Eags Beat Themselves Today

[sammamisheag]

Penalties killed them. Plus can't run the ball with a beat up O Line.

Eerily looking like 2011 with injuries to key players.

Lose next week and kiss playoffs goodbye

 

[ShEagle]

Too many penalties at crucial times. Defense needs work.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Penalties killed them. Plus can't run the ball with a beat up O Line.

Eerily looking like 2011 with injuries to key players.

Lose next week and kiss playoffs goodbye

The tragic comedy in this is that our AD set it up to be a repeat of 2011. Play an emotional game against a Pac-12 opponent on the road. THEN, avoid playing a game at home and instead go play a power team in a dome.

Granted, we *could* have won today, but the fact that the potential to be 0-2 and totally beat up heading into a must-win against a good opponent ought to have crossed Chaves' mind. I never understand why we take risks that bear no reward. Playing some scab FCS team like Campbell wouldn't have devalued an already tough-as-nails schedule. Heading to Cedar Falls to drop like flies and come into Cheney lacking confidence and players is hard to swallow... it didn't have to be this way.

Montana State will be fresh of an easy win and a bye week. This'll be tough. We'll find out what we're made of next week. I suspect we'll come out fired up, but we're going to have to get a lot of these players back.

 

[clawman1]

Penalties killed them. Plus can't run the ball with a beat up O Line.

Eerily looking like 2011 with injuries to key players.

Lose next week and kiss playoffs goodbye

I was at the South Dakota game and it felt a lot like this one. Yes the injuries feel a lot like 2011. We lost an o-lineman @ Oregon, today we lost his backup, Kupp went down, Hennessy too. There were others as well, we are getting too banged up to reach full potential. The curse of the second game still haunts us.
Even if we have 3 losses but still make the playoffs is not the point to me, it is where we would be seeded. Very unlikely to be a top 4 seed so we'd have to travel in the playoffs.

 

[luckyintheorder]

Penalties killed them. Plus can't run the ball with a beat up O Line.

Eerily looking like 2011 with injuries to key players.

Lose next week and kiss playoffs goodbye

I was at the South Dakota game and it felt a lot like this one. Yes the injuries feel a lot like 2011. We lost an o-lineman @ Oregon, today we lost his backup, Kupp went down, Hennessy too. There were others as well, we are getting too banged up to reach full potential. The curse of the second game still haunts us.
Even if we have 3 losses but still make the playoffs is not the point to me, it is where we would be seeded. Very unlikely to be a top 4 seed so we'd have to travel in the playoffs.

Clawman, you were at the game. It seemed watching on ESPN3 that the play calling on offense was VERY conservative in the first half especially and that it effected the teams mentality in the game, but since they don't show the whole field it was hard to see exactly if this was the right way to go. From what I could see, it looked like the press coverage was very beatable in the seams/streaks (Kupp TD for example) and Coach B didn't trust the team to execute and held them back. Given UNI gang tackled well, but it looked like we didn't attack where there were weaknesses. Again, TV limits the view.

 

[kalm]

Penalties killed them. Plus can't run the ball with a beat up O Line.

Eerily looking like 2011 with injuries to key players.

Lose next week and kiss playoffs goodbye

The tragic comedy in this is that our AD set it up to be a repeat of 2011. Play an emotional game against a Pac-12 opponent on the road. THEN, avoid playing a game at home and instead go play a power team in a dome.

Granted, we *could* have won today, but the fact that the potential to be 0-2 and totally beat up heading into a must-win against a good opponent ought to have crossed Chaves' mind. I never understand why we take risks that bear no reward. Playing some scab FCS team like Campbell wouldn't have devalued an already tough-as-nails schedule. Heading to Cedar Falls to drop like flies and come into Cheney lacking confidence and players is hard to swallow... it didn't have to be this way.

Montana State will be fresh of an easy win and a bye week. This'll be tough. We'll find out what we're made of next week. I suspect we'll come out fired up, but we're going to have to get a lot of these players back.

No reward? Of course their's a reward. Even in a loss. The reward is your playoff resume. 8-3 you're a lock. Even at 7-4 you still might get in over an 8-3 OVC or 9-2 Patriot team. If you win, it greatly increases your chances at getting a high seed.

Schedule a DII and those 7 wins turn to 6 in the eyes of the committee. It would be great to schedule a Campbell or a Drake but I'm guessing our home attendance gate doesn't make the math work to fly them out like Montana or MSU do.

Another reward is getting them, a high power but beatable opponent out here next year.

