catdaddyp

Here’s a further breakdown: Vs P4: Outscored 50.3 - 10 Yardage 489.3 - 212.6 Vs Non-P4 Outscored 27.7 - 21.2 Yardage 364 - 354

I’m not in the locker room, but I don’t think culture is an issue. The players seem to generally be good guys and they play hard. Discipline is there to an extent. It’s just not where it needs to be in my opinion.

It’s not the portal or roster turnover. Gathings moved on to UCONN and hasn’t had a single flag thrown on him this season. Miss. State’s QB missed the bowl game in 2019 due to a black eye. A teammate felt bold enough to punch the QB just days before the bowl game. Don’t get me wrong, fights happen at practice. It’s football. But players know which lines are acceptable to cross and which aren’t.

I don’t know, judging by that game, the refs may be so tired they can’t actually tell if a field goal is good or not.

500 yards of offense and we still find a way to lose…. QB: Finley may have only thrown one interception, but there were four other times where he could have been intercepted. He did throw some beautiful passes and can clearly make most throws - finishing with 395 yards passing. That said, just because he can make a difficult throw doesn’t always mean he should attempt to make that throw. Bullock was a factor and was used in a variety of ways. RB: The backs were more of a threat in the passing game than in the run game. However, Simmons ran hard and still collected 4.8 ypc and a touchdown. He finished with 160 yards of total offense. Kellom’s fumble hurt and led to another WMU score. WR: Norton absolutely torched the WMU defense. He finished with 168 yards on 8 receptions. Norton also had two receptions called back that may have been phantom penalties. The other receivers were fine, but there were opportunities left on the table as not all catchable balls were brought in. TE: Even though Cravaack saw the majority of action at TE, Bullock started. Cravaack wasn’t overwhelmed and did ok. He’s just a redshirt freshman and still has some work to do before becoming consistently productive like Newell. OL: Hopefully, the OL naysayers will rein in some of the negative OL rhetoric. No team collects 500 yards of offense without a decent OL. No, our OL is not elite and they could be improved in the run game, but they have done a solid job the past few weeks and the talent is certainly there. Akron has never had the top rated pass protector in the MAC (in the PFF era) and Blanchard is firmly holding down that spot in 2024. DL: We started out using a 3 man DT front and had WMU’s run game corralled until the turnovers occurred and the score flipped. Once that happened, WMU became more balanced and we went back to our Nickel defense. WMU’s RBs were able to gash us on a few big runs and key 3rd downs from there. As good as we were for a period of time against the run, we struggled the entire game to put consistent pressure on the QB. LB: McCoy was lights out good. He and Fish played nearly every snap. I believe they missed a single tackle between the two of them. DB: D. Lewis started at safety, and again, was really good. He’s having an All-MAC caliber season. P. Lewis had an up and down game. Outside of one snap, these two played every snap at safety. Golden-Nelson was excellent outside of one play, where he allowed the WR to get behind him for an explosive play. Reed got his first start and saw extensive action at the other CB spot. He was targeted twice as much as Golden-Nelson and held up well. Reed has an incredibly high upside and likely won’t relinquish the starting role unless injuries dictate otherwise. ST: What a disappointing day after the special teams have been excellent all year. I thought ST would be an area where we had an advantage as WMU has struggled all season. Instead, a muffed punt steam rolled into 4 turnovers. Coaching: The positive: A+ for the gameplan going into the contest on both sides of the ball and for in-game play-calling. The negative: Untimely penalties, not taking advantage of timeouts, and simple fundamental issues (catching punts, ball control, etc.) was our achilles heel. Penalties are going to happen. In fact, some of the best teams in 2023 were also the most heavily penalized. The difference is those teams didn’t have many pre-snap (false starts, delay of games) or post snap (personal fouls) penalties. While we didn’t have a ton of penalties this game, the ones we did have were untimely, sometimes avoidable, and quite simply just more of the same. I can’t recall a team gaining 500 yards of offense (100+ more than the opponent) and losing the turnover battle 4 to 0. I thought for sure we’d at least force one turnover and get things back on track, but that didn’t happen. It’s another disappointing loss and another display of the talent level being on par with a MAC opponent. Our opportunities to collect some wins and change the perception of the program are dwindling. 5 more chances in 2024… We now have a much needed bye week and will hopefully get the majority of injured players back for EMU. QB Finley Bullock RB Simmons Kellom WR Norton P. Davis WR Golden Rush WR Polk Granger TE Bullock Cravaack Whisner LT Blanchard Shor LG Morris Seymore C T. Williams RG K. Davis Burrell RT James D. Thomas DE Adler Dall Richards DE Nunnally Cheatom DT Moore Brockington DT Kapongo Madden DT Lavea LB Fish LB McCoy Spriggs (NB) Greenwood T. Thomas CB Golden-Nelson DeWalt CB Reed Hunter S P. Lewis Roach S D. Lewis Top 5 Players Offense: ATH - Bullock WR - Norton RB - Simmons LG - Seymore LT - Blanchard Top 5 Players Defense: LB - McCoy DE - Adler NB - Greenwood CB - Reed S - D. Lewis

