THE IUP Football Thread

[Ram Tough]

The TV crew needs to remember to put the score up.

[IUPNation]

Odd to say but there's actually a buzz in town about tomorrow night. It's a playoff vibe.

I think they easily break 5,500. Granted, IUP can't count and will announce 1,400. This is going to be a big crowd.

Six years ago -- almost to the day -- IUP hit a walk-off, 47-yard FG to beat Ashland. Wild moment in Miller Stadium history. That kick, of course, gets remembered, but prior to it IUP blocked a FG and then Lenny Williams quickly drove IUP in to (somewhat) range for the winning attempt. That heavy-pressure kick would have probably been good from 55 yards.

In last year's win against Ashland, recall a blocked punt was returned to the house for an IUP TD. I fully suspect special teams, one way or another, will again play a huge role tomorrow.

Do you have the number for the Mega Millions by any chance? I need to retire yesterday.

Ashland's kicking game was no prize...just watched the missing 15 yard FG.

[EyeoftheHawk]

A win is a win and even an ugly one is better than a loss. All that matters is 1-0 against a very good SR1 opponent.

A few things that stood out. I didn’t like the look of the O-line in fall practice and that group still has a long way to go. That said, O-lines are the group that tends to improve most from week to week and as there’s no shortage of talent. I expect them to look way different by week three. We all saw at times how little it matters what great weapons you have if your O-line isn’t performing. You have to give credit to Ashland though. They’ve very active across their defensive front and as soon as they saw IUP struggling they did a lot of stunting and blitzing. I was impressed with Campolo’s composure and patience. Maybe he’s turning over a new leaf, LOL.

Hunter was just so so. He looked pretty much like what I expected being better moving in the pocket or outside of it. He is not the fire baller Sexton was, however, his threat to run adds another dimension. I’d like to see his decision making be a little better (held the ball too long on occasion and a bad pick), but he really hasn’t played a ton at quarterback if you look at his resume. I expect he too will improve as the year goes on. I was impressed with his command of the offense and knowing where guys were supposed to be. He was prepared.

Zinobile is a beast at this level. He may be the best addition of all the newcomers. That said, Hilton Ridley may be the guy who loses the most production because of it. As good as Ridley is, he had zero catches last night. Lockhart only had one. It’s only one game but that’s something to pay attention to. There was a sequence on IUP’s tying field goal drive where Lockhart had one-on-one coverage on the right and Zinobile and Ridley (I think) had a safety helping on the left. Lockhart beat his guy inside on the skinny post but Hunter was totally locked on the left side and nearly threw a pick. My point is, hopefully they find a way to spread the ball around. Laney looks like an NFL tight end all the sudden.

In the running game, I hope they find a true #1 and get the kid a bunch of carries so he can get into the game. I’ve never been a fan of running back by committee. All of them showed flashes of good things though. I thought Houser ran the hardest but Younger showed the better vision. For Stewart to get any carries at all is a great sign. Maybe he’ll emerge as “the guy” once he’s fully conditioned. It’s nice to have 3-4 very capable guys back there but hopefully they can establish some continuity.

The defense…wow. That secondary is GOOD. Even if you do get a catch you’re going to get belted. Overall a great performance. They really only gave up 3 the way I see it. Special teams were a disaster. I’m not a fan of Spitler at all at punter. We all saw it so I’m not getting into it.

Things that were nice but don’t really matter: Awesome crowd with excellent student presence. Night games are sooo much better. Band, dance team, and cheerleaders were good. New pregame chant was fun. Mark Bertig on the mic in the booth added energy. A lot of people “talking ball” in the tailgate lot.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

A win is a win and even an ugly one is better than a loss. All that matters is 1-0 against a very good SR1 opponent.

