Well, yesterday was certainly disappointing. And it doesn't get much better on Saturday. Drake has finally broken out of the winless column by crushing Marist 41-17. In previous matchups the Bulldogs were overwhelmed by FCS North Dakota and SDSU and in between they were embarrassed by D-II Truman State (who, BTW, are currently 4-0). Against Marist they were ahead 41-10 (I believe) with 7 minutes remaining, then gave up a cheapy. Their QB threw for 4 TDs.
Having completed our OOC portion of the schedule and going into the Drake game, I thought it might be good to recap the context of our record to date against 4 scholarship programs.
OPPONENT
EKU 3-2 with loses @ FBS Louisville and @ MVFC Indiana State
CCSU 3-1 with only a 5 point loss @ Eastern Michigan (who had beaten Illinois the week before)
TSU 4-0
UofC 3-1
____________
TOTAL - 13-4 with two of those losses coming against FBS teams.
We certainly did not schedule any "ham and eggers" this time around. Our in-transition team (in more ways than one) has faced 4 very respectable opponents who have not let us execute comfortably even once. I respect Fox for not throwing at least one Little Sisters of the Poor into the schedule in his first year, but it has come at a bit of a cost. I hope he and his staff can keep the program going forward without the kids losing any enthusiasm.
I will try to make it and hit Jethro's BBQ or the Library before the game. Drake is 26 point favorite according to Sagarin. I wonder if I will see the whacked out dad/fan I saw 2 years ago who was going off the deep end on the refs. Hope to see some of you at Des Moines!
I believe that was Griffin Norberg's dad. Lol
Really? That dude was a trip. He went to the front row slamming the officials and his voice could be heard anywhere in an arena during a Metallica show. But listening to the audio from the game yesterday, I am sure there will be some new characters.
I'll take a guess at 28-0 Drake. Don't think they'll make mistakes to put us in scoring position. Don't think we can drive it downfield.
30-7 Drake. I will not be at the game. Bummer, I always wanted to meet chef.
The Chef is available at every game. So there will be other opportunities.
Breakdown of Participation (By GP 2019/OVR): Offense
QB:
#14 Duncan RSJR. (3/23)
#9 Seewald RSJR. (2/27)
#4 Mullen RSSR. (2/4)
#5 Nimz RSFR. (1/1)
RB
#44 Cartales SR. (4/33)
#32 Boxrucker SR. (4/32)
#21 Earley RSSR. (4/25)
#15 Haugh RSSO. (4/15)
#25 Allison RSFR. (2/3)
#27 Engle FR. (1/1)
TE
#40 Kluck RSSO. (4/11)
#84 Bittner RSSO. (4/15)
WR
#12 Koehler RSSR. (4/29)
#6 Reese SO. (4/15)
#88 Berkemeier FR. (3/3)
#17 Larose JR. (3/21)
#7 Stablein RSSO. (3/7)
#22 Lopez JR. (3/3)
#81 Brewer RSFR. (2/4)
#86 Tsoungui RSFR. (1/1)
OL
#65 Jarnigan RSSR. (4/36)
#60 Lundberg RSSR. (4/35)
#66 Vas JR. (4/25)
#73 Russell RSFR. (4/7)
#68 Byrd RSFR. (4/5)
#64 Biggs RSJR. (1/6)
#74 Zajac RSJR. (1/4)
#75 O'Doherty RSFR. (1/1)
LS
#99 Puckett RSSO (4/4)
K
#1 Latsonas SR. (4/34)
Breakdown of Participation (By GP 2019/OVR): Defense
DB:
#20 Booker SR. (4/36)
#16 Hebda JR. (4/19)
#29 Sherman SO. (4/13)
#31 Scarsella SO. (4/12)
#18 Hebda RSSO. (4/8)
#11 McKeag SO. (3/7)
#5 Leandre RSSR. (2/33)
#26 Salomon RSSR. (1/21)
#9 Leach RSSO. (1/8)
#35 Earles FR. (1/1)
#7 Mitchell FR. (1/1)
LB
#49 Turner RSSR. (4/38)
#36 Petrie SR. (4/32)
#24 Psota RSFR. (4/8)
#47 Messler RSSR. (3/26)
#8 Skarecky JR. (3/25)
#10 Peifer SO. (3/11)
#42 Annis FR. (2/2)
#89 Helm SO. (1/10)
DL
#28 Twigg JR. (4/26)
#92 Gedrys JR. (4/26)
#94 Orlandini JR. (4/19)
#78 Sete SO. (4/12)
#96 Germain RSSO. (4/8)
#45 Purty RSSO. (4/5)
#46 Martins JR. (4/4)
#93 Reed SR. (3/30)
#91 Goebel RSJR. (3/24)
#34 Bishop RSSO. (3/14)
#57 O'Connell RSFR. (2/2)
#56 Christian RSFR. (1/1)
P
#33 Neisner JR. (4/17)
Just saw the interview Fox had after the homecoming game.
