Back to the game (vs. more lambasting DB) with a few thoughts.

Game should have been 28-0 in 1Q and over resulting in another blow-out. A combo of playing hard, Rice's usual 1Q fumbles landing in Rice hands vs. USM's, USM penalties/ineptitude, and good old fashion luck kept it from that. This should/would/could have easily been another USM 52 to Rice x garbage time points game. But it wasn't. But I just don't understand how so many different guys can keep fumbling the ball early in the game. It has been a constant this year and something I have never seen with so much frequency in my lifetime of watching and playing college football.

Also don't understand why Lynch does not give your best playmaker and probably only NFL guy on the field more touches. CC was great and just throwing it to a spot for JD to get his touches with good results. Major and Mensa got JD lined-up in different spots and different looks. For some odd reason, we only target Cephus a few times a game and keep him in same receiver spot. Let the kid go get the 50/50 balls. Make him more of the gameplan.

Not to give the defensive coaching staff a complete pass as Stewart is good but had a bad day (vehemently disagree with the Dreisbach comparison), but this team is banged-up even more than normal and definitely more than other teams with all the starters out. Those kids got exposed a bit today as D is a team game and other OC will always find weakest link(s). USM did nice job of that with their play calling and their first-team athletes are much better than our second/third team guys who were out there today.

For some optimism, I do like the nucleus of Cephus, Smalls, Stewart, Ellerbee, and Walter twins for next year assuming they all stick around. Could see similar scenario for the next coach to what Toad did with 06 team from inheriting the 05 players like JD, CC, Quinton Smith, Raines, etc. Cupboard is not completely bare.

(11-12-2017 04:32 AM)owl40 Wrote:  Back to the game (vs. more lambasting DB) with a few thoughts.

Game should have been 28-0 in 1Q and over resulting in another blow-out. A combo of playing hard, Rice's usual 1Q fumbles landing in Rice hands vs. USM's, USM penalties/ineptitude, and good old fashion luck kept it from that. This should/would/could have easily been another USM 52 to Rice x garbage time points game. But it wasn't. But I just don't understand how so many different guys can keep fumbling the ball early in the game. It has been a constant this year and something I have never seen with so much frequency in my lifetime of watching and playing college football.

Also don't understand why Lynch does not give your best playmaker and probably only NFL guy on the field more touches. CC was great and just throwing it to a spot for JD to get his touches with good results. Major and Mensa got JD lined-up in different spots and different looks. For some odd reason, we only target Cephus a few times a game and keep him in same receiver spot. Let the kid go get the 50/50 balls. Make him more of the gameplan.

Not to give the defensive coaching staff a complete pass as Stewart is good but had a bad day (vehemently disagree with the Dreisbach comparison), but this team is banged-up even more than normal and definitely more than other teams with all the starters out. Those kids got exposed a bit today as D is a team game and other OC will always find weakest link(s). USM did nice job of that with their play calling and their first-team athletes are much better than our second/third team guys who were out there today.

For some optimism, I do like the nucleus of Cephus, Smalls, Stewart, Ellerbee, and Walter twins for next year assuming they all stick around. Could see similar scenario for the next coach to what Toad did with 06 team from inheriting the 05 players like JD, CC, Quinton Smith, Raines, etc. Cupboard is not completely bare.

1Q offensive stats: 185 yards for USM vs. 22 for Rice. We've now been outscored 107 - 3 in the first quarter this year.

This team is just not prepared to play from the get-go.

(11-12-2017 07:45 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  We've now been outscored 107 - 3 in the first quarter this year.

Actually we have been outscored 135-3. We did shut out FIU in the 1st quarter! (Edit: FIU did score a TD on the first play of the 2nd quarter.)