A few things that stood out. I didn’t like the look of the O-line in fall practice and that group still has a long way to go. That said, O-lines are the group that tends to improve most from week to week and as there’s no shortage of talent. I expect them to look way different by week three. We all saw at times how little it matters what great weapons you have if your O-line isn’t performing. You have to give credit to Ashland though. They’ve very active across their defensive front and as soon as they saw IUP struggling they did a lot of stunting and blitzing. I was impressed with Campolo’s composure and patience. Maybe he’s turning over a new leaf, LOL.

Hunter was just so so. He looked pretty much like what I expected being better moving in the pocket or outside of it. He is not the fire baller Sexton was, however, his threat to run adds another dimension. I’d like to see his decision making be a little better (held the ball too long on occasion and a bad pick), but he really hasn’t played a ton at quarterback if you look at his resume. I expect he too will improve as the year goes on. I was impressed with his command of the offense and knowing where guys were supposed to be. He was prepared.

Zinobile is a beast at this level. He may be the best addition of all the newcomers. That said, Hilton Ridley may be the guy who loses the most production because of it. As good as Ridley is, he had zero catches last night. Lockhart only had one. It’s only one game but that’s something to pay attention to. There was a sequence on IUP’s tying field goal drive where Lockhart had one-on-one coverage on the right and Zinobile and Ridley (I think) had a safety helping on the left. Lockhart beat his guy inside on the skinny post but Hunter was totally locked on the left side and nearly threw a pick. My point is, hopefully they find a way to spread the ball around. Laney looks like an NFL tight end all the sudden.

In the running game, I hope they find a true #1 and get the kid a bunch of carries so he can get into the game. I’ve never been a fan of running back by committee. All of them showed flashes of good things though. I thought Houser ran the hardest but Younger showed the better vision. For Stewart to get any carries at all is a great sign. Maybe he’ll emerge as “the guy” once he’s fully conditioned. It’s nice to have 3-4 very capable guys back there but hopefully they can establish some continuity.

The defense…wow. That secondary is GOOD. Even if you do get a catch you’re going to get belted. Overall a great performance. They really only gave up 3 the way I see it. Special teams were a disaster. I’m not a fan of Spitler at all at punter. We all saw it so I’m not getting into it.

Things that were nice but don’t really matter: Awesome crowd with excellent student presence. Night games are sooo much better. Band, dance team, and cheerleaders were good. New pregame chant was fun. Mark Bertig on the mic in the booth added energy. A lot of people “talking ball” in the tailgate lot.

The day after is also a great time to 'talk ball' ... a good time to talk about the game inside the game (inside the game).

You and I attended the scrimmage and didn't like the punt team then. I sure as hell don't like it now. It was a disaster. Spitler has to get faster getting the ball off. He's too slow. He can belt it as we saw some last night but that whole process needs to speed up a bit. Two blocked punts in a season is too many -- in the first game it is a nightmare.

The punt team cohorts in crime (punt receiving) didn't help much. Take notice, Ridley is the usual punt returner. The two they muffed had Darius Bruce back "deep". This was due to that stuff Ashland does when it's under 4th and 5. They lineup in a shotgun. If they actually punt, the QB drops back a couple yards right before the snap. So, Bruce would shift back very quickly as the returner once IUP was confident they were actually going to punt. The late shift cost IUP early as Bruce seemed to lose the ball up in the sky. He let it bounce inside the 15 and it went out around the 2 or 3. The last one he should have just been nowhere near the ball. That's a 'grenade' call all day long.

The two personal fouls ... the nightmare Tort just cannot escape. Year after year. Throw a punch or a hard shove after the whistle and you don't play the next quarter. Something. This is an ongoing issue of Tort's teams. NOTHING ever will come out of after the whistle crap. Why is that so hard for IUP teams to learn? It's not a coincidence or a one-off anymore. It's 6-7 years of it. Game after game after game after game after game. It's maddening. TAKE CONTROL OF IT.

You're right about the DBs. If you do catch one, you are getting whacked. Last year's board favorite "No. 11" (Taylor) looked like a legit star last night.

