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Post by FUBeAR on Aug 24, 2019 14:57:46 GMT -5
Anyone else get the message in the eye blinks? "I need an offensive line" Jeremiah Denton was obviously a Cantamount fan... |
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Post by FUBeAR on Aug 26, 2019 19:50:59 GMT -5
WCU announced their Team Captains today - 1 of their Defensive Captains is a Sr. who has 2 career starts & only registered any stats at all in 3 of 11 games last year. Must be a heckuva of a leader or had a heckuva an off-season or both!
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Post by FUBeAR on Aug 26, 2019 20:19:48 GMT -5
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Post by wcugrad95 on Aug 26, 2019 21:01:25 GMT -5
In all fairness, 10 of the 17 are redshirt FR so they at least do have a full year at the college level to prep. And only 2 of the 7 true FR are listed on the first team across the 29 positions (7 spots for special teams). Last year we were extremely young on Defense, so even the guys listed as SO have a fair amount of experience. I don't know what to expect from the Defense - as a Cat fan we hope they will be better (hard not to be), but we have to see it. Offensive line is clearly a question mark. On one hand I hope the talent we have at the skill positions and the scheme getting the ball out quick or RPOs where Tyrie can get outside can mask some things, but on the other hand early season mistakes happen more frequently by inexperienced players. I wasn't able to find the Mercer 2-deep, so wondering how young (or old) you guys will be this season?
As for the WCU team captains, Cortner has been a team leader for the program on special teams and outside of football (classroom, community, etc.). He also attended the SoCon Media Day along with Adams to represent the school. So no surprise he was elected as a Captain.
I hate conference games to start the year, but this has the potential to tell us a lot about where both teams might head in 2019 (I know - "rocket science" comment there).
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Post by FUBeAR on Aug 26, 2019 23:27:28 GMT -5
In all fairness, 10 of the 17 are redshirt FR so they at least do have a full year at the college level to prep. And only 2 of the 7 true FR are listed on the first team across the 29 positions (7 spots for special teams). Last year we were extremely young on Defense, so even the guys listed as SO have a fair amount of experience. I don't know what to expect from the Defense - as a Cat fan we hope they will be better (hard not to be), but we have to see it. Offensive line is clearly a question mark. On one hand I hope the talent we have at the skill positions and the scheme getting the ball out quick or RPOs where Tyrie can get outside can mask some things, but on the other hand early season mistakes happen more frequently by inexperienced players. I wasn't able to find the Mercer 2-deep, so wondering how young (or old) you guys will be this season? As for the WCU team captains, Cortner has been a team leader for the program on special teams and outside of football (classroom, community, etc.). He also attended the SoCon Media Day along with Adams to represent the school. So no surprise he was elected as a Captain. I hate conference games to start the year, but this has the potential to tell us a lot about where both teams might head in 2019 (I know - "rocket science" comment there). Not a 2-deep, but the best reasonable facsimile I could find - Mercer Football 2019 Prospectus - Defense should be VERY exp’d & Offense not too far behind. Depth shouldn’t be too young, but there will certainly be some R-FR’s on there. Specialists will be young. I could see True Freshmen DE Richard Benton, TE Pedro Rodriguez, LB Luke Szabados, OL John Thomas, LB Zach Hopkins, RB Brandon Marshall, and/or RB Fred Davis making an impact. There may be others, but these 7 stood out to FUBeAR in the 1 skirmish I attended this Fall. |
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Post by wcugrad95 on Aug 27, 2019 9:44:33 GMT -5
Appreciate the link - but obviously hard to decipher the 2-deep. Of particular note are 8 starters returning on both sides, and obviously the return of Riddle. WCU has 13 returning starters (6 on offense and 7 on defense). Our major losses are on both lines (and one of the better punters in SoCon history - but he played hurt most of last year). From our defensive 2-deep the last 3 or 4 games of 2018, we return I believe 17 of the 22 guys).
