Eastern Washington

[jack power]

Re: Eastern Washington

I think people are overlooking a few points about Sumner that have been evident in the past few games. I doubt EWU's coaches has the same attitude and approach as some of their fans but if they want to think Sumner is not an effective FCS quarterback, that may be a fatal miscalculation.

As this season progressed, Sumner demonstrated he can run effectively. Opponents in the last two or three games seem to have been caught off guard by Sumner's running. EWU has the benefit of watching film from the past three games and they'll be prepared for Sumner running. We're all reading about EWU's porous defense---Sumner's run threat gives EWU one more challenge.

I think Sumner's running success is attributable, at least in part, to his continuing to mature as a quarterback. The kid is decisive and he's making better decisions on when to run...once he's committed, he runs hard and knows the location of the first-down marker. I think he's been improving on deciding when to get rid of the football rather than take a sack but that continues to be a challenge. Perhaps it shows the kid has confidence on his ability to scramble out of bad situations -- but, he and his coaches can continue to discuss that topic. Overall, Sumner deserves higher marks than he's receiving from the fans.

I've read some comments about SDSU being one-dimensional in the NAU game. I enjoyed watching the one-dimensional dismantling of NAU. We had to respect the NAU defensive backs. They were smart and fast (almost as fast as Zenner). With the running game working so well, I can imagine the criticism that would have been leveled at the coaches and their play-calling had we had fewer rushing plays and more pass plays. NAU's lines were worn down significantly in the second half and by the fourth quarter, the Lumberjack defense was out of gas. I was pleased to see us keep up the ground game, eating up the clock.

It's all about finding a way to win and that's what the Jackrabbits are doing right now.

His running has giving him a added dimension. He still took a bad sack in the NAU game and also continues to throw a high ball to his receivers. All i can figure is that he doesn't like them. One thing I've noticed is he goes through his reads much better. Early in the year he was staring down one receiver and would wait too long to start going through his reads,then would take a sack or force a pass. He's going through them much quicker.

[Nidaros]

Re: Eastern Washington

Is that how that quote goes?

No, being nice.

[jacksfan29]

Re: Eastern Washington

Zenner just mentioned on the Dan Patrick show as one of the "best and worst of the weekend" performances.

Let's come out throwing vs EWU. Our predictable offense is not going to work this week. Run on 1st, run on 2nd, throw on 3rd and long is fine if Zenner goes for 250 but is not going to cut it this weekend. No way EWU allows Zenner to go off. Sumner will be the key. Let’s get the short, physical passing game going and we have a good shot.

I agree that Sumner is the key, but how is it you think that EWU is going to "not" allow Zenner to go off? SUU and NAU are the two best defenses in the Big Sky.

EWU allowed 600, yep; 600 yards to a below average Portland State. Like most of the Big Sky EWU is not a defensive FB team. Unless Zenner is hurt, he will get his yards. And yes, he can and will outrun the EWU secondary a few times. The idea that we are a slow plodding team is thrown out the window when Zenner gets past the line of scrimmage. I have seen very few DBs run him down. The real question is can our defense get pressure on their QB to slow their passing game. And can Austin get back the rhythm he had going at the end of the regular season and take a lot of pressure off Zenner. If he does, and we control the ball like we did against USD and YSU we will have a better then average shot at walking out of their with a win. If we give them the ball and let them throw it could end up being a 51-48 type game which is really what we don't want.

[mango4]

Re: Eastern Washington

Let's stop overreacting to Sumner's game on Saturday. The NAU secondary is very good, only giving up 190 yards passing yards a game (223 in conference which we all know is pass happy). Eastern Washington gives up over 270 (just shy of 300 in conference play). I trust Austin.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[YanktonJack7]

Re: Eastern Washington

NAU's defense was ranked 3rd in scoring defense in the Big Sky and was 0.7 points away from being 1st. In total defense, they were 1st. The Jacks scored 26 points and left arguably 14 points off the board.

EWU's scoring defense was 8th in the Big Sky at 29 points per game and total defense was 11th. Remember North Dakota's defense when Zenner ran wild? They are ranked higher in total defense than EWU.

EWU reminds me a lot of EIU last year. They may be a little more explosive, but they have not faced a defense like SDSU's.

