WIU vs Illinois State (11/5/2016)

[sealhall74]

I have no idea as to the answer to this question. Hopefully someone on campus does. Has WIU done any schedule manipulation to, for example, minimize the number of Friday class meeting times. I know some other schools have went down that road as a cost-cutting measure. If we have done something like that, it would certainly have an impact on any weekend event attendance. I just looked at Amtrak. For this coming Friday, all of the "cheap" seats are already gone for the 7am train.

[Leatherneck57]

I'd love to get LN57's take on the WIU secondary. They show small flashes of being alright, but generally "bad" is the only way to describe them. Seems to me Coach Elson has been the whipping boy of MVFC OCs for some time now; is he the guy to figure it out? My optimism for this team is waning, I hope the 'Necks can right this ship quickly. Mostly, I just hate losing to ISU and I have no problem wearing that frustration on my sleeve.

As for attendance, I agree, it's disappointing. I'll go back to what I asked awhile ago... is WIU a good fit for D1 athletics? WIU athletics at this level are highly subsidized by a student body that is largely indifferent to consuming the product. I think we all need to enjoy it as long as we can because I just don't see it being very sustainable; though in this case I hope I'm wrong. Who knows, maybe a surprise run this fall by FB and a breakout year in BB could provide a sustaining spark.

To address LocalYokelFan and many others on this subject...

First I want to say that I believe in this staff and what they're teaching and their philosophies. I also like all of our players, plus we have to remember we are very young and only have 10 seniors on the team and the entire defense returns next year except DT Steve Mercado and 8 of 11 on offense. That's a good problem to have! We have a bunch of good looking kids standing on the sidelines every week... our redshirt players. Those kids are our future and they are unbelievable kids plus we are getting some quality commitments now...its fun to see!

Coach Elson Is a good coach and I know it's frustrating for him as well. He's not the whipping boy of the MVFC...if I recall our former DC had the same issues as well as many others in this league. Offenses are very complex now and a lot of time you are on an island with no help in man coverage. And with the talent of QB's in this league that can dot an I and cross a T with their passes you are going to lose more battles than you win! The key is to limit the big plays and we are not doing a good job of doing that. Our inexperience is showing and the speed of the game is affecting our younger players. Plus it doesn't help having Diggs on the sidelines...hopefully he gets a medical redshirt.

We started to really give up some big plays in the at South Dakota State game and haven't recovered. Look at the leads we had against Indiana State, MO State but squandered big leads do to poor coverage or missed tackles. We should have beat NDSU which is the best program in FCS and fought hard to beat SD. Believe me when I say I can't stand losing to ISU! My sister was a cheerleader there when I was playing at Western and she cheered against me. Well she was at the game on Saturday with me in her ISU cheeerleading sweater and now I have to hear about it all year! I've heard about it for 7 games straight!!! No fun!

I played cornerback my first two years at Western before growing into a middle linebacker body. I was always taught that my responsibility was pass first run second. A corner has a split second to read if the receiver is running a route or coming to block him. It's really a pretty easy read unless you're looking in the backfield and by then its too late...the receiver is way by you just like Warrum did to us twice Saturday!!!!

Being on the sideline for games seems to be pretty easy to read but I truly believe our kids are trying to do to much to make a big play instead of doing their job. It's the front 7's job to manage the run and if you notice our LB's shift to the strong side every play to manage the run game, cover the flats, curl zone or the middle.. My personal observations are our corners are biting on the play action and our safety's are slow to close on the post routes and slants. But again I don't know what their keys are for the defense they're running.

Look...there ins't a team we can't play with in this league or any other league including a lot of teams in the MAC but its the big play that hurts us every game and is every coaches nightmare! I believe we will bounce back this week against UNI if we can eliminate the mental mistakes, stop the big plays and we have to get the blocked field goals and extra points stopped! Those are starting to effect the outcome of the game because when you go from having to score a TD to kicking a game winning field goal your offensive philosophy and play calling changes.

There you have it...

LN57

[BobLovely]

LN57,

Great analysis! And, I totally agree. Everyone on defense need to focus on "doing their job" versus trying to make a big play. When players focus on doing their job they are more mentally focused on their assignments and they less likely to make mental errors and then, try to recover on a play. We also need to see better fundamentals [i.e. tackling]. Missed tackles are way too numerous on this unit. We need to get these shortcomings corrected.

Bob

[sealhall74]

A missed tackle here or there is probably just bad positioning and/or technique. If it is a systemic problem, you have a speed or quickness deficit. This year, I have seen quite a few desperation "shoe string" attempts coming up with nothing but air.

[LocalYokelFan]

Thanks for the analysis LN57. I'm not as confident in Coach Elson as you are, but I hope you're right on that. And the fgs and Xpts are becoming just as costly. From my vantage point, the line appears to be doing their job, Knuffman just kicks it too low too frequently. Do they ever give Otto a chance to kick fgs in practice?

[Leatherneck57]

Thanks for the analysis LN57. I'm not as confident in Coach Elson as you are, but I hope you're right on that. And the fgs and Xpts are becoming just as costly. From my vantage point, the line appears to be doing their job, Knuffman just kicks it too low too frequently. Do they ever give Otto a chance to kick fgs in practice?

That's a good anaology...it seems from my vantage point he's punching at the ball instead of kicking it which is causing a low trajectory and allowing guys to get their arms up and block it.

You can use the same analogy in golf with approach shots to the green...you can hit it high and land it soft or hit it low with some spin that stops on a dime.

Knufman seems to be punching at the ball.