THE IUP Football Thread

[iupgroundhog]

It was just a very rough day all around for IUP Foosball.

It's just good ESU didn't have any extra timeouts.

[IUPNation]

It's just good ESU didn't have any extra timeouts.

Its going to be another excruciating season.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Its going to be another excruciating season.

You can clean up strategic errors but you can’t make players better than they are. That defense is simply not good. Stop me when you’ve hard this before. If the defensive backs were as good at playing as they are talking, they’d be All-Americans. Chief among them was Naszhir Taylor. He should find a way to be sick during film review, and he’s not alone. The defensive line got handled and made almost no impact plays. When is the last time IUP had ZERO sacks? There are no elite players among that group. The linebackers are average at best. There was a lot of jogging around and at times the defense looked disinterested in tackling. I don’t think the ceiling is very high for the defense and that indeed makes for a long season. Shepherd would hang at least 50 on this defense.

The offensive line got very little push and it looked like the best running back on the field wore a red uniform. IUP averaged 3.7 yards per rush to ESU’s 5.6. To be fair, Houser looked good when he was in there, but he can’t stay on the field. Who knows how long he’ll be out with the shoulder and who knows how long he’ll last when he returns. Some kids just have bad luck in that regard and he seems like one of them, unfortunately. None of the others showed much, but it wasn’t like they had consistent holes to run through. Also, there were SIX pre-snap penalties on the offensive line.

Sexton is a gunslinger, and also appears to be a tough competitor. He’s going to throw a few picks along the way, but if he stays healthy he’s going to do some special things this fall. Brown…what can you say? He’s an elite player and was easily the best on the field last night. Let’s hope he can stay healthy but his workload is concerning. Eventually he’ll see a defense that can handle him better so then we’ll see if the other receivers can step up. As a group, I thought the receivers looked sharp and there’s clearly some depth there. I think they’ll get Carter back, but Lockhart’s injury sure looked season-ending. That’s too bad for him, and IUP. The combination of him and Brown would have been fantastic.

Special teams were solid throughout. I admit I was pretty nervous when Andrasi missed his first extra point, but he was lights out after that and didn’t flinch on the game winner. Kickoff and punt teams were solid. Snaps were good. This group should continue to gain confidence and could even be a strength this season.

It’s one game and the first game of the season so you don’t want to overreact, but at this stage this looks like a 7-2 team at best, but more likely a 6-3 team. The lofty expectations put on the program annually makes it seem worse than it is. It’s like Groundhog Day when this board crowns IUP PSAC and regional champions in July only to be highly disappointed when the team is a one and done in the playoffs, or doesn’t make it at all.

By the way, that unsportsmanlike conduct call on Sexton when he was 10 yards away from the line of scrimmage and walking away was utterly ridiculous. There were three other refs standing closer to it than the idiot that threw the flag. Talk about a homer call and a ref that seemed to want to influence the outcome of the game. Completely unacceptable.

[ironmaniup]

It’s one game and the first game of the season so you don’t want to overreact, but at this stage this looks like a 7-2 team at best, but more likely a 6-3 team. The lofty expectations put on the program annually makes it seem worse than it is. It’s like Groundhog Day when this board crowns IUP PSAC and regional champions in July only to be highly disappointed when the team is a one and done in the playoffs, or doesn’t make it at all.

By the way, that unsportsmanlike conduct call on Sexton when he was 10 yards away from the line of scrimmage and walking away was utterly ridiculous. There were three other refs standing closer to it than the idiot that threw the flag. Talk about a homer call and a ref that seemed to want to influence the outcome of the game. Completely unacceptable.

I agree about the defense. Given they were missing a starting DT, and had a few injuries, biggest one being Howard. Terwilliger figured out the defensive scheme halfway through the 2nd quarter, and IUP stuck with it until the 4th Q, not good. Taylor really underpreformed, lets hope it was just a bad day, and they will improve - but they have a long way to go. Losing houser seemed to hurt the run game, ESU's best players are D-lineman, So I'm not too concerned about the line - but all those false starts for such a senior group was not good.

There are some pluses though

1 -they won
2 - Sexton to Brown is all that we expected and more. they are able to carry the offense against a pretty good ESU defense, the depth at WR is really good. If they have a running game at all they will be hard for anyone to stop.
3 - The Offensive game plan was solid, The new OC did well
4 - The kicking game did well, should be OK
5. ESU is much better than its loss to Pace - someone said they were looking past Pace - might be true
6. They fought back after they were down, and beat up.

The last unsportsmanlike call was really bad. I think the distraction call after that was a bit of a makeup call - never have I seen that called before.

[IUPalum]

This isn't looking real good for y'all.

Adam Houser's mom just said on Facebook that Adam separated his shoulder; they popped it back in, but he's out for the game.

Go fist yourself you troll!

[Ram Tough]

So, an honest question. You guys seem to have something medical going on to start every season to a key player and/or position. What is the deal with that? Poor preparation or conditioning? Just plain old bad luck? A combination of the two or something else?

I know all of our teams have health issues at times, but you all seem to get them earlier than most.

[EyeoftheHawk]

So, an honest question. You guys seem to have something medical going on to start every season to a key player and/or position. What is the deal with that? Poor preparation or conditioning? Just plain old bad luck? A combination of the two or something else?

