THE IUP Football Thread

[DeepBallEnjoyer]

Karst pretty much knows where the ball is going in the huddle (for better or worse). It's extremely frustrating to have a stud TE like Laney not involved.

He would be so much further ahead even if he just waited until they line up to pick a receiver. At least then he could see pre-snap coverage and safety positioning. The competition at his last school must have been absolutely abysmal for him to be lauded as some sort of superstar coming to IUP. He is not making subtle mistakes. How did no one question him coming in? Is he genuinely just playing poorly this year? I'm stumped thinking how he could either regress this much, or pull off such a con. Either answer seems implausible.

I can't imagine how Laney must feel. Probably embarrassing having to run check downs every play knowing that your QB will NEVER look at you. You gotta feel bad for the kid. All the receivers are probably annoyed knowing that it's up to chance whether they'll get the ball thrown at them, rather than how they run their route and the amount of separation they get from their man.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Do we know what Lockhart's injury is? Is it the same knee?

If Washington doesn't play this week I think you start to look towards a RS.

It's Lockhart's other knee. Tort said it 'might' be an MCL.

I don't know how much Washington will play even if healthy. I'd assume he's No. 4 on the depth chart. He could be an effective special teams player.

Seems Stewart is going to get the big load. Younger is getting less and Houser has vanished.

Karst pretty much knows where the ball is going in the huddle (for better or worse). It's extremely frustrating to have a stud TE like Laney not involved.

I'd assume Clark takes the Lockhart spot with Deabner and Houser the two backups.

[IUPalum]

Tort identified two main problems on his show last night:

1) He felt much of the offense had deer in the headlights syndrome and weren't ready to play physically or mentally in that environment.

2) He thought both sides of the ball were drastically outperformed in the physicality department.

He was also showing indications he's not real happy with Karst Hunter. He eluded both interceptions were forced and shouldn't have been thrown.


As he said, SRU barely blitzed at all the whole game. That will be a major difference this Saturday as Cal blitzes (from all over) all game. He also stated the Vulcans are one of the most physical teams in the league and IUP has to do a tremendously better job in this area.

He spoke very highly of Cal's QB and their WRs' big-play prowess.

Jack asked if their would be any lineup changes and Tort said there wouldn't be. He said if he was going to bench those who didn't play well Saturday he'd essentially bench the whole starting lineup which he can't do.

If they weren't physically and mentally ready then YOU as the coach are to blame! Tort never has his teams ready for big games!!! It's a rivalry game, how are you not ready?????????

Fire Tort campaign begins!!

[iupgroundhog]

Lockhart will be out 4 weeks per Tort.

Isaiah Houser may debut this week. Wallace (DT) will return this week.

No word on Randy Washington.

Do we know what Lockhart's injury is? Is it the same knee?

If Washington doesn't play this week I think you start to look towards a RS.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I think you guys are forgetting the main problem here. “Karst is overrated” at the end of the day the QB is not playing good. If your QB turns the ball over and is not playing well it will be hard to win games. Simple as that.

Tort identified two main problems on his show last night:

1) He felt much of the offense had deer in the headlights syndrome and weren't ready to play physically or mentally in that environment.

2) He thought both sides of the ball were drastically outperformed in the physicality department.

He was also showing indications he's not real happy with Karst Hunter. He eluded both interceptions were forced and shouldn't have been thrown.


As he said, SRU barely blitzed at all the whole game. That will be a major difference this Saturday as Cal blitzes (from all over) all game. He also stated the Vulcans are one of the most physical teams in the league and IUP has to do a tremendously better job in this area.

He spoke very highly of Cal's QB and their WRs' big-play prowess.

Jack asked if their would be any lineup changes and Tort said there wouldn't be. He said if he was going to bench those who didn't play well Saturday he'd essentially bench the whole starting lineup which he can't do.

[Ship69]

Not sure Mahomes would do much behind that OL. They just seem all out of whack.

