The unofficial online home for fans of the Western Michigan University Broncos. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

https://www.sbnation.com/college-footbal...ule-roster

Interesting analysis for the defense. In my opinion, where Daoust got into trouble was playing too conservative down the stretch, especially against Toledo. Perhaps all the gambling wore his confidence in his unit down and he lost the edge.

(02-21-2019 08:09 AM)MajorHoople Wrote:  https://www.sbnation.com/college-footbal...ule-roster

Good read.

Thanks for posting!

I think some players who will make impacts aren't even on campus yet. The transfer portal has changed the game.

(02-21-2019 08:41 AM)RunningGame Wrote:  Interesting analysis for the defense. In my opinion, where Daoust got into trouble was playing too conservative down the stretch, especially against Toledo. Perhaps all the gambling wore his confidence in his unit down and he lost the edge.

The D got into trouble missing tackles, poor coverage in the backfield, as well as being too conservative. There were multiple coaches at the top of the defensive staff, and Daoust took the hit (which was absolutely deserved), but I think Espo is getting too much of a pass for the constantly poor defense over the last two seasons.

Players quit on Daoust. No secrets there. Coach Espo is liked by players and recruits, he has three times the energy as the guy he replaced

(02-21-2019 11:48 AM)brovol Wrote:  

(02-21-2019 08:41 AM)RunningGame Wrote:  Interesting analysis for the defense. In my opinion, where Daoust got into trouble was playing too conservative down the stretch, especially against Toledo. Perhaps all the gambling wore his confidence in his unit down and he lost the edge.

The D got into trouble missing tackles, poor coverage in the backfield, as well as being too conservative. There were multiple coaches at the top of the defensive staff, and Daoust took the hit (which was absolutely deserved), but I think Espo is getting too much of a pass for the constantly poor defense over the last two seasons.

In Espo's defense, Lester's comments hint that Daoust was trying to fit players into the system a little too much, and Espo had a different view (or at least some more ideas). If you take the S&P+ ratings as the gospel truth, our 2017 defense was a little better than the 2016 defense—in spite of the injuries. It was even improving despite injuries mounting, which is natural as the players get used to the scheme. I remember the defense holding us in a lot of games in 2017, including EMU, Akron, MSU, for most of the USC game until the end. They had one bad game against Buffalo.

It seems to me we hit a perfect storm in 2018 of a defense missing impact players and inexperienced special teams, and an exasperated coordinator.

(02-21-2019 11:58 AM)fastbuicks Wrote:  Players quit on Daoust. No secrets there. Coach Espo is liked by players and recruits, he has three times the energy as the guy he replaced

Daoust ran they same type of defense that ended getting Steve Morrison fired during the Cubit era. Soft, vanilla coverage. Having your defensive backs play 8 yards of the ball just sets up for disaster.

I dont think the author of the article actually watched our games last year. I think at he looked at some final scores and made conclusions; like when he described our game against Syracuse as "a competitive loss". We got the score close, but that game was only competitive until the national anthem was over. By the second quarter it was an embarrassing blowout. Same with Michigan, Toledo, Ohio, and BYU. Yes, we lost our starting QB against Toledo, but that had nothing whatsoever to do with our blowout loss. We were getting taken to school while Wassink was in the game, and in fact did much better offensively after Wassink was out.

The S&P+ week to week rankings from 2014-2018 is telling, however. It looks like we climbed a mountain from 2014 through 2016, but then fell off the mountain thereafter.

(02-21-2019 11:58 AM)fastbuicks Wrote:  Players quit on Daoust. No secrets there. Coach Espo is liked by players and recruits, he has three times the energy as the guy he replaced

If we have players quitting on a coach, then we have a leadership issue beyond that particular coach. Agree?

(02-21-2019 01:32 PM)brovol Wrote:  

(02-21-2019 11:58 AM)fastbuicks Wrote:  Players quit on Daoust. No secrets there. Coach Espo is liked by players and recruits, he has three times the energy as the guy he replaced

If we have players quitting on a coach, then we have a leadership issue beyond that particular coach. Agree?

He addressed the issue. Agree?

(02-21-2019 01:33 PM)Rasser Wrote:  

(02-21-2019 01:32 PM)brovol Wrote:  

(02-21-2019 11:58 AM)fastbuicks Wrote:  Players quit on Daoust. No secrets there. Coach Espo is liked by players and recruits, he has three times the energy as the guy he replaced

If we have players quitting on a coach, then we have a leadership issue beyond that particular coach. Agree?

