Well, the first game of the 2015 season is history. Despite the score, there were some things to be positive about. The EKU thread is the place for that.
Now it's on to Sacred Heart at home. The SHU Pioneers are located in Fairfield, Connecticut. They won the NEC last year and went to the FCS playoffs, losing to Fordham of the Patriot League 44-22. The NEC is an FCS scholarship program, but SHU might not be at the maximum 65 scholarship level yet like EKU. They wee picked 3rd this year which means they could have lost a l;to of talent from 2014.
And I don't see where they are taking in loads of transfers from FBS programs like a former Big 10 All-Conference player or a transfer from U of Kentucky (who we held to 7 yards on 6 carries :dance: ). So, if what I said about the FCS advantage for EKU was 3 out of every 5 plays, in my view, SHU might have a 2 out of 5 advantage.
With game two, we get back our suspended players and both Dalton and Scott have a game under their belts. We also have 10 days to lick our wounds and prepare. Sacred Heart opens at home Saturday against D-II St. Anselm College, Manchester, NH, who were 6-5 last year. Former VU FC coach and Valpo grad Bob Muckian was on the staff last year but is no longer with the program, but he posted on Twitter that St. A's is going D-III.
Anyhoo, I think we will be ready and look forward to a more competitive match-up. I will be at Brown Field for this one.
FROM THE SHU WEBSITE: http://sacredheartpioneers.com/sports/m-footbl/index (http://sacredheartpioneers.com/sports/m-footbl/index)EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The two-time defending Northeast Conference champion Sacred Heart Pioneers were picked to finish third in the 2015 NEC football preseason coaches' poll, released on Thursday at the conference's inaugural Social Media Day at MetLife Stadium.
The Pioneers garnered two first-place votes, with Bryant topping the poll with four first-place votes. Duquesne was picked second and had the last first-place vote.
Six Pioneers were selected to the 2015 Preseason All-NEC Football Team. Sacred Heart's passing connection of quarterback RJ Noel (Lowell, Mass.) and wide receiver Tyler Dube (Southington, Conn.) were selected on offense, as well as lineman Nick Bartoli (Falls, Pa.). Noel led the NEC with 2,477 passing yards and 23 touchdowns last season. Dube had a conference-high 79 receptions and 16 touchdowns, as the duo both appeared on the All-NEC First Team in 2014.
Three Pioneers appear on the Preseason All-NEC team on defense. Linebackers James Rentz (St. Augustine, Fla.) and Connor Candito (Shrewsbury, Mass.) were selected as well as defensive lineman Connor Caveney (Fitchburg, Mass.). Rentz led Sacred Heart in 2014 with 12.5 sacks and 19 tackles for loss to earn First Team All-NEC honors. Earlier this month, Rentz was named to the STATS FCS Preseason All-America Third Team. Both Candito and Caveney were All-NEC Second Team picks last season. Candito tied for the team lead in interceptions last season while also recording 58 tackles. Caveney had 9.5 tackles for loss and three sacks a year ago.
Sacred Heart has reached the NCAA FCS playoffs in each of the last two seasons. The Pioneers finished the 2014 season nationally-ranked for the first time in program history. Sacred Heart opens the 2015 season on September 5 against Saint Anselm at 6 p.m. at Campus Field.
We'll be a little more competitive in this game, although the outcome will be the same. We'll still have some players that need to serve their suspension.
Sacred Heart 34
Valpo 13
Interesting tidbit, Sacred Heart has played football since 1991 and has never played west of Pittsburgh, PA.
Quote from: IndyValpo on September 04, 2015, 12:01:16 PM
Interesting tidbit, Sacred Heart has played football since 1991 and has never played west of Pittsburgh, PA.
Announcers were saying last night that in the 130 year history of Michigan football, Michigan had never played in the state of Utah.
And we've been flying coast to coast and in-between forever it seems.
Quote from: IndyValpo on September 04, 2015, 12:01:16 PM
Interesting tidbit, Sacred Heart has played football since 1991 and has never played west of Pittsburgh, PA.
Tend to generally agree on the score with maybe an extra 7 for us based on the fact that both QBs were getting the ball out quickly against a superior team last night. It could be lower scoring too, but a 14-21 point spread is a good early starting point. As we get closer into next week and see how SHU did against St. A's we can refine.