More cowbell ... More Cole Laney. There aren't many 6'6", 260 lb TEs around here who can catch and run. His long one before the half was arguably the play of the game. Ashland had tied the game and had momentum (and was getting the kick to start the second half). IUP scoring there after Laney's huge run popped the balloon a bit.

I thought Karst played pretty well. A less-experienced QB would have been rattled after playing the role of ping pong ball. Being honest, Ashland is one of the best defenses they'll see all regular season, too. That wasn't an easy unit to open with -- they are big, fast and had a ton of guys back.

OL has to just be a 'gel' thing and a 'reps' thing. These aren't dip**** freshmen in there. These are proven upperclassmen with a ton of career starts and accolades. I'm going to go with the old Joe Lombardi 'keep cutting stone' philosophy here.

Let's not celebrate too long. As I preached all summer, next week is not going to be an easy game. ESU has some real studs on defense (DL in particular). Campolo has some work to do by next weekend.

[Ship69]

Congrats to IUP on taking one for the PSAC. It's always good to come out on top in interconference matchups. I'm hoping Ship can make a creditable showing against Newberry on Saturday.

[IUP Crimson Hawk]

After last night Tort is 12-5 against top 25 ranked teams.

[IUP24]

That was certainly a weird game. Special teams gaffs on both sides. Some great flashes. Some opportunities to get a lot better. It had the feel of an opener. Ashland is a really good program and finding a way to navigate some, at times, choppy waters in a season opener is a good sign. Being 1-0 this morning is much better than being 0-1. They don't ask how at the end of the year, just how many. Those two programs are about as evenly matched as you can really get.

The defense played a phenomenal football game. That secondary is tough as nails. Sat near EyeOfTheHawk last night, and he pointed out at halftime that Ashland had 66 yards of total offense in the first half. I felt like IUP's D was playing well in that first half, but I guess I didn't catch just how well they were playing. In fact, the way things had gone in that first half, I felt like they were lucky to be up 14-7. The special teams fiasco just overshadowed so much for me watching. Felt like Ashland was getting a ton of breaks and making some good fortune. But when you peeled back the layers on the onion, IUP was dictating so much on the defensive side of the field and that really proved to be a big factor.

Stating the obvious here, but special teams has to get better. That was an absolute disaster. I suppose the silver lining is that it can't get any worse than that. They dodged a huge bullet considering that against a good team, that didn't result in an 0-1 start. I'll add... I thought last year in that playoff game that Ashland using their QB to punt and was just a one-time thing because of an injury or something. But the more and more I watched that last night, the more I kind of liked that. It's a unique strategy I suppose. And it gives a lot of versatility in what you can do in certain spots on the field, and it probably keeps a defense/special teams unit honest and limits the opportunity for a big return. I have no idea why Ashland ended up going for it near midfield that one time on a 4th down, but I guess they had a look they liked. There's a risk to that approach (IUP blocked one in that playoff game last year), but that QB last night got off a couple real nice punts.

I think IUP ran it well in the 2nd half last night. For as rough as the OL looked at times, you could tell that they were leaning on Ashland some and starting to impose their will and chop wood some. Pass protection, in my opinion, was pretty ugly. That needs cleaned up. Give some credit to the Ashland front as that's a talented group. But I thought there were passing plays where all 5 guys were getting torched on the OL. Like others have said though, I suspect that will get better as the year moves on.

It's interesting others brought up Ridley as well. Because I kept thinking to myself last night that he wasn't getting any touches. With the riches they have out at WR, I do agree that's a story to watch. Keeping guys happy and "fed" at that position is a real thing. Maybe not as much of a thing at this level, but it's there. Unfortunately, you can only put so many of them on the field at a time and there's only one ball. I liked Hunter enough. I'm not ready to anoint him as the Johnny Football of Indiana, but he looked decent. He made a couple nice throws. He made a couple that were not. That big run in the 4th quarter was impressive. Lenny Williams was a scrambler and was quick. The way he put his foot in the ground and took off last night was different from what we saw with Lenny, in my opinion. I know the college game runs these QBs all over the place now, but I do worry about the number of hits he'll take.

