My analysis of why Eastern won

[b_f_c_99]

Well besides the obvious, because they scored more points.

First I will say Delaware was awesome in the first half, Devlin and Pierce were awesome, the play calling was diverse and well executed. Eastern could not get pressure into the backfield and that was the key to stopping Delaware.

In the second half a couple of things happened. After Delaware went up 19-0 I personally think they began to think, "this is over" at that point I believe the coaching staff decided that since they knew they could beat Eastern with their game plan, they were going to show everyone that they could throw the ball and beat them at Eastern's playing style as well. Us grizzly fans know this strategy well, we watched Bobby Hauk do this for 8 years. However at this point Eastern started getting pressure in the backfield. A couple of sacks, a couple of runs for losses, and they are getting Delawares offense off the field.

And then the most important thing. Eastern just opened it up, knew they didn't have time to run, and heck running on the typical CAA team is a chore anyway.

Which brings us to the "best secondary in FBS" frankly the CAA sucks at throwing the ball. Delaware is very good at it but the rest? The typical Big Sky team would throw on Delaware, gains yards and score points. Not saying they would win, Delaware is very good but teams in the Big Sky know how to pass. Lets face it at this level of football there aren't any great corners or safeties, if there were they would already be at the next level. And guess what? If they are good at that level they would be in the NFL.

If a team can get a quality QB like Devlin, or Mitchell, a couple of receivers that have good hands and run good routes, you can pass the ball all over the place. Assuming your offensive line isn't a giving up a jailbreak every snap.

I'd say that the Delaware coaches didn't get outcoached, they just outsmarted themselves. And Eastern and the "Big Fluffy" know how to play uptempo football. The CAA is mostly a grind it out kill the clock bunch. And this time the better team won. That being said, I deff would not want to play Delaware every week!

[dudeitsaid]

Well besides the obvious, because they scored more points.
And Eastern and the "Big Fluffy" know how to play uptempo football.

When asked about the adjustments EWU made, there wasn't a lot on D. Baldwin felt the D was adjusting to their offense as the game wore on. But he said he had the offense go to their quick tempo, and went to the air primarily. So you nailed it on the head. The tempo, throwing the ball, and the fact EWU was in a position where they really needed to take chances worked out. When Wulff was here, we ran a no-huddle offense always. That's the last year we performed well in the playoffs. I often wondered what would've happened if we could've overcome App State that year. But, they still no how to play at that pace, and have a couple of schemes and tempos they practice to put inot these types of situations. It worked out well for us against Delaware.

[BlueHenSinfonian]

I think you have some good points there.

After the half Delaware probably assumed that the game was already won, as you say, and softened up considerably on offense and defense. When EWU scored the first TD my thought was 'darn, I guess it won't be a shut out' but I still didn't see a threat. After the second TD I started to think 'Wow, at least the EWU fans can feel good that their team put up a bit of a fight'. After the booth review of the spot fiasco and the third EWU TD I started to think 'Holy heck, this game just got away from us'.

Delaware played best this season when they could control the pace of the game and do everything to plan. Even after the first EWU score the plan seemed to be to play a pulled back prevent defense to stop big plays, but to allow EWU to move as long as it kept the clock running down. When the score suddenly got very close and EWU took the lead, panic mode set in, and Delaware didn't do well this year playing in panic mode. EWU had plenty of experience coming back from behind, and I think that experience in late game rallies really helped out.

In a way, I wish EWU had made the two point conversion. I think if they had they would have gone for another on the next TD, and if they made it, probably settled for a field goal on that 4th down deep in Delaware territory to tie the game. We probably could have pulled ourselves back together and come up with a win in OT, but as it was, EWU caught us with our pants down, played great football when we were off in lala land, and made us pay. Then again, all the what-ifs in the world don't really amount to anything in the end.

For such a close game it's interesting that there was no real back and forth. Delaware completely dominated the first half, EWU completely dominated the second. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if both teams came out and played four quarters of football.

