Your team: Improved, crumbling, or can't tell yet?

[BEAR]

Looking over the stats among other things how has your team improved? Has it? Or is it still too early to tell?

UCA IMPROVED. Even at 0-2 the progress is VERY visible from game 1 to game 2. Both games against top 25 teams in their prospective divisions. (Thanks to another poster on another board for pointing out these improvements out! )

On Defense:

UCA's secondary really needs to improve but....


A night and day difference regarding the way UCA played against OSU compared to how they played against Samford. That is the sign of a high quality Head Coach and is the exact opposite of a Head Coach losing to a lower Conference team (a MAC team) in year 3 of his tenure.

UCA's Defense held OSU's vaunted Offense to only 10 points in the 1st Half. That was 18 points better than the 28 points Samford scored in the 1st Half against UCA's Defense.

UCA had a total of 12 Tackles for a Loss against OSU. xthumbsupx

UCA blocked 2 OSU PATs. xdrunkyx

UCA cut their penalties way down to 58 penalty yards from the 183 penalty yards they had against Samford. 58 penalty yards is still too much, but a drastic improvement. One penalty that did hurt UCA was the holding call on the 37 yard return on the UCA interception of OSU's QB.

UCA had 0 turnovers against OSU, which is better than the 2 turnovers UCA had against Samford.

The play of UCA LBs Ricky Wyatt, George Odum, and Garrett Sharp was very good.

UCA held OSU RB, Chris Carson, to only 63 rushing yards. UCA held Carson to -8 rushing yards in the 2nd Half. Carson was the JUCO Player of the Year in the nation last season.

UCA Left Offensive Tackle, Lance Kloker, did a reasonably good job on OSU's Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year Defensive End, Ogbah.

Nationally, the Coaches know that OSU defeated a well coached team. The Coaches moved OSU into the Top 25 of their Coaches Poll after their win against UCA.

Offense: Still struggling. A team that averaged 41 points a game is down to just 12. But that was against two top 25 teams and this team will come back in a big way over the next few games.

[KPSUL]

UNH is certainly not improved; absolutely no one expected that with the graduation of arguably our best wide receiver and tight end ever, two very solid running backs and our 3 most productive defensive lineman. However, we aren't crumbling either. It is a rebuilding year, pure and simple. No sense pretending otherwise.
Most reasonable and knowledgeable UNH fans (that's about 9 of us total, not counting former players) are hoping they to play well enough to squeak into the playoffs. However, that's no certainty, especially now, with our best O lineman (Tad McNeely) likely out for the season with a knee, and starting QB Sean Goldrich down with an ankle sprain for at least a couple of games.

[Catbooster]

Too early to tell. We've only played a game against a DII team so far. The next two weekends we play Eastern Washington there and Cal-Poly at home. That should tell us a lot.

[REALBird]

Won't know until October 3rd against UNI. Similar to last year we still don't know what we have. WR's and OL was exposed at Iowa, DL was pushed around. Running game anemic, passing game awful. Then we played a Morgan State team that was already low on available players. Can't say we learned a lot from that game either, but had a better all around OFF and DEF performance.

If EIU is the same EIU that Western thrashed in Week #1, not sure we'll learn a lot about that game either. Depends on if EIU plays up to the challenge in the 104th meeting between the two schools. They always seem to bounce back once OVC play begins, and this game is usually that springboard.

Overall......I still think the UNI/ISU game on October 3rd will determine if we're capable of being close to the National Runner Up team from last year, or if we'll have our good days and our bad days.

[FormerPokeCenter]

McNeese looked rough in the first half against UIW....

And we looked great in the second half against UIW.

But, it's UIW...so....can't really tell yet...

[Grizalltheway]

Offense-certainly more exciting to watch. Lots of drops and miscommunication against CP, but if they get that worked out it'll be tough for any team in the Big Sky to stop.

Defense-as good or better than last year, doesn't seem to be any glaring weaknesses. Against CP it was like night and day compared to last year's game.

[Winindy]

I'd say we're improved, but we still have plenty of time to crumble.

[JMUNJ08]

Morehead St - Blowout
Lehigh - Blowout
Albany - better, but still at Home
SMU - FBS, improved

So, even through next week, unless we blow the doors off SMU, I think the jury is out until October on the Dukes...

[F'N Hawks]

UND: I was going to scream IMPROVED! Then, they struggled to run the ball vs. Drake. Ugh.

Definitely a "Can't tell yet". This weekend vs. NDSU will show a little more of how close they are to the Top FCS teams but we won't know more until week 7 or 8.

