GDT: Southern Illinois (NCAA FCS Playoffs - Quarterfinals)

[LetsGoRabbits]

all that said, there is consistently one thing that makes it really hard for me not to think bad thoughts. not about our team, however, but about the officiating. it is really at the point where i am at least slightly surprised when the d makes a big play and there is NOT a penalty against us

i seriously wonder, is there like a head of ncaa officiating and did someone associated with the jacks, have a one night stand with his mom or wife or daughter or something???? i mean the discrepency of big calls and bad calls that hurt the jacks as opposed to those that hurt their opponents this year is FAR beyond ridiculous!!!!!

that was NOT PI on gayles on the 3rd down play, with 2 minutes in first half. he was playing the ball very well and made an actual play on the ball!!! BUT even if we accept that call and say ok bang bang play, sometimes goes the other way, it absolutely can NOT be PI on that play against jacks but the play in endzone when their guy has his hands all over janke and their guy initiated the contact is not called????? that is an absolute joke!!!

not to mention the ref on top of the play with gayles does NOT call the play but the guy from across the freaking field throws the flag. even the absolutely terrible announcer said NOT a penalty

many other as well, HOW did they find conclusive to overturn the 3rd down call at the 15 yard line????

dont know how many of you saw it but on the 4th down conversion by them on last drive. throw down the right side, our left D End, i believe hicks, was blatantly held by the OT. that is absolutely directly in front of the ref but of course nobody ever holds the jacks on big plays

any way, had to get that out. now it is done. ya see i have terrible expectations about the stinking refs. but i spend the whole game believing that the jacks will find a way and trying to put as much positive rabbit energy into the atmosphere as possible))))

[jakejc795]

all that said, there is consistently one thing that makes it really hard for me not to think bad thoughts. not about our team, however, but about the officiating. it is really at the point where i am at least slightly surprised when the d makes a big play and there is NOT a penalty against us

i seriously wonder, is there like a head of ncaa officiating and did someone associated with the jacks, have a one night stand with his mom or wife or daughter or something???? i mean the discrepency of big calls and bad calls that hurt the jacks as opposed to those that hurt their opponents this year is FAR beyond ridiculous!!!!!

that was NOT PI on gayles on the 3rd down play, with 2 minutes in first half. he was playing the ball very well and made an actual play on the ball!!! BUT even if we accept that call and say ok bang bang play, sometimes goes the other way, it absolutely can NOT be PI on that play against jacks but the play in endzone when their guy has his hands all over janke and their guy initiated the contact is not called????? that is an absolute joke!!!

not to mention the ref on top of the play with gayles does NOT call the play but the guy from across the freaking field throws the flag. even the absolutely terrible announcer said NOT a penalty

many other as well, HOW did they find conclusive to overturn the 3rd down call at the 15 yard line????

dont know how many of you saw it but on the 4th down conversion by them on last drive. throw down the right side, our left D End, i believe hicks, was blatantly held by the OT. that is absolutely directly in front of the ref but of course nobody ever holds the jacks on big plays

any way, had to get that out. now it is done. ya see i have terrible expectations about the stinking refs. but i spend the whole game believing that the jacks will find a way and trying to put as much positive rabbit energy into the atmosphere as possible))))

Have to believe Delaware will try to exploit Jacks' DBs and, at the very least, get potential PI and defensive holding calls, as they'll have QB who just might be best Jacks have faced this season. Hopefully the Jacks saved up their QB hurries and sacks for Sat.

[LetsGoRabbits]

i feel like this is going to be that one tough game that every championship team has. the guys will learn from this and really settle in for the last two games. PLUS the next two teams will not play such a all out nothing to lose style

i think could be very interesting against deleware. i think they will trust their D which has been good all year, unlike SIU, they will not sell out with a bunch of run blitzes and stunts. i think that could really play into a big game for the O line and the run game, kinda like the NDSU game

the bison thought they could play our run game straight up and it resulted in them getting pummeled on the ground. and that is NOT me taking a shot at ndsu. i simply mean they thought they could take us straight up and they were wrong. i think deleware likely will think the same thing with similar result.

i think we all should just keep our mouth shut about taking shots at ndsu. it was AWESOME to beat them and it will be incredible to win a championship but maybe lets not go around waving anything in their faces until at least we win in the fall also and have more than one)) i expect they will get much better QB play in the fall and be more than slightly pissed off about the spring season

i expect they will play with a bit extra ferocity in the fall. by then however we will have everyone back, minus tetzlaff, and should be playing with as much confidence and pedigree as any jackrabbit team has ever had. and if we keep our mouth shut, our head down, and play like we are still the underdog we could have an opportunity to start a run of unprecedented jackrabbit football success

two weeks and two games to go! keep taking care of business rabbits!!!!!

[BigGoosie13]

Just a few thoughts...

