It doesn't get any easier. Dayton put 56 up on Jacksonville. One positive thought is that Fox knows Dayton inside out and should be able to game plan against their O. Despite JU scoring 28, I have no similar thoughts on an offensive game plan.
After watching Jimmy play yesterday and watching his weak, in-accurate throws, I am now on board with handing the ball to Ben Nimz. The kid is big, 6'4" with an unbelievable high school record. He could be the guy for a long time. Why not? This ship is taking on water quickly and making a bold move may just be the answer. Clearly Duncan and Jimmy will ot be back next year.
We have score four touchdowns in four games. We performed worse against non-scholarship Drake than we did again scholarship Charleston and about the same as against scholarship Truman State. Things are going in the wrong direction.
I think the coaches will start who they think are the best options until week 8..
With new redshirt rules we should then let the kids play. We have to find what we have moving forward.
I don't believe any of the class of 2016 will be back for a fifth year. Im not sure anyone , I mean anyone thought we'd be here after 2017. Team was 6-5 and had 7 kids set to graduate
Speaking of the young players on team, I'd be shocked if Annis doesn't finish 1-3 in tackles the next 3 years
#60 Andrew Lundberg and #90 Isaac Velasco have left the program. Wish them nothing but the best.
The best thing for this program is to get to 2020. Think we will be very very young to end the year.
Time to start the freshmen and start recruiting - lots of opportunities right now at Valpo.
Quote from: valpofb16 on October 08, 2019, 01:00:34 PM
#60 Andrew Lundberg and #90 Isaac Velasco have left the program. Wish them nothing but the best.
The best thing for this program is to get to 2020. Think we will be very very young to end the year.
Despite the overall poor play of the OL, Lundberg, at 6-7, 270 and rated #1 at LT on the depth chart will be missed.
Agreed i was apart of the Carlson-Cecchini transition and I will say this.
Fox was put in an absolute unideal situation. The best thing he can do moving forward is keep the kids who have bought into him and bring in a large excited freshman class. Play the kids and focus on the here and now until program has stability. Then you can begin working on redshirting (Cecchini really didn't try for this until 2017, year 4 in the program). Unfortunately the team operated much better once the vast majority of Carlson recruits were removed from the program.
There is probably an extremely large chance that the entire offensive staff will be replaced moving forward with Fox's guys. The program is in its worst position since 2010. Although there are a very few things working for us.
1) Facilities are extremely upgraded from that time period and the AD has shown they are committed to winning in a Valpo sense of the phrase.
2) I believe Fox is much more qualified than Dale Carlson was and has a gameplan of how to become consistent (this may be a consistent 5-6 win team with the occasional 8 win season)
3) The defense from a YPG aspect has shown their ability to compete and only has 3 starters set to graduate.
These are all positive signs.
Now the negatives
1) Enrollment interest is approaching an all time low
2) An increase of scholarship providing programs in the midwest
Moral of the story. I believe Fox will eventually get to a competitive level.
Quote from: valpofb16 on October 08, 2019, 01:00:34 PM#60 Andrew Lundberg and #90 Isaac Velasco have left the program. Wish them nothing but the best. The best thing for this program is to get to 2020. Think we will be very very young to end the year.
I hope there was extenuating circumstances in a starter walking away in the middle of a season. At face value not so good.
I have no real sense of the on-field performance of either of those kids, but...
It seems clear to me that the kind of kid that would quit on his teammates mid-season because things are tough is more likely to be part of the problem than part of the solution.
Next man up!
there is no question Fox was given a bad hand. He is passionate, he is learning, he needs time, and he can f bomb with the best of them.
Quote from: usc4valpo on October 09, 2019, 05:47:20 AM
there is no question Fox was given a bad hand. He is passionate, he is learning, he needs time, and he can f bomb with the best of them.
Fox was given a terrible hand, is very passionate, will learn and does need time. He looks and sounds like a football coach... if that means dropping a few f bombs then so be it, I have no knowledge of his proclivity for doing so and wonder how this even became part of the conversation. :-[
Agreed, I am sharing my reflections from the Drake game. He seems like he cares and he expects winning - and he doesn't quote Osteen. He also has an awesome mullet haircut ala MIke Gundy and Mike Leach.
