Game #1 Rehash (Jacksonville)

[Stork3]

. Our offensive and defensive lines dominated in the first half. Two true freshman linemen (Salyers and Coll) played pretty well. Xavier Goodall is back and healthy. Howard and Dykes will help us, now that we have more size and depth on the offensive line.
. Receivers caught the ball and the QBs threw it better than last year. The new position coaches have brought a renewed confidence with both groups. Having the OC as the quarterbacks coach is never a bad idea.
. Defenders flew around the football and usually took away the dive and the outside pitch most of the game. Maurice Jackson looks as good as he did last year - and his touchdown run was a hoot.
. I like having the offensive and defensive coordinators on the sideline with Huesman. Now that we have more experienced coaches, they can handle the press box responsibilities well; and the HC, OC, and DC can communicate better.
. Special teams looked better in general. We won't really be able to evaluate their efforts until the next two games.
. It seems that ALL our running backs got touches - and the stats were pretty good.
Russ was totally frustrated with the mistakes and the two turnovers in the second half; however, I remember games last year where it seemed like we had six or seven turnovers - so I am not complaining at this point. Let's wait and see how we do against Elon, Delaware, and Villanova. As the opponents get bigger, physically, we should have a better idea of how to move people around. One down, a bunch to go ... Let's stick with the guys as they learn and improve.

 

[KE Spider]

Bright signs for the future:

Tristen Wheeler (Fr.) is going to be our best LB since Eric McBride. Has the physique and instincts to be very, very special.

Jake Larson (Fr.) has a leg! Too small a sample to judge his FG accuracy, but his kick-offs give us a weapon badly missing in recent seasons. When was the last time we had two touchbacks in a game?

 

[CarolinaSpider]

I am still uncertain about the QB situation. Mancuso missed several open receivers.
But he reminds me of Kyle Lauletta in sense Kyle was shaky at one point and then the
bulb got brighter and he took off. English is very quick but when he throws he does not
have a lot of zip on the ball and he appears to be aiming it vs throwing. Chenault had arm in
a sling and Phil Connor had a neck brace on. What is going on with these two?

 

[Spiders05]

I didn't get to catch as much of the game as I had liked, but recorded it and looking forward to watching over the weekend. Our opponent probably wasn't a great measuring stick for us, but from what I did get to see, I was very pleased with the fact that we played really solid assignment football. That's a function of guys responding to coaching and the coaches having them well prepared. Bodes well for the future, regardless of who lines up across from us.

Anyone who was at the stadium able to shed light on the three penalties after the scoop & score? When the cameras cut away, there didn't appear to be anything worth throwing a flag on, so assumed it happened off-camera.

 

[MolivaManiac]

I think my biggest takeaway from last night was that this team seems to be having fun. Too many times last year, it just seemed like there was a bunch of 'bad air' on our sideline. I didn't see that last night. That should help us when times get tough.

I like what i see from the freshmen and i am very glad that Charlie Fessler is here.

 

[Hanca]

Thought defense did great job staying within assignments. Kickoff coverage was poor initially but coaches subbed and it improved. Hard to tell much as Jacksonville far less talented than I believed. Mancuso has no touch on passes and does not throw receiver open. Expect opponents to load box against UR and dare to throw. Team enthusiasm was noticeable in positive way

 

[3genspider]

I didn't get to catch as much of the game as I had liked, but recorded it and looking forward to watching over the weekend. Our opponent probably wasn't a great measuring stick for us, but from what I did get to see, I was very pleased with the fact that we played really solid assignment football. That's a function of guys responding to coaching and the coaches having them well prepared. Bodes well for the future, regardless of who lines up across from us.

Anyone who was at the stadium able to shed light on the three penalties after the scoop & score? When the cameras cut away, there didn't appear to be anything worth throwing a flag on, so assumed it happened off-camera.

It was absolutely worthy of the penalties, NFL refs probably would have considered throwing the flags as well....and Russ was hot, he wore some guys out for that one.

 

[Section 204and5]

Regarding the penalties, after the score the players involved "posed" for a fake picture with one player acting as if he was taking an iPhone pic. I think it is highly unlikely this would have been a penalty in the NFL.

 

[Speyederman]

The conduct on the Jackson fumble recovery for touchdown absolutely warranted the flags that were thrown. This 'Hey, Look at Me" mindset has no place in team sports...period.

Further, I would expect a senior captain to exhibit more self-control and take his leadership role much more seriously than what was on display last night. Players...good players...should act like they have been there before (in this case he has). There is nothing wrong with celebrating and back patting, but an orchestrated attempt to draw attention to oneself at the expense of the team is simply sad and miserably disconcerting, though I would fully admit it to be a sign of the times.

