Week 5 (9/28/2024) - vs McKendree University

[4EverPurple&Gold]

Anyone else notice to Marcus Hanson OL (sp?) lined up against us for McKendree?  
Sad that these new coaches weren’t interested then and still aren’t interested now in trying to retain some of the younger guys that had a lot of potential.
 


 

Marcus made a personal decision to leave the program and play closer to his hometown of O’Fallon, IL. You see…he’s been a dad since age 15 and needed to be closer to help with raising his child. The new coaches had nothing to do with his decision. 

Anytime there are changes in staff not all kids that are currently on the roster fit their needs due to offensive and defensive schemes. Plus…once practice starts in the Spring some kids figure out they’re not D1 players and need to play down to see the field. That’s common.
 

 

Never heard of this player... also this account only posted one time and about this... hmm wonder why 
 

[ST_Lawson]

Still have the old branding on the turf too. 

Not sure what the purpose of the video board is if we never show any replays or stats.  Lots of slow breaks in the action where the fans should be able to watch what the refs watch or at least see stats or out of town scores.  Just a spinning Rocky head most of the time.


 

They did at least cover up the old MVFC logo and painted over it with the OVC logo. That's just a temporary fix until they get new turf after this season.

I agree with you on the video board thing. It seems like every time they've ever tried to use it for anything else (like game action/replays) it ends up glitching really badly. Idk if that's just because the wiring in the press box is really old or what. Even if they just put on the same feed that goes out to ESPN+...that'd be better than nothing.


 

Sorry I don’t remember what it was but there was a purple square on the field that I didn’t like but if it’s getting replaced after this year I guess it’s not to big of a deal
 

Yup, they covered over the MVFC logos with purple rectangles and painted the OVC logos on top of them.

[NewNeck]

Good to hear about the new turf coming.  Badly needed.  Also enjoyed the Q lot tailgate and BBQ competition.  We ate good!

We were impressed with the RB Smith when we came to the spring game and he's showed out so far this fall.  Reminds me of some great old school Leatherneck running backs.  Big back that runs violent.  Good to see the emphasis the new staff has put on the run game.  Over 400 yards in the last 2 games.  New HC mentioned in post game article they wanted to "impose our will" with the run game.  Love it.  Not sure about this season but trajectory of program feels different.

[ST_Lawson]

Good to hear about the new turf coming.  Badly needed.  Also enjoyed the Q lot tailgate and BBQ competition.  We ate good!

We were impressed with the RB Smith when we came to the spring game and he's showed out so far this fall.  Reminds me of some great old school Leatherneck running backs.  Big back that runs violent.  Good to see the emphasis the new staff has put on the run game.  Over 400 yards in the last 2 games.  New HC mentioned in post game article they wanted to "impose our will" with the run game.  Love it.  Not sure about this season but trajectory of program feels different.

 

It's absolutely a different feel on the offensive side of the ball. Here's a few stats to peruse...last year vs so far this year:
2023 - 12.55 points per game, 47.6 yards per game rushing, 186.82 yards per game passing, 234.5 total yards per game, 18 total TDs (1.64 per game)
2024 - 25.25 points per game, 141.3 yards per game rushing, 213 yards per game passing, 354.3 total yards per game, 13 total TDs (3.25 per game)

And those numbers were against two FBS teams, a ranked FCS team, and DII McKendree. If you remove McKendree, it's still better than last year...
2024 (DI only) - 17.33 points per game, 97.33 yards per game rushing, 210 yards per game passing, 307.33 total yards per game, 6 total TDs (2 per game)
For comparison, there are only two teams in the OVC that are arguably better than Illinois State...TN Martin and SEMO. We don't have to "run the gauntlet" of 2-3 Dakotas, plus another couple of ranked teams anymore.

So, we've definately started to get better on the offense. I feel like there's still a ton of issues on the defensive side though...McKendree put up just over 400 yards and 32 points against us. That just shouldn't happen. Both West Florida (admittedly, a pretty good DII team) and MN State-Moorhead both held them to fewer points than we did.

[rocki]

I have to admit I was surprised that one of the guys for McKendree that stung us so badly had previously been at Notre Dame and Western Kentucky. I guess it just surprised me that he went DII instead of smaller DI program.

[leatherneckcountry]

QU beat Mckendree 34-10