Football falls to No. 2 ND State 41-24

[mat1992 2,374]

https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=530425&vislive=tows

https://towsontigers.com/news/2024/9/21/fourth-quarter-comeback-falls-short-for-towson-football-at-no-2-north-dakota-state.aspx

Towson just finished one of the most difficult three of four game stretches in their history facing Cincinnati, No. 5 Villanova and No. 2 North Dakota State with Morgan State in the middle (maybe their worst-played game). The Tigers were down 24-3 at the half against the Bison in the Fargo Dome and shades of Frisco and a few years ago were coming through like a blue sky on a summer day. But on Saturday, Towson made a game out of it in the second half, thanks to a Tyrell Greene Jr. 72-yard run, but in the end, the defense couldn't get enough stops, falling 41-24. 

Greene Jr., who rushed just five times for 94 yards, but that 72-yard run up the middle with 10:05 left in the game, cut the North Dakota State lead to 31-24. That was it for the Towson scoring as the Bison nailed a 34-yard field goal with 4:28 left and scored a late touchdown with 1:04 remaining after the Tigers couldn't convert on a 4th-and-20 to make the game out of reach.

This was a bizarre game as the Tigers had 352 yards of total offense, but just 161 yards passing and 20:07 minutes of possession. So fatigue could have been a factor for a defense that allowed 188 rushing yards and 7-of-15 on third and fourth down conversions combined. Towson couldn't stop Charmar Brown, who had 126 yards rushing and three TDs. Defensively, there were many missed tackles due to Brown's hard running. Kam Snell led the team with a career-high 13 tackles. John Gioia, in his first game as a Tiger and coming off the bench, had 8 tackles and a sack. 

Offensively, Davis was 14-of-24 for 135 yards and a pick. He struggled in the first half and in the first possession of the second half, he threw a pick. Carter Runyon led the Tigers with 6 passes for 59 yards, while John Dunmore added 5 catches for 54 yards. No other receiver had more than one catch. Towson did run for 191 yards on 23 carries.

 

[mat1992 2,374]

Oh boy, I don't know where to start here. They did look done at the first half and thought it might be time for Sean Brown at quarterback. I didn't understand starting Carlos Davis with a bad left shoulder and a third-string left tackle Jaelin Montgomery, who had a costly penalty at the one-yard line on fourth-and-one and had a tripping penalty late in the game with the Tigers down 10 (Volpe was out again). I don't think they would have come back, but they wouldn't have lost by 17, because you are not beating the Bison on 1st and 26 or whatever it was.

The fact that Davis was in the game with a dinged-up shoulder with about 20 seconds left down 17 was inexcusable. He then goes down with that same left shoulder and who knows if he'll return again in two weeks though if it's just a bruise at least he has time to recover. I thought he held the ball too long most of the game and other than the fact that he started taking off in the second half. The throw downfield to Dunmore was perfect, but he rarely took chances downfield and he did have some time. Despite the penalties, Montgomery has been serviceable.

I thought we were pretty conservative in the first half. It makes some sense to try and keep the ball away from their offense, but you need a passing game. I also would have gone for it on 4th and 1 at our own 40 despite the fact that we've been atrocious on short-yardage this season.

I know coach Pete is going to rail on the punt return for a touchdown. It didn't cost us the game, but it didn't help matters. I think they changed things because they had a punt blocked earlier and changed the blocking some. Either way, special teams has not been special with missed FGs (not today), kickoffs are short, blocked field goals, now a blocked punt and a punt return for a TD. We also gave up a long kickoff return after cutting the lead to 7 points. And we're getting nothing on returns. Jaceon Doss only had one today, but again, doesn't break tackles. Can't judge the punt returns because they only punted once.

But I do like using Nathan Kent on that wildcat situation at the two-yard line. It makes teams think now because Kent can also throw the ball in that play-action roll out. Not really a boot there, but a nice call that the defense hadn't seen. Good creativity and go back to that although it's not like Davis can't run. However, you have to be concerned after his left shoulder was dinged up again.

Defensively, I have no idea what we're doing on third-and-long. Tremendous cushion given. I thought when Brodie played close to the receivers, he was fine. I don't think they even chose to go against veteran Shafeek Smith. They just went at Brodie and in the middle of the field that was wide open most of the game. The 53-yard pass up the middle came against a true freshman in Jasson Shiggs, a safety who was likely out of position.

