Eastern 17 vs. Florida 52

[ewueagfan]

Well we haven't scored since our first possession and it seems unlikely we'll score again. Meanwhile they're scoring at will. Hard to see many positive takeaways from this one other than the pay day.

I'm just as disappointed as anyone with this performance as well as in the Oregon game. Perspective, both of those programs have about 50 times the football budget than Eastern. We have looked just fine against the two FCS teams we've played and probably should have won that MSU game. I'm not ready to throw the towel in on this team just yet. There's plenty of fight left in this team.

Yep. Given the amount of talent we lost, the QB situation, and this year's schedule it was probably always going to be a rebuilding season.

We do need to find a QB and I'd like to see what kind of talent we have behind Talkington.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Well we haven't scored since our first possession and it seems unlikely we'll score again. Meanwhile they're scoring at will. Hard to see many positive takeaways from this one other than the pay day.

I'm just as disappointed as anyone with this performance as well as in the Oregon game. Perspective, both of those programs have about 50 times the football budget than Eastern. We have looked just fine against the two FCS teams we've played and probably should have won that MSU game. I'm not ready to throw the towel in on this team just yet. There's plenty of fight left in this team.

Yep. Given the amount of talent we lost, the QB situation, and this year's schedule it was probably always going to be a rebuilding season.

We do need to find a QB and I'd like to see what kind of talent we have behind Talkington.

Everyone knew the offense would take a step backward. Everyone assumed the defense could take a step forward to help offset that. Yet, this is the single worst defense I’ve ever seen at Eastern. What’s our win rate in one-on-one tackling situations? It feels like 30% of less. Watch any other team, and they make tackles more often than not in one-on-one situations at about an 80-90% clip. We are too slow, too soft, too undisciplined, and just nowhere near where we need to be on defense to compete.

In two games of four, we’ve allowed a TD on the very first play. This is our second game where the defense didn’t force a punt or turnover in an entire half of football. The results are almost astonishing.

 

[eaglesfootball]

Well we haven't scored since our first possession and it seems unlikely we'll score again. Meanwhile they're scoring at will. Hard to see many positive takeaways from this one other than the pay day.

I'm just as disappointed as anyone with this performance as well as in the Oregon game. Perspective, both of those programs have about 50 times the football budget than Eastern. We have looked just fine against the two FCS teams we've played and probably should have won that MSU game. I'm not ready to throw the towel in on this team just yet. There's plenty of fight left in this team.

Yep. Given the amount of talent we lost, the QB situation, and this year's schedule it was probably always going to be a rebuilding season.

We do need to find a QB and I'd like to see what kind of talent we have behind Talkington.

Everyone knew the offense would take a step backward. Everyone assumed the defense could take a step forward to help offset that. Yet, this is the single worst defense I’ve ever seen at Eastern. What’s our win rate in one-on-one tackling situations? It feels like 30% of less. Watch any other team, and they make tackles more often than not in one-on-one situations at about an 80-90% clip. We are too slow, too soft, too undisciplined, and just nowhere near where we need to be on defense to compete.

In two games of four, we’ve allowed a TD on the very first play. This is our second game where the defense didn’t force a punt or turnover in an entire half of football. The results are almost astonishing.

it's the worst I've seen here and I have been watching EWU football since the 80's. The only playmaker we seem to have is Mitchell Johnson. frankly I think we spend most of our out of state scholarship money on offensive players. I don't think you can just recruit the Pugent Sound for players and expect to field a competitive defense.

 

[Seattle Eagle]

it's the worst I've seen here and I have been watching EWU football since the 80's. The only playmaker we seem to have is Mitchell Johnson. frankly I think we spend most of our out of state scholarship money on offensive players. I don't think you can just recruit the Pugent Sound for players and expect to field a competitive defense.

Hogwash. That has absolutely nothing to do with it. There's more than enough Division I talent in the state of Washington to field something better than what we see year in and year out,.

 

[EWURanger]

I share the frustration with the defense.

Honest question, when’s the last time someone remembers us having a dominating defense in the recent past?

I remember the 2013 and 2016 units being ok. Maybe throw the 2017 unit in there since that squad made it to the chipper.

Other than that…?

The 2010 NC team had a quite a few playmakers on it who could create TO’s and get stops at critical times. From what I remember they still gave up a lot of yards on average.

Defense just sort of isn’t our thing. Not saying it’s ok but this is nothing new.

 

[Seattle Eagle]

And...the ball hits #11 right in the hands and he drops it. Unbelievable.

 

[Seattle Eagle]

I share the frustration with the defense.

Honest question, when’s the last time someone remembers us having a dominating defense in the recent past?

I remember the 2013 and 2016 units being ok. Maybe throw the 2017 unit in there since that squad made it to the chipper.

Other than that…?

The 2010 NC team had a quite a few playmakers on it who could create TO’s and get stops at critical times. From what I remember they still gave up a lot of yards on average.

Defense just sort of isn’t our thing. Not saying it’s ok but this is nothing new.

Right, but why is that? You can't tell me that we can recruit the kind of skill position players we have and have had in the past but not recruit more than 1 or 2 decent guys on defense in any given year?

