Who the hell knows? It was the ring of fire eclipse. St. Thomas gets killed. Wildfires in Greece? Davidson beat Butler by only 2. We still don't have a Speaker of the House. Presbyterian actually wins a game. Pete Davidson hosts SNL? Colorado blows a 29 point lead and loses; Coach Prime is speechless. Nah, just kidding. Pete Davidson? C'mon man!
Not sure. Passing up a chip shot field goal to put a game away. Just not sure while Symmes is on staff another win is coming.
We don't have finances to replace Symmes midseason
Quote from: VULB#62 on October 14, 2023, 10:26:08 PM
Who the hell knows? It was the ring of fire eclipse. St. Thomas gets killed. Wildfires in Greece? Davidson beat Butler by only 2. We still don't have a Speaker of the House. Presbyterian actually wins a game. Pete Davidson hosts SNL? Colorado blows a 29 point lead and loses; Coach Prime is speechless. Nah, just kidding. Pete Davidson? C'mon man!
Paul Oren's rental car actually makes it to Valpo.
Rutgers draws small crowd against Michigan State for 4-2 team.
Adam Amin besides all his talents is a DJ too.
Losing one score games is disappointing. Then I remember the "Shields Up" era. I looked at PFL standings and we are above Dayton and just below San Diego, so we must be better?
Davidson 31
Valpo 23
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I gotta say the "Shields Up" era provided scenarios you would never imagine. A book on the Carlson era with a touch of Hunter Thompson like description should be in the works.
I think a 30 for 30 on the 2010 Crusaders should be done. 45 point differential
John Davidson 44, Light Enablers 17
Quote from: usc4valpo on October 18, 2023, 10:18:55 AM
John Davidson 44, Light Enablers 17
So you're saying Davidson is just one touchdown worse than YSU and we are one touchdown better than we were against YSU? I don't think so.
Davidson is averaging 308 yards rushing and we (ex YSU) are giving up 60. Their passing games is averaging 184 but all the season stats are out of whack because of a 84-6 beatdown of someone named St. Andrews. (Here I thought there was a max 75 point mercy rule!)
You cant think that way. Besides, I was 1 TD off from perfectly predicting last weeks game. Never underestimate my brilliance and magic 8 ball of predicting Valpo football! My magic 8 ball is more powerful than Carlson's defective shield.
Davidson wins this one. We score late to make it a 35-17 loss. Dayton and Stetson are our chances for wins
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
21-0 , 44 yards in the first half.
Time for a QB switch
Time for a youth movement
The fact that we had an Illinois prospect sitting on the bench with multiple pfl offers that could go 9/12 with a 3-0 TD-INT ratio against a PFL contender.
Only confirms what is obvious
Don't want to assume. What is obvious?
That this roster is talented and the result of this season might not be the players fault....
Agreed - there is a LOT of talent on this roster.
As good as any team in the Pioneer? Maybe. Maybe the coaching staff is lacking, or we think the talent level is elite.
Quote from: valpofb16 on October 21, 2023, 02:49:58 PM
The fact that we had an Illinois prospect sitting on the bench with multiple pfl offers that could go 9/12 with a 3-0 TD-INT ratio against a PFL contender.
Only confirms what is obvious
Nothing against Jeffrey Jackson, who has been the ultimate team player during his time at VU, but why wasn't Keefe the next guy up after Appel was hurt? He'd already done a RS year, so it wasn't about saving him.
Jackson playing decently in his relief appearance and last week probably hurt as he just doesn't have a great skillset.
Having said that, we have no idea what's going on and what went on in practice, scrimmages, etc. which set the depth chart.
I also have to disagree with pointing out the talent on the roster. Absent addressing the QB, the OL stinks...it's not just a bit short as it is terrible. The RBs are a series of JAGs who the opposition doesn't have to take a whole lot of time game planning for. TE's? I know we lost one but where's the beef so to speak. The receivers outside of Davis... who teams actually do have to game plan for...are pretty ordinary as well.
So on offense I'm just not seeing it. What I am seeing is fans going the usual fans route which is to blame the coach (in this case definitely a part of it) because it is easier to replace one coach than upgrade a good chunk of the roster.
