catdaddyp Posted Sunday at 05:34 PM Report Posted Sunday at 05:34 PM QB: It was definitely an up-and-down day for Finley. He made some big-time throws but also some head-scratchers. He finished just shy of 300 yards with three touchdowns, but those two interceptions on the final drives ended any chance of a comeback. We saw Johnson on the two-point try and never again — puzzling, especially given the struggles in short-yardage situations. RB: Gant couldn’t find much running room in the first half and even lost his footing a couple of times in short-yardage spots. Things opened up more after halftime, though, as Gant and Patrick combined for 118 rushing yards on the day. WR: I was pretty critical of the receivers last week, but they bounced back with an excellent performance this time around. Ball State’s secondary had trouble all day, especially the safeties, which led to several explosive plays. TE: Cravaack was on the field for nearly every offensive snap, and I thought he played really well. PFF and I don’t see eye to eye on this one, as they graded him below average. At this point, I’m not entirely sure what their criteria is when it comes to tight ends. I’m also not sure why Newell was out again, but either way, Cravaack looks like he’s starting to come into his own. OL: Much like Finley, it was an up-and-down day for this group. At times, the offensive line completely bullied Ball State’s front, and other times it looked like a jailbreak. Moorhead had several plays drawn up that could’ve gone for big gains if they hadn’t been blown up right from the start. The low point was probably when Ball State rushed three and we still couldn’t stay in front of them, even with double teams. No excuse for that. DL: We opened the game in a bear front with five defensive linemen and went back to that look quite a bit. At times, there were some clear alignment and gap issues — it looked like we weren’t sure where to line up, which led to some explosive plays for Ball State. On Kelly’s short touchdown run, for example, two defensive ends lined up next to each other, and when one flipped sides, the defensive tackles shifted that way too, leaving a huge lane for Kelly to run through. I do wonder if losing a day of practice played a role in that. One wrinkle I did like was using Dall as an overhang while shifting Laventure toward the edge. We actually dialed up one of my favorite blitzes out of that look, and it resulted in a sack. Credit to Tibesar for some creative adjustments, but also some blame — our guys looked lost at times. On the positive side, I thought Laventure played his best game of the year and was an absolute wrecking ball up front. LB: This goes for the entire defense — there were way too many missed tackles. A lot of that came from being out of position and having to take poor angles, but some were just flat-out misses. No position group is off the hook either, as the linebackers had their fair share of whiffs too. DB: I thought Anderson played well at safety until he went down with the injury. Johnson gave up a few plays but also came away with an interception. Ball State’s receivers didn’t do a ton of damage, yet their big tight end tore us for several explosive plays. Cornerback coverage was solid overall, but as I mentioned earlier, tackling was an issue. ST: Special teams were actually solid for most of the game, until that kickoff returned for a touchdown, which basically sealed things. Coaching: I don’t have many issues with the play calls — much of the passing game was there when the OL held up and Finley stayed tough in the pocket. That said, as I mentioned earlier, the short-yardage calls without Johnson didn’t make much sense on a day we were struggling to convert. Defensively, I liked the overall concept, but our guys looked lost and out of position far too often. Execution across the board needed work, and ultimately, that responsibility falls back on the staff. Final Thoughts: I came away feeling much the same as I did going in — this was a game we should have won. Too many penalties and lapses in execution cost us. Credit to Ball State, though, for taking advantage of what was there and sticking to what works for their roster. Next up is a Buffalo team that’s been underwhelming in conference play. We’ll see if our guys can bounce back and put together a solid performance on the road. QB: Finley Johnson RB: Gant Patrick WR: MA. Williams Grear WR: Walker Mason WR: Polk Monteiro TE: Cravaack Whisner LT: DA. Johnson Motley-Simmons LG: McManus Archer C Lyons Morris RG: K. Davis RT: King DE: Durham D. Frazier DE: Dall J. Frazier DT: Laventure Mixon DT: Hull Murphy Musika LB: Cooper Spriggs LB: Summers Boswell NB: AL. Branch AA. Branch T. Davis CB: DeWalt Kamara CB: Reed T. Thomas S: Anderson Flowers S: DI. Johnson Hunter Offense (20 snap min.) WR - Grear WR - Mason WR - Polk LG - Archer C - Lyons Defense (20 snap min.) DT - Laventure LB - Summers S - Anderson NB - AA. Branch CB - Reed 1 Quote