I did take a longer look at the "awful" WCU defensive numbers from last year compared to Mercer's, and was at least a little surprised: | Team | Mercer | WCU | | Pts/game | 32.5 | 41 | | Yds/game | 480.6 | 490.1 | Interceptions
| 6 | 12 | Fumbles recovered
| 8 | 8 | | Sacks | 12
| 23 | Tackles for Loss
| 60
| 62
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The glaring number is clearly points per game. The other stats are pretty even or actually leaning a little more towards Western (more turnovers and double the sacks). Giving up big plays for scores and some "not so special" special teams plays also hurt us in 2018 and were a big part of the point differential (Mercer's matchup with Memphis obviously impacted these stats for the Bears). I know people are questioning the offensive line in Cullowhee because of the losses we endured there, but I still expect us to field a pretty solid to possibly really good offense. And in reality, that line only had 1 member of the 1st or 2nd All-SoCon teams - meaning we are replacing a ton of experience, but not necessarily all-time greats. I think if Mercer or WCU can figure out a way to simply get solid on defense (i.e. find a way to keep other teams under 30 points), they could have a good season. Find a way to keep teams under 24 points and either squad could have a break-out year. I have seen a number of people think Mercer could do it - I have not seen many other than Catamount hopefuls saying that about Western. Always exciting to kick the season off. One of us is going to be in good shape after Saturday, and the other is going to be behind the proverbial 8-ball. I honestly don't know what to expect right now, as there will be a lot of talent on the field and mistakes, penalties, and effort will make the difference (like they always do).
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ursus
Spires Bear
Posts: 222
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Post by ursus on Aug 28, 2019 19:34:12 GMT -5
Appreciate the link - but obviously hard to decipher the 2-deep. Of particular note are 8 starters returning on both sides, and obviously the return of Riddle. WCU has 13 returning starters (6 on offense and 7 on defense). Our major losses are on both lines (and one of the better punters in SoCon history - but he played hurt most of last year). From our defensive 2-deep the last 3 or 4 games of 2018, we return I believe 17 of the 22 guys).
I did take a longer look at the "awful" WCU defensive numbers from last year compared to Mercer's, and was at least a little surprised: | Team | Mercer | WCU | | Pts/game | 32.5 | 41 | | Yds/game | 480.6 | 490.1 | Interceptions
| 6 | 12 | Fumbles recovered
| 8 | 8 | | Sacks | 12
| 23 | Tackles for Loss
| 60
| 62
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The glaring number is clearly points per game. The other stats are pretty even or actually leaning a little more towards Western (more turnovers and double the sacks). Giving up big plays for scores and some "not so special" special teams plays also hurt us in 2018 and were a big part of the point differential (Mercer's matchup with Memphis obviously impacted these stats for the Bears). I know people are questioning the offensive line in Cullowhee because of the losses we endured there, but I still expect us to field a pretty solid to possibly really good offense. And in reality, that line only had 1 member of the 1st or 2nd All-SoCon teams - meaning we are replacing a ton of experience, but not necessarily all-time greats. I think if Mercer or WCU can figure out a way to simply get solid on defense (i.e. find a way to keep other teams under 30 points), they could have a good season. Find a way to keep teams under 24 points and either squad could have a break-out year. I have seen a number of people think Mercer could do it - I have not seen many other than Catamount hopefuls saying that about Western. Always exciting to kick the season off. One of us is going to be in good shape after Saturday, and the other is going to be behind the proverbial 8-ball. I honestly don't know what to expect right now, as there will be a lot of talent on the field and mistakes, penalties, and effort will make the difference (like they always do).
I think you already did something like this over on AGS, but I wanted to look at a medians for games between common opponents in order to get a more balanced picture. | Team | Mercer | WCU | | Median Points/game | 35 | 44 | | Median Yards/game | 434 | 472 | | Median INT/game | 0 | 1 | | Median Fumbles Rec/game | 1 | 1 | | Median Sacks/game | 1 | 1 | | Median TFLs/game | 4 | 5 |
So of the 7 common opponents it seems that we were decently similar in turnovers and negative plays, but WCU was 9 points and 38 yards worse in those games. Hopefully both do take a step forward this year. |
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Post by BearDownMU on Aug 29, 2019 9:46:43 GMT -5
Line on Saturday's game is Mercer -3, with the over/under at 71.5.
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Post by Cat Fan on Aug 29, 2019 13:36:39 GMT -5
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Post by Cat Fan on Aug 29, 2019 13:52:03 GMT -5
For all the talk about WCU only returning one starter on their OL, a look at Mercer's game notes indicates that the Bears only return 2 starters on their OL:
76 - Jake Flath OL Jr.
67 - Austin Sanders OL R-Jr.
.... and only one on the DL
58 - Dorian Kithcart DL R-Sr.
