catdaddyp

That actually made me laugh. Ive given stats about the game which were shot down. And now facts about recruiting that’s been shot down. I could debunk the “smaller players” statement with size stats that I’m sure would also get shot down. So not going to bother. When facts are ignored, it’s not worth my time to continue the conversation.

The 2022 recruiting class has already produced 6 All-MAC players. More than any other school in the conference from that class. The 2023 class has so far produced Nunnally and soon to be Norton, barring something drastic. That’ll already be 8 All-MAC players from his first two classes that he brought in. Might want to find a different spin on why the team isn’t winning.

Buffalo went after D. Lewis 7 times, Golden-Nelson 3, and Reed 3. Lewis played both NB and S, so he had a variety of matchups. DeWalt rotated in for both Golden-Nelson and Reed and pretty much shut his man down. No one else was thrown at more than twice. EMU went after Lewis and Reed a lot last week too. Odd there was no wind. Both teams seemed to have their worst punts in the same direction.

Attention to detail and accountability. Turnovers, busted plays, and pre-snap/post snap penalties are usually a direct result.

The team played well enough to actually be in the game after a dismal 3ish quarters. 4 turnovers will doom any team and we are better than most at finding ways to lose, despite having enough talent to be competitive in conference play. I take the time after every game to talk briefly about each position because it’s never all good or all bad. In the end, winning and losing is what matters and we’ve yet to do enough to consistently win.

452 yards of offense and 4 turnovers…. QB: Finley caught fire in the 4th quarter and absolutely torched the Buffalo defense. Unfortunately, outside of the 4th quarter and the first drive of the game, it wasn’t a great showing. The interception was another instance where he under threw the ball and allowed the safety to make a play. Bullock was stuffed twice on 4th down conversions, but had his moments at other points in the game. RB: Outside of the fumble by Kellom, the backs ran the ball fine. True to form, they didn’t have that many opportunities - collecting 80 yards on 16 carries. WR: Norton came alive in the 4th quarter. He’s one of those receivers where many times he may be covered, but he’s really not covered. Meaning give him a chance to make a play against single coverage and he usually will. Golden and Granger had their moments too. On the downside, we still had a few drops. Freshman Kyan Mason flashed his ability to make a difficult touchdown snag. He’s going to be a good one down the road. TE: Newell hasn’t been used as much in passing situations with the emergence of Cravaack, but I’ve seen him bark at guys over the past two weeks who were unsure of the play. He’s clearly had enough of people not knowing their assignments. Newell and Cravaack combined for 5 catches for 55 yards. OL: The amount of pressures that were allowed on either side of the RG was unacceptable. At times, K. Davis and Burrell looked like they were playing their first game of collegiate football. The stunts and blitzes caused all kinds of confusion for the right side of the OL. At this point in the season, these guys have played enough football to know what to expect. It was downright bad for portions of the game. The left side had a few mistakes too, but nothing like the right side. We also failed to get push on key downs when we needed to convert. It’s frustrating that the OL can get it together in the 4th quarter and struggle so much throughout much of the rest of the game. DL: The starting defensive line was decent against the run. The 45 yard TD run by the RB was due to a DB (I didn’t catch the number) taking a terrible angle to fill the gap. The backup DTs and DEs didn’t give us much production. For the second straight week, Moore played over 60 snaps and Kapongo played over 50 snaps. That’s too much. We were without Lavea and Brockington and that played a role. The defense as a whole continues to struggle to create pressure. In fact, I can’t recall a single time we created pressure without a blitz. Teams have figured out they can slide protect against Nunnally and then double one of the DTs and we will struggle to rush the passer. LB: McCoy was lights out good. He probably had his best game of the season. Fish also played well. Benenge, Spriggs, and Summers saw a good amount of action again. Summers made a few plays in the 2nd half. DB: Golden-Nelson and Reed started at CB again. Reed struggled some after playing well last week. Hunter, DeWalt, and Jarmon saw action. DeWalt played about 50 snaps, which is his career high. If DeWalt ever figures it all out, he could be a really good player due to his length and natural ability. Our lack of depth at safety reared its ugly head. When Anderson went down, we proceeded to have multiple mistakes from the DBs. D. Lewis and P. Lewis finished out the game as the two safeties. Greenwood and Thomas rotated at nickelback. ST: The wind seemed to play a factor on a few of the punts. Overall, special teams were good again outside of the fumble. There’s really no excuse for the fumbling issue to still be happening. Coaching: More of the same. Offense and defense looked well prepared on the opening drives and then the turnovers started. We had a handful of penalties and personal fouls were limited, so that’s at least progress in that area. We’re not going to win any games when we lose the turnover margin 4-0. Our “sudden defense” was bad. They held up at times during the flow of the game and in the 4th quarter, but were woeful after turnovers. It’s been that way all season. The fact that we only lost by 11 with 4 turnovers says something. One would think Buffalo would have won by a lot more. We were only down by 8 before the final turnover happened and sealed our fate. Yet, it’s another way this program has found a way to lose. Edit: I noticed Hunter and Bullock walking on senior day. They still have a year of eligibility left if they want it for football, but I would not be surprised to see them move on. Hunter has dealt with injuries and fallen behind on the depth chart. Bullock supposedly reached out to Rutgers this past offseason and they said “no thanks.” Someone may take a chance on him this offseason though after seeing his versatility. QB: Finley Bullock (played multiple positions) RB: Simmons Kellom WR: Norton Davis WR: Golden Rush WR: Granger Mason TE: Cravaack Newell LT: Blanchard Shor LG: Morris Seymore C T. Williams RG: K. Davis Burrell RT: James Thomas DE: Adler Dall DT: Kapongo Madden Murphy DT: Moore Proffitt Hull DE: Nunnally Richards Cheatom LB: Fish Benenge Summers LB: McCoy Spriggs NB: D. Lewis Greenwood T. Thomas CB: Golden-Nelson Hunter DeWalt CB: Reed Jarmon S: P. Lewis D. Lewis S: Anderson D. Lewis Top Players on Offense: QB - Finley WR - Granger TE - Cravaack RB - Simmons WR - Norton (I imagine Norton will be #1 by end of the week) Top Players on Defense: LB - Fish LB - McCoy CB - DeWalt S - P. Lewis DT - Moore

