mat1992

https://towsontigers.com/news/2018/10/3/top-25-showdown-on-saturday-23-24-football-hosts-13-13-stony-brook.aspx

https://stonybrookathletics.com/documents/2018/10/4//Stony_Brook_notes_at_Towson_10_6_18.pdf?id=2467 Go to page 8 where they have a pretty impressive practice facility going up.

I think this is the key game of the season. A loss means you have to win another Villanova-type road game somewhere. You have to basically go unbeaten until you face JMU. That's very difficult to do with Elon coming up on the road and Delaware is not a gimme. So yes, win this and you can start dreaming big. We're not there yet but I think you say if you beat #13 Stony Brook and start out 4-1 that you can quote Eric Weddle by saying "this ain't the same old Tigers". If you watch this team, there's potential on defense, but they are nowhere near where they need to be. Too much given up on the ground and in the middle of the field. Just four sacks. Not enough pressure from a four-man rush. But this game is more about stopping or at least slowing down the run. We can't give up over 150 yards on the round or more than 5ypc and expect to win this game. We have to make it 3rd and long, just like The Citadel, when it was 3rd and short, they converted almost all of them. The O-line still has to improve the run blocking though the lack of a fullback I think hurts on short-yardage situations. But I feel as long as you have TF14, he gives you a chance to win every game until the last one. At this point, until proven otherwise, nobody in the CAA is beating JMU.

Khalil Gary listed in top 20 DL

https://www.hudl.com/profile/6002851/LOGIC-HUDGENS/about

https://towsontigers.com/news/2018/9/29/-25-football-celebrates-50th-year-with-win-over-the-citadel.aspx

He's obviously still looking.

https://towsontigers.com/news/2018/10/1/football-flacco-honored-as-fcs-national-offensive-player-of-the-week.aspx https://towsontigers.com/news/2018/9/30/football-flacco-notches-second-caa-offensive-player-of-the-week-honor.aspx

We have a long ways to go in terms of practice. Things change. But you have to see how these kids play in 5x5 scrimmages with refs and then against other teams (they will be closed). A lot of these kids will have to play significant minutes right away. Actually, they all might have to play minutes. Some will play more than others. I think Solomon likely gets more minutes and if we had 13 guys, maybe Yagi would redshirt. But we have 12 with Gray sitting out. Hell, he would be the starting 4 if he was eligible. I want to see Betrand and/or Timberlake push McNeill. That will make the team a lot better if those guys can show they are as good if not better. Right now, they aren't there yet.

There's no way I start those freshmen against Virginia. They have to earn playing time and right now, the older players are more ready. I'm with you on Thomas. He has some talent but he rarely displays it in games. He's put together physically as well as any big man we've ever had but doesn't play up to that. So yes, offensively, you really can't depend on those two seniors but they do supply good defense and some leadership. Jordan as a starter isn't going to average 20ppg. I'd be happy with 10ppg but you know he's going to give effort and not try to do many things out of his comfort zone. The offense has go through the three juniors in Fobbs, Howard and Sanders. I have no clue right now which freshman is going to come off the bench and become the igniter. But sure, you can play all the freshmen you want and you have to live through the countless mistakes, the turnovers, missed assignments on defense and the lack of poise on the road in hostile environments. Ultimately, those guys will play this year because as you mentioned, Thomas is a 20-minute at most role player and Jordan has never really started. But when you talk about McNeill's telegraphing of passes, he was the backup point guard last year. He's not playing that position (Thank God) this season and we'll play mainly on the wing. So the ball won't be in his hands as much unless he's in shooting position. Even if they go to a third point guard, I'd rather have Betrand or Timberlake bring it up than Jordan. They have more playmaking ability. We just had no other options last season and there was zero faith that Prophete could get the job done. So if we start those five against Virginia, I'm not upset. I'd rather go with the known than the unknown. They'll have plenty of time to figure that out and if Betrand or Timberlake are ready, go with them. If Solomon or Yagi can play, put Sanders at the 5 or even Tunstall to give us more athleticism.

