Injury Picture

[EWURanger]

Injuries are starting to pile up some. These are the ones I'm aware of:

Grady (WR) - Collarbone. Out for the season.
Levao (OL) - Out for the season.
Tiuli (DL) - Out for the season.

Meyer (OL) - Injured against NDSU. Not sure of his status.
Schlichting (OL) - Injured today and did not return.
Dyer (OL) - Unknown
Tucker (CB) - Injured in Montana game. Did not suit up today.
Davis, Jr. (LB) - Unknown

Suspended - Gamboa (CB). Not any injury, but may as well be one.

I think I'm missing some, but that's what I came up with for now.

 

[tomq04]

I think gamboa was a 5 week suspension, may be back next week.

 

[dudeitsaid]

Injuries are starting to pile up some. These are the ones I'm aware of:

Grady (WR) - Collarbone. Out for the season.
Levao (OL) - Out for the season.
Tiuli (DL) - Out for the season.

Meyer (OL) - Injured against NDSU. Not sure of his status.
Schlichting (OL) - Injured today and did not return.
Dyer (OL) - Unknown
Tucker (CB) - Injured in Montana game. Did not suit up today.
Davis, Jr. (LB) - Unknown

Suspended - Gamboa (CB). Not any injury, but may as well be one.

I think I'm missing some, but that's what I came up with for now.

There are some critical pieces in there. It's good to see the depth of EWU again stepping up, but depth isn't limitless. Tiuli and Levao is a gut punch!

 

[kalm]

Line play, size and/or inexperience on both sides of the ball is a concern. It was nice to see us have some success late running the ball which is what Best is trying to build but it was pretty ugly in the first half.

The Dline plays with heart but looks so damn small. Sac rushed 307 yards. We're giving up over 200 yards per game on the ground and that's throwing in the Fordham game where we held them to just 26. It's 260 + against the other 4 including pass happy Montana and TTU.

Conversely we're averaging around 2.5 ypc in our three games against TTU, NDSU, and UM.

Doesn't mean we can't improve but I'm glad to see Best and Reeder aren't afraid to chuck it all over the place.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Line play, size and/or inexperience on both sides of the ball is a concern. It was nice to see us have some success late running the ball which is what Best is trying to build but it was pretty ugly in the first half.

The Dline plays with heart but looks so damn small. Sac rushed 307 yards. We're giving up over 200 yards per game on the ground and that's throwing in the Fordham game where we held them to just 26. It's 260 + against the other 4 including pass happy Montana and TTU.

Conversely we're averaging around 2.5 ypc in our three games against TTU, NDSU, and UM.

Doesn't mean we can't improve but I'm glad to see Best and Reeder aren't afraid to chuck it all over the place.

Man, you wake up early!

Lino and Baumann both went down yesterday, but I don't think either has a serious injury. The scary part is it seems our guys always miss more time than you'd think.

But totally agree; I thought DL would be a strong point for our defense and it sure doesn't look like it. We get pulverized in the middle, and we need to find a way to stop team from running us over. UC Davis mixes it up pretty well and most of their yardage comes through the air. But they are probably reformulating their game plan to include a lot of running next week.

As it seems every year, it feels like we're going to need to get comfortable out scoring teams because our defense doesn't make many stops.

 

[tomq04]

Man, our defense is exactly what we've been praying for since 2012. Just good enough to stop teams on 3rd and long. I'm extatic at this point, if we played NDSU next week I'd expect a much closer game.

This D would have gotten us to the Natty in 2012 and 2013

 

[ewueagle2010]

Man, our defense is exactly what we've been praying for since 2012. Just good enough to stop teams on 3rd and long. I'm extatic at this point, if we played NDSU next week I'd expect a much closer game.

This D would have gotten us to the Natty in 2012 and 2013

I agree with you. If you just look at points, then you're not going to believe that our D is much improved. However, it really is. Sure, more improvement is needed, but I was thinking yesterday about it really just seems to get stronger as the game progresses. Take the second quarter away yesterday and a garbage time TD against second and third string, and yesterday was dominating. I have a lot of confidence in the D right now to get enough stops to win a lot of games.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Man, our defense is exactly what we've been praying for since 2012. Just good enough to stop teams on 3rd and long. I'm extatic at this point, if we played NDSU next week I'd expect a much closer game.

This D would have gotten us to the Natty in 2012 and 2013

I agree with you. If you just look at points, then you're not going to believe that our D is much improved. However, it really is. Sure, more improvement is needed, but I was thinking yesterday about it really just seems to get stronger as the game progresses. Take the second quarter away yesterday and a garbage time TD against second and third string, and yesterday was dominating. I have a lot of confidence in the D right now to get enough stops to win a lot of games.