Quote from: covufan on September 04, 2015, 10:57:51 AM
We'll be a little more competitive in this game, although the outcome will be the same. We'll still have some players that need to serve their suspension.
Sacred Heart 34
Valpo 13
Sure about that? I'd heard that all of them were being served vs. EKU.
Quote from: VU2624 on September 04, 2015, 07:38:31 PM
Quote from: covufan on September 04, 2015, 10:57:51 AM
We'll be a little more competitive in this game, although the outcome will be the same. We'll still have some players that need to serve their suspension.
Sacred Heart 34
Valpo 13
Sure about that? I'd heard that all of them were being served vs. EKU.
Yeah. It was a one game suspension for FB players. I wouldn't' think that Cecchini would split the suspensions between two OOC games and weaken his team twice.
Here are the results of WEEK #! games of interest to us (underlined are 2015 opponents):
#17 Eastern Kentucky 52, Valparaiso 10
Campbell 41, Pikeville (NAIA) 20
b]Jacksonville [/b] 20, Delaware 14 :o
Dayton 27, Robert Morris, 24
Indiana State 52, Butler 17
James Madison 56, Morehead State 7
The Citadel 69, Davidson 0
Bucknell 17, Marist 0
Drake 44, William Jewell, 30
Stetson 42, Webber International 13
San Diego State (FBS) 37, San Diego 3 :o
and...
SHU 43 St, Anselm (D-II) 19
McKendree (D-II) 68 - College of Faith 0
SHU 35, Saders 13....
then the true ham and egger game
I'm wondering if they (C of Faith) might cancel. Really, I'm serious.
First year program. Definitely a "breather" game like IU-South Bend in hoops for us.
I like the SHU game on the schedule and hoping the new coach's rep gets us more matches like that one.. Hope we got good money for the EKU game.
Quote from: VULB#62 on September 06, 2015, 08:19:27 AM
Here are the results of WEEK #! games of interest to us (underlined are 2015 opponents):
#17 Eastern Kentucky 52, Valparaiso 10
Campbell 41, Pikeville (NAIA) 20
Jacksonville 20, Delaware 14 :o
Dayton 27, Robert Morris, 24
Indiana State 52, Butler 17
James Madison 56, Morehead State 7
The Citadel 69, Davidson 0
Bucknell 17, Marist 0
Drake 44, William Jewell, 30
Stetson 42, Webber International 13
San Diego State (FBS) 37, San Diego 3 :o
and...
SHU 43 St, Anselm (D-II) 19
McKendree (D-II) 68 - College of Faith 0
Some thoughts from the scores above.
Davidson is in trouble. Check that --Big Trouble. They are in the Carlson death spiral.
We've got two legit killers on our schedule: Jacksonville and USD (Homecoming :()
Butler, Morehead and Drake might actually be competitive games.
Stetson: Where to begin. Webber is a Christian NAIA college that flies all over the country to play. They have 715 students.
SHU will be our next major test. Appears they are not the team they were last year but they haven't lost that much.
Dayton winning by only 3 over RM means that maybe we will be within 2 TDs.
Quote from: VULB#62 on September 06, 2015, 05:46:28 PM
Quote from: VULB#62 on September 06, 2015, 08:19:27 AM
Here are the results of WEEK #! games of interest to us (underlined are 2015 opponents):
#17 Eastern Kentucky 52, Valparaiso 10
Campbell 41, Pikeville (NAIA) 20
b]Jacksonville [/b] 20, Delaware 14 :o
Dayton 27, Robert Morris, 24
Indiana State 52, Butler 17
James Madison 56, Morehead State 7
The Citadel 69, Davidson 0
Bucknell 17, Marist 0
Drake 44, William Jewell, 30
Stetson 42, Webber International 13
San Diego State (FBS) 37, San Diego 3 :o
and...
SHU 43 St, Anselm (D-II) 19
McKendree (D-II) 68 - College of Faith 0
Some thoughts from the scores above.
Davidson is in trouble. Check that --Big Trouble. They are in the Carlson death spiral.
We've got two legit killers on our schedule: Jacksonville and USD (Homecoming :()
Butler, Morehead and Drake might actually be competitive games.
