Dante done for year. Nice road win today. Mansfield is a scrappy team. Glover with 23 points.
I thought it was their best game of the year.
Joe seemed wishy-washy about Daunte but it's definitely official now. I thought it was a grind of a game. I don't know if I can agree it was their best. Malik needs to control himself and not take the bad fouls. Why does Vaughns not play more??? They virtually ran with 6 guys today, especially the second half. They've got a big game looming but have some time to get ready!
It makes me wonder how I watched West Liberty sub in 'fresh fives' last night and not miss a beat and we seem to go through this yearly.
It has to be taking everything Joe has not to insert Keyes on to the roster.
IUP is an injury or foul trouble away from playing walk-ons in the rotation.
If they play Fairmont's pace with 6 guys ... it will be a massacre. Clock control is the only chance.
That's what I was saying. How can Joe settle for a 6 man rotation? What's his issue with Vaughns? What Vaughns lacks defensively he makes up offensively. Malik has a ton of defensive issues and Joe keeps playing him!!!
At this point I think qualifying for the PSAC tournament is plausible but not much more.
The six they play are good players but how long is that going to last? Willem and Blake are routinely in foul trouble. Joe is obviously not comfortable with Vaughns yet.
Playing with six means you can't play real aggressive defensively. If anybody gets in foul trouble it's a catastrophe.
They'll still beat some West teams even with six guys but better teams will just tire them out.
The other issue in West play is going to be playing the West bang 'em style. Foul trouble is going to mean Joe is playing walk-ons. Other teams obviously noticed Joe played six yesterday. The goal will be to go right at them and draw fouls.
It's going to be a long season.
Just pray nobody else gets injured. He'll be playing five.
I wouldn't be surprised if they don't add two guys at the break. There has to be some football players capable of playing at this level. Maybe they explore some guys out of football eligibility. They'd at least be in shape.
Keep in mind Mansfield has wins against Cal, Boro and Mercy and IUP held them to 52 points.
Football ending means the spotlight -- for better or worse -- turns back to Bravado Joe.
At 7-4, this upcoming stretch is going to tell the tale of this season. The next 8 games:
Fairmont State
** break **
@ Gannon
@ UPJ
Mercyhurst
Slippery Rock (Monday night over break ... brilliant scheduling by the PSAC office)
East Stroudsburg
@ Edinboro
@ California
There's not an easy one in there.
IUP has 18 regular season games left. If they go 14-4 that gets them to 21-8 entering the conference tournament. I don't know that they can go 14-4 to finish the season but they may have to if they want to go dancing.
This is when you can't help but question playing Findlay, Ferris State, Virginia State and Fairmont State in the same non-conference schedule. That's three of your losses already ... and most assume the fourth is coming next Tuesday night.
Forget the date on the calendar. This Fairmont game is one of the bigger at the KCAC in a long, long time. If they win and are at 8-4 entering West play ... I like their chances. No more 'close losses' ... that's been the theme for the past several years now in big games. How do you beat Fairmont State with 6 players? Great question. That's why Joe makes the big bucks. But, as I said earlier, if they play Fairmont's style with 6 guys ... it will be a massacre.
Let's not forget what Irish Tom and his IUP lasses have accomplished thus far. What did I hear they are, something like 9-0 and top five in the national polls? It would be cool if they could keep up the pace and host the conference and regional tourneys. But a long ways to go before you can even think about that. But it would be exciting for the community come March.
I think I consumed too much of the preseason kool-aid and read too many glowing predictions.
If it could have went wrong so far ... it has.
Big injuries, an odd redshirt, killer schedule, AWOL defense (at times), turnover city (at times), blown out twice, 6-man rotations, ... we've seen it all so far in 11 games.
It's oddly been kind of exciting in a strange way. There may even be a new player (or two) soon.
Regardless ... glad to hear you're doing better. I was a little worried when you vanished. Now that you're back I'll post some more on the ladies. That's a real special team. Tom's bench would start at most schools. Joe could start traveling to road games in a mini-van soon. No need for the big charter.
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