I wish I saw it that way. We give up way too many yards, especially on the ground. We've also given up 40 or more points in three of our five games, and the only time we held someone below 31 was Fordham... And Fordham is terrible on offense.

UC Davis has had some bad offensive games, so maybe this is an opportunity to show our stuff.

 

[clawman1]

Man, our defense is exactly what we've been praying for since 2012. Just good enough to stop teams on 3rd and long. I'm extatic at this point, if we played NDSU next week I'd expect a much closer game.

This D would have gotten us to the Natty in 2012 and 2013

I agree with you. If you just look at points, then you're not going to believe that our D is much improved. However, it really is. Sure, more improvement is needed, but I was thinking yesterday about it really just seems to get stronger as the game progresses. Take the second quarter away yesterday and a garbage time TD against second and third string, and yesterday was dominating. I have a lot of confidence in the D right now to get enough stops to win a lot of games.

Read this and tell us if you are still ecstatic.
http://goeags.com/boxscore.aspx?path=football&id=3875

 

[ewueagle2010]

Man, our defense is exactly what we've been praying for since 2012. Just good enough to stop teams on 3rd and long. I'm extatic at this point, if we played NDSU next week I'd expect a much closer game.

This D would have gotten us to the Natty in 2012 and 2013

I agree with you. If you just look at points, then you're not going to believe that our D is much improved. However, it really is. Sure, more improvement is needed, but I was thinking yesterday about it really just seems to get stronger as the game progresses. Take the second quarter away yesterday and a garbage time TD against second and third string, and yesterday was dominating. I have a lot of confidence in the D right now to get enough stops to win a lot of games.

I wish I saw it that way. We give up way too many yards, especially on the ground. We've also given up 40 or more points in three of our five games, and the only time we held someone below 31 was Fordham... And Fordham is terrible on offense.

UC Davis has had some bad offensive games, so maybe this is an opportunity to show our stuff.

Maybe I give them too much credit. However, I'm throwing the Tech game out (even though I feel like our D kept us in that game the first half and then were worn down by the heat, size and time on the field). In the NDSU game, they had had also played pretty damn well in the first half, then spent 24 out of 30 minutes in the second half on the field. Since I threw one bad one out, I'll throw Fordham out for argument sake, but 10 sacks against anyone is pretty impressive IMO.

Then conference play, first half in Missoula was shaky. But, take away a Hail Mary and a garbage time TD, they gave up 27 to an above average Montana O. In the second half especially, they made HUGE stops with at least two three and outs and a massive momentum building pick. Then Saturday, they struggled a bit at times with the dual threat QB, but again held strong when it counted. Gave up another garbage time TD with back ups when the game was out of hand.

Big plays have made the D look worse than maybe it should. Or I guess maybe depending on your point of view, that makes them not very good. I also think the offense has put the D in tough spots at times with turnovers leading to short fields for other O's. Lastly, injuries/suspension have been rough. Without Tiuli, Gamboa, Kupp (for first three games) and now Tucker and Davis, young guys have had to step up.

To me, it's not even close when comparing to say 2014 and 2015. This D is head and shoulders better. I think it's the best since 2010.

 

[Rjones61]

Our defense has gotten better, but the hard fact is our offense has gotten worse. We aren't the team that can score at will anymore. Time will tell where that leads us at the end of the season, but if we had the 2012 or 2013 offense today, we would be undefeated.

 

[EWURanger]

Hmm, I actually think the 2016 offense was much better than the 2012 or 2013 verions. I think the 2016 offense was probably the best offense in school history. Having Coop, KB, and Shaq on the field at the same time was ridiculous. That said, the 2012-2014 offenses were damn good. 2012 was the last team with Edwards, Kaufmam, and Herd.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Hmm, I actually think the 2016 offense was much better than the 2012 or 2013 verions. I think the 2016 offense was probably the best offense in school history. Having Coop, KB, and Shaq on the field at the same time was ridiculous. That said, the 2012-2014 offenses were damn good. 2012 was the last team with Edwards, Kaufmam, and Herd.

One thing about our offense, it feels like we almost have a "get out of jail free" card when we allow Gubrud to start running the ball. It feels like we keep his legs under wraps. I'd like to see him start taking off right up the middle more often. Check out our last drive against Youngstown State when the game was in the balance. He took off a couple of times and YSU had no ability to stop our offense. When the opposition are forced to keep either a safety or LB in the middle of the field to key Gubrud, it either forces them into man coverage or costs them the ability to blitz. Either way, they basically have one less man to work with.

 

[Rjones61]

Hmm, I actually think the 2016 offense was much better than the 2012 or 2013 verions. I think the 2016 offense was probably the best offense in school history. Having Coop, KB, and Shaq on the field at the same time was ridiculous. That said, the 2012-2014 offenses were damn good. 2012 was the last team with Edwards, Kaufmam, and Herd.

