EWU vs. SELA Game Day Thread

[Obzerver]

Read through SELA's message board. They had 16 pages of comments and the general points and common ponts were; 1) That we have a really good offense line that they are pshing the defense line better than Mississippi Sta and South Alabama. 2) They were taken back how wide open our WR's were and that they will have nightmares about Ulm and Chsism. 3) That they were lucky Visperas was throw the ball so high(overthrows) 4) Had they played with the second QB who came in(was hurt then hurt again after the drive) it would have been different.
*seems like Visperas should have gotten that overthrow challenge taken care of. Has had two years to work on that. Do believe he will and rack up many a win!

 

[LDopaPDX]

I guess you’re always going to have these close games but we need to get a lot better inside the 20. We left way too many points on the field today and against better teams that will kill us. Also, too many drive killing penalties.

Yeah, this was one of those games where Eastern did a lot of things right, but also made it much tougher than it should’ve been.

First, Jackson is our guy at RB. He needs a lot of carries, because he’s feeling it. The OL looked strong today, and he seems to be the only guy hitting the holes with pace.

Second, we need to slow things down for Visperas. He played well, but if he hits a couple of open throws that were there, Eastern is scoring on darn near every possession. There were a couple of bad throws, although he sucked it up and looked very good in the fourth quarter.

Defensively, I thought we looked sharp. We need to improve on our early-game focus though. This is the third game in a row the opening drive ended in a TD. That’s not good.

Agreed, Jackson is definitely the guy at RB, although the other guy is decent too. I was very impressed today by the running game, the QB play and the defense. EWU took FSU to the wire and picked up the first win of the season at home, the EAGS look prepared for Big Sky play. Eastern has a good shot at winning six BSC games, that’ll get us in the playoffs. Eastern will definitely be ranked after beating a ranked FCS team now.

Btw, I love the new jerseys! I’ve been waiting for the entire school name to be added this way, and I hope it stays. It could also help with branding, there are lots of “Eastern”(s)

We have three pretty good options at RB with Jackson, Tuna, and Dotson. I thought all three of them looked really good today, and that's a good problem to have. I do agree that Jackson seems to be the guy that has the ability to break a run open out of the backfield...I.E. the long TD run against Fresno State.

I like that we're rotating three in and out, but just wish it were more situational. It seems like we leave the same guy in for a series or two, and then rotate the next guy in for no reason at all other than to get fresh legs in. Tuna and Dotson are more inside runners. Jackson is a guy who has a little more speed. But we run the same plays for all three of them. I.E. we kept trying to run outside zone with Tuna when it was clearly not working.

I see no reason to rotate 3 RBs when one is clearly playing better than the others. Jackson is our guy. He's built to handle 25 carries a game. Let the ox plow the field. That doesn't mean there isn't a place for Dotson or Tuna--- even Wortham at times, it's just that we need to feed our beast. We showed some I-formation, so we can always bring Tuna in to effectively be the fullback in that formation. He puts in work as well, so this isn't a knock on him. For whatever reason, Jackson seems to be our git'r done guy and we may as well go with the hot hand. Every series where he was utilized, he produced results.

One thing that impressed me for the last two games is that it FINALLY occurred to our defensive coaches that we need to stack the box with more guys. I saw much less nickel and much more front 7. I love this. If we get beat, so be it. But let's not try to survive the death by a thousand cuts. Another thing to note is we are tackling MUCH better and not giving up a bunch of yards after first contact.

UC Davis looks pretty good. Playing in Cali will be tough. We're gonna have to keep fighting and may need to nut out a close one. They strangely cashed in their chips early against Oregon State (who appears to be very, very good), but they've hung tough in their other two outings. Our September schedule is horrrifc, so this one is an absolute must-win. I like having Idaho at home, but coming into that game off a loss will be a death knell.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Read through SELA's message board. They had 16 pages of comments and the general points and common ponts were; 1) That we have a really good offense line that they are pshing the defense line better than Mississippi Sta and South Alabama. 2) They were taken back how wide open our WR's were and that they will have nightmares about Ulm and Chsism. 3) That they were lucky Visperas was throw the ball so high(overthrows) 4) Had they played with the second QB who came in(was hurt then hurt again after the drive) it would have been different.
*seems like Visperas should have gotten that overthrow challenge taken care of. Has had two years to work on that. Do believe he will and rack up many a win!

SELA was a good team that needs a viable QB. They had some talent, and were very physical. They are doing Eastern work trying to play a bunch of bullies on the road and it isn't working out well. The good news for them is the Southland looks like a down conference this year and they could easily go on a big run and still make the playoffs. FWIW, that 35-17 loss to South Alabama doesn't look to bad after watching them annihilate Okla State yesterday. It's the same situation as our Fresno loss... you don't feel so bad when you watch Fresno absolutely curbstomp Arizona State.

The Pac-12 looks strong this year, but Stanford and Arizona State both look like mediocre FCS teams.

 

[luckyintheorder]

Made the game and really enjoyed it. Sat near a couple who've been to every home game since 2010. My observation was defense played well albeit slow to adjust to the outside power. Generally played like ravaging beasts. Loved it. Visperas may not be the guy. Throws bullets but prone to panic and inaccuracy. Throwing picks late in games isn't a recipe for success. Not every defense will give those short outside routes he threw well this week. JJ (jackson) has been my guy for two years and finally got to carry the load in the second half. He is much bigger now and just finds space. Maybe reminds me of Franco Harris a bit? DB play was outstanding, LB has improved a great deal and couldn't be happier with DL. Not gonna rag on coaching, would like to see two WR's go deep once in a while, better personnel groups in certain situations and, for God's sake and my sanity, stop the Aaron Best inside the 30's play calling.

Team looked like a team and that was great to see. Winning isn't everything to me but sense of purpose, focus, effort and execution matter. They had all those elements Saturday. GoEags

 

[Seattle Eagle]

Visperas may not be the guy. Throws bullets but prone to panic and inaccuracy. Throwing picks late in games isn't a recipe for success. Not every defense will give those short outside routes he threw well this week

He has four starts under his belt. I agree that his accuracy needs some work but he'll only get better from here. He just needs to play within himself and not force risky passes late in games. Other than that I thought he did a decent job of managing the game. It's not like the offense wasn't really productive.

 

[luckyintheorder]

Visperas may not be the guy. Throws bullets but prone to panic and inaccuracy. Throwing picks late in games isn't a recipe for success. Not every defense will give those short outside routes he threw well this week

He has four starts under his belt. I agree that his accuracy needs some work but he'll only get better from here. He just needs to play within himself and not force risky passes late in games. Other than that I thought he did a decent job of managing the game. It's not like the offense wasn't really productive.

A lot of missed oppty for SELA to get several picks but time will tell the tale on Visperas. He is a gamer like most competitive people. No accident Eags relied on the run more in second half imo. This is his 3rd year in the program . I like the other transfer Jared Taylor almost as much and he has two years starting experience. Undefeated. [Feather River Community College (2021, 2022)
Completed 69 percent of his passes for 1,961 yards and 24 touchdowns, to only one interception. Averaged 9.7 yards per attempt and had a pass efficiency of 188.1.]

 

[Obzerver]

Thing is Best stubbornly stuck with Gunner all year last year cause his loyalty to being a backup up forever when he could have put Visperas in to get his seasoned for this year. I think Wortham would also be good. Nice to have choice here.

 

[Obzerver]

Just checked on SELA and how they did yesterday. They played Houston Christian and lost 34-19..was hoping they won.