Fox won me over when he said "it doesn't matter if we're playing EKU or College of Charleston the expectation is to win"
I think he is extremely dedicated, passionate, and evidently at the very least a solid defensive coach
In the weekly interview, I was surprised to see Coach Fox actually smiling as the tape started rolling. He hasn't been smiling much. I think that is a good thing. I also liked his reply when asked by Brandon about facing his previous team, His first words: "it's not about me."
Sagarin has Valpo a 26.5 dog at home.
Gotta love Valpo's media - in the pdf they have Lindbergh starting.
Quote from: usc4valpo on October 10, 2019, 06:01:05 PMSagarin has Valpo a 26.5 dog at home. Gotta love Valpo's media - in the pdf they have Lindbergh starting.
He's probably a better pilot.
As to Lundberg, he may not have left until after the game notes were put out which is Monday and all the media can do is report what the coaches tell them.
Actually I was referring to
Lumbergh from office space. "If we could hold Dayton to under 42 points, that would be terrific..."
I wonder what tomorrow's attendance will be at beautiful Brown Field as the chill has come to the Midwest.
Quote from: usc4valpo on October 11, 2019, 05:30:31 PM
Actually I was referring to
Lumbergh from office space. "If we could hold Dayton to under 42 points, that would be terrific..."
I wonder what tomorrow's attendance will be at beautiful Brown Field as the chill has come to the Midwest.
Replace terrific with great and you've got it. Love Office Space.
After extensive and critical analysis, he also used "terrific". But I think today is Hawaiian shirt day at Brown Field, and hopefully after a good performance they won't have a bad case of the Mundays.
Weather service posted a gale force wind warning for the area starting at 1pm. Blowing hard from the West right now.
Does this mean Chris will start?
[tweet]1183048866876329984[/tweet]
Cartales is out. Duncan's the QB.
Adam Trautman is fantastic.
Chris is looking pretty good.
Nice drive but I thought the playcalling inside the 5 was poor. Wrong run design for Boxrucker. Too long to develop for him. Ollie Reese is 6-2 or 6-3. How about throwing one up to him. I don't like series of playcalls which never put the ball in the endzone.
Missed the kick as well. At least the offense looks coherent. They have to lose the fake to J.D. Koehler. The defense doesn't even move for him. He's just not fast enough to respect him getting the ball.
Probably time to think about replacing the formerly very good kicker.
There we go. Duncan almost gets taken out by the referee.
Missed everything after the misses FG. Back for the second half. Do agree on Box not at his best when he lines up 7 deep in red zone. He is a quick opener runner. And our holes open up quick (they close quick too).
Can it be that the OC has found out that Chris can run? TD! Box on a 10 yard run! OC must have heard 24's critique of the first scoreless drive ::). 21-14 after the Valpo first possession. If they can run on Dayton that bodes well for the rest of the schedule. I'm trying to zero in on the pass routes, but I'm not doing too well. I have to be more disciplined. But of the little I've seen not too much seems to give the QB too many open options.
Nice drive by Dayton to offset the Valpo TD. The TE shuffle pass for the TD was well executed.
Then Ollie returns the KO for a score! 28-21 Dayton.
At the close of Q3 Valpo has rushed for 265 yards with Duncan at 139 and Box at 74.
ESPN+ is down in Q4. No audio, just game tracker. Going to WVUR. Just not the same.
Quote from: VULB#62 on October 12, 2019, 02:41:59 PMMissed everything after the misses FG. Back for the second half. Do agree on Box not at his best when he lines up 7 deep in red zone. He is a quick opener runner. And our holes open up quick (they close quick too).
When the ball is at the 4 yard line, the defense is up too tight to run those plays with Boxrucker.
In general, played better. Duncan missed some throws which I thought are too easy to miss. However, can the WRs make a tough catch once in a while. How about once. Reese seems like he could be a playmaker but any time he's challenged, he doesn't seem to win. The other guys for the most part they might as well be playing with 3 of us posters. A big upgrade is needed at this position.
....and my comment was apparently already heard by the WRs as LaRose makes a really nice catch in the endzone.
I forgot to mention the missed FG. That changed the game towards the end. Instead of kicking the FG later in the game to make it a 7 point game, they were forced to go for it on 4th down. That has to improve one way or another.