4 turnovers was the difference in the game. Not “faster or slower players.” Or maybe the “fast” players from Buffalo just left the stadium in the 4th quarter and it was a whole new group? I asked for specific players from the “talent” statement. I’d disagree about the QB, but we don’t share the same opinion. That said, if it is just the QB and RB, then the talent issue isn’t really the issue.

I’ll bite on the talent piece. Which specific players on the Buffalo team we just outgained 452 to 390 yards would start for us? Dolac at MIKE for sure, but who else?

I’m not sure. Could be a blessing in disguise if they do receive medical redshirts.

Injury Report is growing. Scholarship players listed below. OUT: WR - Polk WR - Walker OL - Fox OL - Lyons DE - Graham DT - Brockington DT - Lavea LB - Cooper CB - Proby S - David S - K. Johnson QUESTIONABLE: WR - Adams

Week 9 Starters for new team: WR - Jasaiah Gathings (UCONN) = 67 snaps. 2 receptions for 23 yards. WR - Oran Singleton (Eastern Michigan) = 70 snaps. 10 receptions for 97 yards. RG - Tony Georges (Kent State) = 66 snaps. RT - Jordan Daniels (Western Carolina) = 75 snaps. RT - Xavior Gray (Liberty) = 74 snaps. RT - Nate Williams (San Diego State) = 69 snaps. DE - Curtis Fann (Western Carolina) = 47 snaps. 1 tackle. DE - Ryan Johnson (Southern Miss) = 35 snaps. 2 tackles and a sack. LB - Luke Bauer (Morehead State) = 49 snaps. 3 tackles. CB - Tyson Durant (Washington State) = 60 snaps. 8 tackles and 1 PD. S - Corey Thomas (Virginia) = 74 snaps. 6 tackles and 1 PD. S - Jaden Woods (East Tennessee State) = 32 snaps. 3 tackles. Backups for new team: WR - Anthony Williams (Alcorn State) = N/A TE - Caleb Anderson (Alcorn State) = N/A S - KJ Martin (NC State) = N/A DNP: QB - Ryan Jankowski (UMASS) QB - Dijon Jennings (Weber State)* QB - Steele Wasel (Oklahoma) RB - CJ Price (Jackson State) RT - Ronan Chambers (Auburn)* OL - Ka’Marii Landers (Baylor) OL - Alex Robarge (Southern Illinois) LB - Andrew Behm (Southern Illinois) LB - Jaharon Griffin (Alcorn State)* DB - Rishad Hence (Eastern Kentucky) All caught up now.

