catdaddyp

Yes, they update throughout the week. They are usually similar by the end of the week but some players do get substantial adjustments, like Lavea.

PFF Special Teams have finally been added for the Rutgers game. Offensive updates were mostly the same except PFF thought Finley played a little better than T. Williams. Defensive updates saw Lavea shoot to the top. Like I mentioned before, I thought he played his best game as a Zip. D. Lewis was also bumped up.

They have until 2026 to meet all the guidelines to become a Power conference again. I’m not sure what all those are except a minimum of 8 teams.

You’re probably right. I’m guessing as all the realignment is fleshed out, we eventually see the G5 conferences become more centralized like they used to be.

And the great divide between the “have” and “have nots” continues to grow at the FBS level….

They still have to get to 8 by 2026 to be considered a Power conference. 2026 is when their probationary period ends. Even though they aren’t much better (or better at all) than some of the G5 conferences, they will be given an auto-bid to the playoffs.

Anything can happen, but the likelihood of losing to this Colgate squad is extremely low. 2022 St. Francis turned out to be a better FCS team than anyone expected (9-3). And as it turns out, the 2023 Morgan State team had a strong defense and had opportunities to win all their games except for one. This is not meant to take a shot at Colgate, but they are likely the worst FCS team we’ve played in the Moorhead era. Outside of a mobile QB and a well coached defense, they just don’t have a lot this year.

I was able to find the Villanova/Colgate matchup on ESPN+. Almost all of Colgate’s offense is RPOs and reads. The QB runs more than anyone on offense and many of those runs are designed runs. The QB isn’t necessarily quick, but does scoot well when he gets up to his full speed. WR #9 has some burst to him. I’m sure Colgate will have some explosive plays, but they have had a difficult time finishing drives. The defense doesn’t have anyone I would consider explosive, but they are well coached. LB #43 is an excellent tackler. The punter is pretty good and may give us a challenge with field position. The kicker is 1 of 2 on the year with both FG attempts between 30-39 yards. He hasn't flashed a big leg on kickoffs, so we should have some return opportunities.

Fortunately Colgate isn’t rolling out any Sebastian Benjamins or Donnell Browns.

We should control this game. I haven’t seen Colgate play, but going off of stats and PFF grades, they’ve struggled to run the ball and their OL has been below average. They do seem to be solid defensively. Our defensive front should dominate this game and I’m anxious to see if Lavea and Moore can build off their performances from last week. We’ve struggled to create any kind of consistent pass rush thus far (it has been there in spurts). If we can’t put pressure on a struggling Colgate offense, I’ll be worried. Although, I suspect we’ll finish with multiple sacks and double digit hurries. I want to see our pass blocking take a major step forward as well. Pass protection from the OL and RBs has not been close to acceptable. I realize the competition level we’ve played has been strong, but there’s far more talent and athleticism at these two positions than when JoeMo arrived. It’s time for that to start showing.

Top Rated Players after 2 weeks according to PFF (50 snap minimum) OFFENSE: RB - Simmons QB - Bullock WR - Golden RB - Kellom WR - Norton DEFENSE: DE - Nunnally DE - Adler S - P. Lewis DT - Lavea LB - Fish

Im no longer planning on going. For those who are going, it’ll either be a blast or you’ll walk away with a headache due to Sandstorm and the relentless chicken crowing.

Week 2 Starters for new team: WR - Oran Singleton (Eastern Michigan) = 49 snaps. 1 catch for 1 yard. RG - Tony Georges (Kent State) = 49 snaps RT - Jordan Daniels (Western Carolina) = 70 snaps RT - Xavier Gray (Liberty) = 51 snaps RT - Nate Williams (San Diego State) = 53 snaps DE - Curtis Fann (Western Carolina) = 65 snaps LB - Luke Bauer (Morehead State) = Snaps TBA. 2 Tackles. CB - Tyson Durant (Washington State) = 78 snaps. 1 Tackle. S - Corey Thomas (Virginia) = 47 snaps. 5 Tackles. S - Jaden Woods (East Tennessee State) = 20 snaps. Backups for new team: QB - Dijon Jennings (Weber State) = 6 snaps. WR - Jasaiah Gathings (UCONN) = 11 snaps. 1 catch for 15 yards. WR - Anthony Williams (Alcorn State) = 19 snaps. 1 rush for 2 yards. TE - Caleb Anderson (Alcorn State) = 11 snaps RT - Ronan Chambers (Auburn) = 40 snaps DE - Ryan Johnson (Southern Miss) = 29 snaps LB - Jaharon Griffin (Alcorn State) = 1 snap S - KJ Martin (NC State) = 21 snaps. 1 Tackle. DNP: QB - Ryan Jankowski (UMASS) QB - Steele Wasel (Oklahoma) RB - CJ Price (Jackson State) OL - Ka’Marii Landers (Baylor) OL - Alex Robarge (Southern Illinois) LB - Andrew Behm (Southern Illinois) DB - Rishad Hence (Eastern Kentucky)

