EWU @ Nevada

[bpcats1]

I knew the Mitchell and your WR would struggle a little bit, just lost a lot there from last year. You have two weeks to get it figured out otherwise your team is pretty solid.

Mitchell and the WR have a lot of work to do.

 

[EWURanger]

I knew the Mitchell and your WR would struggle a little bit, just lost a lot there from last year. You have two weeks to get it figured out otherwise your team is pretty solid.

Mitchell and the WR have a lot of work to do.

I agree completely.......Coach Baldwin did not sound happy in the post-game show. But hey, this was going to be a tough game for us. All is not lost. Good news is we have some time before the home opener to fix some of these issues - and we will.

 

[ewunerd]

Shoot would have been great to see a win. I do have optimism for this year (and yes I'm gonna get ahead of myself but man we could be SCARY next year). Wasnt able to watch/listen so I'm just going off of the stats.

- Assuming Nevada lives up to the hype we played a solid, better than most but not quite top 25 team (I'd say top 50?). I bet we do give 'em better games than some WAC teams would.
- No INTs for Mr. Mitchell. Nevada isnt known for their D but they're better than a lot of D's we'll face all year.
- Avg 13.3 per yard throwing (Mitchell), 12.1 per yeard rushing (Jones)? I'll take that.
- Looks like our QB spreads the ball around. I like to see that.
- Wasnt Minnerly a backup QB until this year? He lead the team in tackles.
- So our 3rd string QB got as many passes as their second string. Nevada was 3/3 on 4th downs. Running up the score? This is a necessity for IA teams. I'm just glad we dont have to go through that rigermorole with a crazy thing we have called a playoff. But still giving up 3 4th down conversions shouldnt happen.

So all in all I think theres plenty to feel good about. Seems like what really screwed us was the first quarter. And we are playing a team with 85 scollys. Are we even at the max 63 scollys for IAA? We kept it a competitive game untill well in the 4th quarter. So at least we lived up to expectations there. IMO if a IAA team keeps it competitive until halfway through the third, nearly the fourth quarter, they had a solid game. Past that point the depth that extra scollys afford just becomes way too big of an advantage. But sugar coating doesnt help anyone. A loss is a loss. And sugar coating a loss like this only lowers the bar instead of raising it.

 

[Blueblood]

Nevada fan here and I just wanted to say a hell of a game you guys played today. I know it wasn't your best game but Taiwan Jones and your rush defense impressed the hell out of me. I hope you guys take it to Montana and I wish your team the best of luck this season!

 

[EWURanger]

Shoot would have been great to see a win. I do have optimism for this year (and yes I'm gonna get ahead of myself but man we could be SCARY next year). Wasnt able to watch/listen so I'm just going off of the stats.

- Assuming Nevada lives up to the hype we played a solid, better than most but not quite top 25 team (I'd say top 50?). I bet we do give 'em better games than some WAC teams would.
- No INTs for Mr. Mitchell. Nevada isnt known for their D but they're better than a lot of D's we'll face all year.
- Avg 13.3 per yard throwing (Mitchell), 12.1 per yeard rushing (Jones)? I'll take that.
- Looks like our QB spreads the ball around. I like to see that.
- Wasnt Minnerly a backup QB until this year? He lead the team in tackles.
- So our 3rd string QB got as many passes as their second string. Nevada was 3/3 on 4th downs. Running up the score? This is a necessity for IA teams. I'm just glad we dont have to go through that rigermorole with a crazy thing we have called a playoff. But still giving up 3 4th down conversions shouldnt happen.

So all in all I think theres plenty to feel good about. Seems like what really screwed us was the first quarter. And we are playing a team with 85 scollys. Are we even at the max 63 scollys for IAA? We kept it a competitive game untill well in the 4th quarter. So at least we lived up to expectations there. IMO if a IAA team keeps it competitive until halfway through the third, nearly the fourth quarter, they had a solid game. Past that point the depth that extra scollys afford just becomes way too big of an advantage. But sugar coating doesnt help anyone. A loss is a loss. And sugar coating a loss like this only lowers the bar instead of raising it.

