TSU88

Mat, what, if anything, do you know about Nigel Haughton? I assume he’s a walk-on. He played at John Carroll, & then a year at a prep school in Connecticut. Is he possibly more than just a walk-on who only plays against our D-3 opponent?

I said it before, I’ll say it again-we can’t judge our D based on 1 game vs a gimmicky offense we won’t see again this season (unless; we make the playoffs & encounter another TO offense). FWIW, Citadel’s running stats last Saturday were virtually identical (in carries, yardage and ypc) as they were last season when we beat them by 3 scores. The reason we didn’t beat them by 3 scores this year was not the fault of our D, but rather our O. Between penalties, turnovers, poor clock management and dropped balls, I suggest we left 18 points on the field. I’m not saying our D is the 2000 Ravens, but rather that I’m going to reserve judgment until at least after we play Maine, in week 3

Hindsight is 20/20, but if we were going to do a home & home with a SOCO, I wish it would have been a school other than the Citadel. If DeBerry is out for an extended period of time, & it’s due to a cut block, that stinks. I just don’t see the utility of scheduling a triple option team. The offense is such an outlier that it’s extraordinarily unlikely you’ll play another such offense during the season, so it’s not like it’s good experience. I guess you could cross paths with one in the playoffs, but so few teams run that offense, that it’s way too speculative to assume such a thing.

Can’t help but being a little excited about now having Michigan, Nebraska & S. Carolina transfers on D. Too bad the Oklahoma transfer is injured.

Did Topps see the field today?

My random thoughts on today’s game: (1) Note to TU’s AD-NEVER schedule the Citadel again; (2) The announcers on ESPN+ were dreadful. The nasally homer of a color commentator insisted on calling us “town-sund.” The play-by-play guy repeatedly announced we haven’t beaten a SOCO team in 13 years. Um, no chief, we beat Citadel last year. I get it though, TU vs Citadel ain’t getting you the A-team of announcers; (3) I’ll reserve on judging the D at this point. I need to see how we do vs a normal offense. As Mat has pointed out, Citadel ran for like 275 yards last year vs Bama; (4) I went back & looked at the stats from last years TU vs Citadel game. Interestingly enough, Citadel’s running stats were virtually identical. Last year they ran the ball 71x for 341 yards. Today they ran the ball 70X for 329 yards. If this suggests our D is no better than last year, then we’re in trouble, with Florida, Maine, JMU, Stony Brook, UD, Nova, & Elon left on the schedule. The big differences between last year & this year were: (a) time of possession-last year it was 30 minutes for each time, today Citadel hogged the ball for 38 minutes; (b) our offense today, unlike last year’s game, was quite sloppy (discussed below); (5) This game wouldn’t have been a nail biter if the offense hadn’t had so many self-inflicted wounds. A 1st half holding penalty turned a likely TD into a FG; Epp’s fumble turned a likely TD into nothing; inexplicable clock management at the end of the 1st half turned a likely FG into nothing, and, our old bugaboo, inefficiency in the red zone, resulted in kicking a FG early in the 4th Q; (5) Watching a Citadel game is a pretty joyless endeavor; (6) Early returns on our WR Corp are quite good; (7) Simpson was awesome today, but I still contend the lack of a bruising RB will bite us at some point this season; (8) Flacco made a couple of dubious throws today, but he’s a special QB at this level. Onto NCCU.

Johnson, Gibbs, Alexander & Bowman. 4 guys not on the team last year, who collectively can pick up the slack assuming DeBerry is out for an extended period of time, if not the whole season

Good to hear, because I’m not overwhelmed with our D-Line as it’s presently configured. I’ll see how they do today.

weather.gov forecast isn’t as favorable-80% chance of rain at game time

I’m not a meteorologist, but weather.com has the forecast at 55% chance of rain at 3p, 50% at 4p, & 35% at 5p.

Just looked it up on Wikipedia. School has 330 students

I’m not criticizing TU, because other CAA schools schedule these games, but I do wonder why? A win over a D-III doesn’t count towards your RPI ranking, these games are probably not well attended, and if you win by 50+, so what. But if you don’t win by 50+ then your bums. Wouldn’t it be better to play even a weak D1 (UMES, as an example) rather than these D-III raga muffins?

By 77? What was the final score, 77-0? In fairness, I suspect we’re not the only CAA team playing a D-III. Heck, MD played Catholic U a year or two ago

Who or what is Bryn Atyhn???

Don’t look now, but Villanova smoked Colgate (who beat JMU in the playoffs last season) 34-14. Nova QB threw 3 TD’s & Nova ran for 245 yards. I don’t think there are going to be a lot of easy W’s in conference play.

I’ve got mixed feelings about Simpson as the return man. While he’s certainly quite good in that role, it also increases his chances of being injured. Any word on Gibbs? Is Gilmore the JUCO? What happened to the Temple transfer? How did Alexander, the Nebraska transfer, look? Whoever the 1st punter was today, he boomed one 60 yards. Of course, that type of kick can out kick the coverage. I noticed they practiced several punts from inside the 50, & the punter was unable to keep his kicks from going in the end zone for what would have been touchbacks

Look, it’s a tough schedule. JMU & Maine on the road. Realistically, a split would be a coup. We’re obviously going to lose in the swamp. At Stony Brook will be no walk in the park, & Elon & Delaware aren’t cupcakes 🧁, even though those are home games. And, I still think Citadel, in the heat, on the road, with there triple option offense, is a potential trap game. I think 9-3 is best case scenario. Now, if all the stars align (no key injuries, big contributions by multiple newcomers, D generates pass rush & TO’s & gets off the field on 3rd downs) we could exceed that. Conversely, if we fall short in some of these areas, the record could be worse then 9-3, like 7-5 or 6-6. I’m hoping for the 9-3 or better.

Safety? Phooey on that, I say. I heard from a reliable source (the assistant equipment managers fortune teller) that he’s going to play nose tackle...with a leather helmet, no less!!! I also heard O’Neill is being dropped from the team and replaced by Gus, the field goal kicking mule. My biggest concern though is all those homesick transfers. What, with them making calls back home, right in the huddle!!!. I mean that can’t be good, can it?

In addition to hopefully avoiding the injury bug, you touched on some of the keys to the upcoming season-D must get off the field on 3rd down (and generate a consistent pass rush & create TO’s); and O scoring TD’s rather than settling for FG’s.

Seriously, I have Florida as an L. I’ll be satisfied if we can split with JMU & Maine, which I believe are both road games. Then, out of Stony Brook, Elon & Delaware, 1 L is not inconceivable. So, I see 9-3. Would love to see better & hope not to see worse. Of course, no one knows at this point how the newcomers will do, and the ultimate X-factor is injuries (or lack thereof). It’s fun to prognosticate, but the games are played on the field & start in less than 3 weeks.

I see RundaPower’s sarcasm, & raise him-0-12

I for one love the white helmet, especially with the “T” logo.

I’m not predicting a L vs Citadel, I was simply saying I hope it doesn’t turn into a trap game. I also wasn’t criticizing the fact we’ve added transfers. I was simply asking if there are any other newcomers beyond the ones that have already been disclosed here on this board

Expectations are high. Season starts 4 weeks from today. Opening on the road vs a triple option team in Citadel hopefully won’t be a trap game. I know we rolled them last year, but that was at home. I assume no more newcomers, beyond those already mentioned?

You’re right; it was the Elon HC who went to JMU, not the Maine HC.