So after four games, we are 1-3. Not shocking. Some good things: Running game, defense against Morgan State and Villanova. Some bad things: Davis' injury, Davis' inconsistency, WRs drops against Nova and fumbles against Morgan, defense struggles on third downs continue, secondary struggles, special teams, odd decisions, short-yardage and goal line offense has been terrible before today.

[TuTigers2012 1,142]

Any reason the starter from last week didn’t play?  Not surprising about score. Probably better than expected. But missing the playoffs again…. 

[mat1992 2,374]

13 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Any reason the starter from last week didn’t play?  Not surprising about score. Probably better than expected. But missing the playoffs again…. 

Davis was apparently healthy. So he's the starter until he's hurt again, which may have happened at the end of the game. 

[TSU88 1,092]

This team is maddening. Some nice signs today-we were the better team for much of the 2nd half; the long TD run; the D generating a pass rush, but then it’s 1 step forward and two steps back-multiple PI penalties; a boneheaded tripping penalty, inability to tackle their return man….

Well, the playoffs aren’t completely out of reach, but our margin for error is paper thin. As I see it, we’ve got to go 7-1 in the remaining 8 games. Never say never, but my degree of optimism is quite low. It all starts with W&M at home, 2 weeks from today. Lose that game and we’ll have to run the table, 7-0, to make the playoffs 

 

 

[TSU88 1,092]

1 hour ago, mat1992 said:

Davis was apparently healthy. So he's the starter until he's hurt again, which may have happened at the end of the game. 

This is a rhetorical question, but why was Davis in the game with less than a minute left, trailing by 17? 

I’d also like to know why we abandoned the uptempo offense in the first half, after it worked so well on the first drive of the game. 
 

[mat1992 2,374]

1 minute ago, TSU88 said:

This is a rhetorical question, but why was Davis in the game with less than a minute left, trailing by 17? 

I’d also like to know why we abandoned the uptempo offense in the first half, after it worked so well on the first drive of the game. 
 

As I mentioned in the second post, it was inexcusable for a player with a left shoulder injury to be in a game with under a minute left down 17. Ridiculous. As for the uptempo offense, they should have stuck with it. They were so concerned about having Navy-like 6 minute drives to keep their offense off the field, that for some reason, they abandoned it, thus abandoning possession of the ball.

[mat1992 2,374]

11 minutes ago, TSU88 said:

This team is maddening. Some nice signs today-we were the better team for much of the 2nd half; the long TD run; the D generating a pass rush, but then it’s 1 step forward and two steps back-multiple PI penalties; a boneheaded tripping penalty, inability to tackle their return man….

Well, the playoffs aren’t completely out of reach, but our margin for error is paper thin. As I see it, we’ve got to go 7-1 in the remaining 8 games. Never say never, but my degree of optimism is quite low. It all starts with W&M at home, 2 weeks from today. Lose that game and we’ll have to run the table, 7-0, to make the playoffs 

 

 

I think we can get in at 8-4, but losing that Villanova game will catch up with us. But W&M becomes pretty much a must-win situation.  I also don't know if Davis (if he's healthy) is the guy to run this offense or whatever it is (running, passing?). I don't know if Brown is either, but I'd love to have our starting left tackle healthy. Even backup Abraham Giwa has been out since the Cincinnati game so we are down to Jaelin Montgomery, who is decent, but he's not those guys. You're not likely getting in with a Ravens-like 1-4 and at that point, even if the CAA is way down, we're probably not running the table. Have to play much better on offense than we have so far this season to win. The defense, and today was pretty much expected, hasn't been awful. Certainly not in the first three games or not in the Morgan and Nova games. Maryland gave up more points to Nova than we did in their 38-20 loss. 

[mat1992 2,374]

Let's be honest in an optimistic way. We aren't going to play anyone nearly as good as Cincinnati or NDST the rest of the way. If Vaughn kicked as well as he did today on that one kick where he elevated it, we're in the top 25 and not bitching that much about being 2-2. 

I look at the rest of the schedule and I know we can beat anybody on there and probably lose to most of them. My concern is that we knew the weaknesses of NDSU and we didn't exploit them until the second half. Gameplan? At least we made adjustments, but the offense has a ways to go because you have to score TDs with our shaky secondary. Can't depend on Vaughn to win every game. I'm also taking more chances if I'm Pete on 4th and short. Bring in Kent, and hike it to Devin. Do whatever it takes.

[TSU88 1,092]

Well, considering the aggregate score of our last two games vs NDSU was 70-14, today was a step in the right direction, but the season, in terms of playoff aspirations, is on the brink. I remember the 75 Colts starting 1-4, and then ripping off 9 W’s in a row to make the playoffs. But that was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away