TigerFan54

Anybody know if baseball will use those new practice fields? Those guys are more hamstrung by the weather, which limits access to Schuerholz, than any other sport.

Northeastern beat Drexel by just 10, but I think they'll be tough to beat, especially up there.

It seems like Santa Ana and Seibring have been on that team for eight years, and they consistently light us up. So to me this game will hinge on our defense. I expect a low-scoring affair too, and just hope we have the bigger number.

LaSalle isn't as bad as its 1-10 record indicates. They hung with Nova and Temple, lost close games to to Lafayette and Drexel. I hope we keep our focus and our momentum.

Given Delaware's resources, his OC salary there might put him ahead of his brother's earnings. I don't expect him to transform the Blue Hens offense, but I worry about them being able to game-plan us much better on both sides of the ball.

Included among them are the OC and DC, so there will be a transformation of one sort or another in Harrisonburg, no matter who is hired. https://www.witn.com/content/news/SOURCES--Kirkpatrick-new-offensive-coordinator-at-ECU-501984331.html

It's good to have a second early season game at home, when the weather is typically good and student enthusiasm might be high. Plus, it gives us another week to get our act together before heading into the Maine/Nova/Florida meatgrinder.

Tony Vinson rushed for 364 yards (if memory serves) against Bucknell in 1993, though that game had fewer repercussions for us and the competition was weaker than Eastern Illinois. Still, it was an impressive display that I never expected to see again. And then came Terrence.

What did you mean when you said "Desire was the only recruit on the roster"?

Vermont hung with Louisville, and wasn't blown out by Kansas, but lost to Bucknell (yes -- Bucknell has a quality program, but they've lost to Fairfield and Canisius), so they're probably a work-in-progress too. Hard to know which team we'll see tonight.

1. Defense continued to give up big plays 1a. Poor tackling (see Heyward, Robert, on DU's first TD). 2. Flacco holds the ball too long, takes sacks instead of throwing it away 2a. Flacco forgot all about Sam Galahan -- looked too often for Shane/Jabari when SG was open across the middle 3. Poor coaching -- inability to make in-game adjustments 3a. Weak play calling when we have the ball inside the 5 (see Maine game, final series; Duquesne game, prior to the half) 4. Add your diagnosis here.

Amen to all that.

I'd rather root for Maine, but if their QB Ferguson is still hurt, I don't like their chances. JMU vs. Colgate will be interesting given Colgate's supposedly stellar defense. We'll see how that works out. One final postmortem comment on our game: Only once have I heard RA say he got outcoached, but I think he could say that this time. Yes, if Shane doesn't fumble, we probably win. But maybe we don't, because DU coaches showed the ability to adjust their game plan. They could have come back from 17-0 if we failed to anticipate their adjustments, or failed to respond with our own. RA typically puts the blame on his players ("we need all 11 guys going to the ball," etc.) but he needs to look in the mirror -- and at the coaches on his left and right.

Off topic, but the box score on TT.com, under weather, says "very cloudy." What moron decided that "pouring rain" is really "very cloudy"?

I hear a lot of talk about how good we'll be next year because so many players are back, but with the same coaching, it's hard to imagine a different outcome. Also, we open at the Citadel -- a tough matchup -- followed by a road game with Maine, which will have its key players back too. Then Nova comes to town, surely with payback on their minds. The Florida trip follows, so the losses could pile up early.

From seeing DiNucci carve us up on Saturday, he might be the best QB in the league, but TF has better stats overall, so that surely made the difference in voting. (This is no knock on Tom; without him making plays -- especially through the first seven games -- we don't finish 7-4.)

If I recall correctly, Clawson built that team and London won the title his first year there. I think he left for U-Va. a year after that, so we never got to see what he would have done at this level on his own.

That's a big and experienced O-line. I'm guessing we won't have Harps-Upshur, so our D-line will have their hands full.

If we handle the cold weather -- and Duquesne -- we'll get a taste of bitter cold the following week at S.D. State. The high yesterday was 17 (and that's not factoring in the wind). But first things first, which is not to take Duquesne lightly. We lost to the NEC's Central Connecticut back in 2014, and St. Francis has played us tough.

If the committee decides to put six CAA teams in the playoff field, there will likely be some rematches in the first round. I can see them having us host Elon, or Stony Brook -- or going back to Delaware if geography is a consideration.

If we do get in, I don't expect us to go far. Our defense just gets carved up by too many big plays, and opposing teams have figured out how to limit Flacco. And truth be told, JMU appears to be the better team and will probably advance at least to the seminfinals.

I don't think any of them advanced very far, so that's another benefit of winning this weekend: a possible bye, a home game, greater likelihood of moving on.

True. We need to utilize Clark more. I hope he's fully recovered from his injury.

The MAC also schedules those dumb-ass Tuesday/Wednesday games, and this was one of them. That's an attendance killer.

If DiNucci is on, the hill gets awfully steep for us, since our secondary has been our greatest vulnerability. We need to put our best cover DB on Riley Stapleton. Given his height, he'll still make catches, but we have to limit the number. On offense,we need great decision-making from TF. If we get a Citadel-level performance from him -- meaning that he runs more than he passes -- then I like our chances. JMU has too many ball-hawking DBs for us to rely primarily on the passing game.