A very solid team effort against a very old, very good Dayton team. Much improvement starting with Duncan and Ollie. Fun game to watch and a nice crowd as well.
Final is Dayton 41 Valpo 28 with VU scoring in the last 1:30 and Valpo leaving scoreless at least twice inside the 10. I believe Dayton scored on all their redzone chances????
Hey, FINALLY, VU looked like a FB team on BOTH sides of the ball and it appeared that the overall play calling actually took advantage of what our opponent was giving us. Chris did a great job rushing (154 yds.) the ball. Box was just under 100 yards (92) for the game as well.
My Bottom Line: Despite the disappointment of being 0-5 coming into the game and the lackluster performance at Drake, our kids showed improved play today. Good for them! That's all we can ask for right now. @USD next week will be a killer what with travel and all, so my goal would be to continue to improve so that we can grab a couple of wins from the remaining five games on the schedule:
Stetson
@ Davidson
Morehead
@Butler
Marist
And to put our loss today into context, Dayton previously took down MVFC foe @Indiana State 42-35, NEC scholarship @Robert Morris 34-31, and PFL Jacksonville 56-28. They lost by 4 to NEC Duquesne 35-31.
BTWs -- ISUb took down EKU 19-7 and beat EIU and WIU going into their game today with SDSU. They lost by 7 @ BCS Kansas to open the season
Now that the game is over, I was wondering if Fox and Dayton Coach Rick Chamberlain got a chance to chat over a beer or two last night. And, if they did, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall.
My final (I think) comment(s) on the game.
Congratulations to Chris on a great performance. In the early part the season he was placed in an uncomfortable position in two ways: a new system and coaches coupled with an assumption by the coaches that Chris would fit into a pass-predominant offensive scheme. Truthfully, he looked bad and performed very poorly. The one trait of his that most of us have highlighted for the last couple of years was never leveraged with plays designed to let him run the freaking ball.
Those poor performances screamed for a change. Enter Jimmy, the better passer but less effective runner. The two game experiment brought one glaring soft point in the Valpo attack to the surface — no run game (and a continuing ineffective passing attack even with the "better passer"). But during this transition time, more and more plays were called for QB keepers by the non-runner QB — BTW, a point observed on this board.
Sometime in the last two weeks the staff recognized that the personnel we have can't effectively execute a pass happy attack or bulldoze a 3 yds and a cloud of rubber granules offensive. And the lack of a running threat at QB could not support any attack. The result was what we witnessed today. And it worked because Dayton was kept totally off balance by Chris and his running. They were not prepared to deal with what we threw ran at them.
Where do we go from here? How about this.........?
Add two not-seen-before components of the Valpo QB keeper to anticipate how USD will attempt to shut down Chris' running:
1) Pass option off the run. As DBs come up to stop the run, it should free up receivers who find open space to sit in and offer attractive targets - either short or long (off a curl-then-go).
2) Pitch option off the run to a trailing back.
P.S. Wishfully, I'd also like to see a misdirection play off an inside handoff, but that maybe is for Stetson ;D
P.P.S. Can Nimz run?
Quote from: VULB#62 on October 12, 2019, 08:56:56 PM1) Pass option off the run. As DBs come up to stop the run, it should free up receivers who find open space to sit in and offer attractive targets - either short or long (off a curl-then-go).
Good comments all around but one thing baffling to me is I don't know if there's been a play in which the QB can set up and step into a throw to an open receiver all season long. I'm not talking about deep balls. Just a 12 yard in or something like that. Despite the man amongst boys efforts of Trautman today, Dayton had open receivers all day long. It's just weird that Valpo hasn't been able to do this. Every passing attempt it seems is challenged to one degree or another.
Wondered the same thing, 24. Why do their kids get open and ours don't? That's why I wanted to concentrate on our routes but when I finally got focused the video crapped out. One route I haven't seen much of is a curl and setup in the seams of a zone. Our receivers/QBs might just be running specified routes without reading zone/m2m and not breaking off and sitting in open space. Just a WAG cuz I can't say Ive seen enough to say that with any confidence.
Gotta say, though, that Ollie could eventually be our next Catrine.
Despite a loss, which is what counts at the end, Valpo looked improved. If they play like this and continue to improve, they can win some games as their schedule gets significantly easier.
