Post by BearDownMU on Sept 20, 2014 22:38:11 GMT -5
I sat down to write this up and was thinking about what I would cover, and I honestly don't really know how to recap it. Blowouts are hard to evaluate. Obviously, Mercer wins 42-21 but it was way more lopsided than the score. It was 28-0 60 seconds into the 2nd Quarter and 42-7 at the half.
I will preface all this by saying it was pretty obvious right from the get go we were more athletic than Ave Maria. Other than their scrappy little returner #11 (5-7, 160lbs) I didn't see a lot of explosiveness. It seemed like they put a little pressure on the QB from time to time, but the 1's handled their business. We keep our foot on the gas, this game is 60something to 7.
Mercer dominated with the ground game again, amassing 243 yards on the ground. Alex Lakes went 9/109 with a TD and Usher 7/78. That's a 12.1 and 11.1 YPC, respectively. Also, Usher had a 53 yard pass reception.
Russ was very efficient with 28% of his passes going for TD's. 11/18 for 181 yards and 3 TDs with 1 pick. He also rushed for 1 TD.
Defense played very well. I thought we tightened up quite a bit in the secondary this week and covered really well. It also felt like we got good pressure on the QB. Their lone touchdown against our 1's seemed like a mistake, but I couldn't tell. A 54 yard run right up the gut for a TD.
On the down side, again, the penalties. Twelve flags on us for 109 yards. That will get you beat in a close game. I'm sure it's something Coach Lamb is looking at. I personally like playing aggressively, but that's a lot of yards to give away. One one personal foul that I can remember, so that was better this week.
If there is a point of concern, I think it has to be around our depth. The 1's dominated in all phases, but once the game got out of hand, the 2's and 3's seemed to really have a hard time. Ave Maria picked up their other 2 TD's against the backups and it was sloppy. Gaps in coverage and missed assignments. I know there is a reason there is a depth chart and we won't be having hockey-esque line changes or anything, but once the 1's were out, there were some struggles. The offense also stalled out as we did not score in the 2nd half. Granted, the game was well in hand, but it didn't seem like the execution was very crisp on the offensive side of the ball in the 3rd and 4th quarters.
Oh, and maybe it was me, but it seemed like our kickoffs were a lot deeper tonight. Quite a few touchbacks.
so now we get into the meat of our conference schedule, heading up to Lexington, VA next weekend to take on the Keydets of VMI. I'm glad we got big wins these last couple of weeks, but the competition is about to pick up and I hope our guys realize conference play is going to be a lot more demanding. I think we have a good shot against VMI. We may even be favored. It will be interesting to see where the line opens up before my BearDownMU money starts moving the line.
That's my take. What about you guys?
Go Bears! Maul 'em!
I will preface all this by saying it was pretty obvious right from the get go we were more athletic than Ave Maria. Other than their scrappy little returner #11 (5-7, 160lbs) I didn't see a lot of explosiveness. It seemed like they put a little pressure on the QB from time to time, but the 1's handled their business. We keep our foot on the gas, this game is 60something to 7.
Mercer dominated with the ground game again, amassing 243 yards on the ground. Alex Lakes went 9/109 with a TD and Usher 7/78. That's a 12.1 and 11.1 YPC, respectively. Also, Usher had a 53 yard pass reception.
Russ was very efficient with 28% of his passes going for TD's. 11/18 for 181 yards and 3 TDs with 1 pick. He also rushed for 1 TD.
Defense played very well. I thought we tightened up quite a bit in the secondary this week and covered really well. It also felt like we got good pressure on the QB. Their lone touchdown against our 1's seemed like a mistake, but I couldn't tell. A 54 yard run right up the gut for a TD.
On the down side, again, the penalties. Twelve flags on us for 109 yards. That will get you beat in a close game. I'm sure it's something Coach Lamb is looking at. I personally like playing aggressively, but that's a lot of yards to give away. One one personal foul that I can remember, so that was better this week.
If there is a point of concern, I think it has to be around our depth. The 1's dominated in all phases, but once the game got out of hand, the 2's and 3's seemed to really have a hard time. Ave Maria picked up their other 2 TD's against the backups and it was sloppy. Gaps in coverage and missed assignments. I know there is a reason there is a depth chart and we won't be having hockey-esque line changes or anything, but once the 1's were out, there were some struggles. The offense also stalled out as we did not score in the 2nd half. Granted, the game was well in hand, but it didn't seem like the execution was very crisp on the offensive side of the ball in the 3rd and 4th quarters.
Oh, and maybe it was me, but it seemed like our kickoffs were a lot deeper tonight. Quite a few touchbacks.
so now we get into the meat of our conference schedule, heading up to Lexington, VA next weekend to take on the Keydets of VMI. I'm glad we got big wins these last couple of weeks, but the competition is about to pick up and I hope our guys realize conference play is going to be a lot more demanding. I think we have a good shot against VMI. We may even be favored. It will be interesting to see where the line opens up before my BearDownMU money starts moving the line.
That's my take. What about you guys?
Go Bears! Maul 'em!