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RETURNING OFFENSIVE STARTERS (6)
No. Name Pos. Class
80 Tucker Cannon WR R-Jr.
88 Chris Ellington TE Sr.
76 Jake Flath OL Jr.
34 Tyray Devezin RB Jr.
10 Robert Riddle QB R-So.
67 Austin Sanders OL R-Jr.
RETURNING DEFENSIVE STARTERS (7)
No. Name Pos. Class
11 BJ Bohler CB R-Jr.
23 Will Coneway LB R-Sr.
5 Malique Fleming DB R-Jr.
17 Eric Jackson DB R-Jr.
58 Dorian Kithcart DL R-Sr.
9 Sidney Otiwu LB R-Jr.
12 Harrison Poole DB R-So.
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Post by Cat Fan on Aug 29, 2019 18:46:33 GMT -5
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Kick off
Aug 29, 2019 19:09:21 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by FUBeAR on Aug 29, 2019 19:09:21 GMT -5
For all the talk about WCU only returning one starter on their OL, a look at Mercer's game notes indicates that the Bears only return 2 starters on their OL: 76 - Jake Flath OL Jr. 67 - Austin Sanders OL R-Jr. .... and only one on the DL 58 - Dorian Kithcart DL R-Sr. --------------------------------------- RETURNING OFFENSIVE STARTERS (6) No. Name Pos. Class 80 Tucker Cannon WR R-Jr. 88 Chris Ellington TE Sr. 76 Jake Flath OL Jr. 34 Tyray Devezin RB Jr. 10 Robert Riddle QB R-So. 67 Austin Sanders OL R-Jr. RETURNING DEFENSIVE STARTERS (7) No. Name Pos. Class 11 BJ Bohler CB R-Jr. 23 Will Coneway LB R-Sr. 5 Malique Fleming DB R-Jr. 17 Eric Jackson DB R-Jr. 58 Dorian Kithcart DL R-Sr. 9 Sidney Otiwu LB R-Jr. 12 Harrison Poole DB R-So. lol - C & OG, Krieger & Robinson are both returning Starters. Robinson started games 1-5 before he was injured. Krieger & May (graduated) each started several games at C last year. The 1 who was least banged up started each week. May & Dawson Ellis (OT) are the only OL Starters not returning. Ellis would have been a R-Sr, but he already graduated & made a just prior-to-camp decision to hang up the cleats. And the D list is all jacked up...3 DLmen & 4 LB’s in a base 4-2-5 D. So...Guillen (returning Starter) is prolly ur other Starting DE & Craighead prolly not starting. Also, Fleming is not a LB. he’s a DB. So +2 on O & +1 on D = 8 on each...as previously advertised. |
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Post by FUBeAR on Aug 29, 2019 20:19:12 GMT -5
If clicking on the above video fails to induce vomiting and/or produce the desired amount of bloodletting from the ears, try this. (Don't think you'll need it though - the one above should do the trick... |
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Post by Cat Fan on Aug 29, 2019 20:33:36 GMT -5
For all the talk about WCU only returning one starter on their OL, a look at Mercer's game notes indicates that the Bears only return 2 starters on their OL: 76 - Jake Flath OL Jr. 67 - Austin Sanders OL R-Jr. .... and only one on the DL 58 - Dorian Kithcart DL R-Sr. --------------------------------------- RETURNING OFFENSIVE STARTERS (6) No. Name Pos. Class 80 Tucker Cannon WR R-Jr. 88 Chris Ellington TE Sr. 76 Jake Flath OL Jr. 34 Tyray Devezin RB Jr. 10 Robert Riddle QB R-So. 67 Austin Sanders OL R-Jr. RETURNING DEFENSIVE STARTERS (7) No. Name Pos. Class 11 BJ Bohler CB R-Jr. 23 Will Coneway LB R-Sr. 5 Malique Fleming DB R-Jr. 17 Eric Jackson DB R-Jr. 58 Dorian Kithcart DL R-Sr. 9 Sidney Otiwu LB R-Jr. 12 Harrison Poole DB R-So. lol - C & OG, Krieger & Robinson are both returning Starters. Robinson started games 1-5 before he was injured. Krieger & May (graduated) each started several games at C last year. The 1 who was least banged up started each week. May & Dawson Ellis (OT) are the only OL Starters not returning. Ellis would have been a R-Sr, but he already graduated & made a just prior-to-camp decision to hang up the cleats. And the D list is all jacked up...3 DLmen & 4 LB’s in a base 4-2-5 D. So...Guillen (returning Starter) is prolly ur other Starting DE & Craighead prolly not starting. Also, Fleming is not a LB. he’s a DB. So +2 on O & +1 on D = 8 on each...as previously advertised. If the list is jacked up, it's jacked up because Mercer published it a jacked up list. Lots of pride in their work, I see. |
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Post by BearDownMU on Aug 29, 2019 23:22:21 GMT -5
Why are you such a dick? You take shots at the board. You take shots at the university. Classy. I don't even go on your board anymore because of the nonsense over there 2 years ago. And it's a shame because I like literally every other WCU poster from here/there/AGS except for you. When everyone else is just jawing or innocently trash talking, you just go low. Every single time. Pretty awful, dude.
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