I see the Jacks pounding the ball with Zenner, Gandy, and Sumner probably at least 45-50 times. Sam Houston ran it 54 times against EWU and had 450 yards on the ground. They won convincingly in that one.

I could see them passing more frequently than the NAU game because EWU's passing defense is second to last in the Big Sky.

If the Jacks can control the tempo like they did at YSU and NAU, they will win. It's that simple. If it's a track meet, like others have said, it will be tough to get the win.

[bubbajack]

Re: Eastern Washington

EWU turned it over 4 times against Portland St. Jacks might need for that to happen again (we all know SDSU is ranked high in turnover margin). Especially if they fall down by more than a TD.

Need to play smashmouth football and control the clock.

[jacksfan29]

Re: Eastern Washington

Let's stop overreacting to Sumner's game on Saturday. The NAU secondary is very good, only giving up 190 yards passing yards a game (223 in conference which we all know is pass happy). Eastern Washington gives up over 270 (just shy of 300 in conference play). I trust Austin.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree. There also wasn't a lot of upside in throwing the ball when your 1st and 2nd string RBs are running all over a team. I think some of the frustration is that suddenly we are being deemed a one dimensional team again. Yet, Sumner was second in the MVFC in average per game and 6th in efficiency. The 6th can be attributed to the fact that he threw the ball over 370 times. Sounds pretty one dimensional to me.

The reality is that if Austin hits a couple more throws against NAU we very likely would have seen a YSU type score. With all the trash talking coming from the Whioux fans, etc. on the quality of the Big Sky v MVFC it would have been nice to absolutely destroy (even worse then we did) the BSC team who finished 2nd in the conference standings.

[Southeast]

Re: Eastern Washington

[QUOTE=jacksfan29;241698]There also wasn't a lot of upside in throwing the ball when your 1st and 2nd string RBs are running all over a team. QUOTE]

That was my thinking while watching the game also. I remember thinking (in the second half) that it sure would be nice to pad the meager passing stats, and then Zenner or Gandy would break off another run for 10+ yards. It's not like we eeked out a 3-point win with this run-heavy strategy.

That being said, we are going to probably need 30+ points against EWU. They have only scored less than 35 in two games. Sumner is definitely going to need to put up decent numbers to get us there.

[Jacks-02]

Re: Eastern Washington

Early forecast for Saturday in Cheney is Sunny with a high of 15 degrees off of a low of 6 on Friday night.

I like our running game over their passing game in that weather...

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...0#.Up0BHsRDua8

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Eastern Washington

Zenners run, I pulled from youtube...not fast at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4voZ6cNEpsE

Was that Schneider with the strong down field blocking?

[clawman]

Re: Eastern Washington

Sam Houston ran it 54 times against EWU and had 450 yards on the ground. They won convincingly in that one.

We've played SHSU, we've lost to SHSU we can say we KNOW SHSU,
SDSU, you're no SHSU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-7gpgXNWYI

[Nidaros]

Re: Eastern Washington

We've played SHSU, we've lost to SHSU we can say we KNOW SHSU,
SDSU, you're no SHSU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-7gpgXNWYI

That was uncalled for MR CLAWMAN

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Eastern Washington

Correct, SDSU isn't SHSU. SDSU has a better running back.

[sfjacksfan99]

Re: Eastern Washington

I would pump the brakes a little here on the EWU = EIU 2012. EIU comes from a conference that up until this year rarely gets more than one team in the playoffs. A conference until Saturday hadn't won a playoff game in a long, long time. EWU is a perennial playoff team that won the title in 2010. They've been there, done that.

I feel Adams is going to be more problematic than Garappalo because of his mobility and he uses it. They have to keep him in the pocket and not let him step up.

I will admit, I did my fair share of Big Fluffy bashing last week through Saturday. The two teams that played Saturday were inferior playoff teams. The two left are legit playoff teams (though I have a feeling the Bizon will make the Grizz look otherwise next week). EWU will give up the points, but they can flat out score. The Jacks have to find a way to hold them to FG's or turn them over.

[clawman]

Re: Eastern Washington

All you need to know
http://bigplayva.tumblr.com/
He is so accurate a Griz fan, screen named CDAGRIZ, calls him "shoota"