TigerFan54

I don't know much about the other teams, but this should be a good measuring stick for us. I'm optimistic about our chances.

Who is Flem?

This game worries me. Loyola isn't bad and will be hungry for a win in their home opener. Then we hit the road in FLA against better competition for three straight nights. Would be nice to get a W heading into that stretch.

At 6-6, 190, he's a string bean. Would be nice if he had more meat on his bones and was a dual threat.

We just got swept by JMU in the CAA semis. The keeps happening: we have a strong regular season, and flame out in the tournament. Seems like a coaching issue in that Metil isn't able to get his teams up at crunch time.

I think Eddie Keith has leadership qualities. He's fiery, plays hard. I suspect the other players respect him.

March is gonna be real tough -- on the road against Ohio State and Denver, and Duke at home.

Hofstra won't be an easy out -- that kid Wright-Foreman is a hell of a shooter and the big kid Gustys is back. And UMBC was a well-coached team that we barely beat last year.

First home game doesn't come till the end of September, which is bad for generating student interest. You have a better chance of getting kids out when the weather is warm and a winning season seems possible. If the team plays well, then the crowds build (as happened in 2011).

I think Hayward dove and just got a piece of his foot; it took a few steps before the QB went down.

We were on "Sports Center" earlier tonight. Actually, the Delaware DB who made the Beckham-like one-handed INT was the reason -- but to the ESPN producers' credit, they also showed Gallahan's one-hander to win the game.

Agree with all of the above. I wanted to see Harris at QB in the second half (and would have settled for Ellis). Stover looks like the Statue of Liberty in the pocket too many times, and doesn't rifle his passed when the window is tight. Still, a stellar day by the defense, and a win over Delaware is always nice.

I go back to the early '70s when Gordy was a LB and the games were played on Burdick Field with high school bleachers along one sideline. So I remember when the "crowd" size was in the hundreds. Even after the move to Minnegan, 3,000 was about the most you could hope for when it wasn't homecoming (or we weren't playing Morgan). The fact that we get 5,000-6,000 on average is an improvement, of course, but given the enrollment now vs. then and being in the Atlantic 10/CAA, one would expect better. BUT ONLY IF THE PRODUCT IS CONSISTENTLY COMPETITIVE. That's where RA and staff have dropped the ball. He speaks glowingly of the team before each season, but we're on course for the fifth losing season in the nine he's been here. So he sounds like a snake-oil salesman, and when he bemoans the team's youth and inexperience, I say, "Look around, Rob. Other teams have to confront similar weaknesses. Villanova is without key players and they still beat us." And when he compares Stover's problems to Crowley's game against Maine, I'd like to remind him that the Maine game was an aberration for DC; he almost led us to a win over Youngstown State in the finale, and YSU went on to win the national championship. Stover has looked okay, at best, but mostly he looks over-matched and makes poor decisions. I don't see another Crowley in the rough.

No one mentions problems with our scheme, but to me that's just as important as our other deficiencies. The Richmond receivers were wide open all day. One reason we threw so many INTs is that our WRs weren't getting separation. Are our athletes inferior? Maybe. But I think it has more to do with schemes. Ours are predictable and unimaginative.

I wasn't being negative -- I support the team and have actually attended two of their matches. But you can check the records of the teams we beat during the 16-0 run and very few have winning records. It's a just a fact -- the early sked was soft. Now we're playing tougher competition -- we lost last night to a good CofC team. Yes, our setter is out, which is a significant setback. I hope she returns soon and that the team pulls together and wins the CAA championship.

Maybe she can look inside Jammer's head and see if anything's in there.

Mat, you say "You can run play-action and boots all you want but the defense isn't going to get faked out that often if you can't run the ball." True enough, but if your personnel is no match for the opponent's' personnel, you have to keep them off balance. Use a trick play now and then (running back option pass), or the QB rolls right, then passes left to the RB (we used this against Fordham in the playoffs, and Vito scored a TD), or fake pitch to the RB sweeping left and the QB rolls right (we used this from time to time with Enders and Athens, always for decent gains, but not once since then). More important than the particular result is that it causes the defense to slow down and starting thinking; that alone can help other plays work better. I see no willingness to be inventive.

Mat -- at the press conference, did anyone ask RA about the wildcat? Specifically, I'd like to know why, against a great defensive team, you telegraph what's coming by putting a running back alone in he backfield. I'd love to hear his answer.

Volleyball got their a$$es handed to them this weekend -- at home, no less. The soft part of the schedule is obviously over.

Offensively, this was pathetic. We knock out the starting QB and THEIR freshman backup performs well enough to win. Better player? Yes, but their schemes were creative and well executed; ours were neither. We get multiple turnovers and waste them. Our steadiest performer -- O'Neill -- misses an XP and a field goal. Hard to imagine this being anything other than a 2-9 season, maybe 3-8.

I'm not sure I follow RA when he talks about MM and Leatherbury -- was he saying that Leatherbury was "gone" too? If so, was he injured? Any idea how severely?

Our program is strong, year in and year out, though we tend to choke in the CAA tournament. Still, I wish our field hockey team were as competitive -- they get drubbed, week after week. We didn't even take a shot against U-Md.

Holiday is infuriating -- almost a caricature of a bad game announcer (he's also the ultimate U-Md. homer). Once upon a time, he was better, but more.

Stover did okay, I thought. His throws on easy-to-complete dump-offs were high and the receiver could make no YAC. And the interception he threw in the second quarter (returned for a long TD) was a head-scratcher. He didn't know when to throw the ball away. His running style is odd -- he kind of chugs along and seems tentative. But he gained more yards than anyone else. St. Francis worries me. They were a hard-hitting team last year. We'll need to play well.

I see we went from Mahalak being "under the weather" to having "an upper body injury." Why would RA misrepresent what's going on? And you have to wonder if MM is injury-prone. I don't recall any big hits on him.