Stetson: Where to begin. Webber is a Christian NAIA college that flies all over the country to play. They have 715 students.
SHU will be our next major test. Appears they are not the team they were last year but they haven't lost that much.
Dayton winning by only 3 over RM means that maybe we will be within 2 TDs.
That may be a realistic assessment of out talent but I'm still a little surprised. You must think we are weaker then last year. My big concern was at quarterback and I'm confortable that as we progress we will be as good as last year at quarterback. Sure got whipped last week but how many starters and backups were out? A lot!! We had San Diego on the ropes and lost on a miracle play. They won't take us for granted like last year but we have them at home. Should be a very good season.
My reluctance to be optimistic at this point is all the new kids (talented or not) cuz it takes time to meld the pieces and parts into a truly cohesive unit. I am not without optimism but I would rather go conservative. To tell the truth, if our QBs could get passes off against a B1G all conference DL there is much promise.
But Jacksonville beating a D-1AA legendary program on their field and USD losing to a FBS program by "only" 34 points says they are solid.
Whatever wins we get will in all likelihood come from a PFL pool of MSU, Davidson, Butler, and Stetson.
Upset wins IMO might come from (in order) Drake more likely and remotely possible, Dayton.
Remotest chances are USD and Jacksonville. Actually I hope we just stay with them.
In truth it will not be until after SHU that any of us will have a good enough sample to predict anything. I am both anxious and excited about the next game on Saturday. My avatar says it all about what lies beneath but .........
I know this is blasphemy, but College of Faith, is a bye week in my opinion and it will give a lot of our backups valuable minutes while we rest first teamers for USD the following week.
62,
I would not say USD gave San Diego State a challenge based on the score. Who knows what the Aztecs were doing on that game, and 37-3 is still a blowout win. As for Jacksonville, congrats on an outstanding win for the Pioneer conference, perhaps the biggest win in the history of the conference.
I cannot believe we scheduled a game against College of Faith, which in reality is not even a true college. They are not accredited and have 2 majors - ministry and ministry in athletics. I am cracking up about the articles about this school, it's as if they were written by the Onion. This is similar to Rocky and Bullwinkle playing for Whatsamatter U.
I checked the USD/SDSU press coverage. They were throughly beaten. No question. BTW 48,000 were in attendance. Must have been special for the USD kids. However, just giving up 37 to a FBS school, despite some poor play while losing BOTH of their top RBs in the process says something for their defense. On the other hand vs. FCS teams (none ranked in the preseason except for us against EKU), PFL teams gave up: 69, 52, 52 and 56. Interesting that USD last year played 2 FCS schools: Cal Poly and Montana (in the playoff) and gave up 34 and 52 respectively.
62,
USD also gets some decent football talent in the SoCal region, significantly more than most areas (definitely including Indiana and Illinois) in the US. Also, USD has some football success, more attributed to Jim Harbaugh's success.
Definitely
We are still #251 on Sagarin's latest ranking at 16.50. Wish I had trapped the initial rating score but I'll try to check and record the rating and score each week. Stetson (17.24) is still #250 and Davidson has sunk to a score of 6.87 at #253. [Click to expand spread]
BTW In beating D-II St A's last week Sacred Heart dropped 3 places from 200 to 203.
Sacred Heart 42
Valpo 13
Valpo 24
Sacred Heart 34
The pregame notes with 2-deep has been released for the SHU game. http://www.valpoathletics.com/football/news/2015-16/14831/valpo-sacred-heart-clash-for-first-time-in-program-history/#.VfIBC7S4ko8 (http://www.valpoathletics.com/football/news/2015-16/14831/valpo-sacred-heart-clash-for-first-time-in-program-history/#.VfIBC7S4ko8)
Some observations:
Senior LT Sam Manternack along with Jr. RB Grayson Bastin are back on the 2-deep after serving their suspensions -- Sam as #1 LT and Grayson as #2 RB. Absent from the 2 deep at RB is Brandon Hall. I hope Brandon did not re-injure that ankle. Punter Alex Kozlowski is also back though he was mistakenly listed last week. So we still have 4 freshman starting on offense if you consider RS-Fr QB Stokes. Sr. DT Nick Scoville has moved into a starting role from backup a week ago. No other changes that I could see.