I think this is a likeable team but we need to be patient with this squad as does the coaching staff. Will be fun seeing the growth of the freshmen. Let's face it, the freshmen from last season are gone save for Drayton, who has improved some but not sure he'll be in the rotation. He just doesn't stand out enough. We're going to have to ride Howard, Sanders and Fobbs along with McNeill and Thomas.

He tried and failed. There were 5 guys grabbing him to celebrate. That was an incredibly nit-picky call. The kid just made one of the most incredible rushing TDs you'll ever see by a quarterback and you want him to what, not show emotion? I think if he does that in the middle of the end zone after rushing for a TD with nobody around, you flag him.

Also, great calls by Spiro yesterday, esp. on the Flacco hurdle and long run. I know the technical difficulties are a pain in the ass but Spiro does a quality job, year-in, year-out and deserves credit for hanging in there through the good and bad that he's had to endure from this program.

I've watched the TF14 leap 10 times and I still can't figure out what Flacco said or did to deserve the 15-yard penalty.

Nice coverage by The Sun by the way. Morgan, Maryland and Navy were off but they couldn’t send one freaking writer to cover the game.

For those who missed it, here are some highlights

Clark is hurt. You can tell he's just not right and he was only used in limited plays. Simpson is no. 1 and Kobe is No. 2. Yeedee had one nice run and then got shut down near the goal line. There's only one football so I'm fine with those three. I don't Yeedee gives you the pass catching threat that the other two give you. Not sure about injuries. I think N. Cook got banged up but got back in there. I didn't really notice any Towson players down on the field about at least 5 or 6 Citadel guys were down.

It was probably a dull game for the students. Hopefully they return to see Flacco and company because The Citadel's offense probably put some people to sleep. Seems like many where there for just the free swag and the tailgate but they have to at least be impressed that we have a pretty good team. We also had about hundreds of football alums that returned to the campus probably for the first time since they graduated or first in a long time due to the 50th celebration. I think you have to give the athletic dept. a lot of credit for how they handled this. The Bull Roast was something that we should have had a long time ago but is hopefully becoming an annual thing if not once every two years. There are guys that caught up with one another for the first time in decades. That's a shame but we have to move forward and try to correct the mistakes of the past but not repeating them. The 50th documentary was first-class. Even though it seemed a bit disorganized, having all the football alums on the field was cool along with the old unis. Having Coach Albert, Runk and Gordy on the field at the same time was amazing. There's talk of practice fields which need to happen to get this program moving forward but it takes financial help from the alums. Now as for the on-the-field Tigers, these guys played well coming off the bye against a very difficult team to play against. Thankfully, we won't have to play another option team because as RA said, facing a team that runs it 70+ times is tough on your defensive guys, who have to recuperate. We only play four linebackers with Tedder, rotate eight defensive linemen and rarely sub the secondary. So these guys were taxed. But defensive questions are still there. I'm not going to judge the pass defense because when they passed, we were shocked, even on the last drive of the first half. But still need to be better against the run and get more penetration on running plays and against the pass. Still shocked that we don't even run blitz that much. Maybe we're saving some stuff for conference play but I doubt it. What more can be said about TF14. That kid did not have a great night passing but he found away with his legs and his arm. Those runs were incredible and he set the record for most rushing yards by a Towson QB. Not a shocker because we didn't really have a running QB until Gary Worthington, when that failed option offense was attempted. Chris Hart, Connor Frazier, and Grant Enders could all run. Enders is very similar to Flacco, but he had T-West so he didn't need to run. I think Tom is a faster and has a better arm. He might take a few more risks throwing it. But how can you not love a QB who can extend plays to not just run but also throw. I think he makes the O-line better though he had a lot of time back there. A very good showing by the line but still concerned about short-yardage. Whether it's play-calling or ignoring fullbacks, it's something that could be a concern in a close game. With our D going up against some tough offenses, we don't want to settle for short FGs or fail to convert on 4th downs. All in all, great day, terrific weekend and keep it going.

For those new to the board, I'm here, chatting for every game. Every road and home game in hoops and football. It's the Wild West in there so some of what is said in the chat, remains in the chat, which will be deleted after the game. Spectacular day. Great to see a lot of old former football players. If you haven't checked out the full documentary, it's amazing.