WIU vs South Dakota State (10/28/17)

[wiu712]

I saw the clip of the guys leaving Western Hall en masse for the Leatherneck Walk. I was thinking to myself that some of them did not really look that enthused and I am sure that by the time they got to Q Lot, they looked even less enthused if there was not much happening there.

I was out at Q-Lot at 11AM, and I noticed the same thing: a lack of enthusiasm and spirit from the team. Many had flat facial expressions and many were looking down at the pavement.

The team was not alone in that regard.

The Marching Band has stopped doing any pre-game stuff this year. There is no playing for the Tailgate or for the President's Tent crowd. The Band has the same director. Not sure why things have changed. And the Band was quiet for long periods of time during the game.

The Dance (Pom) Squad spent most of the game sitting on the track. And the cheerleaders were not as active and vocal as they could have been.

The people sitting next to me wondered if the team, band, etc was thinking ahead to a Halloween party ???

The crowd did make noise on South Dakota State 3rd and 4th downs. But a crowd of 2,247 can only make so much noise. A crowd of that size looks very small given the seating capacity of Hanson Field.

[Leatherneck177]

So here is my take, at the beginning of the year, I had Western pegged at 5-3 at this point. Maybe swap out USD and CCU as wins, but I had 5-3 as a guess at this point. I didn’t see Western beating NDSU or SDSU, we actually match up worse with the Jackrabbits as we have seen the past two years.

SO, these last three games will tell us if postseason is in the cards. 7-4 gets the Necks in, no questions asked. I don’t care how you break it down, we have quality road wins, a FBS win and what looks like a good UNI win. It would also mean a 4-4 MVFC record, which isn’t bad. 8-3 would even get us most likely a first round home game.

No reason to fret, keep your heads up and let’s get it done the last three weeks.

So...Illinois State. Could see it go either way, not sure they have the offensive threats in years past, still a good D though. Get this one and playoff ticket looks good. Beating the Redbirds also gets Necks another quality win.

Indiana State is a W....plain and simple.

SIU...hopefully they don’t need this one. No doubt they will throw the ball all over the field. Let’s hope Necks are sitting at 7-3 going into this one.

[ST_Lawson]

So here is my take, at the beginning of the year, I had Western pegged at 5-3 at this point. Maybe swap out USD and CCU as wins, but I had 5-3 as a guess at this point. I didn’t see Western beating NDSU or SDSU, we actually match up worse with the Jackrabbits as we have seen the past two years.

SO, these last three games will tell us if postseason is in the cards. 7-4 gets the Necks in, no questions asked. I don’t care how you break it down, we have quality road wins, a FBS win and what looks like a good UNI win. It would also mean a 4-4 MVFC record, which isn’t bad. 8-3 would even get us most likely a first round home game.

No reason to fret, keep your heads up and let’s get it done the last three weeks.

So...Illinois State. Could see it go either way, not sure they have the offensive threats in years past, still a good D though. Get this one and playoff ticket looks good. Beating the Redbirds also gets Necks another quality win.

Indiana State is a W....plain and simple.

SIU...hopefully they don’t need this one. No doubt they will throw the ball all over the field. Let’s hope Necks are sitting at 7-3 going into this one.

Just got back home (was at my niece's birthday party up near the suburbs this afternoon...took off right after Saturday's game), but I just wanted to mention a couple of things.

1. 5-3 is what I had us at right now too...same thought as you, thought we'd have beat USD and lost to CCU, but 5-3 nonetheless.
2. Illinois State - looking very good, shut out YSU, beat USD...but, I think we match up better with them than we do with SDSU, so we stand a much better chance of winning it.
3. Indiana State - yes...started off bad, got worse with injuries...shouldn't be close.
4. Southern Illinois - bad defense but pretty good offense...until yesterday when starting QB Sam Straub broke his arm early in the game. He is out for the season (he's a Jr...will be back next year). You hate to see kids get injured, but I can't deny that this will make our jobs MUCH easier against them. He's a pretty good QB and could have put up some points against us through the air. Now they don't have much other than a couple of decent RBs.