From the notes:
Scouting Sacred Heart: Sacred Heart head coach Mark Nofri has had the King Midas touch since being named the permanent head coach two seasons ago. The Pioneers enter 2015 as back-to-back NEC champs. Sacred Heart has suffered just one loss in the month of September during its recent title runs. SHU's top two playmakers on offense are in their final season.
Senior quarterback RJ Noel is the engine of the Pioneer offense. The two-time All-NEC First Teamer will most likely hit two career milestones Saturday. He needs just one completion to eclipse 400 for his career and 79 passing yards to reach 5,000. Noel's legs force opposing defenses to remain honest as well. In addition to throwing for a pair of TDs, Noel also scampered for two in last Saturday's opener. He rushed for over 100 yards twice in 2014 while completing exactly 16 passes in five different tilts. Fellow All-NEC First Team recipient Tyler Dube is Noel's most utilized target. Dube hauled in 79 passes for 960 yards and an eye-popping 16 TDs. He recorded a touchdown reception in all but one game last season (at Wagner), and his aforementioned season total of 16 were the second-most in the country. Dube lit up the St. Anselm secondary for 155 yards on eight catches, including a score, last week. Three different Pioneers logged 130 rushes or more in 2014, but it appears as though Noel and junior Ose Imeokparia will shoulder the majority of the running load this fall.
Sacred Heart boasted a top 10 defense last season, finishing 8th in total defense (294.5 yards/game), 1st in red zone defense (47.1%), 3rd in defending the rush (86.3 yards/game), 2nd in 3rd-down conversion percentage (26.3%), and tops in 4th-down conversion percentage (23.1%). The Pioneers' defensive unit got off to a bang in 2015 with a pair of safeties in the season opener. Sophomore DE Dylan Ackerson had a monster performance in SHU's win over St. Anselm, racking up 3.5 tackles for a loss, including two sacks. Senior James Rentz (19.0 TFL, 12.5 sacks, two forced fumbles in 2014) was named an FCS Preseason Third Team All-American, but did not appear in Week 1.
Based on the Scouting Report below, I'm in line with BBTDS. SHU 34 - Valpo 24
Is it me, or are there an insanely large number of freshmen on the football roster? Are players giving up football to study?
It's not you USC. We've been talking about the 50+ freshmen on the roster for weeks. In reality, this is the first true Cecchini class. They worked their butts off and got both numbers and some good talent. That's the reason for so many freshman on the 2-deep. If the next couple of classes are anything like this one talent-wise, Valpo will be a steady contender. Doubt if they go for these numbers in subsequent years.
62,
Yes, I did notice many freshmen from Florida and some significant contributions last week. Pretty cool stuff.
$100 CASH TODAY to any student/fan who will live-stream (face-time) the football game today against Sacred Heart!
Is this game on a stream anywhere? Or just audio?
and the Baby Crusaders are underway!!
Quote from: VULB#62 on September 10, 2015, 05:25:54 PM
Based on the Scouting Report below, I'm in line with BBTDS. SHU 34 - Valpo 24
It's now time for our 24 points. :-)
wow, a rough day in Crusaderland. SHU is at a higher level.
disappointing man. What the heck happened? 56-3? Is SHU that good?
A number of turnovers and just poor play overall. Drops, fumbles, picks, poor decisions, too much pressure. It'll be sugarcoated but this was the first "we're trying to play with 50 freshmen and a bunch of new starters at too many key positions and some of those guys may not be as good as we thought" game. Next week they'll pummel the middle school team they are playing and all will be rosy going with San Diego marching in the following week with perhaps some revenge in mind for nearly beating them last year. The defense, on the other hand, should be better than this. This is where there are a lot more returners.
Missed the game, unfortunately did see the score. Seems (forgive me!) Carlsonesk. Was it as bad as the score?