JD24 I guess I meant defensively. Valpo is a legit two deep there. I thought with Solo/Appel we would be good ENOUGH to go around .500
However our ability to sustain drives with leads or control tempo of game has been obsolete due to the inability to completely run the football.
I think this team was good enough to have won 4 easily with IWU, Morehead State, and Marist.
However in the IWU game turnovers killed the team. And with Marist and Morehead State inability to control clock with a lead killed team.
I am hopeful with Stetson and Dayton we can get to three. Then I believe Symmes will be shown door and another offensive rebuild underway
If they do win those, a 6-5 season was on table with some major coaching blunders. The OL will only get older . Same with the RBs. If Appel is OFS, I'd let Keefe play and see if we can get to 3.
Our pfl schedule so far has 3 league losses so maybe we inadvertently got the top of the conference so far. I'm not hopeful @Butler or @Saint Thomas.
But at this point if we finish with 3 and Keefe and a couple young receivers show they CAN play. There is at least optimism for next season.
D returns at a minimum Franco, Graves, Birmingham, Chastain, Spelman, Abrams, Rao at a minimum. So they should be functional
This season is an aberration. No way should the team that finished last season have a record at this point like this.
Evidently Appel has shown some chinks in the armor. Same OL, but Keefe did not seem as affected by the stuff that limited Mikey.
But I have to also wonder. We have a kid who breaks multiple 40, 50+ yard KO returns. That kind of skill could be explosive in the running game, but he seldom has carries that leverage his elusiveness and speed. Just. Wondering.
Well, I predicted 45-17, and the score was 42-21. Off by 7 points. The magic 8 ball is pretty reliable.
The defense got worn out yesterday, and Davidson is a significantly better coached team. Offensively, the Valpo talent and coaching need serious help.
Just get the Helmet back from that team down south and the season will at least have a meaningful, memorable win.
Quote from: VULB#62 on October 22, 2023, 12:25:10 AMThis season is an aberration. No way should the team that finished last season have a record at this point like this. Evidently Appel has shown some chinks in the armor. Same OL, but Keefe did not seem as affected by the stuff that limited Mikey. But I have to also wonder. We have a kid who breaks multiple 40, 50+ yard KO returns. That kind of skill could be explosive in the running game, but he seldom has carries that leverage his elusiveness and speed. Just. Wondering.
I'm always wary of a QB who comes in in relief and plays well as a barometer of what would happen if said QB had a couple of games on film. All QBs have warts and sometimes it takes a game or two to expose them.
As far as returners playing from the LOS...it's not unusual for returners to not be able to repeat in a set offense. It can be a bit of a unique talent. Who was it a few years ago...Gessinger?....who could return but did little in the offense.
To answer the Butler / Mann issue. Mann is a more downhill runner with an inexperienced line. Butler likes to bounce the ball outside.
Mann is just the better bet for a positive gain right now. Butler is the better athlete no doubt, but if the blocking isn't there you are risking negative to no gains. Which is what we've seen.
High risk high reward vs consistency.
JD and 16, what you mention about my Butler question is certainly valid given the offense currently in place. That in a round-about way was my point.
So far from what I've seen, the Valpo one-RB rushing attack is pretty one dimensional and rather predicable without the threat of misdirection or wide runs. Adding some two-RB sets with complementary counters and jets using Butler's speed and agility might open up defenses more and will certainly force opposing DCs to worry about a few more things from our ground attack. And the same sets could help the passing attack with dump offs (safety valve) passes to a back coming out of the backfield after play-action fakes.
Hey, I'm looking for anything that would help the offense lengthen drives and stay on the field longer. But here's the reality. We are well over half-way through the season. This type of adjustment, even if tried, would not be immediately effective and would take more than 4 practices to develop, install, and execute. I'm just rambling out of frustration.
This team might need such coaching changes at the end of the season.
Quote from: usc4valpo on October 22, 2023, 03:28:01 PM
This team might need such coaching changes at the end of the season.
I don't think we are "Shields Up" need, but some changes are needed.
I didn't watch this game, but if people believe we have the talent...
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The offensive coaching staff needs tweaking.
There are two direct losses , Maybe three you can blame purely on offensive play calling.