And of course there's the benefit of having a tough schedule prepare you for the playoffs.

I'm not saying you're 100% wrong. But there are rewards.

 

[kalm]

To the rest of you Debbie Downers...

Lose next week and the BSC Auto-bid is still in front of us. (But I admit, the margin for error is slim :mrgreen: )

Special teams play, penalties, injuries all played a roll, but we gave up 266 yards rushing. That's why we lost. This was a team with a brand new offense, a receiving corps that had caught a combined 32 balls last year, and no identity at QB. Kollmorgen couldn't move his bowels last season let alone the football without David Johnson and we made him look like Andrew Luck.

In 2010, we allowed something like 22 pts per game. We need to at least hold opponents to under 30 if we're going to do things like repeat as BSC champs, make deep runs in the playoffs, get back to Frisco, etc.

And yes, the little details like special teams and penalties matter. But you have to be good enough to overcome injuries and bad calls if you're going to win Championships. (See Taiwan Jones and Delaware in 2010. We were they weren't)

 

[IowaEagle]

Penalties. It was all about the penalties. Crucial spots crucial times. Just not well played

 

[marceagfan5]

Penalties killed them. Plus can't run the ball with a beat up O Line.

Eerily looking like 2011 with injuries to key players.

Lose next week and kiss playoffs goodbye

The tragic comedy in this is that our AD set it up to be a repeat of 2011. Play an emotional game against a Pac-12 opponent on the road. THEN, avoid playing a game at home and instead go play a power team in a dome.

Granted, we *could* have won today, but the fact that the potential to be 0-2 and totally beat up heading into a must-win against a good opponent ought to have crossed Chaves' mind. I never understand why we take risks that bear no reward. Playing some scab FCS team like Campbell wouldn't have devalued an already tough-as-nails schedule. Heading to Cedar Falls to drop like flies and come into Cheney lacking confidence and players is hard to swallow... it didn't have to be this way.

Montana State will be fresh of an easy win and a bye week. This'll be tough. We'll find out what we're made of next week. I suspect we'll come out fired up, but we're going to have to get a lot of these players back.

No reward? Of course their's a reward. Even in a loss. The reward is your playoff resume. 8-3 you're a lock. Even at 7-4 you still might get in over an 8-3 OVC or 9-2 Patriot team. If you win, it greatly increases your chances at getting a high seed.

Schedule a DII and those 7 wins turn to 6 in the eyes of the committee. It would be great to schedule a Campbell or a Drake but I'm guessing our home attendance gate doesn't make the math work to fly them out like Montana or MSU do.

Another reward is getting them, a high power but beatable opponent out here next year.

And of course there's the benefit of having a tough schedule prepare you for the playoffs.

I'm not saying you're 100% wrong. But there are rewards.

The benefit to bringing in a D2 or a crappy FCS team is that you are guaranteed one more win and one less loss. While playing tough non-conf games week in, week out may make your resume look better that committee is only going to rely on that if you are a bubble playoff team. The committee WILL notice if you have 2 losses compared to 3, or 1 compared to 2, in terms of seeding, which is what we should be looking at...A 2 loss Big sky team will almost always be seeded, regardless of who they played...

As far as the finances of paying a team to come here without a return game, the university needs to look at that as a long term thing rather than a one time expense. Yes it costs money to bring in a D2 (approximately $50k) and more to bring in an FCS, but why not pay the money to do it??? I understand we arent the Griz, or Bison, or Cats, but it gives us one more home game, one more win, which will lead to higher playoff seeds, deeper playoff runs, more exposure...etc....which in return leads to more money and more fans for the university...

Also, a cupcake game is a great way to iron out the issues early in the year, which would have been nice for a game like yesterday...

 

[clawman1]

To the rest of you Debbie Downers...

Lose next week and the BSC Auto-bid is still in front of us. (But I admit, the margin for error is slim :mrgreen: )

Special teams play, penalties, injuries all played a roll, but we gave up 266 yards rushing. That's why we lost. This was a team with a brand new offense, a receiving corps that had caught a combined 32 balls last year, and no identity at QB. Kollmorgen couldn't move his bowels last season let alone the football without David Johnson and we made him look like Andrew Luck.

In 2010, we allowed something like 22 pts per game. We need to at least hold opponents to under 30 if we're going to do things like repeat as BSC champs, make deep runs in the playoffs, get back to Frisco, etc.