My thoughts:
1. He seemed nervous and Insecure-not good for a head coach
2. He said he played Seewald to make the offense more efficient.
3. Well with maybe the only team they could have beat this year that did not work
4. Not Jimmy's fault, Duncan and Seewald have no time out there they basically are on their own no 0 line help.
5. He's says he is playing Seewald Saturday too bad you can tell by watching he is still not healthy shoulder may be hurt again. Rotate Duncan in.
6. Lastly he seemed confident on one thing he knows the fields and locker rooms of the upcoming games...umm so what.
Record be broken
Yeesh trashing head coach , entire offense outside of your brother/son/nephew , trashing ickow, program, saying Jimmy is unhealthy when kid says he is, saying Duncan I transferring .
I'd be for a DCannon ban as an alumni who actually contributed to University/program. Let's hope mods get him out of here and Chris gets away from him
Quote from: dcannon12 on October 03, 2019, 01:52:46 PM
3. Well with maybe the only team they could have beat this year that did not work
If you look at the results so far in the non-conference of the 8 PFL schools on our schedule, at least 4 (and maybe 5) of them are all probably the same or worse than UCharleston. Don't forget that Charleston has 36 full scholarships to give out and were picked 4th of 10 in their conference.
And as a personal observation, their nose tackle, number 9, would be a shoe in for PFL defensive player of the year. That kid should be in a legit full scholarship FCS program. He, single-handedly, destroyed our offense. U of C certainly lucked out with him.
Banning dcannon or anyone critiquing the team? Seriously? So what is if he doesnt drink the Kool-Aid.
It's the truth but I will bow out since it bothers you . It's football talk I am surprised you all are so sensitive.
All 6 of you on this blog.
Dude, I am for open opinion and the truth...there are also others that over sugar coat the football situation. The Valpo football ecosystem needs a lot of help in several directions in order to be successful in a sustainable manner.
Bans harsh, when Chris gets his full ride offer from the transfer portal and starts at an FBS school next season he cam join their board.
Then we will be down to 5.
In reality, even the legendary Eric Hoffman would struggle with this offense, which reminds me of a legendary John McKay post game press conference when he was head coach of the Tampa Bay Bucaneers.
When he said..............
;D
Reporter:"what do you think of your team's execution, coach?"
McKay: "I'm in favor of it."
I could not imagine a coach's mental capacity when transitioning from leading a college team to 4 national championships to an 0-14 team in the NFL. I guess humor helps, which we all need.
Quote from: usc4valpo on October 03, 2019, 06:25:28 PMIn reality, even the legendary Eric Hoffman would struggle with this offense, which reminds me of a legendary John McKay post game press conference when he was head coach of the Tampa Bay Bucaneers.
Funny but if you go back to 2012/13 threads, Eric wasn't thought of as being so legendary all the time.
John McKay had some great lines during his time with the Bucs. After a big loss: "I told our players that there were 700 million Chinese people in the world who didn't even know the game was played. The next week, I got five letters from China asking "What happened?"
Quote from: dcannon12 on October 03, 2019, 05:04:03 PMIt's the truth but I will bow out since it bothers you . It's football talk I am surprised you all are so sensitive. All 6 of you on this blog.
I think we're all in for football talk however when said "football talk" always ends up with the conclusion of one poster that one player end up on the field it isn't hard to draw a lot of conclusions and make said "football talk" pretty irrelevant.