Lee Adams Posted Monday at 12:40 AM Report Posted Monday at 12:40 AM Afraid it's too late in the season to expect things to change. Finley is what he has been and hasn't really progressed. Gant is really the only offensive player you can hang your hat on. O line still isn't good enough to take over a game. As a unit the D could be servicable but but isn't going to take over against quality opponents. The lack of program progress is on the head coach immediately. But goes to the people in the athletic department long term. Until a REALISTIC vision for the program is established it's the same movie season after season. 1 Quote
ZippyDoo Posted Monday at 01:52 PM Report Posted Monday at 01:52 PM What's really scary is the homer announcers that hype up the team every week say this is the best offensive line that Joe has had since he has been here. But then again, these are the same announcers that week in and week out say how "tough" is or how he has a top Division 1 arm that most Division coaches wish they had. I know their job is to build excitement around the team and to keep the fans involved but I have watched a lot of football. Finley is scared to death to get hit. Don't tell me how tough he is or how he is willing to put his body on the line for his team. There are players that are worth hyping even though the team is not doing well. I do enjoy watching these guys play. They can be very exciting at times. Imagine if the DLine could get pressure on the qb consistently how good the corners would be... Summers is consistent at the blitzes and Coop is really good. If Laventure was taller that man would be going Power 4 for sure he is like a roided out energizer bunny. They will all be gone next year, the only one that may come back and I think it is a big stretch is Laventure. I hope he gets a chance to go somewhere bigger and get paid, but I just don't know if a bigger school will take a chance on him. PFF has these guys ranked very high nationally: Coop 127 Summers 189 Dewalt 38 Reed 43 Laventure 101 Hall 245 I know I posted this before but it's time to see what the freshman can do. I saw Davis out there Saturday. He is very athletic and isn't afraid to hit. I did think he was going to get called for the targeting but he came up and rocked the QB. We have ZERO production from any edge rushers other than Hall and Durham time to see what the freshman can do now... The Frazier experiment is over. They are linebackers not edge rushers. Let's see what the linebackers can do, and let's see what the 6'5 320 defensive tackle can do... I can't imagine many people are going to stop him on a bull rush... Quote
exit322 Posted Monday at 01:57 PM Report Posted Monday at 01:57 PM The offensive line is legitimately fine. Finley just has a bad combination of "scared to take a hit" and "his internal clock is a sundial." Quote
Sergeant Zip Posted Monday at 02:07 PM Report Posted Monday at 02:07 PM 20 hours ago, catdaddyp said: DB: I thought Anderson played well at safety until he went down with the injury. Any updates on Justin Anderson? Quote
kreed5120 Posted Monday at 02:53 PM Report Posted Monday at 02:53 PM 44 minutes ago, ZippyDoo said: What's really scary is the homer announcers that hype up the team every week say this is the best offensive line that Joe has had since he has been here. I've been critical of Akron football, but this statement might actually be true. Not because our offensive line is good, but because in prior years it has been far worse. At the very least they have been able to open up some running lanes for Gant and Patrick. We're on pace to run for about 300 more yards than any other of Moorhead's Akron teams. Quote
