Leatherneck Nation

First thing I learned was that I'm too old to drive 9 hrs on a hangover.. That being said, I really liked the fight we showed, and there is some serious talent on this team.

1) OL Play- I thought our OL did pretty well in pass pro. Connor had time, and also seemed comfortable going through his reads. Only gave up 2 sacks to a MAC Defense. Running game was better, I was hoping for 75 yds and we got 80 (I don't count sack yds against the rush total). We'll see how they do against FCS defenses as the season goes.
2) Time of possession- TOP was much improved! Allowed the defense to play rested most of the night. Glad we slowed things down some.
3) DBs- Our defensive backfield has really been upgraded. There will be Valley teams that just won't be able to throw the ball against us. JJ is the real deal, Lawson is still Lawson, and Darius (transfer from Jackson St) is a stud. Those 2 Ball State WRs will be in NFL camps someday, and our guys played them tough for the most part.
4) QB- Connor put up good numbers again. You can pretty much just put him down for 300+ a game now. Made a couple bad throws that I'm sure he wants back, no one is perfect. If we can get him 100 yds rushing a game in Conf he'll keep putting points on the bard.
5) Play calling- Shook my head on the play calls for our 4th and short tries. Overall, it looked like Rocco was calling a pretty good game.
6) DL- Still some injuries we ware working through, but I thought they did OK for the most part. I only saw 1 play when I re-watched the game where I thought a DT was in the wrong gap. Again, this wasn't an fCS OL we were playing.

I think we have an exciting season in front of us. The next two games are still monsters, but I feel like we have a chance to win them both. It's been a couple years since I could say that and mean it LOL. Seven Ws is a real possibility. Get excited NECKS!

I agree with everything you said. We look so much better than the last three years under Elliot. But, like recently mentioned our OOC schedule does us no favors. We play Montana who just beat U of Washington and then EWU who beat UNLV. (ball state beats UNLV) but, both teams take down FBS teams. We need to take down 1 of the BIGSKY teams.


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Just re-watched the game. Sampson has a hell of an arm and our Oline looked great. Has there been any update on Walker?


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WIU2DC wrote:Just re-watched the game. Sampson has a hell of an arm and our Oline looked great. Has there been any update on Walker?


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Idk what this means, but Walker has been removed from the roster. My guess is that the injury was more severe than it looked initially and he’d be out for the season.


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I just rewatched the game and Walker made a few appearances in the 3rd quarter and that was after his 2nd quarter catch that was his last touch. He tried coming in with 7 minutes left in the 4th, but was called back and Choquette stayed in, so seems to have been healthy at that point.

Wonder if he was unhappy about the lack of carries and sees we're going to be pass heavy anyways. Was hoping for big things, but feel Wanza and Choquette will be a good combo.

More important Tate is healthy and ready to go. Initially looked like hamstring and those can linger, but I have no idea.

Ah man, I hope it isn’t career ending. In the few series he played last week, you could tell he has explosiveness. Does anyone know for sure why he isn’t on the roster anymore? I haven’t seen anything on Twitter about him transferring or such.


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His status would obviously be the first question from audience of the Jared Elliot show, assuming the audience was allowed to submit questions like back in the days of Beau and Scott.

WIU2DC wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 2:38 pm Ah man, I hope it isn’t career ending. In the few series he played last week, you could tell he has explosiveness. Does anyone know for sure why he isn’t on the roster anymore? I haven’t seen anything on Twitter about him transferring or such.


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He won't be able to transfer and play in season, so that is out of the question and his eligabilty would be exhausted for next year.  Unless there is an actual injury and waiver approved.  After re-watching the game he attempted to come in on a 4th quarter drive for Choquette, but they kept Choquette in and brought him back to the sidelines.  I'm thinking this is more of him not happy with his usage, but never know.

Maybe he's just done with football or maybe he still has hopes of making it to the next level and figured limited touches at an FCS school wouldn't help his chances, so just going to train.

I thought Wanza looked good and am a huge fan of Choquette and the fact he has 4 years left.  Reed has the potential to be very effective in the passing game like McShane, so not too concerned about Walker leaving.
 

Yep.  After playing at WKU and getting 92% of the carries and 93% of yards by WKU’s running backs last year, he might have had an aha moment.  Truth is that we cannot win in the Valley without a balanced running and passing attack.  You might win a game or two with a weak running game but that is all.  Everyone agrees we need to get better running the ball.  The games leading up to conference are the times to work on it.  Those 2 4th and 1 calls were head scratchers as others have said and even Elliot mentioned he would like to have them back IIRC in the Coach's show.  The stat of the game for me was 19 running plays for the GAME if you throw Sampson's out.  Should have that many in a half.  Dozen or so on a single good drive.