I'm not in favor of banning anyone over it however.
Hoffman was a pick six kind of guy, but I think he is the all time yardage leader or close to it in Valpo football history.
Quote from: usc4valpo on October 04, 2019, 05:53:07 AMHoffman was a pick six kind of guy, but I think he is the all time yardage leader or close to it in Valpo football history.
He is.
A must for the Valpo Ring of Fame, but the late Eugene Parker needs to honored first.
Quote from: JD24 on October 04, 2019, 12:40:49 PM
Quote from: usc4valpo on October 04, 2019, 05:53:07 AMHoffman was a pick six kind of guy, but I think he is the all time yardage leader or close to it in Valpo football history.
He is.
His 7,221 career passing yards during the Carlson era were achieved in three seasons and he left another year of eligibility on the table the year Cecchini took over the program. He was lucky to remain pretty healthy through those seasons.
By comparison, though, the number two career leader is Dave Macchi, who also threw for over 7,000 yards, but in just two seasons. If Jimmy had been able to duplicate his 2017 total (2,602) last year, this year, and next year, he would be #1 and would have passed for over 10K yards. But alas, injury makes mortals of us all.
It's a beautiful, thunderous rain filled day in Des Moines!
31-6 Drake. Valpo misses the XP.
Gametime pushed back to 2pm Central due to weather.
BTW, to add another factor, it is Drake's homecoming :(
Given the weather, if we had a real solid OL and some big backs we could employ a "three yards and a cloud of ground up tires" clock-controlling offense. But we don't so we won't.
looks like the weather is going to clear up for the gala Des Moines event. I will be there and having a sammy and beer at Jethros before the game
Enjoy! :thumbsup:
Q1 - We don't look too good on O. But neither does Drake's offense. 0-0, 7:09
Drake's starting QB went out after about 5 plays so their offense may suffer a bit.
Drake's starting QB is back in.
Valpo's offense looks awful and that includes Seewald who is clearly not close to the guy he was a few years ago. At this point, if a change was made, it wouldn't hurt. I'd also lean more heavily to Boxrucker.
20 yard penalty helps Valpo and latsonas boots one from 46. 14-3
The offense has no confidence in Seewald. Not the same guy for sure. Valpo can't keep depending on penalties for first downs.
Seewald is terrible, Latsonas is a stud and we look lost. I'm guessing Landon is thinking..."These guys suck, this could take a long time..."
Would love to see some energy and, why in the WORLD, would you have Jimmy Seewald running the option?? :crazy:
316-68 in yardage , not averaging over 100 yds in a half in offense, even in the PFL, should create a bit of a "warm seat" for our offensive coordinator. (Not yet hot)
Also whoever said my ypg from first 3 games and said I was jumping gun. 3/12 is 25% statically relevant and holding true
Quote from: valpofb16 on October 05, 2019, 04:01:14 PM316-68 in yardage , not averaging over 100 yds in a half in offense, even in the PFL, should create a bit of a "warm seat" for our offensive coordinator. (Not yet hot) Also whoever said my ypg from first 3 games and said I was jumping gun. 3/12 is 25% statically relevant and holding true
The OC should be on the hot seat. When Duncan was in he wasn't running him. Now with Seewald in, he has him running. It makes absolutely no sense.
Agree on the OC. Terrible and embarrassing.
I agree with JD24 about the OC not running Duncan and having Seewald running...
I really hate to say this, if the surgery has affected Jimmy Seewalds throwing arm permanently - and bless his heart for his effort and commitment - he may want to give up football and move on to bigger challenges and successes in life. He is not an option QB - maybe it is time to start Nimz for the future.
Quote from: usc4valpo on October 05, 2019, 07:18:08 PMI really hate to say this, if the surgery has affected Jimmy Seewalds throwing arm permanently - and bless his heart for his effort and commitment - he may want to give up football and move on to bigger challenges and successes in life. He is not an option QB - maybe it is time to start Nimz for the future.
I've wondered if they aren't trying to save Nimz a redshirt year.
I wonder if redshirting can back fire - a lot of these guys want to graduate in 4 years.