Week 8 Starters for new team: WR - Jasaiah Gathings (UCONN) = 63 snaps. 7 receptions for 75 yards and a TD. WR - Oran Singleton (Eastern Michigan) = 61 snaps. 4 receptions for 23 yards. RG - Tony Georges (Kent State) = 53 snaps. RT - Jordan Daniels (Western Carolina) = 55 snaps. RT - Xavior Gray (Liberty) = BYE RT - Nate Williams (San Diego State) = BYE DE - Curtis Fann (Western Carolina) = 27 snaps. 2 tackles. DE - Ryan Johnson (Southern Miss) = 44 snaps. LB - Luke Bauer (Morehead State) = N/A CB - Tyson Durant (Washington State) = 45 snaps. 4 tackles. S - Corey Thomas (Virginia) = 79 snaps. 7 tackles. S - Jaden Woods (East Tennessee State) = N/A Backups for new team: WR - Anthony Williams (Alcorn State) = 10 snaps. TE - Caleb Anderson (Alcorn State) = 12 snaps. S - KJ Martin (NC State) = 10 snaps. DNP: QB - Ryan Jankowski (UMASS) QB - Dijon Jennings (Weber State)* QB - Steele Wasel (Oklahoma) RB - CJ Price (Jackson State) RT - Ronan Chambers (Auburn)* OL - Ka’Marii Landers (Baylor) OL - Alex Robarge (Southern Illinois) LB - Andrew Behm (Southern Illinois) LB - Jaharon Griffin (Alcorn State)* DB - Rishad Hence (Eastern Kentucky) Ill try to get Week 9 up today as well.

Bump for updates. The portal is just around the corner…

We actually haven’t been on the list for several weeks. McGee saw us play live against South Carolina and took us off his bottom 10 a week or two after. I’m with you, 3-1 OOC seems very realistic next season. I guess if that comes to pass we’ll have to find someone else to fire…

Lembo gushes about Akron for about 7 straight minutes starting around the 3 minute mark. He talks more about Moorhead and the MAC later on too. Entertaining presser.

I’ve been as critical of Bullock (as a QB) as anyone here, but we definitely don’t win that game without him. Multiple 1st down conversions and the 2 touchdowns were a difference in the game. He’s given the offense a needed boost in this role.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Brown-Demery work his way onto the two deep as a freshman.

Bump for update. Removed some players that won’t realistically make it unless they have a few massive games to finish out the season. If that happens, I’ll add them back.

Bump for update.

I doubt he gets drafted, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him work his way onto an NFL roster similar to Zach Morton.

Hopefully, it gets cleaned up. We’ll see. A number of recruits were at the game for the win. We have a chance to really create some momentum.

I didn’t actually see what Nunnally did, only heard about it. I know Reed was about to do something similar back at Nunnally, but then realized it wasn’t the smart thing to do and stopped. I did see coach Wart giving Nunnally an ear full once he came off the field. Bullock certainly seems comfortable and is playing with confidence. I think almost everyone was surprised when he didn't convert that 4th down. His positional flexibility has definitely given the offense a boost. I’d still prefer him to stay in this type of role and maybe used a little more like you mentioned, though I don’t want to see him as QB1. We ran a number of 6 man blitzes against EMU, but the LBs just aren’t getting home. Cooper was so good in that role last year. We’re finally in a good spot with depth on the roster, but we are losing 4 keys players on the DL and 1 (maybe 2?) key on the OL. The portal and JUCO will be important again. Players who will exhaust their eligibility: DL DE - Nunnally DE - Adler DE - Richards DT - Lavea DT - Kapongo OL LT - Blanchard RT - Thomas LT - Fields