(11-12-2017 04:32 AM)owl40 Wrote:  Back to the game (vs. more lambasting DB) with a few thoughts.
Game should have been 28-0 in 1Q and over resulting in another blow-out. A combo of playing hard, Rice's usual 1Q fumbles landing in Rice hands vs. USM's, USM penalties/ineptitude, and good old fashion luck kept it from that. This should/would/could have easily been another USM 52 to Rice x garbage time points game. But it wasn't. But I just don't understand how so many different guys can keep fumbling the ball early in the game. It has been a constant this year and something I have never seen with so much frequency in my lifetime of watching and playing college football.
Also don't understand why Lynch does not give your best playmaker and probably only NFL guy on the field more touches. CC was great and just throwing it to a spot for JD to get his touches with good results. Major and Mensa got JD lined-up in different spots and different looks. For some odd reason, we only target Cephus a few times a game and keep him in same receiver spot. Let the kid go get the 50/50 balls. Make him more of the gameplan.
Not to give the defensive coaching staff a complete pass as Stewart is good but had a bad day (vehemently disagree with the Dreisbach comparison), but this team is banged-up even more than normal and definitely more than other teams with all the starters out. Those kids got exposed a bit today as D is a team game and other OC will always find weakest link(s). USM did nice job of that with their play calling and their first-team athletes are much better than our second/third team guys who were out there today.
For some optimism, I do like the nucleus of Cephus, Smalls, Stewart, Ellerbee, and Walter twins for next year assuming they all stick around. Could see similar scenario for the next coach to what Toad did with 06 team from inheriting the 05 players like JD, CC, Quinton Smith, Raines, etc. Cupboard is not completely bare.

Regarding fumbles, what happens to a player who fumbles in practice? Does he get a pat on the back and "nice try," or are there negative consequences? I've heard the former from people who should know, but don't know for a fact.

I don't think we've had an OC or a DC who wasn't shackled at least somewhat by Bailiff. There have been multiple coordinators on both side of the ball with the same chronic failures--sloppy execution on offense, giving up big plays on defense. I think we have to look to the constant factor.

As far as the nucleus and comparisons to 2006, I agree. I just hope that this time we hire somebody who is not a jerk.

On the fumbles, we have not seen anything like this in DB tenure. Not like there is a decade long trend of fumbling in the 1Q. Plenty of other negative trends that have happened on his watch and don't need rehashing, but both the number of fumbles and the breadth of guys who have fumbled is astonishing. So not sure you can hang this specific issue on him. Just yesterday you had Smalls, Ellerbee, and Trammel all contribute for 3 fumbles in the 1Q.

(11-12-2017 09:30 AM)owl40 Wrote:  On the fumbles, we have not seen anything like this in DB tenure. Not like there is a decade long trend of fumbling in the 1Q. Plenty of other negative trends that have happened on his watch and don't need rehashing, but both the number of fumbles and the breadth of guys who have fumbled is astonishing. So not sure you can hang this specific issue on him. Just yesterday you had Smalls, Ellerbee, and Trammel all contribute for 3 fumbles in the 1Q.

Over the entire tenure, you are correct. What we have seen is sloppy execution. Right now that seems to be manifesting itself in the form of fumbles. My comment was intended to consider fumbles as one element of a more generic trend toward all forms of sloppiness.

These players are making mistakes that I'm pretty sure they did not make in high school. That seems particularly disturbing.

(11-11-2017 08:18 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(11-11-2017 08:15 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I actually thought the middle of our defense played well (Ellerbee of course and Robert who was spelling an injured Ibe). But man our DL and secondary play was horrid.

Offense played hard.

A new coach won't be left a barren squad but it's not as deep as you'd like for sure.

Yes, offense played hard, but the defense was awful. 525+ yards to a USM offense that has struggled for much of the year. The tackling by our secondary was abysmal....almost non-existent.

Totally agree. Mostly ole-type attempts. Many dekes and misses.

(11-12-2017 10:27 AM)owlman70 Wrote:  

(11-11-2017 08:18 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(11-11-2017 08:15 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I actually thought the middle of our defense played well (Ellerbee of course and Robert who was spelling an injured Ibe). But man our DL and secondary play was horrid.

Offense played hard.

A new coach won't be left a barren squad but it's not as deep as you'd like for sure.

Yes, offense played hard, but the defense was awful. 525+ yards to a USM offense that has struggled for much of the year. The tackling by our secondary was abysmal....almost non-existent.

Totally agree. Mostly ole-type attempts. Many dekes and misses.

Wrong angles too pretty often.

Massey has our defense at 128. Why are people so impressed with Stewart? I mean, compared to Lynch sure anything is an upgrade, but nothing this year shows me that he's anything special.

We can't tackle worth ****.