[2ram]

can't tell. a nice win at army. a lackluster loss to villanova.

who are we?

[Missingnumber7]

UND: I was going to scream IMPROVED! Then, they struggled to run the ball vs. Drake. Ugh.

Definitely a "Can't tell yet". This weekend vs. NDSU will show a little more of how close they are to the Top FCS teams but we won't know more until week 7 or 8.

I would disagree and say they are improved, however, I would agree and say you will know more in week 7 or 8. I think the initial improvement is from a recruiting standpoint, week 7 or 8 will show if Bubba's team mentality is there yet or not.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Beat a team we should have, proved we're not at the level of JMU yet.

Penn? Need to find out this weekend. Can't tell yet.

[RichH2]

Hard to tell with Lehigh. Plusses and minuses running neck and neck right now. Plus WRs,RBs,K,DL,LBs,QB. Minus OL,DBs. No grade FBs,TEs.

[bluehenbillk]

Delaware - Crumble Capital of the East

[Mattymc727]

So, I guess its safe to say its impossible to tell through 2 weeks.

[Daytripper]

SHSU - About what I expected. Game v. Lamar this Saturday will give a better indication.

[McNeese72]

McNeese looked rough in the first half against UIW....

And we looked great in the second half against UIW.

But, it's UIW...so....can't really tell yet...

Once things got sorted out, we definitely looked improved on defense. I'm still not sold on the offense being better, yet.

But as you pointed out it was only Incarnate Word so we probably still suck!!!

Doc

[DFW HOYA]

can't tell. a nice win at army. a lackluster loss to villanova.

who are we?

Fordham is a deep and talented team who successfully (choose one: convinced, cajoled, forced, threatened) five other schools in the PL to follow their model.

The seventh team in that league has distanced themselves even further from this model.

[CID1990]

improved across the board

Might not be ready for a SoCon title yet, but this coach knows his stuff and knows how to win


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tiger93]

Improved, but not hard to do after last year's disastrous 4-8 season. Towson played pretty good against what looks like a decent FBS squad in East Carolina and played well for the most part against St. Francis. Special teams is still a nightmare (which has been a consistent theme) and even though Frazier has played well at QB, I think we still need to sort things and make sure he is the best option going forward when CAA play starts.

I am hoping for good showings against Holy Cross this week and at Elon the following week, because it gets really tough with games against James Madison, at Stony Brook and Villanova. That stretch will give Towson a pretty good indication of what type of team they have this year.

[Fordham]

can't tell. a nice win at army. a lackluster loss to villanova.

who are we?
I say clearly improved. Compare the results of both games v last year and I think it's case closed. To have done it in the first two games, back to back, with 8 new starters on each side of the ball bodes very well for us as the season progresses and these guys get experience and used to playing with one another imo

[Gangtackle11]

Can't tell. Close loss @ UConn & good win @ Fordham. Offense isn't up to last season's snuff, but defense looks to be a solid FCS unit. Kicking game was a mess last season & early indications are much of the same.

[eiu1999]

Won't know until October 3rd against UNI. Similar to last year we still don't know what we have. WR's and OL was exposed at Iowa, DL was pushed around. Running game anemic, passing game awful. Then we played a Morgan State team that was already low on available players. Can't say we learned a lot from that game either, but had a better all around OFF and DEF performance.

If EIU is the same EIU that Western thrashed in Week #1, not sure we'll learn a lot about that game either. Depends on if EIU plays up to the challenge in the 104th meeting between the two schools. They always seem to bounce back once OVC play begins, and this game is usually that springboard.

Overall......I still think the UNI/ISU game on October 3rd will determine if we're capable of being close to the National Runner Up team from last year, or if we'll have our good days and our bad days.

EIU is horrible. Whitlow looks lost at QB, waiting too long to throw, then not tucking and running like he can. The OL can't block for the running game and QB is under constant pressure. The receivers are horribly undersized.

The defense is not improved in their ability to stop the run, so can they compete with ISU? No.

[ST_Lawson]

Defense - improved, surprisingly better than I thought they'd be...forcing turnovers, coming up with stops. Doesn't seem like it on paper if you look at the Illinois game, but any time you ask your defense to spend 2/3 of the game on the field with a Big 10 offense, they're going to get tired. They only gave up 10 points in the quarters after extended rests (10 in the 1st quarter, shut them out in the 3rd quarter), but once they'd been on the field for extended periods of time, that's when they started giving up the points. And of course, holding Eastern to 1 FG and 1 2-pt...safety-ish thing...that was pretty good too.