I disagree. True we had Cooper Kupp at his peak, but the combination of line play, runningback play, and QB play of 2012 and 2013 were all better than the 2016 offense.

 

[tomq04]

Man, our defense is exactly what we've been praying for since 2012. Just good enough to stop teams on 3rd and long. I'm extatic at this point, if we played NDSU next week I'd expect a much closer game.

This D would have gotten us to the Natty in 2012 and 2013

I agree with you. If you just look at points, then you're not going to believe that our D is much improved. However, it really is. Sure, more improvement is needed, but I was thinking yesterday about it really just seems to get stronger as the game progresses. Take the second quarter away yesterday and a garbage time TD against second and third string, and yesterday was dominating. I have a lot of confidence in the D right now to get enough stops to win a lot of games.

Read this and tell us if you are still ecstatic.
http://goeags.com/boxscore.aspx?path=football&id=3875

3rd. Down Conv. 5 of 15
4th. Down Conversions 1 of 2
Red-Zone: Scores - Chances 3-5


Do you guys remember 2013, 14 and 15 (when we didn't make the playoffs due to Portland State's 3rd down efficiency of 13-17, http://www.espn.com/college-football/matchup?gameId=400795576) when our opponents 3rd down conversion was in the 60+% range.

Our opponents are getting 15 chances to even have a 3rd down! Go look at the Missouri Valley, or even other Big sky games, you're talking about 8-12 possessions in the game, our pace gives the opponents 8 possessions in a half! I'm all for giving up yards if we are only giving up 3rd downs 30% of the time.

 

[kalm]

Man, our defense is exactly what we've been praying for since 2012. Just good enough to stop teams on 3rd and long. I'm extatic at this point, if we played NDSU next week I'd expect a much closer game.

This D would have gotten us to the Natty in 2012 and 2013

I agree with you. If you just look at points, then you're not going to believe that our D is much improved. However, it really is. Sure, more improvement is needed, but I was thinking yesterday about it really just seems to get stronger as the game progresses. Take the second quarter away yesterday and a garbage time TD against second and third string, and yesterday was dominating. I have a lot of confidence in the D right now to get enough stops to win a lot of games.

I wish I saw it that way. We give up way too many yards, especially on the ground. We've also given up 40 or more points in three of our five games, and the only time we held someone below 31 was Fordham... And Fordham is terrible on offense.

UC Davis has had some bad offensive games, so maybe this is an opportunity to show our stuff.

Maybe I give them too much credit. However, I'm throwing the Tech game out (even though I feel like our D kept us in that game the first half and then were worn down by the heat, size and time on the field). In the NDSU game, they had had also played pretty damn well in the first half, then spent 24 out of 30 minutes in the second half on the field. Since I threw one bad one out, I'll throw Fordham out for argument sake, but 10 sacks against anyone is pretty impressive IMO.

Then conference play, first half in Missoula was shaky. But, take away a Hail Mary and a garbage time TD, they gave up 27 to an above average Montana O. In the second half especially, they made HUGE stops with at least two three and outs and a massive momentum building pick. Then Saturday, they struggled a bit at times with the dual threat QB, but again held strong when it counted. Gave up another garbage time TD with back ups when the game was out of hand.

Big plays have made the D look worse than maybe it should. Or I guess maybe depending on your point of view, that makes them not very good. I also think the offense has put the D in tough spots at times with turnovers leading to short fields for other O's. Lastly, injuries/suspension have been rough. Without Tiuli, Gamboa, Kupp (for first three games) and now Tucker and Davis, young guys have had to step up.

To me, it's not even close when comparing to say 2014 and 2015. This D is head and shoulders better. I think it's the best since 2010.

I agree there are signs of improvement and circumstances that make our D look worse than it is. The comments regarding the number of plays linked to our offensive style and the importance of both 3rd down conversion percentages are good observations.

The the positive news is that we are 4th in the BSC in opponent's 3rd down conversion percentage at 36.4 so that's a hopeful sign, especially after giving up several key ones against NDSU. The bad news is we are ranked 2nd to last in the BSC in scoring defense at 37.8 ppg and dead last in total defense at 494.6 ypg. And that's in a conference that ain't exactly known for stifling D.

As we've all seen, at some point this catches up to you either losing a crucial conference game or two or getting exposed in the playoffs. There's still time to improve and I expect the stats will. I have faith in our coaching staff that we'll keep the defensive trajectory heading up.

 

[tomq04]

My eyes have watched a lot of EWU defenses take the field the last 8 years and I'd argue this is #2 to our 2010 Natty team regardless of stat line.