1. The refs were not good, woof.
2. Our 3rd down D was atrocious, for as bad as they were though, they were really friggin physical.
3. Watching this backfield of Strong, Davis, and Gronowski is so damn fun.
4. The student body was awesome last night and overall the crowd and atmosphere were electric. Look on the players faces after the game how much it met to them that amost everybody stayed until the alma mater was over.

[SUPERBUNNY]

SIU is the first team to really neutralize our defensive line and give their QB time to pass. There were definitely a few plays where we got to him and he took some serious shots but most of the game he had a lot of time to pass. That definitely made for a tough game for the defensive backfield. Add in some very questionable PI calls and things got very dicey.

Also, it is cliche to say it but win the turnover war and win the game. That is what happened.

Agree with those that said this is hopefully that one tough game that wakes us up. Think that is true but we are now in the semis and the four teams playing the best are left. No more room for error. Have to bring our best next week.

Oh, and Gronowski! Wow!

SUPERBUNNY

[Gojacks2487]

The few observations in the first half where on our passing plays where Mark was being asked to put some balls in tight windows on outs or crossers. It takes a pinpoint passing to squeeze those in constantly. IMO we need to set him up with some easier throws to het him in rhythm. Having Mark run is a total x factor and we did not do that much in the first half. I really like SIU passing scheme they had , even though it tortured me. There where very few times stone had the ball longer than a 3 count. Its tough to get alot of pressure on that. And those WR are really good at running routes and finding open spaces creating, alot of High percentage throws, At one point he was 11-14. I was surprised at the end of the seeing the rushing attempts and yards. I didn't think they had that many rushing yards. They Defiantly had the recipe to win but our defensive depth and guts allowed us to get the W.

[GopherHole]

all that said, there is consistently one thing that makes it really hard for me not to think bad thoughts. not about our team, however, but about the officiating. it is really at the point where i am at least slightly surprised when the d makes a big play and there is NOT a penalty against us

i seriously wonder, is there like a head of ncaa officiating and did someone associated with the jacks, have a one night stand with his mom or wife or daughter or something???? i mean the discrepency of big calls and bad calls that hurt the jacks as opposed to those that hurt their opponents this year is FAR beyond ridiculous!!!!!

that was NOT PI on gayles on the 3rd down play, with 2 minutes in first half. he was playing the ball very well and made an actual play on the ball!!! BUT even if we accept that call and say ok bang bang play, sometimes goes the other way, it absolutely can NOT be PI on that play against jacks but the play in endzone when their guy has his hands all over janke and their guy initiated the contact is not called????? that is an absolute joke!!!

not to mention the ref on top of the play with gayles does NOT call the play but the guy from across the freaking field throws the flag. even the absolutely terrible announcer said NOT a penalty

many other as well, HOW did they find conclusive to overturn the 3rd down call at the 15 yard line????

dont know how many of you saw it but on the 4th down conversion by them on last drive. throw down the right side, our left D End, i believe hicks, was blatantly held by the OT. that is absolutely directly in front of the ref but of course nobody ever holds the jacks on big plays

any way, had to get that out. now it is done. ya see i have terrible expectations about the stinking refs. but i spend the whole game believing that the jacks will find a way and trying to put as much positive rabbit energy into the atmosphere as possible))))

LGR - you've had many great points with your posts, but I'm going to respond from my black and white striped glasses. There were definitely some missed calls. Many were hard to evaluate from the limited camera views and angles. I found myself wanting to see a different angle and there just wasn't enough like you get in FBS or NFL games.

I've officiated for 32 years, and I will qualify that I've never done a collegiate game. I have worked many levels of games below that level and have worked with many exceptional officials and some really bad ones too. During many off-season workshops I've heard from many FBS and NFL officials on a variety of topics. Their insights are really fascinating to hear.

I disagree with your view on the Dyshawn Gales pass inference. When you watch the slow motion replay, you can see when the side/back judge first reaches for his flag. It is before Gales turns his head and makes a play on the ball. He had some jersey in his hand and was interfering with the receivers ability to take a better angle on the ball that is in flight. After Gales turns his head, both players have equal rights to the ball, but Gales had already committed the foul and the ref had already thrown his flag.

With that being said, some of those other calls or no calls you commented on could be spot on. I agree with your observation of the hold on Hicks. It was a classic holding call on the OT who was beat on the play. With the umpire in the backfield on the other side from the referee, one of them should have had that call.