Offense - what in the actual f#(&. Was supposed to be our strong suit, now it seems like they're just flopping around on the field hoping that Lenoir can somehow pull a 100+ yard game out of his backside. I think we'll really find out what they're made of this weekend against CCU.

[catbob]

Who knows, we've only played ONE football game on 9/3 against a DII. Didn't look that awesome but 45-14 is about what you'd expect for a score against a DII.

We'll know more this Saturday at EWU.

[BEAR]

I added a poll to see how fans view their team's progress.

[Cocky]

Don't know but maybe worse than last year at this time. This is the part of year the injury bug infested the team last year.

[Catatonic]

ACU has only played one game, a big loss to Fresno State by a disappointing margin. Houston Baptist is coming up this weekend. ACU is a prohibitive favorite. A close win or, perish the thought, a loss would provide asn answer but not in the hoped for direction. Probably won't really have an idea until SFA comes to town next week and maybe not until will visit UCA the week after that. For now, all I can say is Fresno found some of our weaknesses...it remains to be seen if we have taken steps to improve.

[Seawolf97]

Hard to say now. The next 3 games will tell us if we are better since we face UNH at home then road games at William and Mary then at JMU . Need to win 2 of 3 in that gauntlet to stay competitive .

[CHIP72]

Hmm...

*Lehigh - not looking so good after getting blown out at James Madison following their close win over Central Connecticut State, but the Mountain Hawks weren't good last year either; game vs. Penn will tell a lot more - CAN'T TELL.

*Lafayette - 0-2 with a blowout home loss against William & Mary and a 10 point loss in a deluge to what looks like a so-so Delaware team; Leopards were expected to lose both and Princeton game will be a better indicator - CAN'T TELL.

*Penn - the Ivy League Quakers haven't even played yet - CAN'T TELL.

*Villanova - suffered a disappointing loss to Division I-A/FBS Connecticut (who does look improved) and dominated Fordham statistically but only won by 7 points; offense looks shakier than expected - CAN'T TELL.

Now if we were talking about the Temple Owls, I could give you a definitive answer...

[ysubigred]

YSU xshakingmadx

Goes toe to toe with P5 Pitt and the next week at home has to come from behind and into overtime to beat 20 scholly Bobby Morris

http://www.hahastop.com/pictures/Srsly_Wtf_Guys.jpg

[crusader11]

Holy Cross looked pretty good for a half against Monmouth in week one. With two weeks of prep for Towson, we'll find out what team we have in Worcester on Saturday evening.

[OSBF]

EIU is horrible. Whitlow looks lost at QB, waiting too long to throw, then not tucking and running like he can. The OL can't block for the running game and QB is under constant pressure. The receivers are horribly undersized.

The defense is not improved in their ability to stop the run, so can they compete with ISU? No.

EIU ALWAYS plays ILS tough, especially there.

Looking forward to making the trip, always have a good time there

I think the only way ILS really learns anything meaningful about the seasons prospects is if this isn't a fairly 1 sided affair, then there may be cause for concern

I'll be watching the line play, that's the area we most noticeably need to shore up, and this will be the closest to real competition so far

Got pushed around by a clearly physically superior bunch of Hawkeyes, and Morgan St was a joke of a team

We'll be tailgating on the West side of the stadium with the EIU players parents group, the GF has a former HS student of hers that plays for EIU

Looking forward to a fantastic 2015 rendition of The Mid-American Classic

[Bam]

EKU- too early! QB needs to be benched, D looks good. Injuries are an issue already! xbangx

[BEAR]

I guess injuries are big for some teams already. xbawlingx

[phoenix3]

Elon's defense has improved, especially the DL.

Kicking game is significantly improved.

Offense couldn't have gotten much worse, but I really can't project that they're better yet this season. O line looks good to very good in pass blocking, not so much on run blocking. Receivers, so far, have had hands of steel. Lot's of freshmen on the 2 deep. Frequently we have 9 freshmen on the field.

Overall we're on the improve but it may still not show in our win loss ratio.

[RootinFerDukes]

JMU has looked great against morehead state and Lehigh. We used to have so-so wins against these early season tune up games, so it's refreshing for them to be the laughers that they should be for once since 2008.
However, I don't know if we're that good or our opponents are that bad. Only time will tell.
Our defense seems slightly better, but far from an ndsu championship worthy defense.

I'll have to say... It's too early to tell.