He addressed the issue. Agree?

Yep. Question is whether he addressed it properly. By chance did you see the BYU game? And the reward for that defensive masterpiece was becoming the permanent Defensive Coordinator.

I see 8 wins this year minimum. Anyone care to counter? That and I hope this coach wins a ton of games....AND STAYS!

(02-21-2019 01:29 PM)brovol Wrote:  I dont think the author of the article actually watched our games last year. I think at he looked at some final scores and made conclusions; like when he described our game against Syracuse as "a competitive loss". We got the score close, but that game was only competitive until the national anthem was over. By the second quarter it was an embarrassing blowout. Same with Michigan, Toledo, Ohio, and BYU. Yes, we lost our starting QB against Toledo, but that had nothing whatsoever to do with our blowout loss. We were getting taken to school while Wassink was in the game, and in fact did much better offensively after Wassink was out.

The S&P+ week to week rankings from 2014-2018 is telling, however. It looks like we climbed a mountain from 2014 through 2016, but then fell off the mountain thereafter.

I think you are mis-remembering those games. I don't think it's fair to fault the author with that assumption.

The Syracuse game was competitive, they had to bring in their injured quarterback to keep us at bay. The score was within a touchdown twice in the third quarter. I get the feeling a lot of people in here did not watch the third quarter, which was the most electric quarter of football in Waldo I've ever experienced.

In the Toledo game, Wassink went out on the second offensive drive, which was hampered because of his injury. His final pass was a swing route because that's all he could throw. The score was 0-0. Toledo's first drive was a three and out.

Maybe it feels worse than it was emotionally because we are fans, but objectively, the Syracuse game was competitive, and no doubt our offense would have looked better with Wassink in down the stretch. Eleby looked good for a true freshman, but our offense regressed with him in judging by the S&P+ ratings.

We did climb a mountain to that MAC Championship, but mountains don't go on forever... it's time to move on to the next climb!

(02-21-2019 02:38 PM)RunningGame Wrote:  

(02-21-2019 01:29 PM)brovol Wrote:  I dont think the author of the article actually watched our games last year. I think at he looked at some final scores and made conclusions; like when he described our game against Syracuse as "a competitive loss". We got the score close, but that game was only competitive until the national anthem was over. By the second quarter it was an embarrassing blowout. Same with Michigan, Toledo, Ohio, and BYU. Yes, we lost our starting QB against Toledo, but that had nothing whatsoever to do with our blowout loss. We were getting taken to school while Wassink was in the game, and in fact did much better offensively after Wassink was out.

The S&P+ week to week rankings from 2014-2018 is telling, however. It looks like we climbed a mountain from 2014 through 2016, but then fell off the mountain thereafter.

I think you are mis-remembering those games. I don't think it's fair to fault the author with that assumption.

The Syracuse game was competitive, they had to bring in their injured quarterback to keep us at bay. The score was within a touchdown twice in the third quarter. I get the feeling a lot of people in here did not watch the third quarter, which was the most electric quarter of football in Waldo I've ever experienced.

In the Toledo game, Wassink went out on the second offensive drive, which was hampered because of his injury. His final pass was a swing route because that's all he could throw. The score was 0-0. Toledo's first drive was a three and out.

Maybe it feels worse than it was emotionally because we are fans, but objectively, the Syracuse game was competitive, and no doubt our offense would have looked better with Wassink in down the stretch. Eleby looked good for a true freshman, but our offense regressed with him in judging by the S&P+ ratings.

We did climb a mountain to that MAC Championship, but mountains don't go on forever... it's time to move on to the next climb!

I was there, and my recollection is quite vivid.

Syracuse was up 34-7 at the half. DeVito started the second half at QB for Cuse, because the game was so out of hand, and why play the stud, who was a little banged up, but to say he was "injured" is an overstatement, as evident by the fact that as soon as WMU scored enough against their second team defensive players in the second quarter, Dungey was back in the game (with about 5 minutes left in the 3rd Q). By then WMU had gotten the score back to sniffing distance, after changing the offensive philosophy entirely, and doing what we should have done much earlier; throwing early and often. (Recall that our head coached assured everyone that even though we scored all those points and had so much success throwing the ball, we wouldnt do that again, and he would go right back to what wasnt working in future games). Once Dungey, as well as the other starters on both offense and defense got back into the game we were far less prolific; particularly on defense.