Not sure how they are going to complete this game tonight. Looks like bad weather until about midnight. Curious to see how this shakes out….

Out: WR - Adams WR - Walker LB - Cooper CB - White S - David S - Anderson Questionable: TE - Newell

Agreed, Nunnally and Adler are playing extremely well. Moorhead said he didn’t know Adler’s health status in any of his media sessions, so we may see a lot more of Richards and Dall this week if Adler is limited. Richards has been playing really well in his newfound backup role and is actually the top rated player on defense. That said, he’s played under 80 snaps, so that’s a skewed metric and the reason I didn’t add him above. The DT rotation is deep and will need to be solid again against WMU. Brockington has been good the past two weeks as he has picked up Murphy’s snaps. Moore has been a nightmare for opposing centers when he is lined up at NT. Moore is a guy who seems to get better every week and we’ll be fortunate to hang on to him for the duration of his career. Murphy may be hurt. He hasn’t seen any action in the past two weeks after being a top backup the first 4 weeks of the season. The “play 4 games, redshirt, and transfer” ordeal did cross my mind, but he’s already used his redshirt (unless he applies for a medical redshirt), so I don’t think that’s the case. On a different note, we’ve had an unusual amount of missed tackles this season (the whole defense, not just one position) and I have to believe that was due to the brutal non-conference slate. It really showed up in the 2nd half against Rutgers. Tackling was decent against a talent deprived Colgate squad, and then reared its ugly head the following two weeks against South Carolina and Ohio. I believe injuries really played a part in that because we looked much crisper against a Bowling Green team (who is better in almost every area than Ohio). We’ll definitely need to tackle well this week and I expect we’ll devote an extra player to the box and play a lot of man on the backend. We play a lot of man anyway, but I expect we’ll see it more than usual this game. My guess is we’ll force WMU to prove they can throw the ball on us. I’m not sure they can without a run game. On the flip side, if WMU can get their run game going, it may be a long afternoon.

OL played well most of the game. Looked like BGSU adjusted their defense some after halftime and JoeMo adjusted his playcalling in the 4th. I didn’t see any plays we haven’t run before, but some plays work better against certain alignments. Execution always helps too. Finley made some beautiful throws and reads in the run game.

And his replacement.

As I was going through and updating recruiting, I noticed Gregory-Bey decommitted back in early September. He was one I didn’t think would stick to his commitment.

Top Rated Players (according to PFF) going into this game: OFFENSE: (150+ Snaps) RB- Simmons LG - Seymore RT - James WR - Norton RB - Kellom DEFENSE: (150+ Snaps) DE - Nunnally DE - Adler DT - Moore S - D. Lewis NB - Greenwood SPECIAL TEAMS: (40+ Snaps) S - P. Lewis S - Conroy S - Roach NB - T. Thomas LS - Reardon

Bump for Top Ratings update. - 4 out of 5 players on offense were on the OL. Also, Blanchard is now the top rated pass protector in the MAC at OT. - Each position had a player in the top 5 on defense.

