Post by BearDownMU on Sept 1, 2019 14:58:42 GMT -5
I'm in the middle of watching the replay as I type this. I'm reminded of how different it is seeing in on TV vs. watching from the sideline. So many things I thought were happening yesterday live that aren't quite accurate once you can see video with replays.
First of all, this one started exactly the opposite of what I expected. While we scored early, it felt like it took a little time to get our rhythm offensively. That being said, the defense played their ASS off in the first half. I mean, seriously. Flocking to the ball, securing tackles, being in the right places, defending passes. Just great. I think the stats can be a bit misleading (WCU ended up with 445 yards of offense) BUT, Tyree Adams was held to 34 yards rushing on 17 carries. That's tremendous considering his output in prior seasons. 6 TFL's and 3 sacks. Also very good considering Adams' elusiveness. 7 of WCU's first 8 drives ended in punts with 4 of those being 3 and outs. And a lot of the total yards for WCU came when the score gap was pretty wide and we had backed off defensively. Not to mention, the way our offense was yesterday, we either went 3 and out, or scored fast. The defense was on the field A LOT. Time of possession was very lopsided in favor of the Cats. 21 minutes to 39 minutes. That's a LONG game for the D, and I thought they played hard all night. Great effort from them. I know it's only one game, but WCU is a good offense and the D looks much improved from last season. So kudos to Coach Adams and the new defensive coaches. Looking good out of the gate.
As I mentioned, I thought the offense took a little time to get it's rhythm, but was still effective. It felt a little like modern baseball a lot of the night. Either a strike out or a home run. That being said, I love our home run potential. Huge plays from Durden, Cannon, and Johnson in the first half (63 yard pass, 85 yard pass, and 64 yard run). Also, a big play out of Devezin (38 yard run). We were very effective on the ground. 219 yards rushing and 6.8 yards per carry. I'll take that every week for sure.
Special teams was very good as well. The kick coverage team was great all night. And some big returns set up scores early.
Side notes of things I love:
- Watching Devezin run the ball is really a treat. Good vision, never gives up on plays, and man he is a load. I expect a big year out of him.
- Riddle sure does throw a pretty ball. He can really spin it, with zip. I think his protection can be better (see below) but with time he's going to complete a ton of passes.
- David Durden makes me love watching him play football because he looks like he absolutely loves playing football. Offense and special teams, he is full throttle all the time. He came off the field after a big tackle in punt coverage yesterday and was pumping up the crowd. Diva WR's don't do that. Also, after Cannon's big TD, Durden was down celebrating with his teammate and a WCU corner came over to stick his nose in the celebration and Durden was having none of it. Gave him a friendly little physical suggestion to make his way back to his own bench. And I LOVE THAT.
- Incidentally, I feel the same way about Tucker Cannon. Just looks like he's having a blast and plays HARD all the time.
- I also love that Jack Raines, a senior walk-on, not only played a great game, but got the captain nod and was on for the coin toss before the game. Really happy for him and I loved seeing that.
- I didn't know a lot about Deondre Johnson considering I missed a lot of last year but man he can FLY. Seeing him and Devezin play off each other this year should be fun.
- No surprise here, but "Hurricane" Dorian Kithcart is really something in the middle. He blew up a bunch of plays yesterday. Might not always show up on the stat sheet, but he drove WCU's line crazy. Gonna be sad when he finishes his career. He's a good one.
- Otiwu and Fleming were all over the field yesterday. As expected.
- Also, I will say that almost all the players look like the bodies have changed. A lot. Our guys look way bigger and stronger. Props to strength and conditioning. The eye test says all that hard work in the weight room is paying dividends.
Now for some of the areas of improvement:
- From the ground level, I though Riddle was just a little out of sync early in the night, but in watching the replay, he was definitely under duress and just trying to get the ball out a number of times. Need to clean up a bit in pass pro. He's such a good passer, if he can get some regularity of time in the pocket, I think he will drive defenses absolutely crazy downfield.
- Along those lines, I definitely don't want to armchair QB too much, but there are two things I'd like to see more of. First of all, I hope we get more comfortable using the middle of the field passing. It felt like early, LOTS of stuff was set up for outside and the few times we threw inside it was extremely effective (the long Cannon TD, the Ellington TD). Also, it feels like we have 100 TEs that are twice the size of anyone that will be defending them. I'd love to see us use them. This is an echo of something I've been saying for the last few years. When Sam Walker was playing for us, I didn't think we exploited matchups with him in the middle of the field nearly enough. I kinda feel the same about Ellington (and I've heard good things about this new kid, Rodriguez, but I don't know if the intention is for him to redshirt.)
- I feel like the kick off/punting game needs to up the ante a bit. While coverage was awesome, I wouldn't mind the net averages getting a little better. In big, tight games, the ability to flip the field will really matter.
Notes about Western Carolina:
- This was my first trip to Cullowhee and it really is a pretty place. We had a great tailgate and the view in the stadium with the mountains in the background is awesome.
- All the WCU people I met yesterday were awesome. Very cool folks. Great hospitality.
- The staff at the stadium was great. I floated quite a bit from the stands and the sideline and the security staff was courteous and helpful.
- The only negative. Holy smokes that turf is OLD. When I went down on the field and saw it first hand? Goodness, that stuff needs to get replaced ASAP.