ZippyDoo Posted Monday at 04:58 PM Report Posted Monday at 04:58 PM I guess I haven't watched long enough to judge the line. (PFF has all the starters ranked in the top half of the country) Gant and Patrick (when healthy) can be very exciting. It would be hard to have a running game when the other team isn't worried about a passing game. The finley comments kill me though they are always raving about this guy and I just don't see it. I watched him last year and any time he would take a hit he would get up like he got hit by a Mack truck and this year all you hear about is how he put on 15 pounds of muscle and how tough he is but then he gators up when anyone gets near him, intentionally grounds it on 4th and 7 and shows no toughness at all. I thought Newell would have a big season but he has only played in four games. hopefully he comes back from his concussion soon but Cravaack has been decent I think he is playing every snap. Alex Adams went from Pre-Season All MAC to ZERO stats he played in week one and week 4 not sure what happened there but that is a huge let down. Polk has already surpassed all of last years totals hopefully he comes back... Mason is very exciting and electric... In all fairness I do stand corrected. PFF Grades for the O Line are very respectful Here are the national rankings: Center: (297 ranked FBS and FCS) Lyons 116 Morris 273 Guards: (642 ranked FBS and FCS) Archer 114 Davis 151 McManus 303 Tackles (616 Ranked) King 76 Motley-Simmons 191 Allen-Jones 194 Johnson 332 Whether its Joe Mo or a new coaching staff next year they will be right back to square one again rebuilding... The whole o line is gone except Mcmanus. Both qbs wr's always leave and I would be surprised if Gant doesn't hit the portal. Defensively, we lose our whole secondary pretty much, Cooper and Summers both, Murphy and Madden both graduate, you know Dall is gonna hit the portal. I wouldn't be surprised if Hull does considering Marcus Moore hit it last year and Hull's numbers seem to be better. Laventure is ranked so much better and like i said he is an energizer bunny his size is the only thing I think holding him back and I think Durham will probably go, but his production does not match his playing time. He now has played more snaps than any edge rusher in all of FBS yet there are only 84 edge rushers ranked lower in all of FBS so who knows what options he will have. Should make for an interesting off season. It's a shame with four games left I'm already looking forward to the off season. OFFENSE: Linemen: Wrs: Qbs: Rbs: King Most Likely Transfer ? Walker Finley Gant Transfer ? Davis Most Likely Transfer ? Grear Johnson Archer Adams Lyons Motley-Simmons Johnson Defense: Secondary: Linebackers: Defensive line Branch Cooper Dall Transfer ? Anderson Summers Murphy Reed Transfer ? Madden Dewalt Durham Transfer ? Quote
catdaddyp Posted Monday at 09:20 PM Author Report Posted Monday at 09:20 PM 7 hours ago, Sergeant Zip said: Any updates on Justin Anderson? Moorhead said it turned out to not be anything serious. Just an “upper body” injury. 1 Quote
MDZip Posted Tuesday at 01:42 AM Report Posted Tuesday at 01:42 AM 4 hours ago, catdaddyp said: Moorhead said it turned out to not be anything serious. Just an “upper body” injury. Excellent - it looked pretty scary. 👍 1 Quote
ZippyDoo Posted Wednesday at 12:53 PM Report Posted Wednesday at 12:53 PM On 10/20/2025 at 12:58 PM, ZippyDoo said: I guess I haven't watched long enough to judge the line. (PFF has all the starters ranked in the top half of the country) Gant and Patrick (when healthy) can be very exciting. It would be hard to have a running game when the other team isn't worried about a passing game. The finley comments kill me though they are always raving about this guy and I just don't see it. I watched him last year and any time he would take a hit he would get up like he got hit by a Mack truck and this year all you hear about is how he put on 15 pounds of muscle and how tough he is but then he gators up when anyone gets near him, intentionally grounds it on 4th and 7 and shows no toughness at all. I thought Newell would have a big season but he has only played in four games. hopefully he comes back from his concussion soon but Cravaack has been decent I think he is playing every snap. Alex Adams went from Pre-Season All MAC to ZERO stats he played in week one and week 4 not sure what happened there but that