And yes, the little details like special teams and penalties matter. But you have to be good enough to overcome injuries and bad calls if you're going to win Championships. (See Taiwan Jones and Delaware in 2010. We were they weren't)

Hey Kalm,
We'll agree and disagree.
The kicking matters because they started with much better field position thus shorter drives. And a15 yard gift for touching the return man to start off two drives. We don't appear to have a kicker who can get the ball to the end zone.
Penalties do matter, some are just going to happen, the game is fast and they can not just stop on a dime. Not running into the return man is taught way back in high school. Some of those penalties contributed to the 266 yards of rushing by keeping drives alive for them. The offside penalty on their last drive just plain ended the game. I can go on and on but the yards penalized are measurable but the disruption in the offensive flow, and keeping drives alive for the competition are not as measurable. Our offense did look anemic in part because we never really got a flow going.
We gifted them 15 times, the yards are not as important as the disruptive affect. Self imposed pain. A few are bad calls, the homer effect, but many are unacceptable.
I agree championship caliber teams overcome, but they don't put themselves in those positions in the first place.
Not one of the 26 penalty flags thrown so far this year were thrown on the coaches.
2010 vs Delaware- 3 flags for 25 yards

 

[Maddog6225]

Yes, it's early, but to say Lose next week and miss Playoffs......What happened Saturday was a Coach that needs to stick to Game plan and when you have a Quarterback playing Great and only down one score, you Don't change Just to see what you have. West was playing great, yes playing catch with Cooper was something to see, but that change Quarterback at the half.....Not sure what the Coaches were thinking.

 

[GROUND&POUND]

Yes, it's early, but to say Lose next week and miss Playoffs......What happened Saturday was a Coach that needs to stick to Game plan and when you have a Quarterback playing Great and only down one score, you Don't change Just to see what you have. West was playing great, yes playing catch with Cooper was something to see, but that change Quarterback at the half.....Not sure what the Coaches were thinking.

I'd say what he was thinking was that Hennessy had played well enough to still be in contention to start. Why else would he get in right?

Even the Eagle fan base is split on who is playing better, even though it's nice that we have two playing well enough to discuss it. I still say Hennessy's mobility will lesson the pass rush and create more extended plays, ultimately making us better.

 

[Maddog6225]

Thanks for the reply. In a game that your starter was playing as good as West was, I disagree taken West out with his first half stats. I wish them both well. Just a Football fan from Tennessee.

 

[MLEagle]

It always hurts to lose a game we should have won, but I'm glad we have a tough schedule. If we can't beat tough teams during the season when it is not necessarily do or die then what good would it do to go to the playoffs with a weak schedule and get bounced in the first round like MSU.

The hard part is our margin for error the rest of the way got a whole lot smaller.

 

[kalm]

To the rest of you Debbie Downers...

Lose next week and the BSC Auto-bid is still in front of us. (But I admit, the margin for error is slim :mrgreen: )

Special teams play, penalties, injuries all played a roll, but we gave up 266 yards rushing. That's why we lost. This was a team with a brand new offense, a receiving corps that had caught a combined 32 balls last year, and no identity at QB. Kollmorgen couldn't move his bowels last season let alone the football without David Johnson and we made him look like Andrew Luck.

In 2010, we allowed something like 22 pts per game. We need to at least hold opponents to under 30 if we're going to do things like repeat as BSC champs, make deep runs in the playoffs, get back to Frisco, etc.

And yes, the little details like special teams and penalties matter. But you have to be good enough to overcome injuries and bad calls if you're going to win Championships. (See Taiwan Jones and Delaware in 2010. We were they weren't)

Hey Kalm,
We'll agree and disagree.
The kicking matters because they started with much better field position thus shorter drives. And a15 yard gift for touching the return man to start off two drives. We don't appear to have a kicker who can get the ball to the end zone.
Penalties do matter, some are just going to happen, the game is fast and they can not just stop on a dime. Not running into the return man is taught way back in high school. Some of those penalties contributed to the 266 yards of rushing by keeping drives alive for them. The offside penalty on their last drive just plain ended the game. I can go on and on but the yards penalized are measurable but the disruption in the offensive flow, and keeping drives alive for the competition are not as measurable. Our offense did look anemic in part because we never really got a flow going.
We gifted them 15 times, the yards are not as important as the disruptive affect. Self imposed pain. A few are bad calls, the homer effect, but many are unacceptable.
I agree championship caliber teams overcome, but they don't put themselves in those positions in the first place.
Not one of the 26 penalty flags thrown so far this year were thrown on the coaches.
2010 vs Delaware- 3 flags for 25 yards

Good post and I don't disagree. :thumb:

 

[kalm]

It always hurts to lose a game we should have won, but I'm glad we have a tough schedule. If we can't beat tough teams during the season when it is not necessarily do or die then what good would it do to go to the playoffs with a weak schedule and get bounced in the first round like MSU.