That's it for me. Good to be back. See you all next game. Bear Down!!!
BDMU
First of all, this one started exactly the opposite of what I expected. While we scored early, it felt like it took a little time to get our rhythm offensively. That being said, the defense played their ASS off in the first half. I mean, seriously. Flocking to the ball, securing tackles, being in the right places, defending passes. Just great. I think the stats can be a bit misleading (WCU ended up with 445 yards of offense) BUT, Tyree Adams was held to 34 yards rushing on 17 carries. That's tremendous considering his output in prior seasons. 6 TFL's and 3 sacks. Also very good considering Adams' elusiveness. 7 of WCU's first 8 drives ended in punts with 4 of those being 3 and outs. And a lot of the total yards for WCU came when the score gap was pretty wide and we had backed off defensively. Not to mention, the way our offense was yesterday, we either went 3 and out, or scored fast. The defense was on the field A LOT. Time of possession was very lopsided in favor of the Cats. 21 minutes to 39 minutes. That's a LONG game for the D, and I thought they played hard all night. Great effort from them. I know it's only one game, but WCU is a good offense and the D looks much improved from last season. So kudos to Coach Adams and the new defensive coaches. Looking good out of the gate.
As I mentioned, I thought the offense took a little time to get it's rhythm, but was still effective. It felt a little like modern baseball a lot of the night. Either a strike out or a home run. That being said, I love our home run potential. Huge plays from Durden, Cannon, and Johnson in the first half (63 yard pass, 85 yard pass, and 64 yard run). Also, a big play out of Devezin (38 yard run). We were very effective on the ground. 219 yards rushing and 6.8 yards per carry. I'll take that every week for sure.
Special teams was very good as well. The kick coverage team was great all night. And some big returns set up scores early.
Side notes of things I love:
- Watching Devezin run the ball is really a treat. Good vision, never gives up on plays, and man he is a load. I expect a big year out of him.
- Riddle sure does throw a pretty ball. He can really spin it, with zip. I think his protection can be better (see below) but with time he's going to complete a ton of passes.
- David Durden makes me love watching him play football because he looks like he absolutely loves playing football. Offense and special teams, he is full throttle all the time. He came off the field after a big tackle in punt coverage yesterday and was pumping up the crowd. Diva WR's don't do that. Also, after Cannon's big TD, Durden was down celebrating with his teammate and a WCU corner came over to stick his nose in the celebration and Durden was having none of it. Gave him a friendly little physical suggestion to make his way back to his own bench. And I LOVE THAT.
- Incidentally, I feel the same way about Tucker Cannon. Just looks like he's having a blast and plays HARD all the time.
- I also love that Jack Raines, a senior walk-on, not only played a great game, but got the captain nod and was on for the coin toss before the game. Really happy for him and I loved seeing that.
- I didn't know a lot about Deondre Johnson considering I missed a lot of last year but man he can FLY. Seeing him and Devezin play off each other this year should be fun.
- No surprise here, but "Hurricane" Dorian Kithcart is really something in the middle. He blew up a bunch of plays yesterday. Might not always show up on the stat sheet, but he drove WCU's line crazy. Gonna be sad when he finishes his career. He's a good one.
- Otiwu and Fleming were all over the field yesterday. As expected.
- Also, I will say that almost all the players look like the bodies have changed. A lot. Our guys look way bigger and stronger. Props to strength and conditioning. The eye test says all that hard work in the weight room is paying dividends.
Now for some of the areas of improvement:
- From the ground level, I though Riddle was just a little out of sync early in the night, but in watching the replay, he was definitely under duress and just trying to get the ball out a number of times. Need to clean up a bit in pass pro. He's such a good passer, if he can get some regularity of time in the pocket, I think he will drive defenses absolutely crazy downfield.
- Along those lines, I definitely don't want to armchair QB too much, but there are two things I'd like to see more of. First of all, I hope we get more comfortable using the middle of the field passing. It felt like early, LOTS of stuff was set up for outside and the few times we threw inside it was extremely effective (the long Cannon TD, the Ellington TD). Also, it feels like we have 100 TEs that are twice the size of anyone that will be defending them. I'd love to see us use them. This is an echo of something I've been saying for the last few years. When Sam Walker was playing for us, I didn't think we exploited matchups with him in the middle of the field nearly enough. I kinda feel the same about Ellington (and I've heard good things about this new kid, Rodriguez, but I don't know if the intention is for him to redshirt.)
- I feel like the kick off/punting game needs to up the ante a bit. While coverage was awesome, I wouldn't mind the net averages getting a little better. In big, tight games, the ability to flip the field will really matter.
Notes about Western Carolina:
- This was my first trip to Cullowhee and it really is a pretty place. We had a great tailgate and the view in the stadium with the mountains in the background is awesome.
- All the WCU people I met yesterday were awesome. Very cool folks. Great hospitality.
- The staff at the stadium was great. I floated quite a bit from the stands and the sideline and the security staff was courteous and helpful.
- The only negative. Holy smokes that turf is OLD. When I went down on the field and saw it first hand? Goodness, that stuff needs to get replaced ASAP.
That's it for me. Good to be back. See you all next game. Bear Down!!!
BDMU