Dorsey looked like a completely different back with Slippery Rock Saturday against IUP than he did last year at Ship. It really brought home the difference between an o-line returning four veteran starters and one relying on frosh and sophomores as Ship has the past couple of seasons. It's stunningly obvious how important a strong o-line is to a top-rated offense, yet people constantly seem to underestimate the importance of that part of the game. Where SR1 teams get clobbered in regional play it's often not the skill position players (Shepherd's Tyson Bagent obviously was as talented as any D2 quarterback in the country last season) but the big guys on the line at places such as Ferris State that make the difference/

[IUPNation]

Not sure Mahomes would do much behind that OL. They just seem all out of whack.

Then we'd have the refs on our side rigging the game in our favor.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Lockhart will be out 4 weeks per Tort.

Isaiah Houser may debut this week. Wallace (DT) will return this week.

No word on Randy Washington.

[DawgPound]

A guy I was talking to at the game on Saturday was saying don’t be surprised if Tort left for Akron, wasn't sure if he is talking head coach or assistant under Joe Moorhead who is the HC at Akron right now. If I am correct it says tort used to Coach at Akron in the game day program. Anyone know why he would Tort would take a job at Akron? I looked up Akron’s record on the web and says they are 1-4 and lost to Buffalo this weekend.

His son is on the baseball team....

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I don’t disagree that he hasn’t been good, but, that is far from “the main problem.” I put a lot of the blame for the QB issues on a bad offensive line. I don’t care who’s playing QB. If the O-line sucks, and this one most certainly does, you’re not going to have much success. I still don’t think he’s a great QB even with a solid line, but I think he’d be far better than he is now behind a bad line.

Not sure Mahomes would do much behind that OL. They just seem all out of whack.

[EyeoftheHawk]

I think you guys are forgetting the main problem here. “Karst is overrated” at the end of the day the QB is not playing good. If your QB turns the ball over and is not playing well it will be hard to win games. Simple as that.

I don’t disagree that he hasn’t been good, but, that is far from “the main problem.” I put a lot of the blame for the QB issues on a bad offensive line. I don’t care who’s playing QB. If the O-line sucks, and this one most certainly does, you’re not going to have much success. I still don’t think he’s a great QB even with a solid line, but I think he’d be far better than he is now behind a bad line.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Tort doesn't seem real thrilled with Karst.

[IUPNation]

At least the ladies field hockey team defeated Evil.

https://www.thepenn.org/sports/field...w2Ceyygeja5I6o

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It's never good to get off to a slow start against top-end competition. IUP could get away with that against a Ship team that was struggling offensively, but Slippery Rock was another matter. Pause to catch a breath, and you're behind 3-4 touchdowns. By the same token, Penn State better not repeat their starts against West Virginia and Northwestern when they play OSU and Michigan.

It's an odd item -- one that even Tort has recognized and talked about in the past. His teams have historically been slow starters. Usually, as you say, they just eventually overpower most opponents.

When it happens against the good teams, well, the blank can hit the fan real quick.

The last two times IUP lost to SRU the same thing happened. IUP got walloped in the first half of those games, too. Those years they had big comebacks but still lost in the end.

It's hard to say what causes it. They seem to be the boxer who doesn't get going until they get punched. Sometimes, as we just saw, that punch unfortunately results in an early KO.

Keep in mind IUP easily could have lost the Ashland game despite a dominating defensive performance. This just isn't a very good team right now. Could it be? I have my (serious) doubts at this point but it isn't over yet.

[Ship69]

In (5) games thus far, IUP has scored 3 pts on its first possession (Mercyhurst). The others were three punts and a pick.

In its two biggest games, IUP gave up TDs on the other teams' first possession (ESU, SRU). Obviously they gave up (4) TDs in a row to start the SRU game -- and, they all looked easy.

So, yes, against good competition, it certainly appears Tort's 'slow starts' are back.

Cal will come out gang-busters Saturday. Blood in the water. Wounded animal. We'll see all we need to know from IUP in the first five minutes. Are they going to be juiced up and embarrassed or are they going to lay down? Five minutes will be all it takes to answer that question.

It's never good to get off to a slow start against top-end competition. IUP could get away with that against a Ship team that was struggling offensively, but Slippery Rock was another matter. Pause to catch a breath, and you're behind 3-4 touchdowns. By the same token, Penn State better not repeat their starts against West Virginia and Northwestern when they play OSU and Michigan.