I'll post more later, but just wanted to let everyone know about those things.

[Leatherneck177]

So here is my take, at the beginning of the year, I had Western pegged at 5-3 at this point. Maybe swap out USD and CCU as wins, but I had 5-3 as a guess at this point. I didn’t see Western beating NDSU or SDSU, we actually match up worse with the Jackrabbits as we have seen the past two years.

SO, these last three games will tell us if postseason is in the cards. 7-4 gets the Necks in, no questions asked. I don’t care how you break it down, we have quality road wins, a FBS win and what looks like a good UNI win. It would also mean a 4-4 MVFC record, which isn’t bad. 8-3 would even get us most likely a first round home game.

No reason to fret, keep your heads up and let’s get it done the last three weeks.

So...Illinois State. Could see it go either way, not sure they have the offensive threats in years past, still a good D though. Get this one and playoff ticket looks good. Beating the Redbirds also gets Necks another quality win.

Indiana State is a W....plain and simple.

SIU...hopefully they don’t need this one. No doubt they will throw the ball all over the field. Let’s hope Necks are sitting at 7-3 going into this one.

Just got back home (was at my niece's birthday party up near the suburbs this afternoon...took off right after Saturday's game), but I just wanted to mention a couple of things.

1. 5-3 is what I had us at right now too...same thought as you, thought we'd have beat USD and lost to CCU, but 5-3 nonetheless.
2. Illinois State - looking very good, shut out YSU, beat USD...but, I think we match up better with them than we do with SDSU, so we stand a much better chance of winning it.
3. Indiana State - yes...started off bad, got worse with injuries...shouldn't be close.
4. Southern Illinois - bad defense but pretty good offense...until yesterday when starting QB Sam Straub broke his arm early in the game. He is out for the season (he's a Jr...will be back next year). You hate to see kids get injured, but I can't deny that this will make our jobs MUCH easier against them. He's a pretty good QB and could have put up some points against us through the air. Now they don't have much other than a couple of decent RBs.

I'll post more later, but just wanted to let everyone know about those things.

I just saw that about Straub. That is a huge difference like you said. Hoping 7-4 worst case at this point which gets us in. Honestly I’d like to see this team get a nice win at ISUr. Would be a good way to get on a role heading into playoffs. I see a second round rematch at USD coming if it all plays out.

Keep up the good work Scott on your posts.

[Western_101]

Yes, I double that, thank you Scott for your insightful contributions.

I would love to get your take on what the heck happened this past Saturday? Why do we always play (save for one year) NDSU tough but get absolutely destroyed by SDSU.

The collective body language I saw from our student athletes looked as if they were resigned to their fate before the contest even started. Maybe you could provide some insight into what was going on?l

Yikes, My kid has been crying non stop all weekend, my sleep deprivation is making me fat fingered.

[wiu712]

Leathernecks can’t slow Jacks in 52-24 loss.

From the McDonough County Voice:
http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/sports/20 ... 52-24-loss

[Tere North]

Silly penalties and inopportune times have been shooting us in the foot.

[Western_101]

Charlie and crew need to get this team back together.

Charlie and crew need to get this team back together.

One could fill a book with what went wrong. Are they embarrassed? Don't ask if they are of course they are. these are our sons and friends and young men we admire, of course they are embarrassed.

The question is with destiny still in their hands how do they respond?

[Western_101]

In Hind sight, please not necessarily got to atribute shit to particular notion.

WIU was dominated, when WIU got out of bed, SDSU dominated when SDSU moved WIU cringed and just gave up before the game.

I never say this, because, they are not paid athelets but I saw what I saw, If WIU is ever to makeover the Westside, it wont be on the basis

of kids that conceede a game before it starts. Everything about today was bad.

[wiu712]

Football beaten down at home.

From today's Western Courier:
https://westerncourier.com/39321/sports ... n-at-home/