostly JMU fans. I heard several comments at the start of the game that our band was............as they said cute. Later however they keep saying to each other that the 50 band members from ODU were more energetic and added to our fans enthusiasm and made the ODU crowd look and come across awesome. From our advantage point, with the ODU fans on the visitors side and the scattering that were on the JMU side I would say we had about 2,500 fans at the game.

On more than one occasion several of their fans said OUR band was much more game spirited on this day than their 450 member band.

But I must say their band (JMU) at halftime was fantastic to watch and their fans are very proud of the band. They were huge.

I think we took a little wind out of their sail, because ODU fans were so spirited.

Thanks for, and to the the group of fans, band, cheerleaders and Big Blue that made the trip. My pride was showing.

Aim High Monarchs

Somewhat off topic, but I didn't want to start another thread- anybody remember Phil Steele's fcs predictions? I remember him having JMU #2 and us like #20. I'm sure glad he had no clue what he was talking about.

I was in section 409 on the JMU side and I was the only ODU fan in the entire section. Sure I got hit in the head with a few streamers when JMU jumped out to the early lead. But it was totally worth it to stick it out and throw my blue streamers and rub it in. I am kind of sad that this heated 2 game rivalry has to end because I have grown to despise JMU but again, it just shows how awesome our program is to fly by JMU in only 4 years thus far.

How did our blue steamers work out!?!

It looked good. Does anybody have a video of the game? I'd love to hear what we sounded like on tv.

(11-18-2012 10:31 PM)Fatmonarch Wrote:  Somewhat off topic, but I didn't want to start another thread- anybody remember Phil Steele's fcs predictions? I remember him having JMU #2 and us like #20. I'm sure glad he had no clue what he was talking about.

Haha yeah.

And if I remember correctly, either NDSU or SHSU was ranked by Steele at #19 last year.

At the time I was thrilled to be at #20; figuring that by Steele's calculations we would play for the NC this year.

So far so good.....

I criticized Dee heavily in the first half and rightfully so, because our defense looked flat out awful.

But man, he made some FANTASTIC half time adjustments. He finally started putting 8 in the box and forcing them to throw over the top, which they attempted several times, and failed miserably.

They had one play that summed up their entire passing game. The RB did an out and go route up the side of the field, had our defense absolutely TORCHED and would have absolutely walked into the end zone, but Thorpe overthrew the guy by about 5 yards. Right after that play (even though it happened while we were still trailing), I thought to myself......"we go them!"

They had no real passing game at all. In the second half they only got 1 TD and that was only because of the Heinecke interception which was returned to the 10 yard line so they basically only needed 1 first down to score.

Other than that.....NADA. And we didn't even create a single turnover either and we still won by double digits. Very impressive second half......Bill Dee showed me something there, his play calling and the decision to go to an 8 man fron (which really should have been the gameplan from the GETGO, but whatever) was what really helped to shut them down and allow our offense to catch back up and eventually take the lead and hold on it.

Craig Wilkins is a flat out stud. If he doesn't get drafted in the last rounds by the NFL I will be surprised. He is an amazing player with incredible strength and athleticism. He is going to have to play huge against Ga Southern if we are going to beat them in the semifinal. I think we can do it though, I really do.

Well done Coach D. I'm still not 100% sold on you......but if you can do better than Rondeau did at stopping the triple option of Ga Southern, I will be ecstatic. Basically, just watch last year's game film of our playoff game and just do the exact freaking opposite of whatever Rondeau called lol


2-0 against JMU in our first two games and perhaps last 2 for a VERY long while. How freaking sweet is that after all that BS they talked about how we would get dominated before we had ever played a game. Great stuff and a great day to be a Monarch. F JMU and their whiny little b*tch fans.

One of my criticisms from early on in the season was how poorly our special teams play was on punt and kick coverage. Seemed like we were constantly giving our opponents a short field. Over the last few weeks we have gotten consistently better, I think JMU had one return out to the 40, the rest were plugged up early. And there was one open field tackle on a punt return that was incredible, but I can't remember who made it. Pinkard had a good coverage tackle as well.