BTW, Dayton's Trautman made ESPN's college football plays of the week with his one handed catch.
Quote from: VULB#62 on October 12, 2019, 10:29:03 PMWondered the same thing, 24. Why do their kids get open and ours don't? That's why I wanted to concentrate on our routes but when I finally got focused the video crapped out. One route I haven't seen much of is a curl and setup in the seams of a zone. Our receivers/QBs might just be running specified routes without reading zone/m2m and not breaking off and sitting in open space. Just a WAG cuz I can't say Ive seen enough to say that with any confidence. Gotta say, though, that Ollie could eventually be our next Catrine.
Reese will never be Catrine who was a different cat. Ollie may turn out to be really good but what made Catrine was his ability to come down with virtually every ball in traffic. Reese appears to struggle in that capacity as I don't think he's strong enough nor has the body Catrine had. Remember, he was a running back coming to Valpo and he used his basketball ability to basically "rebound" 50/50 balls.
Quote from: usc4valpo on October 13, 2019, 09:35:09 AMDespite a loss, which is what counts at the end, Valpo looked improved. If they play like this and continue to improve, they can win some games as their schedule gets significantly easier.
After San Diego, I think they can win any of the games. Davidson will be tough but the other 4 games I see them right in the mix.
Quote from: JD24 on October 13, 2019, 03:32:18 PM
Quote from: VULB#62 on October 12, 2019, 10:29:03 PMWondered the same thing, 24. Why do their kids get open and ours don't? That's why I wanted to concentrate on our routes but when I finally got focused the video crapped out. One route I haven't seen much of is a curl and setup in the seams of a zone. Our receivers/QBs might just be running specified routes without reading zone/m2m and not breaking off and sitting in open space. Just a WAG cuz I can't say Ive seen enough to say that with any confidence. Gotta say, though, that Ollie could eventually be our next Catrine.
Reese will never be Catrine who was a different cat. Ollie may turn out to be really good but what made Catrine was his ability to come down with virtually every ball in traffic. Reese appears to struggle in that capacity as I don't think he's strong enough nor has the body Catrine had. Remember, he was a running back coming to Valpo and he used his basketball ability to basically "rebound" 50/50 balls.
Ollie also played basketball and baseball in high school. Not saying one way or another about the comparison, only that Ollie is a very good athlete with probably better speed given his kickoff return.
#13 RSFR P Patrick McNerney has left the program the roster is now down to 92 players.
Did not see the game. Curious how Lundberg's replacement did. Was it Biggs?
Stupid Dayton couldn't even cover the spread :-X
Indyvalpo it was Biggs.
I think the offense will be better suited to be run heavy moving forward.
Kluck, Biggs, Russell, Vas, Byrd are all much more effective in the run game, so are Earley and Boxrucker.
With a mobile QB and lack of arm talent/receiver talent this seems like a no brainer
Quote from: vu72 on October 13, 2019, 04:24:09 PMQuote from: JD24 on October 13, 2019, 03:32:18 PMQuote from: VULB#62 on October 12, 2019, 10:29:03 PMWondered the same thing, 24. Why do their kids get open and ours don't? That's why I wanted to concentrate on our routes but when I finally got focused the video crapped out. One route I haven't seen much of is a curl and setup in the seams of a zone. Our receivers/QBs might just be running specified routes without reading zone/m2m and not breaking off and sitting in open space. Just a WAG cuz I can't say Ive seen enough to say that with any confidence. Gotta say, though, that Ollie could eventually be our next Catrine.
Reese will never be Catrine who was a different cat. Ollie may turn out to be really good but what made Catrine was his ability to come down with virtually every ball in traffic. Reese appears to struggle in that capacity as I don't think he's strong enough nor has the body Catrine had. Remember, he was a running back coming to Valpo and he used his basketball ability to basically "rebound" 50/50 balls. Ollie also played basketball and baseball in high school. Not saying one way or another about the comparison, only that Ollie is a very good athlete with probably better speed given his kickoff return.
....and not every basketball player is an effective rebounder. Catrine showed the ability to win 50/50 balls immediately upon being installed as a WR permanently during his soph year. Reese hasn't shown that quality. He's definitely a good athlete.
#5 RSSR Jalen Leandre has left team