is a huge let down. Polk has already surpassed all of last years totals hopefully he comes back... Mason is very exciting and electric... In all fairness I do stand corrected. PFF Grades for the O Line are very respectful Here are the national rankings: Center: (297 ranked FBS and FCS) Lyons 116 Morris 273 Guards: (642 ranked FBS and FCS) Archer 114 Davis 151 McManus 303 Tackles (616 Ranked) King 76 Motley-Simmons 191 Allen-Jones 194 Johnson 332 Whether its Joe Mo or a new coaching staff next year they will be right back to square one again rebuilding... The whole o line is gone except Mcmanus. Both qbs wr's always leave and I would be surprised if Gant doesn't hit the portal. Defensively, we lose our whole secondary pretty much, Cooper and Summers both, Murphy and Madden both graduate, you know Dall is gonna hit the portal. I wouldn't be surprised if Hull does considering Marcus Moore hit it last year and Hull's numbers seem to be better. Laventure is ranked so much better and like i said he is an energizer bunny his size is the only thing I think holding him back and I think Durham will probably go, but his production does not match his playing time. He now has played more snaps than any edge rusher in all of FBS yet there are only 84 edge rushers ranked lower in all of FBS so who knows what options he will have. Should make for an interesting off season. It's a shame with four games left I'm already looking forward to the off season. OFFENSE: Linemen: Wrs: Qbs: Rbs: King Most Likely Transfer ? Walker Finley Gant Transfer ? Davis Most Likely Transfer ? Grear Johnson Archer Adams Lyons Motley-Simmons Johnson Defense: Secondary: Linebackers: Defensive line Branch Cooper Dall Transfer ? Anderson Summers Murphy Reed Transfer ? Madden Dewalt Durham Transfer ? PFF has updated their stats following the week 8 game. I admit was critical of Laventure because of his size (6'1 270) but he has proven me wrong week in and week out this is one guy that Leonard got right, in my opinion one of the very few, but Laventure is crushing it.... PFF today has him rated 82 in ALL OF FBS AND FCS out of 902 interior defensemen with a rating of 77.1 and 442 snaps. That is incredible. Dall climbed up and is now ranked 205 out of 846 with a rating of 73.9. He has consistently been in the top quarter of all FBS and FCS again very consistent. The rest of the D line though leaves much to be desired and a lot of questions in my opinion. The edge rushers have a total of 7 sacks and that is very misleading. Durham had 2 against Central Michigan and Dall had 2 against Duquesne. And they only have 11 QBH's combined. Nothing from any edge rusher other than Durham and Dall. Durham is now 726 out of 846 with a below average rating of 59.8. Yet he has more snaps than any edge in all of FBS and third in all of Division 1. His stats don't justify it. He isn't that good. The Frazier twins are worse. D. Frazier is 839 out of 846 and has a rating of 51.5 and j.Frazier is 55.7. They each of one solo tackle. Just by playing in 8 games you could have a solo tackle. Where is Cheatom (17 snaps week 1)??? Where is Duncan (8 snaps week 1 and 2), Brown (15 snaps week 5), Murphy (11 snaps week 2 and 4) Watkins and Kavals were both highly recruited out of high school there are four games left are we going to see them? It is almost mathematically impossible for them to be worse than the Fraziers. The Fraziers are not edge rushers, they are linebackers anyone can see that. They are athletic freaks and should be playing linebacker. Laventure has 3 sacks and 5 qbh's tied for second on the team with Durham. Laventure, Dall, and Durham are the only D Linemen with sacks and with the exception of 2 qbhs by Hull and 1 by Kaiwan Murphy, Laventure, Dall, and Durham are the only ones with any QBH's ! Laventure, Dall, Durham TFL's 20; Sacks 10, QBH's 15 - The rest of the entire defensive line combined - TFL's 1.5; Sacks 0, QBH's 3... Laventure, Hull, Murphy, and Mixon are pretty much the only four interior defensive linemen that play. Rankings, 82, 511, 714, 841; what happened to Madden he is a redshirt senior and has played 15 snaps, Vega has played 3; Brown-Demery is 6'5 320 depending on what you look at he can't go in on specific plays and get pressure? 2 Quote