Just from a competitive standpoint, scheduling two Power programs in back to back weeks is a terrible idea. 3 in the first 4 weeks is even worse. We are catching all 3 with physical offensive and defensive lines. That’s a recipe for a banged up roster and apathy. Thankfully, we catch a struggling Colgate team next week. I expect to see a much improved performance from the Zips. QB - Even though Finley was solid in spurts, he has to play better. I understand the happy feet and quick trigger when pressured, but he has to hit his open receivers. There were times where he either didn’t see them or just flat out missed them with a throw. It’s hard to consistently throw accurate passes when peddling backwards, don’t have set feet, or shoulders are not squared. We saw far too much of that. I will say, when Finley had time and stood in there he threw some nice passes. RB - Despite the almost even number of snaps between Simmons and Kellom, Simmons continues to separate himself. He doesn’t have the same type of ability to break tackles as Lingard had, but he’s quick and has a nice burst. Both backs could have done better in pass protection. WR - The receivers have to catch the balls that hit their hands. When the QBs are scrambling for their lives, balls that are thrown decently have to be caught. That said, Norton played a whale of a game and should have had more balls thrown his way. He was rightfully frustrated on a few plays where he was open and wasn’t even looked at. I also noticed Norton call out the pre snap CB blitz several times to the QB and OL. Impressive for a guy who is just a sophomore. It should also be noted Norton’s perimeter blocking was excellent. TE - For the second game in a row, Newell made the most of his opportunities. His blocking was solid too. OL - By no stretch am I saying the OL as a whole played well, but they did perform better against Rutgers than OSU. The OL was mostly solid when Rutgers only brought 4. The OL tended to struggle when Rutgers blitzed. In the run game, there were times the OL had a run blocked well on the read options and the QB made the wrong decision to either keep or give. Blanchard, Williams, and Seymore actually played very well. Davis, Thomas, Burrell, and James often struggled. DL - Tibesar threw all kinds of looks at Rutgers. For example, in the first series, we had 3 DTs along the DL (with Adler) and often brought a safety up to LB depth. Unfortunately, as the game wore on, missed tackles were prominent and any kind of pass rush basically became non-existent. Rutgers big OL and physical RB just wore us down. Lavea may have had his best game as a Zip. True sophomore Marcus Moore had his moments as well. Cheatom created a few pressures on his own, which is something even Nunnally was not able to do. Freshmen Hull and D. Frazier saw their first action of the year. Adler had terrible luck with the missed interception that turned into a TD. LB - I know our LBs are hurting after that game. McCoy, Fish, and Cooper gave as good as they got most of the contest. However, there were times where they were overmatched in one on one situations with Monangai. The trio finished with 26 tackles between the three of them. DB - The secondary actually played decently considering the lack of a pass rush. We got beat up back there though, so I don’t know what the availability will be next week with a few players. I was critical of Daymon David in week 1 and he stepped up in a big way this week. Golden-Nelson and Hunter looked solid at CB too. White showed some potential and will likely be a starter next week if Golden-Nelson or Hunter can’t go. JUCO signee Justin Anderson flashed at safety in a backup role. ST - Outside of a missed field goal, this unit performed well for the second straight week. Coaching - The delay of game penalties are concerning. Delay of games coming off of time outs are inexcusable. That said, I saw a ton of delay of game penalties across college football this weekend and I do wonder if the headset communication is causing some of that. Regardless, it has to be cleaned up. As far as play calling goes, the offense is only going to be as good as the OL and QB take it. There are some play calls that we’ll see in conference action that simply won’t work against a team like OSU or Rutgers. If it can’t be blocked, it can’t be called. Defensively, I thought Tibesar had another excellent game plan. QB: Finley Bullock HB: Simmons Kellom WR: Norton Davis WR: Golden Rush WR: Polk Granger Campbell TE: Newell Cravaack LT: Blanchard Shor LG: Davis Seymore Morris C T. Williams Mobley RG: Burrell Davis George RT: D. Thomas James DE: Adler Dall D. Frazier DE: Nunnally Cheatom DT: Moore Kapongo DT: Lavea Murphy Hull LB: Fish Benenge LB: Cooper McCoy Spriggs CB: J. Hunter White CB: Golden-Nelson DeWalt Jarmon NB: Greenwood D. Lewis S: David Anderson Roach S: P. Lewis D. Johnson R. Huntet Top Offensive Players (25 snaps or more): RB - Jordan Simmons OG - Laurence Seymore (was Blanchard) WR - Adrian Norton (was Seymore) LT - Josh Blanchard (was Norton) QB - Ben Finley (was T. Williams) Top Defensive Players (25 snaps or more) DT - Lama Lavea (was Hunter) DE - Bennett Adler (was Fish) NB - Darrian Lewis (was Nunnally) DE - CJ Nunnally (was David) S - Daymon David (was Adler) Top Special Teams (10 snaps or more) S - Noel Roach RB - Jordan Castleberry LB - Antavious Fish S - Aman Greenwood S - Paul Lewis

Bump for update.

