THE IUP Football Thread

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Turnovers and special teams killed them against Ship. That was a more closely fought game than the score would indicate.

I suspect they will get a win or two to end the year.

After IUP, they play Boro, Mercy and Ville.

I think they'll win at least one of those.

[Fightingscot82]

Why are yinz fighting with The Personalities?

You were doing fine until you try to say Edinboro in the summer trumps Indiana that has a lot more to offer year round. I just looked at Downtown Edinboro on Google Maps street view and well there ain’t much there. I didn’t even know Indiana was in recovery.

Small town versus big town, sure. Indiana doesn't have multiple places to eat & drink on water, though.

[Ram Tough]

I thought the comment about "a more complete team" was fair. General, but fair. I personally haven't studied Shepherd yet. I'll do that when the time comes.

On the surface, I understand that perception because the appearance from afar is that Shep's performance is dominated by Bagent. However, they have a great RB and I assume they have reloaded at all positions. I think they have a lot more new players this year than IUP has so I expect Shep to gel as the season progresses. and they gain more experience as a unit.

I think we all be in for a treat with an IUP/Shepherd PSAC championship game. But there are still a few games to play before we get there.

I personally feel like Shepherd's offense is not quite as explosive this season, but a lot of that is due to new faces. Don't get me wrong. It's still a potent group, but maybe just a bit less explosive. Defensively, I feel like Shepherd is better. They still have some issues, but they generate turnovers a lot better and just seem to tackle better.

[Ramhead]

I think Shepherd needs to focus on the Golden Rams and not on the State Game.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I think Shepherd needs to focus on the Golden Rams and not on the State Game.

Agreed. IUP and Shepherd aren't playing this week.

While it is doubtful either loses any of their next three games, a lot can happen. They need to focus on health -- and, my favorite coachism of all time ... "one game at a time".

IUP and Shepherd could both look much different a month from now.

[IUPNation]

So are the townies going to ramp up their attendance at The Cig now that the high school gets blown out every week? There is one team representing Indiana, PA to keep on cheering…

[IUPbigINDIANS]

So are the townies going to ramp up their attendance at The Cig now that the high school gets blown out every week? There is one team representing Indiana, PA to keep on cheering…

Well, it's been a strange year. IUP's only had two home games this year (four on the road).

Regardless, they've had an average of 5,361 inside Miller Stadium this year.


As for this weekend, there won't be many excuses. The weather will be near 70 and sunny. Despite being a half hour away, there won't be any boost from Seton Hill at the gate. Oddly, SRU didn't travel down here nearly as well as it usually does. Even more strange, Mercyhurst had a huge crowd come to Indiana.

The first two games had themes ... HOF/Parents and then Homecoming. This will be a big test with an 0-7 team in town. I'd suspect they'll get about 4,000 through the gate. I'd love to see them crack 5,000 again but I'd be shocked.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Slipped under the radar a bit, but IUP's penalties are decreasing in a big way.

The Crimson Hawks were at 100 ypg earlier this season. The average now is down to 70 ypg. That's a great sign.

Now, if they can just cut the one stupid personal foul per game.

They also won't have to play at Adamson again this year so that helps. That was more crooked than the po-po in Dukes of Hazard.

[IUP PSAC Fan]

Ok. Sure.

Food and beer on me. Let me know what your alcoholic beverage of choice is?

[IUP PSAC Fan]

You'd have to go to Edinboro to see the sun in Edinboro. But I guess then the Coney wouldn't have someone to mop the floors.

Negative, I drink red wine. They do not sell that at the coney.

[IUP PSAC Fan]

The guy on this board that does not get a lot of “talk” and needs to be talked about is Greg Moore #93. Stetson transfer. The guy is an absolute monster!

[Ship69]

I personally feel like Shepherd's offense is not quite as explosive this season, but a lot of that is due to new faces. Don't get me wrong. It's still a potent group, but maybe just a bit less explosive. Defensively, I feel like Shepherd is better. They still have some issues, but they generate turnovers a lot better and just seem to tackle better.

Shepherd is certainly more explosive than Kutztown. I was less than impressed with Kutztown's offense Saturday. Their 29-10 win over Ship was convincing enough, but was due primarily to the dominance of their graduate- and senior-laden defense against Ship's young offense. Despite constantly being handed the ball in prime field position (I think they started at least 4-5 drives inside the Ship 40), they didn't score their second TD until well into the fourth quarter and settled for five FGs (fortunately for them, their kicker is the real deal). Their running game is decent and had a statistically good day, but they were also stoned on a number of occasions by a Ship defense starting three freshmen on the DL. Their ends are not particularly explosive — their first long TD was a blown coverage by Ship that left the receiver open by 20 yards. They had a ton of holding calls. Some of those might be attributed to PSAC officiating, but they ran some of those plays to my side and some of the holds — guys literally grabbing shoulder pads or jerseys — were pretty obvious. They had possession for a remarkable amount of time in the second half, almost 26 minutes, yet scored only 13 points in the half.

If they had a Shepherd or IUP offense to go with that defense, they'd be an awesome team. As it is, Shepherd is clearly the class in the East. I'm somewhat surprised Kutztown was able to put up 35 points on them and nearly win that one.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Seton Hill's defense has been pretty good -- for the most part. The Griffins' offense has been the killer.

Defensively, they've held some good offenses to respectable numbers -- SRU (30), Cal (21), ESU (22), Gannon (21). But, they've also had some flops -- Clarion put up 40 on them two weeks ago and Shippensburg got 36 on them earlier in the season. ESU's offense was much better earlier in the season. SRU moved the ball up and down but struggled to cross the goal line against them.

Offensively, they've scored 14 points combined against SRU/Cal.

Some of Tort's past teams would have caused concern for a 'fall asleep' performance. I don't have those worries this year.

Most recently, they've played well in two of their past three games -- losing to Gannon (by 11), Clarion (by 27) and Cal (by 7). Now, you can certainly make the case Cal wasn't real engaged 48 hours ago.

I would sure expect this game to be very similar to the Edinboro game.

I think there’s a letdown factor at play here. I think they’ve “held” the better teams below their averages because who really gets excited to play Seton Hill? Clarion did because it was a game they thought they could win. Same for Ship. The better teams just want to get it over with and get out of there without injury. I expect a little bit of a letdown on Saturday but not enough to make it interesting in the second half.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Geez, almost two pages of fighting to go through, LOL. This brings back memories of PSACHomer! What ever happened to that guy? Hopefully not poking a sleeping bear here. :)

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I think there’s a letdown factor at play here. I think they’ve “held” the better teams below their averages because who really gets excited to play Seton Hill? Clarion did because it was a game they thought they could win. Same for Ship. The better teams just want to get it over with and get out of there without injury. I expect a little bit of a letdown on Saturday but not enough to make it interesting in the second half.

Tort played Lou Holtz for Halloween last night and essentially made it sound like they are playing Georgia on Saturday.

It will be nice to get another game at Miller Stadium. IUP's been on the road 6 of its past 8 games dating back to last season.

I suspect Seton Hill will come out ready to roll. Teams get up to play IUP. That's why it's so important to punch them in the mouth quickly and get rid of any delusions. Zap their morale quickly.