Game 11 (Kent State) Thoughts

[catdaddyp]

OFFENSE
QB:

Finley was a mixed bag…again. At times, he threw some pinpoint passes and at other times he was just off. Finley completed 48% of his throws for 250 passing yards and a touchdown. Finley did finish the contest without an interception (despite putting the ball in harms way several times) and did not take a sack.

Bullock was effective as a runner and collected 35 yards with 2 touchdowns on the ground. On the negative side, Bullock took a sack, fumbled, and also missed a wide open Cravaack for what would have been a touchdown.

 

RB:

For the first time this year, we leaned on the run game - rushing the ball a total of 45 times. Simmons and Kellom finished with over 100 yards rushing a piece. Simmons took a knock on his long run and didn’t seem the same on his two runs after that. Both backs were excellent in pass protection. 

 

WR:

What a difference a week makes. After 8 drops against NIU, the wideouts caught almost everything that came their way. Norton made several incredibly difficult catches and finished with 5 receptions for 107 yards. The perimeter blocking may have been the best it’s been all year.

 

TE:

Newell and Cravaack had only a handful of opportunities in the passing game, but they were extremely effective as blockers.

 

OL:

The OL often struggled with Kent’s pass rush. We actually did a nice job of picking up 3rd down blitzes, but besides that it wasn’t always pretty. That said, our run blocking was some of the best it’s been this year. Center T. Williams was dominant against the interior of Kent’s DL and climbed to the linebackers multiple times. He easily had his best game of the season.

DEFENSE

DL:

Moore consistently disrupted plays at NT/DT. Former Zips center Tony Georges was badly overmatched and there wasn’t anything he could do against Moore. The other defensive tackles were solid against the run. Madden managed to collect a sack despite our usual lack of pass rush from the DTs.

The DEs did a nice job of containing the edges and forcing plays back to the LBs. Nunnally had one of his best games overall and added another sack.

 

LB:

Linebacker play was excellent outside of one gap bust where Summers filled directly beside McCoy. Even though Fish and Summers started the game, McCoy played the most snaps. Summers is coming along, but needs to pump the brakes on running his mouth so much to the opponent. That behavior will eventually cost us.

 

DB:

Reed and Golden-Nelson started at CB and are easily our best options at this point. Reed snagged his first interception of the season. Hunter, DeWalt, White, and Jarmen were the backups.

J. Anderson returned from injury to start alongside P. Lewis. 

D. Lewis started at NB and backed up the safeties. Greenwood subbed in at NB. 

To say P. Lewis and D. Lewis did not have their best games in coverage would be putting it kindly. 
 

 

ST:

G. Smith was perfect on FGs and XPs. He went 3 for 3 on both, with a long of 43 yards on FGs. 

Book did not have his best day, but did manage to pin one punt deep inside Kent territory.

 

 

Coaching:

This was easily the best coached and executed game of the season. There was an emphasis on running the ball and Akron collected 529 yards of total offense compared to 281 for Kent State.

As well as the team played, we still had some pre/post snap penalties.

 

 

Kent is a bad football team. They pretty much did what they’ve done all season, which is get the ball to their three playmakers on offense and hope for the best. We shut down the RB and instead got beat on a few explosive plays by the two WRs. 

Their defense was as advertised with a few passes rushers and terrible against the run. 

It’ll be interesting to see where they go from here as far as Burns is concerned. The “youth movement” doesn’t seem to work in today’s age of the portal. The better players will continue to go elsewhere and it’ll be a constant backfill of incoming freshmen. Drayton tried the same thing at Temple and he’s already out the door. 

 

Vegas pinned us at 3.5 wins before the season began. Maybe next week we’ll come out and play a clean game (for once this season) and give ourselves a chance to finish on a high note.

 

 

QB:

Finley

Bullock

 

RB:

Simmons

Kellom

M. Williams

 

WR:

Norton

P. Davis

 

WR:

Golden

Rush

 

WR:

Granger

Polk

Mason

 

TE:

Newell

Cravaack

 

LT:

Blanchard

Shor

 

LG:

Morris

George

 

C

T. Williams

Mobley

 

RG:

K. Davis

Burrell

 

RT:

James

D. Thomas

 

 

DE:

Nunnally

Cheatom

Richards

 

DE:

Adler

Dall

 

DT:

Moore

Brockington

Hull

 

DT:

Kapongo

Madden  

Murphy

 

LB:

Summers

McCoy

 

LB:

Fish

McCoy

 

NB:

D. Lewis

Greenwood

 

CB:

Reed

White

DeWalt

 

CB:

Golden-Nelson

Hunter

Jarmen 

 

S:

P. Lewis

D. Lewis

 

S:

Anderson

D. Lewis

 

 

Top Offensive Players:

HB - Kellom

WR - Norton

HB - Simmons

WR - Polk

C - Williams

 

Top Defensive Players:

CB - Reed

LB - McCoy

DT - Moore

DE - Nunnally

LB - Summers

 

Edited 18 hours ago by catdaddyp