Re: 10/4/14 vs. Illinois State RedBirds
Listened to the game on the radio, just watched the condensed "highlights" of the game. My thoughts-
I think our offense would have been able to do some things had it not been for the turnovers and then likely forcing things and getting out of our game plan with being in such a large hole. I don't think that their defensive athleticism would be a huge problem for our offense if we played them again.
Defense is another story. Our line looked like boys against men. I really don't like our defensive philosophy with how we play our lineman, having them off the ball and reading and reacting. We have a small line. Our advantage should be we should be quicker than the offensive lines we play. It doesn't seem like we try and use that at all by playing off the ball and trying to plug gaps. With Ill St.'s lineman averaging 310+ and our guys 280-, what do we expect to happen when all we do is tell them to plug this gap and try and let the linebackers make the plays. Of course they are going to get pushed back or washed down the line, thus not allowing our linebackers to have a clear vision for the ball carriers. We heard all through fall camp how much of a stud Langer was going to be this year, just don't think we are ever going to see his potential to create plays with the technique he is forced to use. Line wasn't the only problem though. There were many plays that we had a guy in position to make a tackle for no or minimal gain, only to see a whiff. I think this came down to their qb and rb just being better than we were.
All in all if we played them again it would be closer, but I still don't think we would beat them. Too many great athletes for them and not enough for us
Listened to the game on the radio, just watched the condensed "highlights" of the game. My thoughts-
I think our offense would have been able to do some things had it not been for the turnovers and then likely forcing things and getting out of our game plan with being in such a large hole. I don't think that their defensive athleticism would be a huge problem for our offense if we played them again.
Defense is another story. Our line looked like boys against men. I really don't like our defensive philosophy with how we play our lineman, having them off the ball and reading and reacting. We have a small line. Our advantage should be we should be quicker than the offensive lines we play. It doesn't seem like we try and use that at all by playing off the ball and trying to plug gaps. With Ill St.'s lineman averaging 310+ and our guys 280-, what do we expect to happen when all we do is tell them to plug this gap and try and let the linebackers make the plays. Of course they are going to get pushed back or washed down the line, thus not allowing our linebackers to have a clear vision for the ball carriers. We heard all through fall camp how much of a stud Langer was going to be this year, just don't think we are ever going to see his potential to create plays with the technique he is forced to use. Line wasn't the only problem though. There were many plays that we had a guy in position to make a tackle for no or minimal gain, only to see a whiff. I think this came down to their qb and rb just being better than we were.
All in all if we played them again it would be closer, but I still don't think we would beat them. Too many great athletes for them and not enough for us
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