MUHAWKS
September 1st, 2024, 03:21 PM
Tis that time! Last week is over and it is now Pards/Hawks game week! An early 12 pm kickoff in West Long Branch withe the early forecast making it seem like it will be a repeat of last year except with humidity and rain instead of a cool rain like it was in Easton last year, but still too early to tell. Bad weather would favor you guys I would think, but uncontrollable.
I know The Pards do not want to start 0-2 but the reality is, we all Know Lafayette is good and the road to the post season was almost always going to be a PL title not an at large. Hence, the game means way more to Monmouth than it does to Lafayette in terms of being alive longer. I am calling this game a MUST WIN for us. None of this "play well but fall short garbage". At some point we need to win a close game which we seem to often be on the wrong side of. A win and we have a not horrible loss to what could be a god Big Sky and close to ranked team and a win against a presumably still ranked Lafayette or close to it with Maine on deck who has to travel to Montana State and play an 8 PM SATURDAY night game which means if they leave after the game they will not get back to Orono until at least Noon Sunday after probably heading out there Thursday. This becomes a favorable setup for us but ONLY IF we beat you guys this week, which will not be easy.
I have always liked the PL and the Pard folk on this board seem like good people- so what are your thoughts? Any key injuries for you guys coming into and out of the Buffalo game? Seems you have a similar team to last year with a good defense and despite the not great offensive showing last week, it seems Buffalo may be better and we know Curtis and Denobile are capable to say the least.
We came into EWU pretty healthy. Nobody was missing on Offense and nobody got hurt. On D we were without a starting DT and starting LB (team captain) and I saw 2 DL go down against EWU which is not good b/c Curtis gashed us last year. I am not sure the status of any of those guys but we should have enough depth in the front 7 that hopefully it will not matter.
Against EWU we played "ok".. We were decent to perhaps good on Offense and flat out bad on D. We could not get off the field and really struggled defending their short passing game. We let up 550 yards of offense almost evenly split between rushing/ passing but it was really that short passing game that killed us. Offensively I was pleasantly surprised seeing as how we have an entirely new O line, new QB, 2 new RB's who get time with Ntoh who was our backup last year and 4 of our top 5 WR;s are new. The O line only let up 1 sack and our QB looked decent. We managed 440 yards almost all through the air and it did not seem we even tried to establish the run. We were down 14-0 and then tied the game. The we were down 21-14 and had the ball with 3 minutes left in the half and somehow went 3 and out throwing the ball downfield which left them time to make it 28-14 at half. We got the ball in the second had and stalled in EWU territory. They added two scores and it was 42-14 early in the 4th. Then we struck very quickly and made it 42-21, finally got a stop and scored again with a few minutes left to make it 42-27 missed 2 p/c. Our defense acutally stopped them and we got the ball back with 3 minutes I think and drove into EWU territory before a tipped ball ended the game with an INT. If ot for that it looked very much like we were going in to make it a 1 score game and have the chance at an onsides kick miracle. I liked the resilience and fight coming back from 14-0 and then again from 42-14.
I think this will be a very good Football game where coaching is of huge importance. We need it badly. Would like to hear any thoughts/comments from your side.
I know The Pards do not want to start 0-2 but the reality is, we all Know Lafayette is good and the road to the post season was almost always going to be a PL title not an at large. Hence, the game means way more to Monmouth than it does to Lafayette in terms of being alive longer. I am calling this game a MUST WIN for us. None of this "play well but fall short garbage". At some point we need to win a close game which we seem to often be on the wrong side of. A win and we have a not horrible loss to what could be a god Big Sky and close to ranked team and a win against a presumably still ranked Lafayette or close to it with Maine on deck who has to travel to Montana State and play an 8 PM SATURDAY night game which means if they leave after the game they will not get back to Orono until at least Noon Sunday after probably heading out there Thursday. This becomes a favorable setup for us but ONLY IF we beat you guys this week, which will not be easy.
I have always liked the PL and the Pard folk on this board seem like good people- so what are your thoughts? Any key injuries for you guys coming into and out of the Buffalo game? Seems you have a similar team to last year with a good defense and despite the not great offensive showing last week, it seems Buffalo may be better and we know Curtis and Denobile are capable to say the least.
We came into EWU pretty healthy. Nobody was missing on Offense and nobody got hurt. On D we were without a starting DT and starting LB (team captain) and I saw 2 DL go down against EWU which is not good b/c Curtis gashed us last year. I am not sure the status of any of those guys but we should have enough depth in the front 7 that hopefully it will not matter.
Against EWU we played "ok".. We were decent to perhaps good on Offense and flat out bad on D. We could not get off the field and really struggled defending their short passing game. We let up 550 yards of offense almost evenly split between rushing/ passing but it was really that short passing game that killed us. Offensively I was pleasantly surprised seeing as how we have an entirely new O line, new QB, 2 new RB's who get time with Ntoh who was our backup last year and 4 of our top 5 WR;s are new. The O line only let up 1 sack and our QB looked decent. We managed 440 yards almost all through the air and it did not seem we even tried to establish the run. We were down 14-0 and then tied the game. The we were down 21-14 and had the ball with 3 minutes left in the half and somehow went 3 and out throwing the ball downfield which left them time to make it 28-14 at half. We got the ball in the second had and stalled in EWU territory. They added two scores and it was 42-14 early in the 4th. Then we struck very quickly and made it 42-21, finally got a stop and scored again with a few minutes left to make it 42-27 missed 2 p/c. Our defense acutally stopped them and we got the ball back with 3 minutes I think and drove into EWU territory before a tipped ball ended the game with an INT. If ot for that it looked very much like we were going in to make it a 1 score game and have the chance at an onsides kick miracle. I liked the resilience and fight coming back from 14-0 and then again from 42-14.
I think this will be a very good Football game where coaching is of huge importance. We need it badly. Would like to hear any thoughts/comments from your side.