I don’t care if we schedule Southern, but don’t give them a sweetheart deal. Grambling either.
I don’t care if we schedule Southern, but don’t give them a sweetheart deal. Grambling either.
Our AD will announce that Southern brought 5000 last night. He announced attendance 23K last night. It was a nice crowd considering...
Folks need to keep in mind that 23K = 80%+ capacity. 66% would have been pushing it last night.
I didn't watch last week. I followed online. So all I have to go on is what I saw with my own eyes last night, compared to what I saw when we played Southern and other FCS schools in recent years. That was a dominating offensive performance. We scored on our first seven drives of the game. J'Mar looked confident and in control, better than I have ever seen him. I thought he made smart decisions and threw accurate balls. There was only one ball that he threw where I thought that was just a terrible ball. He typically has at least one ball per drive where I think that. We know what we have with Teddy Veal, but I thought both Roddy Bonnette and Adrian Hardy look like they can change a game for us at some point this year. Hardy needs to get more consistent. He dropped a TD for the second straight game, but he's our leading receiver right now. I want success for Alfred Smith so much, but until it happens I'm going to stop expecting it. I honestly don't know what's happening with the running game right now. Tucker and Henderson are serviceable backs (McKnight needs to be relegated to the big package permanently), but Dancy is by far the best back that we have. Why he isn't starting and getting 25 carries per game boggles my mind. I hope that happens as we head into LSU and conference play.
Defensively, it's a different story. I think our DTs, led by Jordan Bradford, are very productive ... but we certainly need more from Jaylon Ferguson and the rush off the edge. The linebackers are mediocre at the moment. Long-term, Connor Taylor has to step up and be the leader of that unit. I just don't think Washington or Scott are athletic enough to do what we need. I didn't like the scheme we had on the outside. We gave way too much cushion, especially on third and long. We know what we have in Amik. He's the best player on the team. I think Sneed can be almost as good. We just need a scheme that allows him to be. I also was extremely impressed with James Jackson. Of all the defensive players not named Amik Robertson, he was the one who impressed me the most.
At the end of the day, we defeated an FCS team by 37 points. The game was never in doubt from the opening possession. We covered the spread, which honestly I didn't expect to happen. Does any of what happened last night mean we are going to go into Tiger Stadium and win? No, but I certainly would have felt much worse if we had struggled last night.
the bold, the beautiful, theprofessor
Southern had a third down and I was ringing my cowbell and yelling. A sheriffs deputy came up beside me and told me to put up my bell!!! I've been ringing that bell in the Joe for the past 18 years!
They did shut down Moo State's fans last year. Well, mostly. They usually pulled them out again after the LE officers left.
And then late in the game, they started really pulling them out saying they didn't care if they got kicked out now, the game was almost over anyway. I found some...just some...of the Mooster fans to be azzholes. Most were okay. Guess there are always some in every crowd.
I have been as critical as anyone of this team, QB, coach, and play calling, but I can dish out compliments when earned as well. I think the team earned a compliment last night with most all areas being improved and the attitude of team seemed a little better. I think J'Mar looked better than I have seen him look since the Arkansas game three years ago, I hope he continues to improve, as with most all teams though, we have lots of room for improvement(as most of us do too).
The extra touchdown Allen threw in garbage time, I have no problem with. We Paid Southern to come to Ruston and take a licking for us to hone our skills some, that is the reality of the matter, they knew why they were here. When you are playing your 2's & 3's and still scoring what are you supposed to do? I think it is insulting to your competitor to give anything less than your best when you are on the field, it serves to make both teams better.
Now a question for everyone, especially those at the game, do we seem to be just a Tad slow all around? Is that a lack of energy, enthusiasm, or training for speed? Maybe I am just expecting too much and I am trying to compare them to some other teams I have watched and it is not a fair comparison. A lot of you may see that different, just interested to see how others felt about our speed.
I get it that the Southern band is good. For what they do, I enjoyed their performance. Did it irkanyone else that they played right through the Veteran of the Game recognition? Is that on Southern or did we most likely not prep them on appropriate times to play and when to refrain. I have seen SWAC games in which both bands continue to play after the ball is snapped. Can’t an official throw a flag for that?
From week one to week two we were definitely better all around offensively but it’s Southern so I expected our line to control the line of scrimmage. JMar was accurate & if given time he can complete passes.
I was still not impressed with our defense. I know total yards yielded was good but for 2 quarters we could not stop Southern. Southern left 13 pts on the field self-inflicted - we didn’t stop them. SO my concern is when we play better competition those points will be converted & our O may not be good enough to score 40+ per game.
There were several things Southern's band did that irked me. Playing over our intro video. Playing over the Veteran recognition. The Regal Blues problem. There were others.
IF we ask them back we need to put in their contract that we'll deduct $10k from each incident. Give them a production listing of when they can't play and when they can't. Would have cost them at least $50k last night.