 

[Dr. Spidey]

It was absolutely worthy of the penalties, NFL refs probably would have considered throwing the flags as well....and Russ was hot, he wore some guys out for that one.

Let The Kids Play

 

[Eight Legger]

I wasn't too concerned about that penalty. As mentioned by MM, these guys seemed to really be having a good time last night, instead of looking beaten down and disinterested the way a lot of them did last year. I think they realized this game was likely to be relatively easy and they had a fun moment. Hopefully that was that and they won't do it in a closer game, though.

Kudos to the student section – probably as loud as I've ever heard it at Robins Stadium, and a decent number of them even stayed til the end.

 

[spider fan]

Penalties were warranted. As Bear Bryant said - "When you get into the end zone act like you have been there before." Fortunately in this game they did not matter but easily could be the difference against a tougher opponent in a closer game. Huesman handled it well.

 

[MolivaManiac]

Let The Kids Play

I agree. I would like to see the program get some of it's swagger back.

 

[97spiderfan]

I'll take a post celebration penalty on a TD almost anytime. Understand it is against the rules and all in college still but let the kids play and have fun.

 

[spiderjpo]

Saw some nice downfield blocking by the wide receivers. Jasper actually cleared out two guys on the Dykes TD run.

 

[Resistor]

Defense looked good. They will keep us in most games. Way too early to make any assessment of the offense. I was worried that they played both QB's like they were running backs that are playing QB. That is not sustainable. I question whether we have the offensive line to impose our will against the CAA.

 

[WebSpinner]

if they had used an android as opposed to an iPhone, probably no penalty at all.

 

[Captain Anderson]

I agree. I would like to see the program get some of it's swagger back.

Exactly. I'm guessing you wouldn't have seen that same celebration in a close game with Delaware or Villanova but last night was the opener and its rare for a DL to get a 70 yard scoop and score...guys were a little enthusiastic BTW, Jax had a purple robe and scepter on their sidelines for players who caused turnovers...actually very funny.

 

[UR79&Peanuts]

These first two games will not reveal what our team will be able to achieve
Lesser opponent talent last night and superior talent next week
These two games will have many different combinations of players and styles to just get through to the “season”
We will see our real team against Elon when we will be all in on every down

 

[Captain Anderson]

These first two games will not reveal what our team will be able to achieve
Lesser opponent talent last night and superior talent next week
These two games will have many different combinations of players and styles to just get through to the “season”
We will see our real team against Elon when we will be all in on every down

Yes. Get out of the BC game next Sat healthy and be ready for a huge conference game against Elon.

 

[SpiderRick]

For a while it seemed as if all we threw were quick outs to the sideline. You can bet your boots that BC will be sitting on that one, too much of it is a recipe for long INT returns. I would have like to have seen some post patterns and down the field shots. We may not have the quarterbacks for that, but you have to do it some to keep the defense honest. Anybody else missing Brian Brown long over the middle??
One big plus was Feesler's punt returns, kid did a solid job...

 

[spiderjpo]

Probably played very basic vanilla type schemes. Think we ran QBs so much to put it on film for teams to have to defend. No need to show too much against an overmatched opponent.

 

[KE Spider]

Agree with the vanilla comment, but not the QB run comment. Ran QB 13 times against Jacksonville. Huesman has said on several occasions, he wants to run the QB around 15 times per game. Jacksonville was the new norm.

Ironic, Mancuso at 6 4, 215 lbs is, in essence, our power back.

 

[Spider B]

We will have to pass the ball downfield in CAA play and the coaches know that. I agree with jpo that the game plan was intentionally vanilla. JM showed at times last year that he is capable of throwing the ball downfield. He was also an inaccurate passer at times last year, but the hope is he has improved in this area over the off season. The concern is to me that in the JU game, he missed several receivers that were open. I am hoping the offensive line is improved and will open holes for our backs consistently in CAA games. If we can do that, things should open up downfield for JM.

 

[spiderhawk111]

i think coach has the quarterbacks for this offense , my only wish is for joe to slide a little more instead to taking so many hits,

 

[paward]

Lot to work on but it feels good to be undefeated today.

 

[UR79&Peanuts]

Our line is definitely much stronger and quicker than we have had since our National Championship year we are going to move teams back this year EXCITED

 

[I-M-UR]

I'll take a post celebration penalty on a TD almost anytime. Understand it is against the rules and all in college still but let the kids play and have fun.

In a close game those can hurt. bad habit to get into.