Quote from: JD24 on October 05, 2019, 07:32:20 PM
Quote from: usc4valpo on October 05, 2019, 07:18:08 PMI really hate to say this, if the surgery has affected Jimmy Seewalds throwing arm permanently - and bless his heart for his effort and commitment - he may want to give up football and move on to bigger challenges and successes in life. He is not an option QB - maybe it is time to start Nimz for the future.
I've wondered if they aren't trying to save Nimz a redshirt year.
Nimz redshirted last year.
Caveat #1: I only watched the first quarter and tried to keep up with gametracker as I could.
My observation was that we have offensive players but no offensive attack. The rather predictable and unimaginative rushing game usually is met by defenders 1 yard deep in our backfield. Our passing attack forces the QB, when he is in the pocket, to release super quick or get sacked. Defenses essentially ignore passes off of run action because we have no threat in the rush (see previous sentence). So when our QB (either Jimmy or Chris, it doesn't matter) rolls out off run action (1) he usually has a defender either in his face or is at least chasing him toward the sideline. And (2) amidst this, I tried to assess our receivers' routes and separation and found, generally from the video feed, that I was unable to determine if anyone was getting open.
Say what you will about Carlson. Critique Cecchini's overall coaching. But at least both ran offenses that could move the chains better than what we are seeing so far.
Caveat#2: I give Landon Fox a completely free pass on this season because he came in very late, was saddled with what Cecchini left him including an anemic recruiting class, and he had to cobble together a full staff so late in the process.
Fox came on board with a strong defensive background. Despite being undersized up front, his D is our best component right now. If the O could only sustain more drives and put a few more points on the board our D would have better chances to hold serve.
The pointer keeps coming back to the whole offensive scheme and the coaches who run it. This season IMO has been relegated to experimentation and Fox getting his legs under him. My hope is that he takes a hard look at the O system he is running and the staff who is coaching it.
Looking ahead, both Marist and Butler appear to be having issues and could be possible wins if we can get the offense working better. Time will tell in the next month.
Fox has a lot of passion, and from my observations and audio experiences at the game, he is the all time Valpo coaching leader in f bombs. He is learning and we need to let him grow.
The current offense is obviously terrible. The WRs are covered easily. Seewald has no zip in his throw, and the accuracy was poor. It is a bummer of a situation.
Weird scenario - these 2 dudes who I think were parents of players assumed a role to move in front of the stands, move along the sidelines at the point of play, and in a rather loud voice give constant verbal grief to the officials. Sorry, but not every play by Drake included a hold.
The fact that the staff got off to a late start is likely a factor with the performance of the team.
However:
There is no element of the offense playing well at this point. QBs, RBs, WRs, OL & TE. That's a coach issue.
Quote from: IndyValpo on October 05, 2019, 09:07:16 PMQuote from: JD24 on October 05, 2019, 07:32:20 PMQuote from: usc4valpo on October 05, 2019, 07:18:08 PMI really hate to say this, if the surgery has affected Jimmy Seewalds throwing arm permanently - and bless his heart for his effort and commitment - he may want to give up football and move on to bigger challenges and successes in life. He is not an option QB - maybe it is time to start Nimz for the future.
I've wondered if they aren't trying to save Nimz a redshirt year.
Nimz redshirted last year.
My bad. Forgot he was on the roster last year.
Regarding the overrated power of redshirting, Drake's starting RB and QB are true freshmen.
Redshirting in a non-athletic scholarship just adds more debt for this students. Valpo needs to quit depending on it.
It was tough to watch ...
I was there, and it was very tough to watch. The parents are frustrated.
We have a middle of the pack PFL defense and a total blank on offense.
I'd like to see more Allison and Nimz on offense as I believe Nimz arm and Allison's speed can add big play threats that currently are not there.
Nimz decision making is the big issue with him, however a deep interception is really no different than us punting every series anyway.
I even heard on the Drake broadcasters saying why isn't Duncan in like the 3 rd quarter, he must be in the dog house?
Quote from: usc4valpo on October 06, 2019, 01:12:41 PM
I was there, and it was very tough to watch. The parents are frustrated.
Of all our problems parents are at the bottom of the list.
Far from true. They are influencers and could effect the student financial aid.