Forgive the rant but here goes:
I watched Cecchini's post game PC and he's got to be kidding me. He did the same thing last year and points fingers at the kids and never even hints at the staff maybe not having the kids properly prepared. If he wants an equity buy in from the players he needs to throw in the occasional "we've got to coach better". The OC and DC each blew a game last season and he defended them both despite the fact that most HS coaches would have wrapped both of those games up. The San Diego game was reprehensible how that final play was defensed and think of the memory the graduating seniors would have had if the DC was on his toes. My understanding from speaking to enough people that this was never prepared for in practice and they end up in a cover 2 shell with Devon Gadsen on an island. That was ok apparently. His OC can't even hand the ball to Brandon Hall vs Morehead who was running all over the place last year on a 4th down play and we're going to trick the defense with a QB who's not a runner running outside. "We felt we had the right play" IIRC was the comment. Well, you were wrong and won't say it.
He mentions that the same thing happened last year....he never directly mentions it but there's a strong implication of quit in his comments....yet he didn't have his team prepared for it. I don't care what he says they talked about, it's apparent that the message didn't get across and at least that part of it should be credited to the coaching staff including him.
How about taking responsibility instead of constantly mentioning that this is your first recruiting class and get the team prepared to play better no matter who recruited them. When the team blows up in a game, take your fair share of the blame.
I can tell you that there are a fair number of adults "close to the team" who also feel this way.
I agree totally.....^^^^ I watched this game live and thought the coaching was HORRIBLE. Sacred Heart was a very beatable team but the Valpo coaches are in panic mode already. They changed half of the kids on defense to different positions and when they made a mistake they were immediately benched. By the 2nd quarter half of the defensive starters were benched for the rest of the game other than on special teams. I watched Sacred Heart run a wide receiver screen 8 times in a row for a score and we didn't adjust one time on defense. Also, Sacred Heart did a great job of scouting our offense as the stacked the box and dropped defensive lineman back four yards into pass coverage on our slants and they got 3 interceptions by their defensive tackles. It was like they knew what our offensive plays were before we did.....
I thought the team played great against EKU regardless of the score so for the players to be switched in game two to different positions was ridiculous. You can't have a kid play safety for 3 years and move them to linebacker or cornerback a week before playing a scholarship team then get mad and bench them when they make a mistake.
I don't see practices so maybe they coaches are giving up on upperclassman and just want to play freshman moving forward. Yet if that's the case then you can't blame the kids when the game play is sloppy.
I was at the game as well. Very disappointed. I could sense what was happening on the bench early on. First set of SHU downs we force a 3rd down pass. SHU receiver is covered tightly and VU corner is in great position for a pick. But he stumbles and, wham, it is a 38 yard catch. Bastin rips off a 50 yarder up the middle to within reach of the red zone. Then a screen pass is intercepted by a dropped off lineman. Another set of plays to within smelling distance of the goal line after a great catch - another pick. I was getting despondent -- I can imagine what was going through the minds of some of the players. The entire game was set in those moments. Enough about that.
I watched the post-game interview this morning as well. I guess it all depends on what you are listening for. It also has to do with what "we" was meant to communicate. I took it to mean a collective we including staff. And I talked to to some of the staff after the game. They took this loss personally on themselves. I don't think this staff throws kids under buses, but the kids have to know that they have to execute and be disciplined and the coaches can't do that for them. Were the coaches pissed, did they yell at the players? You bet. OC Jason Mirran reamed the entire offense and you could hear every word in the stands. In the Carlson era the coaches would've hung their heads along with the players.
Before being accused of being an apologist for the staff, let me state that they did not have this team ready emotionally or physically -- maybe intellectually, but there is a difference. However, what could have contributed to this is that in preseason and leading up to this game I was told the coaches made a decision to adopt a slightly different coaching approach from last year. Right or wrong, the emphasis was placed more on teaching in order to bring the newer players into sync rather than demanding perfect execution and accepting nothing less. I was told that they are changing that back to demanding precise execution, more intensity and accountability. There is still time to right the ship before we start the PFL part of the schedule.