There is no NIL budget. 2022 Freshmen Still on the Team: LB - Bryan McCoy (2023 All-MAC) WR - Bobby Golden (Starter) OL - Keylen Davis (Starter) OL - Tyhler Williams (Starter) RB - Charles Kellom (Part-Time Starter) DT - Kiawan Murphy (Two Deep) Transfer Portal Additions still on the Team: WR - Alex Adams (2022 All-MAC, but has been plagued by injuries since) CB - Devontae Golden-Nelson (Starter) JUCO Addition still on the Team: LB - Antavious Fish (Starter) 2022 Freshmen No Longer on the Team: OL - Ki’Marii Landers (Part-Time Starter) QB - Dijon Jennings RB - Anthony Stallworth TE - Marquell Darnell OL - Jourden Hale LB - Jaharon Griffin Transfer Portal Additions No Longer on the Team: ( * has been placed beside players who have exhausted their eligibility) WR - Daniel George (2023 All-MAC) * WR - Shocky Jaquel-Louis (2022 All-MAC) * OL - Anthony Whigan (2022 All-MAC) * S - Kerry Martin (2023 All-MAC) TE - TJ Banks (Starter) * DE - Victor Jones (Starter)* DT - Curtis Harper (Starter) * DT - Ravontae Holt (Starter) * QB - Jeff Undercuffler (Part-Time Starter) * RB - Clyde Price (Part-Time Starter) RB - Cam Wiley (Part-Time Starter) OL - Max Banes (Part-Time Starter) LB - Tim Terry (Part-Time Starter)* S - Nate Thompson (Part-Time Starter)* DT - Devon Robinson (Two Deep) S - Jaden Woods (Two Deep) TE - Caden Clark JUCO Additions No Longer on the Team: WR - Caleb Anderson (Two Deep) DT - Kyle Thomas (Two Deep) CB - Cam Threatt Losing 11 one score games is being competitive in those game, It’s just not winning.

Not much to report from this past weekend’s games… Week 6 Starters for new team: WR - Jasaiah Gathings (UCONN) = 78 snaps. 3 receptions for 29 yards. WR - Oran Singleton (Eastern Michigan) = BYE WR - Anthony Williams (Alcorn State) = N/A RG - Tony Georges (Kent State) = BYE RT - Jordan Daniels (Western Carolina) = N/A RT - Xavior Gray (Liberty) = N/A RT - Nate Williams (San Diego State) = 71 snaps. DE - Curtis Fann (Western Carolina) = N/A LB - Luke Bauer (Morehead State) = N/A S - Corey Thomas (Virginia) = 60 snaps. 6 tackles. S - Jaden Woods (East Tennessee State) = N/A Backups for new team: TE - Caleb Anderson (Alcorn State) = N/A DE - Ryan Johnson (Southern Miss) = 49 snaps. 4 tackles and a sack. LB - Jaharon Griffin (Alcorn State) = N/A CB - Tyson Durant (Washington State) = N/A S - KJ Martin (NC State) = 18 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) DB - Rishad Hence (Eastern Kentucky)

Bump for update.

I don’t know if it’s a must win, but it would definitely go a long way in gaining some momentum and finishing the back half of season on a high note. That’s where the majority of our potential wins were going to come from anyway.

Blanchard moved into the #1 spot as the MAC’s top rated OT pass protector. Nunnally is also back in position to be be selected as All-MAC again.