Great to be back at IUP last night. Was a fantastic crowd. Night games make it more fun for everyone. Attendance and atmosphere always seem to prove that correct. Section C though, as so many have said before, is like a funeral crowd. The old timer behind my friend and I complained about everything (the music, the play calling, the setting sun in his eyes to the west of the stadium, the offensive line, my friend standing to stretch at halftime, etc. - I'll stop now).

Excited to see how this team can grow and get better. Saw somebody mention Tort is 12-5 against Top 25 teams. That's an impressive number.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That was certainly a weird game. Special teams gaffs on both sides. Some great flashes. Some opportunities to get a lot better. It had the feel of an opener. Ashland is a really good program and finding a way to navigate some, at times, choppy waters in a season opener is a good sign. Being 1-0 this morning is much better than being 0-1. They don't ask how at the end of the year, just how many. Those two programs are about as evenly matched as you can really get.

The defense played a phenomenal football game. That secondary is tough as nails. Sat near EyeOfTheHawk last night, and he pointed out at halftime that Ashland had 66 yards of total offense in the first half. I felt like IUP's D was playing well in that first half, but I guess I didn't catch just how well they were playing. In fact, the way things had gone in that first half, I felt like they were lucky to be up 14-7. The special teams fiasco just overshadowed so much for me watching. Felt like Ashland was getting a ton of breaks and making some good fortune. But when you peeled back the layers on the onion, IUP was dictating so much on the defensive side of the field and that really proved to be a big factor.

Stating the obvious here, but special teams has to get better. That was an absolute disaster. I suppose the silver lining is that it can't get any worse than that. They dodged a huge bullet considering that against a good team, that didn't result in an 0-1 start. I'll add... I thought last year in that playoff game that Ashland using their QB to punt and was just a one-time thing because of an injury or something. But the more and more I watched that last night, the more I kind of liked that. It's a unique strategy I suppose. And it gives a lot of versatility in what you can do in certain spots on the field, and it probably keeps a defense/special teams unit honest and limits the opportunity for a big return. I have no idea why Ashland ended up going for it near midfield that one time on a 4th down, but I guess they had a look they liked. There's a risk to that approach (IUP blocked one in that playoff game last year), but that QB last night got off a couple real nice punts.

I think IUP ran it well in the 2nd half last night. For as rough as the OL looked at times, you could tell that they were leaning on Ashland some and starting to impose their will and chop wood some. Pass protection, in my opinion, was pretty ugly. That needs cleaned up. Give some credit to the Ashland front as that's a talented group. But I thought there were passing plays where all 5 guys were getting torched on the OL. Like others have said though, I suspect that will get better as the year moves on.

It's interesting others brought up Ridley as well. Because I kept thinking to myself last night that he wasn't getting any touches. With the riches they have out at WR, I do agree that's a story to watch. Keeping guys happy and "fed" at that position is a real thing. Maybe not as much of a thing at this level, but it's there. Unfortunately, you can only put so many of them on the field at a time and there's only one ball. I liked Hunter enough. I'm not ready to anoint him as the Johnny Football of Indiana, but he looked decent. He made a couple nice throws. He made a couple that were not. That big run in the 4th quarter was impressive. Lenny Williams was a scrambler and was quick. The way he put his foot in the ground and took off last night was different from what we saw with Lenny, in my opinion. I know the college game runs these QBs all over the place now, but I do worry about the number of hits he'll take.

Great to be back at IUP last night. Was a fantastic crowd. Night games make it more fun for everyone. Attendance and atmosphere always seem to prove that correct. Section C though, as so many have said before, is like a funeral crowd. The old timer behind my friend and I complained about everything (the music, the play calling, the setting sun in his eyes to the west of the stadium, the offensive line, my friend standing to stretch at halftime, etc. - I'll stop now).

