Here are a few thoughts, notes and observations after returning from the game.
1) Was able to take my stepson the game for the first time in a number of years. His wife and him just celebrated their first wedding anniversary. He really wanted to see the buses arrive at the stadium. He was amazed how close that we were able to be to the players and Coach Franklin. He was like a little kid exchanging high fives with the players and Coach Franklin.
2) Watching the players come off the bus showed that they had very little emotion coming into this game. As several posters have stated, this game was treated like a scrimmage. Did see Sean Clifford coming off the bus and he was noticeably limping.
3) Good to talk with Nick Bowers parents. They gave me a heads up that Pat Friermuth was coming back. Nick and Pat are very close on this team.
4) Shout out to Journey Brown for quiet but solid season with 688 yards rushing, 6.1 yards per rush and 11 total touchdowns. He was one of the few players whom showed emotion dedicating the game to his recently deceased young cousin.
5) Shout out number two for Blake Gilikin-excellent day punting highlighted by his 72 yard kick. For the year 30 of his 59 punts (50.8%) were inside the 20. With this seasons stats, his four year punting average comes out to 43.00 yards per punt which is second all time to Jeremy Boone at 43.13 yards per punt. What an improvement in punting compared to previous few years.
6) Our highly touted defensive line really had a poor day yesterday-Rutgers was consistently running the ball on us. In my view, the defensive line did not meet expectations this year from a consistency standpoint in both pass rushing and run defense. I like the potential of Oweh, Issac and Mustipher-have some concerns on the DT depth going forward. Did anyone notice that also Fred Hansard did not play yesterday? Not sure if he was injured.
7) Can we finally no longer call a safety blitz? We got burnt again on two separate occasions. Thought that Trent Gordon had a decent game yesterday. We did have three true freshman (Marquis Wilson, Keaton Ellis and Joey Porter Jr.) on the field at the same time in passing situations. I felt they held their own except for the deep pass on the flea flicker play.
8) It was good to see some improved kick and punt returns by KJ Hamler yesterday. He was a lot more decisive on kick returns. Unfortunately, he had a key drop on the long pass. Selfishly I hope he comes back for another year, but I would be surprised if he does not declare for the NFL draft.
9) Thought Levis did a decent job at QB by limiting the game plan to his strength of running the ball. However, our lack of a passing game during the second half of the season has become a major concern in my view. I had been a Rahne proponent since the beginning; but I have found some of the play calling on pass plays at bit perplexing. Our scheme on the WR screen was an example yesterday where it was blown up three times. Hopefully we will figure this out by spreading the ball around more (Dotson, incoming freshmen?) next year. One can only hope, right?
10) The offensive line play was a mixed bag in my view. Solid run blocking, but we continue to struggle to pick up the blitz.
Overall, a very good season finishing 10-2 with a first year starting QB. We won two tough road games (Iowa and Michigan State) despite finishing up with four out of the last six games on the road.
Thanks to Tgar and Mickey for hospitality at their tailgates this year. It was really good to meet several posters during the Michigan game. I do have a great picture of us together (tgar, belize diver, sg west and others), but I have not figured out how to post it on this site. Any help here will be appreciated.
234 games in person with win 207 yesterday. My wife and I already got a hotel room for the Virginia Tech game next year. IMO, this game will help determine the success of next years season. The QB that Virginia Tech switched to mid season can really run.
Hopefully, we will know next week at this time that we are invited to a NY 6 bowl.
For the Glory!
1) Was able to take my stepson the game for the first time in a number of years. His wife and him just celebrated their first wedding anniversary. He really wanted to see the buses arrive at the stadium. He was amazed how close that we were able to be to the players and Coach Franklin. He was like a little kid exchanging high fives with the players and Coach Franklin.
2) Watching the players come off the bus showed that they had very little emotion coming into this game. As several posters have stated, this game was treated like a scrimmage. Did see Sean Clifford coming off the bus and he was noticeably limping.
3) Good to talk with Nick Bowers parents. They gave me a heads up that Pat Friermuth was coming back. Nick and Pat are very close on this team.
4) Shout out to Journey Brown for quiet but solid season with 688 yards rushing, 6.1 yards per rush and 11 total touchdowns. He was one of the few players whom showed emotion dedicating the game to his recently deceased young cousin.
5) Shout out number two for Blake Gilikin-excellent day punting highlighted by his 72 yard kick. For the year 30 of his 59 punts (50.8%) were inside the 20. With this seasons stats, his four year punting average comes out to 43.00 yards per punt which is second all time to Jeremy Boone at 43.13 yards per punt. What an improvement in punting compared to previous few years.
6) Our highly touted defensive line really had a poor day yesterday-Rutgers was consistently running the ball on us. In my view, the defensive line did not meet expectations this year from a consistency standpoint in both pass rushing and run defense. I like the potential of Oweh, Issac and Mustipher-have some concerns on the DT depth going forward. Did anyone notice that also Fred Hansard did not play yesterday? Not sure if he was injured.
7) Can we finally no longer call a safety blitz? We got burnt again on two separate occasions. Thought that Trent Gordon had a decent game yesterday. We did have three true freshman (Marquis Wilson, Keaton Ellis and Joey Porter Jr.) on the field at the same time in passing situations. I felt they held their own except for the deep pass on the flea flicker play.
8) It was good to see some improved kick and punt returns by KJ Hamler yesterday. He was a lot more decisive on kick returns. Unfortunately, he had a key drop on the long pass. Selfishly I hope he comes back for another year, but I would be surprised if he does not declare for the NFL draft.
9) Thought Levis did a decent job at QB by limiting the game plan to his strength of running the ball. However, our lack of a passing game during the second half of the season has become a major concern in my view. I had been a Rahne proponent since the beginning; but I have found some of the play calling on pass plays at bit perplexing. Our scheme on the WR screen was an example yesterday where it was blown up three times. Hopefully we will figure this out by spreading the ball around more (Dotson, incoming freshmen?) next year. One can only hope, right?
10) The offensive line play was a mixed bag in my view. Solid run blocking, but we continue to struggle to pick up the blitz.
Overall, a very good season finishing 10-2 with a first year starting QB. We won two tough road games (Iowa and Michigan State) despite finishing up with four out of the last six games on the road.
Thanks to Tgar and Mickey for hospitality at their tailgates this year. It was really good to meet several posters during the Michigan game. I do have a great picture of us together (tgar, belize diver, sg west and others), but I have not figured out how to post it on this site. Any help here will be appreciated.
234 games in person with win 207 yesterday. My wife and I already got a hotel room for the Virginia Tech game next year. IMO, this game will help determine the success of next years season. The QB that Virginia Tech switched to mid season can really run.
Hopefully, we will know next week at this time that we are invited to a NY 6 bowl.
For the Glory!
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