Jeff had a great game at safety to say the least, and I hope that he will embrace his new position, because he was an absolute beast out there! The fact that he could make the switch from QB to safety in the off-season and come out and be as effective as he was speaks volumes about his athleticism and the coaches abilities........Congrats to Mr. Minnerly!

 

[Anonymous]

Our Eagles put up a good fight last night but my main concern was that it seems our QB struggled with accuracy on medium to long range passes. Not sure if this was just a communication problem but I am hoping that it's something we can get sorted out before our next game against Central.

 

[joemon]

I think Eastern did just fine last night. There's always going to be some mistakes in the first game but when you are playing a FBS foe those mistakes will get ya unlike if you are playing a FCS foe. The fact that they had over 400 yards given the mistakes is pretty impressive. EWU will not face another offense like this the rest of the season, I doubt anyone will stop Nevada especially if they continue with a passing attack. Taiwon Jones has got to be the best FCS player out there, how did the Huskies and Cougs let this guy out of their sights. The defense will be much better against Central, it sounds like Minnerly stepped up to the plate and did a great job.

 

[packman]

Good game EWU. A couple thoughts:

-Jones is scary good, I'm glad we don't have to face him again this year.
-Game was closer than the final score. IMO, the biggest sequence of the night was the end of the first half when EWU wasn't able to punch it in after the Nevada turnover and Nevada then scoring with 17 seconds left. Big difference between a halftime score of 28-10 and 21-17.
-A little confused by the running up the score accusations but whatever.
-Nevada was also lucky to play EWU so early. Once Mitchell and his receivers develop better chemistry on the deep patterns you'll be extremely tough to beat.
-Good luck with the rest of your season. Make Nevada look good by winning the Big Sky and we'll try to make you look good by winning the WAC.

 

[EWURanger]

Good game EWU. A couple thoughts:

-Jones is scary good, I'm glad we don't have to face him again this year.
-Game was closer than the final score. IMO, the biggest sequence of the night was the end of the first half when EWU wasn't able to punch it in after the Nevada turnover and Nevada then scoring with 17 seconds left. Big difference between a halftime score of 28-10 and 21-17.
-A little confused by the running up the score accusations but whatever.
-Nevada was also lucky to play EWU so early. Once Mitchell and his receivers develop better chemistry on the deep patterns you'll be extremely tough to beat.
-Good luck with the rest of your season. Make Nevada look good by winning the Big Sky and we'll try to make you look good by winning the WAC.

Thanks Packman. Good luck to Nevada the rest of the way as well, I'll be pulling for you guys to win the WAC this year. Don't think anyone thinks you all tried to run up the score, just a little confused about the 4th and 14 pass play......but hey, it was a 4 down situation and we shouldn't have given up a big play like that. You guys have a good team this year.

 

[FreeBird]

Agree with packman's observations.

I never felt they tried to run up the score, they just wanted to be sure to get out of there with a win. However, I'm never one inclined to accuse anyone of running up the score anyway. It's the defenses job to stop the offense.

If you're up by 4 scores in the 4th quarter, like a certain FBS team was last year, and put your starting QB in for the first series of the 4th quarter; I don't blame you for running up the score, but I do question your football acumen in terms of risking your starting QB, and not getting your backup some reps. That wasn't the case here. When EWU pulled within 11, they put #35 back in at RB and the starting QB too. I would question the football acumen of any coach that didn't do that at that point in the game. BTW at that point we returned some of our starters on defense too.

It was a good game, and if UNR had made the special teams mistakes we made, the score could have been reversed. They didn't, we did, they won.

Every Nevada fan and stadium staff I met were great people that I would never hesitate to sit down and have a beer with. Thanks for the great hospitality,

Best of luck UNR, run the table!

Bring on Central.

 

[Screamin_Eagle174]

Does anybody know the status of Zach Johnson?

 

[Screamin_Eagle174]

Does anybody know the status of Zach Johnson?

He went out, but was later in the game again....so, I don't think it was anything major.

Good... I didn't realize he later came back in. He's going to be a big part of EWU advancing to the playoffs again this year.