The hard part is our margin for error the rest of the way got a whole lot smaller.

This. :nod:

 

[marceagfan5]

It always hurts to lose a game we should have won, but I'm glad we have a tough schedule. If we can't beat tough teams during the season when it is not necessarily do or die then what good would it do to go to the playoffs with a weak schedule and get bounced in the first round like MSU.

The hard part is our margin for error the rest of the way got a whole lot smaller.

Our conference will test us plenty along the way, which is why we don't need a brutal conference schedule, we will play plenty of ranked teams in conference.

2010 we played FBS Nevada, home (kind of) against Central Wash, and home against pre big sky SUU. Besides the D2 game in Seattle, that is the perfect schedule and it worked out pretty well...

 

[ewueagle2010]

It always hurts to lose a game we should have won, but I'm glad we have a tough schedule. If we can't beat tough teams during the season when it is not necessarily do or die then what good would it do to go to the playoffs with a weak schedule and get bounced in the first round like MSU.

The hard part is our margin for error the rest of the way got a whole lot smaller.

Our conference will test us plenty along the way, which is why we don't need a brutal conference schedule, we will play plenty of ranked teams in conference.

2010 we played FBS Nevada, home (kind of) against Central Wash, and home against pre big sky SUU. Besides the D2 game in Seattle, that is the perfect schedule and it worked out pretty well...

Here's the bottom line. We can't do anything about the schedule and until we build a stadium worthy of bringing in more non conference options without return trips, this is what will continue to be done. The coaches and players don't complain about, and in fact seem to embrace it. Injuries are a part of the game and can happen against any opponent. Did we not lose a starting offensive lineman last year against Western Montana?

The Big Sky obviously hasn't challenged us enough the last few years because it's masked our bad defense. These power MVC teams are our criptinite and seeing them early in the year and knowing what to expect later on is better than scheduling some cup cake D-II team that doesn't count for anything.

This team is 0-2. When we win our next two games, we'll be 2-2 heading into a bye week. We were 2-2 in 2010 and 2013 and those years turned out pretty dang good. So relax and enjoy the ride.

Rant over.

 

[LDopaPDX]

It always hurts to lose a game we should have won, but I'm glad we have a tough schedule. If we can't beat tough teams during the season when it is not necessarily do or die then what good would it do to go to the playoffs with a weak schedule and get bounced in the first round like MSU.

The hard part is our margin for error the rest of the way got a whole lot smaller.

Our conference will test us plenty along the way, which is why we don't need a brutal conference schedule, we will play plenty of ranked teams in conference.

2010 we played FBS Nevada, home (kind of) against Central Wash, and home against pre big sky SUU. Besides the D2 game in Seattle, that is the perfect schedule and it worked out pretty well...

Exactly. This is also the formula North Dakota State has followed to win 4 consecutive titles. The winning formula isn't a secret.

I asked a former EWU head coach about this once and he said "if you're good enough to win it all, then you're good enough to win it all; and if you're not, you're not. Playing a bunch of tough games just gets you all beat up. Typically, the healthiest team with the easiest path wins the title."

Look at where we're at now... 0-2 with another really tough game lined up this weekend. We're all beat up and in a must-win situation. How is this a benefit? Why the fuck doesn't the AD know better? I get that an FBS game is essential because the money is needed for the ops budget. But what do we get besides shitty penalty calls and injuries from playing UNI?

 

[Vic E. Wallace]

To All,
I agree with everything that have been said on the blog. We are all here to express our feelings of each and every game, plays, etc. We are not the Coaches, let the Coach(s) call the plays etc. Seems like some of us are attempting to criticize our Coaches, I hope not. It is very nice for us to express our feelings like I said earlier. Stop attempting to say who should be playing where, what position, when, and why they are calling plays, etc. I am not angry , just don't like how some on the blog are so damn critical of the Coaches. I know this is Freedom Of Speech. Just remember any of us could have been in the position the Coaches are in, how would any of us feel if we were being criticized? Now let us all Buckle up and get ready for a hell of a game this Saturday. Don't want any of you feel like I am attempting to be the Police Of Our blog. Let us attempt to keep it civil. Go Eagles!!!!! and "GOOD NIGHT! Vic Wallace