I'd be interested in hearing the evaluation from the evaluator for the game. At the FBS level, the crew chief, often the white hat, will review the game film within 12 hours of the game. They will evaluate just about everything and give a grade for each official. He or she will share that with the crew and the evaluator for the game. That evaluator, who's not part of the crew, will do their own evaluation and give a grade for all officials. They share that with their conference and the crew chief. If calls or grades are bad enough, the official or crews can be suspended. I personally know a white hat for a B1G Ten crew who was suspended for a bad call he had made many years ago. He thought they officiated a great game, but had missed a critical call in overtime that one of his officials made and they didn't see it until after they watched the film hours later. He felt sick about it and shares it at conferences because he wants others to learn from his mistake. Officials are human and make mistakes, just like the players do and the coaches too. If you look at anyone of our legendary Jacks, you will find mistakes that they've made in their career, but are still outstanding players. We've all complained about Coach Stig or one of our coordinators at one time or another for a stupid play call, but we wouldn't trade these coaches for any of our peer institutions. I've made many mistakes in my 32 years and some of them will bug you long after the game. Most don't, or you would not be able to move on to the next play. That's the same mantra that Stig's crew shares with their team - Last Play.

Regardless of the right calls, wrong calls, or missed calls, the officials take so much pride in their work. At that level the amount of preparation, education, knowledge, and even athleticism is high. I just want you to understand their perspective and that their angles and views are vastly different than what you see on TV or in the stands.

[LetsGoRabbits]

hey gopher, i appreciate your perspective. also, you may not believe this from some of my rants about officiating, but in over 20 years coaching football and basketball i can count the times i got upset at officials on less than fingers on one hand and all 3 of those happened to be in basketball.

i agree with you refs are human and have as much right to make honest mistakes as all the rest of us. and i always told my players if you spend all your tiime being focused on mistakes others made and believeing that is reason things did not go according to plan, then you are probably not taking enough responsibility for your own stuff and almost definitely not spending enough of your energy on the things that you actually have the ability to control

also like i said in post yesterday, i always tried to teach my kids that game and life is not about all the things that happen to you and around you!!! life and the game are about HOW do you respond to those events and circumstances- HOW do you respond to both the good and the bad from yourself, your teammates, your opponents, and the officials?? that is what really matters

consequently, if i were to be spending the whole game losing my mind about officiating and yelling at officials, i would have been setting a really REALLY terrible example for my kids, therefore, with very few exceptions I NEVER yelled at officials and rarely thought about them during games, i was busy thinking about my kids and myself and things i had some actual control over

all that said, i do feel that the bad and big calls have been heavily lopsided against the jacks this season, but i am sure if i went back it may not be as HEAVILY lopsided as i think and i am slightly too heavily in fan mode when i watch the jacks)))

i do appreciate your perspective on the gayles play. i do agree he did turn his head a bit late. i think it would be good to know, and maybe you do, who initiated the contact. it was a route where offensive players often do initiate contact. i guess i am not sure that, that makes a difference, but for me as an official, i would feel you have to give the player on D some ability to respond if the player on O is initiating the contact

if that was the case, then gayles getting his head around a bit late, i think negates the PI since he clearly made a play on the ball, but if you are saying he initiated contact early, before turning his head, then so be it. and as i said i would be willing to concede that call, but NO WAY you make that call in one series and next series with the other team on offense you swallow your whistle in the endzone, when the player on D was CLEARLY the one to initiate the contact

thank you again for your help and perspective with this! i am sure i would enjoy speaking to you about this and i am guessing you could help me with my negative thoughts in this area. i really really hate to waste my time with the kind of negative thinking that i have had about these situations

[LetsGoRabbits]

the thing with the D is that we do not have corners who we can put on an island and they can take their man out of the game without help. therefore, they cannot get up and attack WR to take away 5-8 yard outs, without becoming vulnerable to getting beat deep

we do not like to dedicate our safeties too heavily to help over the top, because they are a big part of our run D, and ALL of our DB do an excellent job of reading run or pass and coming quickly off coverage and making plays in the run game

what all of that leads to is that we basically always come back to the idea that we will generally give you 4-7 yards on a pass play. we will tackle well and not let you turn those into bigger plays. and we are willing to bet that that means you need to execute over 10 plays in a row, without having a mistake or a penalty that gets you behind on down and distance, and you can NOT do that enough times over the WHOLE game to beat us

and the jacks LOST that bet on three drives yesterday. on some occasions they missed the tackle when they had the chance to get off field on 3rd down, and that is the area they have the most control over and need to be the most focused on changing

one drive they lost that bet because they got a terrible punt and SIU did not have to execute the same number of plays before getting in the endzone, i really hope Dinkel will be back or Dustman simply had some jitters about getting thrown into game duties in a quarterfinal game and he will improve dramatically going forward

and often, including basically the whole first half, SIU did a great job of executing the short passing game and then making us pay when they caught us in a gamble to take that away. big credit to SIU!!!!! i would say they definitely proved that they deserved to be one of the 16 teams in the playoffs

but in the end the jacks won that bet, other than one drive where SIU was able to execute for i think 17 or 18 plays, with help of some missed tackles and one maybe 50/ 50 call in their favor, they were not able to execute well enough to win, and obviously on the one huge drive they ended up NOT being able to get into the endzone

in the second half they could not do it without making the mistakes the jacks bet that they would. i know sometimes that gets frustrating to watch, but that is usually a bet that leads to winning football games