Regarding fumbles--several years ago I was at a practice and noticed a drill I hadn't seen before. I asked Turner Peterson about it. He said we lost way too many fumbles the year before so the players went to the coaches and asked if we could have a drill for all the skill position players where they would run through a gauntlet with people trying to knock the ball loose. Guess these players haven't asked the current coaches to reinstate it.

(11-12-2017 12:16 PM)bobreinhold1 Wrote:  Regarding fumbles--several years ago I was at a practice and noticed a drill I hadn't seen before. I asked Turner Peterson about it. He said we lost way too many fumbles the year before so the players went to the coaches and asked if we could have a drill for all the skill position players where they would run through a gauntlet with people trying to knock the ball loose. Guess these players haven't asked the current coaches to reinstate it.

Pretty telling that the PLAYERS had to ASK for such a drill... TOs are arguably problem number ONE for this team...

(11-11-2017 03:44 PM)Antarius Wrote:  Is this the first time an opponent hasn't come away with 7 points to open?

I know this is snark, and it's well after the game, but I thought I'd put in the record that over half the games (UTEP, Houston, FIU, Army, UTSA, and Louisiana Tech) all failed to score on their opening possession, and 2 of those series (Army and UTSA) ended because of forced turnovers. Considering that the defense has only forced 5 turnovers all season, that's an odd statistical coincidence.

As others noted, stopping them on the first drive of the game doesn't usually stop them from scoring the rest of the 1st quarter.

(11-11-2017 03:59 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  

(11-11-2017 03:57 PM)DFW Owl Wrote:  Announcer says we have 12 starters out. Is that really correct? Does that just mean 12 players that have started at least one game?

Must be our hard practices.

Maybe not that, but I wouldn't put it past having worn out/cheaper equipment. When they had those rash of foot injuries several years back, the first thing I was thinking about was cheap shoes.

Equipment budget must be tight if it's Veteran's Day, but Rice doesn't use the American flag OER on their helmets. Rice was one of the first teams to do something special like that on their uniform, but we're now to the point where they cannot do it (whether they didn't think about it or don't have the budget to replace stickers twice) on a day when it actually makes sense.

When I finally tuned into the game in the 4th quarter, that was one of the first things that stood out to me, and I'm surprised no one else commented on it during this thread.

(11-13-2017 10:34 AM)gsloth Wrote:  

(11-11-2017 03:59 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  

(11-11-2017 03:57 PM)DFW Owl Wrote:  Announcer says we have 12 starters out. Is that really correct? Does that just mean 12 players that have started at least one game?

Must be our hard practices.

Maybe not that, but I wouldn't put it past having worn out/cheaper equipment. When they had those rash of foot injuries several years back, the first thing I was thinking about was cheap shoes.

Equipment budget must be tight if it's Veteran's Day, but Rice doesn't use the American flag OER on their helmets. Rice was one of the first teams to do something special like that on their uniform, but we're now to the point where they cannot do it (whether they didn't think about it or don't have the budget to replace stickers twice) on a day when it actually makes sense.

When I finally tuned into the game in the 4th quarter, that was one of the first things that stood out to me, and I'm surprised no one else commented on it during this thread.

Injuries are in line with any other program. It's just an excuse, a very tired and over-used one.

They have money for pink R's. I'm sure they have money for American flag R's or any other color scheme of R's.

(11-13-2017 10:34 AM)gsloth Wrote:  

(11-11-2017 03:59 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  

(11-11-2017 03:57 PM)DFW Owl Wrote:  Announcer says we have 12 starters out. Is that really correct? Does that just mean 12 players that have started at least one game?

Must be our hard practices.

Maybe not that, but I wouldn't put it past having worn out/cheaper equipment. When they had those rash of foot injuries several years back, the first thing I was thinking about was cheap shoes.

Equipment budget must be tight if it's Veteran's Day, but Rice doesn't use the American flag OER on their helmets. Rice was one of the first teams to do something special like that on their uniform, but we're now to the point where they cannot do it (whether they didn't think about it or don't have the budget to replace stickers twice) on a day when it actually makes sense.

When I finally tuned into the game in the 4th quarter, that was one of the first things that stood out to me, and I'm surprised no one else commented on it during this thread.

We wore the American flag R's when we played Army.