[b_f_c_99]

Yeah BlueHen, it was a really odd game. I think Delaware let down some, but I also think Eastern picked up the intensity, looking back at the play by play, Delaware did try and run the ball, but the big gains of the first half were small gains or losses, and then Eastern started to shove the O line back into Devlin you could see his comfort level get disrupted and he made some bad throws, he also had a couple that were dropped. Devlin is a damn good player, most would start running around, throw interceptions stuff like that. I also think that the Eagles dinged up Pierce, much like they dinged up Szar.

[ngineer]

I had a sense that UD lost its intensity after going up 19-0. They certainly were controlling the game, but then the 'three and outs' began and EWU got life, and with a high octane offense one only needs a little spark. Mentally, it's hard to re-amp the intensity and this appeared to be the case with the offensive line. I think these two team are very close to each other and if they played each other 10 times would split the series 5-5. But, the Eagles are the champions and really showed a lot of character in not giving up and continuing the fight in the face of what appeared to be turning into a blowout. A serious lesson.

[b_f_c_99]

Hey I can't remember, but did Delaware every throw it deep the entire night?

[GtFllsGriz]

Very good analysis. I would add that Eastern had some dropped passes in the first half that were not the norm. I think it took them a little while to get over the nerves. They make some of those catches and they could have been in the game from the start.

[b_f_c_99]

There has been some discussion that Delaware didn't run it enough after they went up 19-0. I looked at the play by play, for the rest of the game they ran it 10 times and passed it 9 (11 if you consider the sacks as pass attempts) and most of those runs came early when they were trying to kill the clock. Eastern's D just picked up their level of play and stuffed them. UD just didn't have an answer.

[Franks Tanks]

Hey I can't remember, but did Delaware every throw it deep the entire night?

The hens threw deep very little all year.

[srgrizizen]

Yeah BlueHen, it was a really odd game. I think Delaware let down some, but I also think Eastern picked up the intensity, looking back at the play by play, Delaware did try and run the ball, but the big gains of the first half were small gains or losses, and then Eastern started to shove the O line back into Devlin you could see his comfort level get disrupted and he made some bad throws, he also had a couple that were dropped. Devlin is a damn good player, most would start running around, throw interceptions stuff like that. I also think that the Eagles dinged up Pierce, much like they dinged up Szar.

Lots to agree with in this thread. Devlin's accuracy when not pressured was awesome. The announcers said he'll definitely play in the pros, and I don't doubt it. But I thought his accuracy dropped considerably when he had to think about avoiding rushers, even when they never got to him. Granted, that's probably true for any QB, but he can't expect to be left alone to pick people apart in the pros, and in the second half, EWU found a way to bother him a lot, including a couple of sacks. Also, since I expected both Delaware sides of the line to be better than EWU, I was surprised at the lack of a more effective rush by Delaware. Still, I saw enough to see why Delaware wins most of the time. Trying to run against them is a waste of time for most teams.

[henfan]

My analysis: the better team won.

Though I'm deeply disappointed that my team didn't win, I'm glad that championships at this level are settled on the field. There's no disputing the outcome of a 20-19 win.

[b_f_c_99]

"Trying to run against them is a waste of time for most teams. "

The CAA are monsters at running and stopping the run, playing their game is a guaranteed loser.

And this is exactly what Bobby Hauk tried to do against Villanova last year, I never could figure out why that guy just had to try and prove that he could play smash mouth ball. I thought coaching was about looking at what you have for talent, and what the other team has, then exploting what you do well and they don't. I wish Eastern had just lit it up from the get go, but they got the job done and I was thrilled.

[b_f_c_99]

My analysis: the better team won.

Though I'm deeply disappointed that my team didn't win, I'm glad that championships at this level are settled on the field. There's no disputing the outcome of a 20-19 win.

I was super impressed with UD, I suspect that never throwing deep, even to just prove that you would, let Eastern settle in on D. That and I just don't think they were ready for somebody else that could throw. That being said I think those teams could play 10 times and it would be a crapshoot as to who would win each game.