catdaddyp

I’ll try to update this on a weekly basis. Minimum 50% of season snaps. QB - Finley 7th by PFF 5th total passing yards 6th most touchdowns WR - Norton 11th by PFF (WR only) 5th total receiving yards (all positions) WR - Golden 22nd by PFF (WR only) 20th total receiving yards (all positions) TE - Newell 7th by PFF (TE only) 6th total receiving yards (TE only) 35th total receiving yards (all positions) OT - Blanchard 20th by PFF (OT only) 7th by PFF Pass Block (OT only) 21st by PFF Run Block (OT only) OT - James 11th by PFF (OT only) 12th by PFF Pass Block (OT only) 9th by PFF Run Block (OT only) DE - Nunnally 12th by PFF (DE only) 9th by PFF Pass Rush (DE only) 8th by PFF Run Defense (DE only) 7th sacks (all positions) 5th total tackles (DE only) DE - Adler 15th by PFF (DE only) 17th by PFF Pass Rush (DE only) 12th by PFF Run Defense (DE only) 35thnsacks (all positions) 15th total tackles (DE only) DT - Moore 14th by PFF (DT only) 15th by PFF Pass Rush (DT only) 14th by PFF Run Defense (DT only) 8th total tackles (DT only) DT - Kapongo 17th by PFF (DT only) 21st by PFF Pass Rush (DT only) 10th by PFF Run Defense (DT only) 2nd total tackles (DT only) LB - McCoy 15th by PFF (LB only) 21st by PFF Tackling (LB only) 3rd total tackles (all positions) LB - Fish 26th by PFF (LB only) 26th by PFF Tackling (LB only) 23rd total tackles (all positions) S - P. Lewis 20th by PFF (S only) 16th total tackles (all positions) 6th total tackles (S only) 21st passes defended (all positions) S (NB) - D. Lewis 21st by PFF (S only) 20th total tackles (all positions) 5th total tackles (S only) 13th passes defended (all positions) 18th interceptions (all positions) P - Book 1st average per punt

No idea. I’m guessing we’ve only been favored 4 times in the Moorhead era. The 3 FCS opponents and versus Kent last year.

I would like to see a little more stubbornness in running the football. We wasted Lingard for portions of last year. The defense gave up the 25 yarder to the QB, but outside of that stuffed Colgate. The next longest run was 5 yards and we held them under 85 yards rushing total. That’s pretty good. The three P4 teams we play this year are built to run the football. Im also concerned for Finley…and the rest of our offense against South Carolina. Some of those guys come downhill looking to de-cleat players. Good to hear about the experience and your granddaughter having a great time. I’m looking forward to attending a game in a few weeks.