Now, was SHU that much better? Absolutely. Were they very beatable? Let me say this: If we could have brought our A game with full personnel and they brought their C game, it might have been a competitive losing score. But competitive. We didn't and they didn't. Noel, their QB, was better than either of the two EKU QBs we saw last week and was the NEC MVP last year on a team that went to the playoffs. We will not see as good a QB until maybe Jacksonville in the last game of the season. Their featured WR, #14, was their "Tanner Kuramatta" and was breaking off his routes precisely and got great separation not to mention great hands. Last year he caught 79 passes for close to 1000 yards and 16 TDs. He is very good. When Bastin broke his 50 yarder he was run down from behind by one of their linebackers - team speed? We were overwhelmed on both sides of the LOS by their size and depth. Not mentioned by anyone was the fact that they rotated a second front four on second down after every VU 1st down play. Little swing passes to the SH RB were actually pretty much covered by our kids but the RB plain outran them to the corner. They broke off some big runs in the second half and most of those were due to some broken assignments but also, as Cecchini mentioned, new guys being looked at. But once past the LOS their RB out ran our secondary or at speed made our players miss. Hell, they knocked BOTH of our QBs out of the game with concussions. Alex Green came off the field limping -- are we gonna risk his PFL season by putting him back into a losing OOC game? There are a lot of kids on the tape now and their good plays as well as their mistakes will allow the staff to coach them up better.
And why not look at as many kids as you can under those conditions? Right now, this team is recruited for and built to play in the PFL. OOC is where you see who you have and what they can do. OOC is where, if you need a wake-up call (we did) and must make adjustments (tweaks or major), you can do it without impacting PFL results.
BTW i did not know this before, but Cecchini chose to spread the suspensions between these two games so a couple of guys still weren't dressed (don't remember their names) and Brandon Hall, who might have made some difference, was out with, you guessed it, a concussion.
We flat out gave an embarrassing performance in all phases of the game. The coaches know they have to do a better job and said so. The veteran players know they have to lead better and execute better. Grayson committed to that in the interview. The new kids have to pay attention, learn and be more disciplined. We have to get healthy as well. Next week we need to show all that in the scrimmage AKA the COF game. USD is another matter. They and Jacksonville will be our toughest games. Their talent would allow them to compete in the NEC right now much less the PFL.
Brandon Vickrey Chicago Trib coverage:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-football-sacred-heart-valparaiso-st-0913-20150912-story.html (http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-football-sacred-heart-valparaiso-st-0913-20150912-story.html)
NWI Times -- no full article but a mention with the Ball State blow-out loss.
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/football/college/ball-state-valparaiso-lose-big-ohio-state-michigan-roll-to/article_ab940095-14ab-5813-8227-44438a3a82cd.html (http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/football/college/ball-state-valparaiso-lose-big-ohio-state-michigan-roll-to/article_ab940095-14ab-5813-8227-44438a3a82cd.html)
Paul Oren's full article:
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/crusaders-lose-both-quarterbacks-in-lopsided-loss-to-sacred-heart/article_bd854484-a21c-537f-a31f-c6eeaed0a1d0.html (http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/crusaders-lose-both-quarterbacks-in-lopsided-loss-to-sacred-heart/article_bd854484-a21c-537f-a31f-c6eeaed0a1d0.html)
Quote from: VULB#62 on September 13, 2015, 01:08:32 PM
I was at the game as well. Very disappointed. I could sense what was happening on the bench early on. First set of SHU downs we force a 3rd down pass. SHU receiver is covered tightly and VU corner is in great position for a pick. But he stumbles and, wham, it is a 38 yard catch. Bastin rips off a 50 yarder up the middle to within reach of the red zone. Then a screen pass is intercepted by a dropped off lineman. Another set of plays to within smelling distance of the goal line after a great catch - another pick. I was getting despondent -- I can imagine what was going through the minds of some of the players. The entire game was set in those moments. Enough about that.
I watched the post-game interview this morning as well. I guess it all depends on what you are listening for. It also has to do with what "we" was meant to communicate. I took it to mean a collective we including staff. And I talked to to some of the staff after the game. They took this loss personally on themselves. I don't think this staff throws kids under buses, but the kids have to know that they have to execute and be disciplined and the coaches can't do that for them. Were the coaches pissed, did they yell at the players? You bet. OC Jason Mirran reamed the entire offense and you could hear every word in the stands. In the Carlson era the coaches would've hung their heads along with the players.
It's great that Coach Miran was trying to light a fire under the offense but I don't agree that the staff, publicly, is taking responsibility all the while the HC is pointing fingers at his team...which is the problem.