 

[EWURanger]

I share the frustration with the defense.

Honest question, when’s the last time someone remembers us having a dominating defense in the recent past?

I remember the 2013 and 2016 units being ok. Maybe throw the 2017 unit in there since that squad made it to the chipper.

Other than that…?

The 2010 NC team had a quite a few playmakers on it who could create TO’s and get stops at critical times. From what I remember they still gave up a lot of yards on average.

Defense just sort of isn’t our thing. Not saying it’s ok but this is nothing new.

Right, but why is that? You can't tell me that we can recruit the kind of skill position players we have and have had in the past but not recruit more than 1 or 2 decent guys on defense in any given year?

Because we’re not a defensive oriented program and never have been. I thought that might change some with Best but it hasn’t.

 

[ewueagfan]

Well we haven't scored since our first possession and it seems unlikely we'll score again. Meanwhile they're scoring at will. Hard to see many positive takeaways from this one other than the pay day.

I'm just as disappointed as anyone with this performance as well as in the Oregon game. Perspective, both of those programs have about 50 times the football budget than Eastern. We have looked just fine against the two FCS teams we've played and probably should have won that MSU game. I'm not ready to throw the towel in on this team just yet. There's plenty of fight left in this team.

Yep. Given the amount of talent we lost, the QB situation, and this year's schedule it was probably always going to be a rebuilding season.

We do need to find a QB and I'd like to see what kind of talent we have behind Talkington.

Everyone knew the offense would take a step backward. Everyone assumed the defense could take a step forward to help offset that. Yet, this is the single worst defense I’ve ever seen at Eastern. What’s our win rate in one-on-one tackling situations? It feels like 30% of less. Watch any other team, and they make tackles more often than not in one-on-one situations at about an 80-90% clip. We are too slow, too soft, too undisciplined, and just nowhere near where we need to be on defense to compete.

In two games of four, we’ve allowed a TD on the very first play. This is our second game where the defense didn’t force a punt or turnover in an entire half of football. The results are almost astonishing.

it's the worst I've seen here and I have been watching EWU football since the 80's. The only playmaker we seem to have is Mitchell Johnson. frankly I think we spend most of our out of state scholarship money on offensive players. I don't think you can just recruit the Pugent Sound for players and expect to field a competitive defense.

EWU's philosophy of not aggressively pursuing Power 5 transfers is deeply flawed in my opinion. I understand wanting to stick to the kids you've recruited out of High School but you can't tell me that bringing in 2-3 highly talented guys each year who are just looking for a fresh start somewhere is somehow going to completely destroy team cohesion.

 

[EWURanger]

To my previous point:

What’s the commonality between all the exceptional teams we’ve had in the past?

Hint: It’s not defense.

 

[ewueagfan]

At this point it'd be sweet to just score a TD.

 

[Hambone]

To my previous point:

What’s the commonality between all the exceptional teams we’ve had in the past?

Hint: It’s not defense.

A couple of things that we don't have this year.

 

[LDopaPDX]

To my previous point:

What’s the commonality between all the exceptional teams we’ve had in the past?

Hint: It’s not defense.

There's nothing wrong with being a team that can score points. But Eastern's two most successful years, 2010 in 2018, we had defenses that were pretty good. One thing that is near certain is that every year we're a disaster, a bad defense is the main reason.

While there's no doubt our defensive talent is far below expectations, a lot of it falls to the fact defense just feels like an afterthought each year. Do we even work on tackling? I can't remember seeing a defense tackle as poorly as the one right now. Even when we are in the right positions, it doesn't make a difference because we can't make a tackle in a one-on-one.

Just an FYI... Tennessee State had their best offensive game since playing us this weekend. They scored 20 in regulation against a .500 D2 school. That's about where our defense is right now, about mid-pack for a D2 team. We can't stay in games with a defense that is nowhere near D1 level.

 

[Seattle Eagle]

That was a nice back shoulder fade for the TD,.

 

[Seattle Eagle]

After watching him for a few plays I think Visperas might be the future at QB.

 

[ewueagfan]

After watching him for a few plays I think Visperas might be the future at QB.

I agree. The kid has some wheels and a pretty decent touch that'll only get better.

 

[EWURanger]

After watching him for a few plays I think Visperas might be the future at QB.

You could be right. I can see why the coaching staff is big on him.

 

[luckyintheorder]

Some late energy. Maybe the team finally woke up as it approached noon in Cheney. Beautiful day in Gainesville. I still think this experience will make Eastern more competitive, but I'm a fool.

No adjustments out of the half again. I'm done with the Chapin experiment.

 

[clawman1]

After watching him for a few plays I think Visperas might be the future at QB.

Throwing a TD in your first series is pretty cool, against an SEC school even better!

 

[luckyintheorder]

Taking nothing away from GT today. He showed good poise and was mostly accurate but I wouldn't hate to see more of this... Not sure why Eag's get athletic QB's only to keep them from using their legs.

[media]https://twitter.com/EWUFootball/status/1576650257554735104?s=20&t=l1MKc2sb1WyEtuifvYjXdw[/media]