Game thread and preview. QB: Hayden Wolff is in his second season with WMU and is currently completing close to 70% of his passes for 907 yards. He has thrown for 7 TDs vs 2 INTs. Wolff has been able to complete 75% of his passes when not pressured. When pressured, that number drops to 53%. RB: The Broncos have two excellent backs in Oklahoma State transfer Jaden Nixon and senior Zahir Abdul-Salaam. 2023 All-MAC RB Jalen Buckley is being slowly incorporated back into the lineup from injury. Nixon is 2nd in the MAC with 484 yards rushing and 6 touchdowns. Abdul-Salaam is 10th in the MAC with 225 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. WR: Senior Anthony Sambucci has been the go-to target at WR. He has 22 receptions for 286 yards and 2 touchdowns. Senior Kenneth Wommack has gotten involved in the past two games and has 13 receptions for 111 yards. TE: Junior Blake Bosma is usually good for at least a few catches per game. He has 15 receptions for 157 yards and 2 touchdowns. OL: The OL is a veteran group that can be a punishing tandem with the RBs. They have also done a solid job of keeping Wolff upright this season. LT - Tedi Kushi (R. Sr.) LG - John Hofer (R. Jr.) C - Jacob Gideon (Sr.) RG - Addison West (R. Sr.) RT - Jack Sherwin (R. Sr.) DL: Junior Tyson Lee is a starter at one DE spot, while junior Corey Walker will likely start on the opposite side. Lee has 9 tackles and a sack. Walker has 10 tackles and 3 sacks. Iowa transfer Anterio Thompson and junior Mason Nelson start on the interior. Thompson has 15 tackles. Nelson has 13 tackles and 2 sacks. LB: Senior Donald Willis is having an All-MAC caliber season and is 7th with 43 tackles. His running mate is Jacob Wahlberg who has 28 tackles and a sack. DB: Senior cornerback Bilal Kone (we also offered in the 2023 portal cycle) is also having an All-MAC caliber season. Kone has 29 tackles and 5 PDs. Opposite Kone will likely be Tennessee Tech transfer Nyquann Washington. Washington has 9 tackles and 3 PDs. Senior Damari Robinson is the NB. He has 18 tackles and 2 PDs. Senior Tate Hallock starts at one safety spot, while junior Aaron Wolford starts at the other. Hallock has collected 31 tackles, 2 PDs, and 1 INT. Wolford has 21 tackles and 1 INT. K: WMU has utilized two kickers so far, but Butler transfer Luka Zurak has gotten most of the action. He is 4 of 5 on FGs and 16 of 16 on XPs. P: Redshirt freshman Ryan Millmore is averaging 43.1 yards per punt with 9 downed inside the 20 yard line. KR: RB Jaden Nixon is the main return man and is averaging 19.1 yards per return with a long of 27 yards. Breakdown: Offense - WMU’s bread and butter is running the football. The passing game is effective when the running game is humming. Wolff is not fleet of foot and can be limited by a pass rush and lack of run game. However, when he has time, Wolff can pick apart a defense. Defense - WMU’s defense has been hit or miss. They were soft against a not so good Ball State offense, but were much better the game before against Marshall. Akron and WMU are very similar in terms of defensive statistics, except WMU has only managed to create 5 turnovers thus far. Summary: This is absolutely a winnable game as these two teams seem evenly matched. It will likely come down to coaching and special teams play. WMU has had issues with their special teams coverage, so that could be an area where Zips gain an advantage on field position. If Akron can pull out a victory here, then go into the bye week and get some more players healthy, the back half of the season could get interesting.

I’m a week behind on this. Here are last week’s results. Week 5 Starters for new team: WR - Jasaiah Gathings (UCONN) = 57 snaps. 4 receptions for 27 yards. WR - Oran Singleton (Eastern Michigan) = 75 snaps. 7 receptions for 51 yards and a TD. WR - Anthony Williams (Alcorn State) = N/A RG - Tony Georges (Kent State) = 67 snaps. RT - Jordan Daniels (Western Carolina) = BYE RT - Xavior Gray (Liberty) = BYE RT - Nate Williams (San Diego State) = 71 snaps. DE - Curtis Fann (Western Carolina) = BYE LB - Luke Bauer (Morehead State) = 49 snaps. 4 Tackles. S - Corey Thomas (Virginia) = BYE S - Jaden Woods (East Tennessee State) = 68 snaps. 2 Tackles, 1 FF, and a PD. Backups for new team: TE - Caleb Anderson (Alcorn State) = N/A DE - Ryan Johnson (Southern Miss) = BYE LB - Jaharon Griffin (Alcorn State) = N/A CB - Tyson Durant (Washington State) = 51 snaps. 2 Tackles. S - KJ Martin (NC State) = 51 snaps. 7 Tackles and a PD. 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) DB - Rishad Hence (Eastern Kentucky)