Eleby played great against Toledo, and in the two drives Wassink had the offense was bad. Point being, we certainly didnt lose that game because our starting QB went out. We literally were god-awful on defense. Could not make a tackle before giving up 20 yards per play. It was painful to watch. And if you saw it I know you can not dispute the same.

Although we have not gotten nearly enough out of our offensive potential the past two seasons, we have been good enough offensively to win much more than we have. It has been our defense which has killed us most games, and I have little confidence that enough has happened in the off-season to change that. I'm not seeing in Espo what others apparently are when they claim he will be good, and players love him, and he will be more aggressive. Wasnt he the "Co-D-Coordinator with Daoust before Daoust was fired?

(02-21-2019 02:38 PM)Rasser Wrote:  I see 8 wins this year minimum. Anyone care to counter? That and I hope this coach wins a ton of games....AND STAYS!

He won't stay.

The days of Deromedi are long gone. Solich is an anomaly.

Any MAC coach/G5 that wins "a ton of games" moves on for the $$$, particularly if they are young. An unfortunate reality. You would, too.

That said, I certainly hope Lester is successful enough to prove one of us wrong (hopefully, me).

(02-21-2019 04:24 PM)GullLake Wrote:  

(02-21-2019 02:38 PM)Rasser Wrote:  I see 8 wins this year minimum. Anyone care to counter? That and I hope this coach wins a ton of games....AND STAYS!

He won't stay.

The days of Deromedi are long gone. Solich is an anomaly.

Any MAC coach/G5 that wins "a ton of games" moves on for the $$$, particularly if they are young. An unfortunate reality. You would, too.

That said, I certainly hope Lester is successful enough to prove one of us wrong (hopefully, me).

Here’s the thing, and I of course think you’re scenario is most grounded in reality. However, if TL really slays it, has great success, aren’t the same people who were going to throw great money at Fleck, so much that he took a pay cut, still around to try to do that with Tim Lester? Plus, he’s an alum who loves it here.

I give it a punchers chance.

(02-21-2019 05:46 PM)Rasser Wrote:  

(02-21-2019 04:24 PM)GullLake Wrote:  

(02-21-2019 02:38 PM)Rasser Wrote:  I see 8 wins this year minimum. Anyone care to counter? That and I hope this coach wins a ton of games....AND STAYS!

He won't stay.

The days of Deromedi are long gone. Solich is an anomaly.

Any MAC coach/G5 that wins "a ton of games" moves on for the $$$, particularly if they are young. An unfortunate reality. You would, too.

That said, I certainly hope Lester is successful enough to prove one of us wrong (hopefully, me).

Here’s the thing, and I of course think you’re scenario is most grounded in reality. However, if TL really slays it, has great success, aren’t the same people who were going to throw great money at Fleck, so much that he took a pay cut, still around to try to do that with Tim Lester? Plus, he’s an alum who loves it here.

I give it a punchers chance.

Agreed.

First thing is first...win "a ton of games."

Go Broncos!

Way too early bowl projections: (Camelia)
https://watchstadium.com/news/college-fo...2-21-2019/

Toledo, EMU, Ohio, Buffalo are the other MAC teams.

No way NIU misses a bowl.

No way MSU will accept Detroit.

I think 7-5, but could just as easily see 6-6 or 5-7. 8-4 should be the expectation.

(02-21-2019 10:17 PM)Motown Bronco Wrote:  Way too early bowl projections: (Camelia)
https://watchstadium.com/news/college-fo...2-21-2019/

Toledo, EMU, Ohio, Buffalo are the other MAC teams.

No way NIU misses a bowl.

No way MSU will accept Detroit.

I do think Michigan St would accept Detroit, so long as its vs a P5 team, but I think they'll be better then that and if they're not, I see them getting a 'better' bowl due to their name. (Michigan St isn't quite the 'small market' a lot of their fans say they are to get you to cheer for them instead of U of Michigan)

If NIU isn't better than us, UT, or EMU, decent shot they miss a bowl. Unfortunately, if 'no way' they miss a bowl, it'll probably be because they're better then us.