Scholarship players that did not make the trip and/or did not see the field. OFFENSE WR - Myles Walker WR - Phaizon Wilson WR - Alex Adams WR - Jean Louis OL - Alex Fox OL - Colin Lyons OL - Jonas Mann OL - Tyhler Williams DEFENSE DE - Kabbash Richards DT - Zy Brockington DT - Dimitri Madden LB - Gage Summers DB - Iesa Jarmon DB - Darius Owens DB - Silas Proby DB - Elijah Reed FRESHMEN RB - Sean Patrick WR - Kyan Mason TE - Khalil Witherspoon OL - Roosevelt Mitchell DE - Dahvon Frazier DE - Jahvon Frazier DE - Tristen Graham DT - Elijah Davis DT - Ronald Hull LB - Jason Hocker DB - Keyveon Johnson

I can’t give all the information because it’s behind a paywall, but top performers over 25 snaps according to PFF were: OFFENSE 1) Bullock 2) Golden 3) Simmons 4) Newell 5) Morris (was D. Thomas earlier in the week) DEFENSE 1) Greenwood 2) Nunnally 3) P. Lewis 4) Fish 5) Adler SPECIAL TEAMS (10 or more snaps) 1) Roach 2) Kellom 3) Conroy 4) T. Thomas 5) Tie between Benenge & D. Johnson

Homecoming for him. If he’s ever going to put it all together, Saturday would be as good a time as any.

Yeah, not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but South Carolina’s defense is legit. 5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, and two interceptions. OD’s two TDs came on miscommunication busts by the Gamecocks. One by the secondary. The other by what turned out to be a zero blitz on 4th down - the LB was supposed to stay home. SC’s offense needs much improvement.

100% agree about Norton. He didn’t work back to the ball, nor did he put up much of a fight for it. Our OL should look better by default in pass protection. Rutgers hasn’t been great rushing the passer and they don’t have the studs like Ohio State does (few teams do). They were decent against the run vs Howard, but nothing overly impressive. Howard’s mobile QB gave them fits. I’m excited to see how our defensive front fares against a physical Big10 OL. By no stretch am I calling for a win, but this could be a closer game than many expect….if we are healthy.

From Greg Schiano’s presser: (All quotes about Akron) Defensively Akron presents issues. Scheme is a little different. Reminds me of when Jim Leonard was at Wisconsin. Stout up front. Inside they are big. 300+ lbs. Nunnally is active off the edge. McCoy is a good player and very active. DBs are pretty good. (P.)Lewis is an active player - long, good looking kid. Golden-Nelson showed up. The Nickelback (D.)Lewis is a ball hawk. They gave Ohio State some problems up front. Finley was doing some good things and then got injured. We’re familiar with Tahj Bullock. (Schiano recruited Bullock out of HS before he committed to VT.) He’s a very athletic guy that presents problems both running and throwing, so we’re going to have our hands full there. Newell is a big kid that does some good things. You can see Golden has speed. He’s their speed guy. Offensive line is big, 300lbs across the board. Now the center might not be as big depending on who plays, but the guards and tackles are big. Joe Moorhead is an accomplished coach. Competed with him when Moorhead was at UCONN and then again at Penn State. He’s an excellent coach and his teams are well coached. They always have some wrinkles you’re not ready for. More on Bullock: I have a lot of respect for him. He’s very tough. Tough hard worker. I got to see his dad at the 7 on 7 this summer. I have a lot of respect for Tahj the way he carries himself and the way he approaches the game. I’m not sure who’s gonna be the quarterback, but we’ll be ready for both.

Here are the Week 1 Outgoing Transfer Stats. Snaps are only for offense or defense. I did not list any of the players that went DII as those stats are too time consuming to collect. Starters for new team: WR - Oran Singleton (Eastern Michigan) = 46 snaps. 8 catches for 89 yards and a TD WR - Anthony Williams (Alcorn State) = 47 snaps. 1 rush for 9 yards and 3 catches for 6 yards. RG - Tony Georges (Kent State) = 28 snaps RT - Jordan Daniels (Western Carolina) = 63 snaps RT - Xavier Gray (Liberty) = 12 snaps RT - Nate Williams (San Diego State) = 72 snaps DE - Curtis Fann (Western Carolina) = 47 snaps. 1 Tackle LB - Luke Bauer (Morehead State) = 55 snaps. 4 Tackles CB - Tyson Durant (Washington State) = 51 snaps. 1 Tackle S - Corey Thomas (Virginia) = 37 snaps. 2 Tackles S - Jaden Woods (East Tennessee State) = 41 snaps. 2 Tackles Backups for new team: WR - Jasaiah Gathings (UCONN) = 37 snaps. 1 catch for 8 yards TE - Caleb Anderson (Alcorn State) = 13 snaps RT - Ronan Chambers (Auburn) = 19 snaps DE - Ryan Johnson (Southern Miss) = 13 snaps LB - Jaharon Griffin (Alcorn State) = 9 snaps. 2 Tackles. DNP: QB - Ryan Jankowski (UMASS) QB - Dijon Jennings (Weber State) QB - Steele Wasel (Oklahoma) RB - CJ Price (Jackson State) OL - Ka’Marii Landers (Baylor) OL - Alex Robarge (Southern Illinois) LB - Andrew Behm (Southern Illinois) DB - Rishad Hence (Eastern Kentucky) DB - KJ Martin (NC State)