QB: Finley only missed on a handful of throws (not counting the ones where he was pressured and had no chance) and was much better this week. He moved around well in the pocket and usually got the ball out quickly. Finley zipped a few passes that we haven’t seen a QB do since 2022 DJI. If Finley continues to play at this level, we’ll have a chance in the rest of our games. RB: Simmons made the most of his opportunities in both the pass and run game. I would have liked to have seen him get more touches (9 rushing attempts and 5 receiving). Kellom didn’t have as many opportunities this game. WR: I can only recall one drop. The WRs did a solid job blocking on the perimeter and caught almost everything that came their way. Norton had substantial yards after the catch. Golden played every snap due to Adams, Rush, and Walker being out. TE: Newell again played almost every snap. It’s too bad he wasn’t expecting the pass on the last series, as Finley put it right on him. OL: That was the best showing by the OL to date. Morris got the start at LG with Seymore listed as out. D. Thomas surprisingly got the start at RT, despite James’ recent play. (LG) Morris and (C) Williams played every snap. DL: That was also the DL’s best pass rush showing to date. Pressure came from all over. Nunnally, Adler, Dall, and Brockington each had sacks and the defense collected 9 tackles for loss. LB: McCoy and Fish were excellent. The defense as a whole tackled much better than last week. They had 20+ misses against Ohio and less than 10 this week. Spriggs and Benenge saw early snaps. Spriggs looked explosive and the light may be coming on for him. DB: There were a few glaring busts that led to explosive plays, but outside of that, the secondary was solid. Only 3 safeties played (P. Lewis, D. Lewis, Anderson). When either P. Lewis or Anderson came out the game, D. Lewis slid from NB to safety. Greenwood or T. Thomas filled in at NB. Reed and DeWalt backed up Golden-Nelson and Hunter. ST: Outside of a shanked punt, special teams were excellent again - even scoring a touchdown this game. Coaching: Unfortunately, it’s the same old song and dance. The team played well enough to win and had the lead/ were tied for a period of time. That’s now 11 games lost by a single score (slightly over 1/3 of total games played) during Moorhead’s tenure. He has to find a way to get this team over the hump. QB: Finley Bullock RB: Simmons Kellom WR: Norton P. Davis WR: Golden WR: Polk Granger TE: Newell Cravaack LT: Blanchard Shor LG: Morris C Williams RG: K. Davis Burrell RT: Thomas James DE: Adler Dall DE: Nunnally Richards DT: Lavea Kapongo Madden DT: Moore Brockington LB: Fish Benenge LB: McCoy Spriggs NB: D. Lewis Greenwood Thomas CB: Golden-Nelson DeWalt CB: Hunter Reed S: P. Lewis D. Lewis S: Anderson D. Lewis Top Players on Offense (25 Plays or more): RT - James (was RT D. Thomas) WR - Norton (was RG K. Davis) LT - Blanchard RT - D. Thomas (was WR Norton) RG - K. Davis (was QB Finley) Top Rated Players on Defense (25 Plays or more): DE - Dall LB - Fish DT - Brockington (was DT Kapongo) S - D. Lewis (was DE Nunnally) CB - Hunter Top Rated players on Special Teams: LS - Reardon S - P. Lewis CB - DeWalt WR - P. Davis WR - Golden

Big time recruiting weekend. Let’s hope Zips put on a show.