Excited to see how this team can grow and get better. Saw somebody mention Tort is 12-5 against Top 25 teams. That's an impressive number.

Section C is awful. Hardly a peep all night.
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[IUPNation]

Section C is awful. Hardly a peep all night.
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Hearts that only beat a few times a day can't get that excited...or you wind up like Moscow Mitch McTurtle all frozen....

[Ship69]

Section C is awful. Hardly a peep all night.
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Complaining about a guy who stands at halftime to stretch is really Olympic-level *****ing. In more than 50 years of attending football games I don't think I've ever run into that one.

[IUP24]

Complaining about a guy who stands at halftime to stretch is really Olympic-level *****ing. In more than 50 years of attending football games I don't think I've ever run into that one.

Lol I swear to God.

He was upset we were in the row in front of him because he couldn’t put his feet on the bleachers in front of him. My buddy stood up at halftime and he asked him to sit down. The band hadn’t even lined up yet.

I had a good time being back. But there comes a point where maybe you should just watch games at home if that’s how you’re going to be lol.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Lol I swear to God.

He was upset we were in the row in front of him because he couldn’t put his feet on the bleachers in front of him. My buddy stood up at halftime and he asked him to sit down. The band hadn’t even lined up yet.

I had a good time being back. But there comes a point where maybe you should just watch games at home if that’s how you’re going to be lol.

I'm going to guess you were within 12 rows of the pressbox in Section C? That's dangerous ground for any outsiders (non locals) -- and anybody under 65.

If you cheer in there or make any noise you get dirty looks.

I wouldn't sit in C if the tickets were free. I usually sit on the home side but probably enjoy the other side better.

A lot of IUP fans actually sit on the visitors' side. Not a coincidence.

[IUPNation]

I'm going to guess you were within 12 rows of the pressbox in Section C? That's dangerous ground for any outsiders (non locals) -- and anybody under 65.

If you cheer in there or make any noise you get dirty looks.

I wouldn't sit in C if the tickets were free. I usually sit on the home side but probably enjoy the other side better.

A lot of IUP fans actually sit on the visitors' side. Not a coincidence.

I have to sit on a top row so I can lean back.

[EyeoftheHawk]

I'm going to guess you were within 12 rows of the pressbox in Section C? That's dangerous ground for any outsiders (non locals) -- and anybody under 65.

If you cheer in there or make any noise you get dirty looks.

I wouldn't sit in C if the tickets were free. I usually sit on the home side but probably enjoy the other side better.

A lot of IUP fans actually sit on the visitors' side. Not a coincidence.

Yes, we were right in the middle of the morgue. Rows O and P. Most of the people around us were band parents. My wife, son, and I had three seats and the guy next to my wife kept crowding into her space. He was recording every second of the band performance and at one point bumps into my wife because he’s hanging into her seat number. I thought she was going to throw hands, LOL.

[ironmaniup]

Yes, we were right in the middle of the morgue. Rows O and P. Most of the people around us were band parents. My wife, son, and I had three seats and the guy next to my wife kept crowding into her space. He was recording every second of the band performance and at one point bumps into my wife because he’s hanging into her seat number. I thought she was going to throw hands, LOL.

The University gives out complementary section C tickets, so you get the most visitors there, people not really there for the game. I'd imagine they were giving out tickets to Band parents for this one, to sort a way to promote the band. Band parents are always a large part of the crowd. Funny, players parents are usually in section B. I've heard some interesting stories there. Of ten you have to explain to people they are in your seat. the last few years I've seen people actually giving attitutde for being asked to move out of someones paid for seat (there's lots of other seats around) . But the kicker was when I was on the Visitors side, many years ago, in a game against CW Post. one of the Post parents realized his kid wasn't starting, and called up someone in admin at Post to see why and to complain about it.