[jakejc795]

the thing with the D is that we do not have corners who we can put on an island and they can take their man out of the game without help. therefore, they cannot get up and attack WR to take away 5-8 yard outs, without becoming vulnerable to getting beat deep

we do not like to dedicate our safeties too heavily to help over the top, because they are a big part of our run D, and ALL of our DB do an excellent job of reading run or pass and coming quickly off coverage and making plays in the run game

what all of that leads to is that we basically always come back to the idea that we will generally give you 4-7 yards on a pass play. we will tackle well and not let you turn those into bigger plays. and we are willing to bet that that means you need to execute over 10 plays in a row, without having a mistake or a penalty that gets you behind on down and distance, and you can NOT do that enough times over the WHOLE game to beat us

and the jacks LOST that bet on three drives yesterday. on some occasions they missed the tackle when they had the chance to get off field on 3rd down, and that is the area they have the most control over and need to be the most focused on changing

one drive they lost that bet because they got a terrible punt and SIU did not have to execute the same number of plays before getting in the endzone, i really hope Dinkel will be back or Dustman simply had some jitters about getting thrown into game duties in a quarterfinal game and he will improve dramatically going forward

and often, including basically the whole first half, SIU did a great job of executing the short passing game and then making us pay when they caught us in a gamble to take that away. big credit to SIU!!!!! i would say they definitely proved that they deserved to be one of the 16 teams in the playoffs

but in the end the jacks won that bet, other than one drive where SIU was able to execute for i think 17 or 18 plays, with help of some missed tackles and one maybe 50/ 50 call in their favor, they were not able to execute well enough to win, and obviously on the one huge drive they ended up NOT being able to get into the endzone

in the second half they could not do it without making the mistakes the jacks bet that they would. i know sometimes that gets frustrating to watch, but that is usually a bet that leads to winning football games

Great points. It'll be interesting to see Delaware's gameplan, particularly if the forecast for precip on Sat. remains the same.

On the one hand, that'd seem to favor the Jacks' rushing attack and could increase risk of Blue Hen fumbles. On the other, Blue Hens may try to employ screens, particularly if they want to limit QB Henderson's designed runs, as he deals with shoulder injury

[JackJD]

Zimmer noted on his Twitter account that our punter, Dinkel, didn't play due to a sprained ankle.

SIU had great fan support at the game.

We'll see QB Stone Labanowitz and crew back in DJD Stadium when we host the Salukis on October 9. I was impressed by Labanowitz. He was always ready to make something happen and certainly DID make a lot happen last night. The return of Stone Labanowitz and his friends to Brookings this fall should cause a spike in ticket sales.

[jakejc795]

Zimmer noted on his Twitter account that our punter, Dinkel, didn't play due to a sprained ankle.

SIU had great fan support at the game.

We'll see QB Stone Labanowitz and crew back in DJD Stadium when we host the Salukis on October 9. I was impressed by Labanowitz. He was always ready to make something happen and certainly DID make a lot happen last night. The return of Stone Labanowitz and his friends to Brookings this fall should cause a spike in ticket sales.

Expectation is that Dinkel could be back for Delaware game. Hopefully the Jacks never need to punt on Sat.

Labanowitz certainly contributed, but I'm more concerned with Javon Williams, Jr.

[tbcruiser]

Expectation is that Dinkel could be back for Delaware game. Hopefully the Jacks never need to punt on Sat.

Labanowitz certainly contributed, but I'm more concerned with Javon Williams, Jr.

Funny , just watched the replay of the game, the announcers never did realize Dinkle didnt play the whole game. They had him.making every punt.

[UWMandSDSU]

Funny , just watched the replay of the game, the announcers never did realize Dinkle didnt play the whole game. They had him.making every punt.

I noticed it on the first extra point when Heide was the holder. Looked around on the sideline and no Dinkle. Thought to myself, this not good, as Dinkle can flip the field with his leg.

[goon]

LGR, I agree that PI on Gayles, I felt he had the better position and even if he had grabbed jersey he wasnt beat or pulling on the player. IMHO he had position and played the ball perfectly. Also the Janke who got grabbed in the endzone seemed more then obvious but no flag.....Seems like an issue to me. Maybe in person the Gayles PI was more obvious but on TV i was pretty taken aback. I was surprised when the Jacks defender didnt get called for targeting. One announcer was sure it was and should have been tossed when he got into the chest of the QB. I think its part reputation, I think our DBs who were so good last year got called for a few early this year and Refs know that I would guess.