Let'sGoZips94 Posted Wednesday at 10:07 PM Report Posted Wednesday at 10:07 PM On 10/20/2025 at 9:57 AM, exit322 said: The offensive line is legitimately fine. Finley just has a bad combination of "scared to take a hit" and "his internal clock is a sundial." Quote
catdaddyp Posted yesterday at 04:13 AM Author Report Posted yesterday at 04:13 AM (edited) 15 hours ago, ZippyDoo said: PFF has updated their stats following the week 8 game. I admit was critical of Laventure because of his size (6'1 270) but he has proven me wrong week in and week out this is one guy that Leonard got right, in my opinion one of the very few, but Laventure is crushing it.... PFF today has him rated 82 in ALL OF FBS AND FCS out of 902 interior defensemen with a rating of 77.1 and 442 snaps. That is incredible. Dall climbed up and is now ranked 205 out of 846 with a rating of 73.9. He has consistently been in the top quarter of all FBS and FCS again very consistent. The rest of the D line though leaves much to be desired and a lot of questions in my opinion. The edge rushers have a total of 7 sacks and that is very misleading. Durham had 2 against Central Michigan and Dall had 2 against Duquesne. And they only have 11 QBH's combined. Nothing from any edge rusher other than Durham and Dall. Durham is now 726 out of 846 with a below average rating of 59.8. Yet he has more snaps than any edge in all of FBS and third in all of Division 1. His stats don't justify it. He isn't that good. The Frazier twins are worse. D. Frazier is 839 out of 846 and has a rating of 51.5 and j.Frazier is 55.7. They each of one solo tackle. Just by playing in 8 games you could have a solo tackle. Where is Cheatom (17 snaps week 1)??? Where is Duncan (8 snaps week 1 and 2), Brown (15 snaps week 5), Murphy (11 snaps week 2 and 4) Watkins and Kavals were both highly recruited out of high school there are four games left are we going to see them? It is almost mathematically impossible for them to be worse than the Fraziers. The Fraziers are not edge rushers, they are linebackers anyone can see that. They are athletic freaks and should be playing linebacker. Laventure has 3 sacks and 5 qbh's tied for second on the team with Durham. Laventure, Dall, and Durham are the only D Linemen with sacks and with the exception of 2 qbhs by Hull and 1 by Kaiwan Murphy, Laventure, Dall, and Durham are the only ones with any QBH's ! Laventure, Dall, Durham TFL's 20; Sacks 10, QBH's 15 - The rest of the entire defensive line combined - TFL's 1.5; Sacks 0, QBH's 3... Laventure, Hull, Murphy, and Mixon are pretty much the only four interior defensive linemen that play. Rankings, 82, 511, 714, 841; what happened to Madden he is a redshirt senior and has played 15 snaps, Vega has played 3; Brown-Demery is 6'5 320 depending on what you look at he can't go in on specific plays and get pressure? It’d probably make the most sense to filter by a minimum snap count of 20% of 500 to get a clearer picture. That would eliminate guys who’ve only seen limited garbage-time action and whose numbers don’t really reflect their actual effectiveness. I also think Durham hasn’t been graded as highly against the run as he deserves. He’s been pretty solid there, though I’d say there’s still some wasted movement in his pass-rush approach. I don’t know if we have any young backups on the DL who are truly ready to contribute. It’ll probably be next year for those guys. The DL was a big concern in the offseason, and while the starting unit has held up well, the depth pieces have basically just been warm bodies out there so far—like you’ve said. I’m not sure that’ll change much this year. I’ve also been curious about Cheatom’s status since a healthy version of him could make a difference. Realistically, without NIL support, I’d expect Dall to move on to a Power program next year. With his size, length, and now the proven ability to drop and run in space, it’s hard to see him staying. Laventure will probably get poached by another G5 as well. Edited yesterday at 04:30 AM by catdaddyp Quote
clarkwgriswold Posted yesterday at 11:13 AM Report Posted yesterday at 11:13 AM Is there a game this week? Quote
exit322 Posted yesterday at 12:28 PM Report Posted yesterday at 12:28 PM 1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said: Is there a game this week? Probably? Maybe? I know there's a few different ones on TV if nothing else Quote
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