QB - Finley displayed how effective he can be when given time. Even though Finley did miss a few throws and was quick to scramble on a few others (I don’t blame him) he finally had the opportunity to exhibit how this offense can operate. Finley finished with a 65% completion rate, 358 yards, and 4 touchdowns vs 1 interception. For comparison, those are similar numbers that DJI had during his All-MAC year in 2022. RB - The offense was lopsided in this area. The backs averaged nearly 4 yards per attempt, but only carried the ball 20 times. We threw the ball 44 times and Finley scrambled (sacked twice) 11 other times. One of the sacks given up was a direct result of one of the RBs (I think Simmons) getting beat again. Simmons and Kellom are effective options with the ball in their hands, but pass protection continues to be an issue. WR - Norton is a star in the making. His play from last week carried over, which was good to see. Golden also continues to make plays when the ball comes his way. Kellom was a reliable receiving option out of the backfield and created a touchdown. TE - Newell collected nearly every snap at tight end and had his best performance of the season. OL - While the OL was definitely better against Colgate than the first two matchups, I hoped for more. Seymore was excellent at LG and looked the part of a former P5 lineman playing against lesser competition. Williams was solid at center. That’s about where it stopped as far as what an FBS OL should consistently look like. Blanchard and Shor at LT, James and Thomas at RT, Davis and Burrell at RG, all had their moments but the consistency must improve. There were too many times when 4 of the linemen would do their part and 1 lineman got beat. I’ve mentioned Delvin Morris in the past and he’s a guy to monitor. He split time at C and LG and did well. I expect he will continue to receive more snaps. DL - The DL overwhelmed Colgate for much of the contest, holding the Raiders to only 84 rushing and 159 passing yards. Nunnally was a menace the entire game and finally got his first sack of the season. Lavea and Moore were effective despite seeing double teams for much of the game. Kapongo had his best game to date. The concern I have is outside of Nunnally, Lavea, and Moore, we struggled to create pressure, even on blitzes. LB - McCoy and Fish played almost every significant snap with Cooper out. The duo was strong as usual, although Fish did miss a few tackles he normally makes. I was surprised Spriggs and Benenge did not receive more snaps. CB - A number of different cornerbacks got work and not just in “garbage time.” Jarmon and DeWalt saw significant action. Kentucky transfer Elijah Reed got his first work of the season and looks like he could eventually be a difference maker judging by his length and the way he moves. White got the start, but didn’t have his best showing. Golden-Nelson and Hunter performed well. S - P. Lewis was excellent. The former Cornell transfer was all over the field and bringing it on tackles. D. Lewis started at the opposite safety spot in David’s absence and played well. When Roach came on the field, D. Lewis slid back to Nickel. I was surprised Anderson did not see more time at safety after his performance last week. ST - Definitely not their best showing this week. The poor decision on a punt return and shanked punt gave Colgate scoring opportunities. Credit Colgate for taking advantage of the early mistakes that were made. Those mistakes against good teams will result in losses. I wanted to see the OL be dominant. It was by far their best showing this season, yet still was not overly impressive. We have a solid duo on the interior with Seymore and Williams. Blanchard is usually solid at LT as well. We need someone to step up at the right guard and right tackle spots soon. Next week, this team will be overmatched (again) and go against one of the better pass rushing units in the SEC. I’m not expecting much. Just get out of the game healthy, wipe the final score from memory, and focus on conference play. Playing this out-of-conference schedule did us no favors from a competitive and health standpoint. We’ll be right at 1-3, where almost every one thought we would be. In my opinion, the true measure of this year’s team starts against Ohio. QB: Finley Bullock RB: Simmons Kellom WR: Norton Davis WR: Golden Rush WR: Polk Granger TE: Newell Cravaack LT: Blanchard Shor LG: Seymore Morris George C Williams Morris RG: Davis Burrell RT: James Thomas DE: Nunnally Cheatom DT: Lavea Murphy DT: Kapongo Moore DE: Adler Ball Richards LB: Fish Benenge LB: McCoy Spriggs NB: Greenwood D. Lewis CB: Golden-Nelson DeWalt Reed CB: White Hunter Jarmon S: P.Lewis Anderson S: D. Lewis Roach Top Offensive Players (25 or more snaps) WR - Golden (was Seymore) RB - Kellom (was Golden) LG - Seymore (was Newell) WR - Norton RB - Simmons (was James) Top Defensive Players (25 or more snaps) DE - Nunnally S - P. Lewis S - D. Lewis CB - Golden-Nelson DT - Lavea (was Kapongo) Top Special Teams (10 snaps or more) CB - DeWalt RB - Castleberry S - R. Hunter S - Conroy S - T. Thomas

3 Players out today: WR - Walker LB - Cooper S - David Cooper and David looked pretty banged up after Rutgers, so no surprise there.

Colgate Players to Watch: OFFENSE: QB #5 Michael Brescia - 56% completion rate, 314 yards passing, 0 TDs and 1 INT. 27 rushes for 118 yards and 1 TD. WR #9 Treyvhon Saunders - 9 receptions for 86 yards. WR #2 Winston Moore - 4 receptions for 74 yards. C #77 Bardhyl Gashi - 2 starts and 130 snaps. WR #14 Brady Hutchinson - 8 receptions for 91 yards. DEFENSE: DT #93 Andrew Taddeo (usually lined up between C and LG) - 5 total tackles and 1.5 sacks. S #7 Asauni Allen - 14 total tackles and 1 pass defended. LB #43 Cole Kozlowski - 21 total tackles. CB #8 Kaleb Alexander - 2 total tackles and 1 pass defended. LB #33 Brody Hock - 8 total tackles.

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