Yesterday the Auburn Coach wasn't happy with his QBs play. So he says he's got to coach him better. Bill Belichek and other coaches spell it out in forms of "we've got to coach better, play better, etc" comments. Not thinly veiled comments about being "disappointed" with the team while coming just short of stating he thought they quit. If the coaches are including themselves then they need to say that.
As I mentioned above, based on the number of direct comments and texts from those close to the situation, I am by far not the only one picking up on this.
So our two quarterbacks were knocked out of the game via blows that caused the defensive players to be ejected?? Helmets to the head? Nice coaching on their part.
2624 -
Belichek comments come out like a recording. He hates post game interviews especially in defeat, but he says generic stuff and walks away.
That being said, Valpo's football team was below par yesterday, and there is a lot of learning to do going into the PFL season. The QBs are going through some significant growing pains.
BTW, was the attendance over 3000? Pretty good!
That's what was released in the summary. I don't know if that was accurate though. I think there were more like 2000 real bodies.
Quote from: valpochgo on September 12, 2015, 08:04:42 PM
Sacred Heart was a very beatable team
That line right there tells me you will never have anything relevant to say...
Quote from: VU2624 on September 12, 2015, 07:30:26 PM
As I mentioned above, based on the number of direct comments and texts from those close to the situation, I am by far not the only one picking up on this.
I have to believe in almost every situation when the players mommies and daddies think they know best good things will happen.....
Quote from: VU2624 on September 13, 2015, 04:49:04 PMYesterday the Auburn Coach wasn't happy with his QBs play. So he says he's got to coach him better. Bill Belichek and other coaches spell it out in forms of "we've got to coach better, play better, etc" comments. Not thinly veiled comments about being "disappointed" with the team while coming just short of stating he thought they quit. If the coaches are including themselves then they need to say that.
Evidently you didn't listen to Coach Cecchini's post game radio interview with Todd because he accepted blame and said loud and clear that we've got to coach better.... Most of us have thought that this staff has been on point and has made great strides since taking the helm, to blast them after this game against a team in a completely different competition classification is just plain ridiculous and maybe even irresponsible.
Thanks for adding that additional perspective, FW. Hypercritical reactions without all the information in emotional times do no one any good.
I tend to agree with most of 62's comments about the game. I thought SHU was perhaps the best team I've seen play at Brown Field. I was really impressed with their overall team speed and even the biggest players where quick and athletic. My concern is why we schedule back to back games against teams such at EKU and SHU to open the season when it is very likely that they will be physically superior and the risk of injury to our players is greater. One maybe as a measuring stick, but two? It's nice to try to maintain a schedule of Division I opponents, but if the "bigs" can play teams "below" them to open the season, why can't we? (Disregarding teams such as COF that aren't on the chart!) Perhaps this will improve as the number of non-scholarship Division I teams continues to grow, but to avoid lengthy and costly trips perhaps we should look at Division II and II opponents in weeks 1 and/or 2.
Mark explained that to me after the game on Saturday. Some parts of the OOC schedule are arranged 3-4 years in advance. That was the case with SHU. At the time the H&H (we go there in 2016 I believe) games were scheduled, SHU were a bottom tier NEC team coming off at least 3 consecutive losing seasons and a narrow win over Marist. I believe they lost to Marist the next season. They then changed coaches. In Coach Nofri's first season they went 2-9. Certainly a much different program now.
To demonstrate, we are scheduled to play Dartmouth in 2021 and 2022 and Montana 2017.
Quote from: FWalum on September 14, 2015, 09:02:52 AM
Quote from: VU2624 on September 13, 2015, 04:49:04 PMYesterday the Auburn Coach wasn't happy with his QBs play. So he says he's got to coach him better. Bill Belichek and other coaches spell it out in forms of "we've got to coach better, play better, etc" comments. Not thinly veiled comments about being "disappointed" with the team while coming just short of stating he thought they quit. If the coaches are including themselves then they need to say that.
Evidently you didn't listen to Coach Cecchini's post game radio interview with Todd because he accepted blame and said loud and clear that we've got to coach better.... Most of us have thought that this staff has been on point and has made great strides since taking the helm, to blast them after this game against a team in a completely different competition classification is just plain ridiculous and maybe even irresponsible.
I'll voice my opinion where I think appropriate. But thanks.
Marist beat SHU 34-27 @ Marist.