I know all of our teams have health issues at times, but you all seem to get them earlier than most.

You know, that crossed my mind. Then I figured every team has some form of this and maybe it wasn’t a problem here more than most places.

It’s hard to blame preparation. Maybe if IUP had an opening week game they would have prepared in some different way, but that’s pretty a pretty deep dive. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t as a coaching staff. If you go full pads more often than not, you’re risking injury. If you don’t go full pads very often, you’re risking injury in games because the bodies aren’t ready. I’d say it’s probably more bad luck than anything.

[Ram Tough]

You know, that crossed my mind. Then I figured every team has some form of this and maybe it wasn’t a problem here more than most places.

It’s hard to blame preparation. Maybe if IUP had an opening week game they would have prepared in some different way, but that’s pretty a pretty deep dive. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t as a coaching staff. If you go full pads more often than not, you’re risking injury. If you don’t go full pads very often, you’re risking injury in games because the bodies aren’t ready. I’d say it’s probably more bad luck than anything.

I tell you something that crossed my mind as I was reading your reply. Maybe it's just me thinking you have it more than most. I mean, we don't hear about this stuff from most schools because they don't have the fan base that you all do.

[IUPalum]

I agree about the defense. Given they were missing a starting DT, and had a few injuries, biggest one being Howard. Terwilliger figured out the defensive scheme halfway through the 2nd quarter, and IUP stuck with it until the 4th Q, not good. Taylor really underpreformed, lets hope it was just a bad day, and they will improve - but they have a long way to go. Losing houser seemed to hurt the run game, ESU's best players are D-lineman, So I'm not too concerned about the line - but all those false starts for such a senior group was not good.

There are some pluses though

1 -they won
2 - Sexton to Brown is all that we expected and more. they are able to carry the offense against a pretty good ESU defense, the depth at WR is really good. If they have a running game at all they will be hard for anyone to stop.
3 - The Offensive game plan was solid, The new OC did well
4 - The kicking game did well, should be OK
5. ESU is much better than its loss to Pace - someone said they were looking past Pace - might be true
6. They fought back after they were down, and beat up.

The last unsportsmanlike call was really bad. I think the distraction call after that was a bit of a makeup call - never have I seen that called before.

I disagree with a lot of what you are saying.

1) Sexton was average at best. He made a lot of poor decisions in that game and should've had more ints had the DB's held on.
2) The offensive gameplan had a few moments but sure did nothing for the run game and they sure didn't use the middle of the field much.
3) The defense was atrocious on all levels: game plan, adjustments and the personnel.
4) Mental mistakes were costly the whole game from false starts to the terrible taunting by Sexton at the end of the game.
5) The injuries, yikes! Adam Houser is brittle/soft. Lockhart is just bad luck.
6) They better get Duane Brown hydrated.
7) The freshman kicker showed poise after the first miss. (suspect snap/hold)

[Fightingscot82]

Sexton kind of reminds me of Chase Haslett. Lots of talent, a little too much confidence, and mediocre results. But it was just the first game. Another downside of the 10 game schedule: you're still shaking off the rust but your opponent isn't. I imagine IUP will finish 8-2. They'll probably drop Slip plus one annual bone head loss.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Sexton kind of reminds me of Chase Haslett. Lots of talent, a little too much confidence, and mediocre results. But it was just the first game. Another downside of the 10 game schedule: you're still shaking off the rust but your opponent isn't. I imagine IUP will finish 8-2. They'll probably drop Slip plus one annual bone head loss.

26-36 for 360 yds and 3 TDs

He did so with three of his top weapons knocked out of the game (WR2, WR3 and RB1). His other starting RB didn't dress.

He led the comeback and hit the big 2-pt conversion. He also led the game-winning drive.

He did all this while being under heavy heat for the final 3 quarters and his OL getting 6 flags for pre-snap items.

He's a gunslinger. He's going to throw picks. He made some incredible plays last night.

He was far from mediocre in my opinion.

Hopefully Dayjure Stewart and Gregory Moore return this week. Moore was their top defensive player the second half of last year and is a huge loss.

I doubt we see Houser before SRU week. Lockhart's injury looked awful. Perhaps a sprain but it looked like an ACL. I'd assume Carter is also out for awhile.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Sexton kind of reminds me of Chase Haslett. Lots of talent, a little too much confidence, and mediocre results. But it was just the first game. Another downside of the 10 game schedule: you're still shaking off the rust but your opponent isn't. I imagine IUP will finish 8-2. They'll probably drop Slip plus one annual bone head loss.

You lost me on that one. Sexton was 26-36 for 360 yards and three touchdowns. In what world is that considered mediocre results?! He did have two picks but one of them was a great throw that the receiver inexplicably handed to the DB when he was falling to the ground. There’s no comparison between Chase Haslett and Mak Sexton in terms of talent. Haslett didn’t have it and Sexton does. Sexton is probably better than I thought he was and made some big league throws last night. That said, I do worry he is prone to interceptions because he’s so confident in his arm. The big TD to Brown late was into triple coverage. That said, he put it where only Brown could get it. I also liked his competitiveness. He’s clearly a tough kid that’s not going to be afraid to mix it up out there.

[IUPNation]

You know I only watched when the second quarter implosion started until the half but what was the most absurd thing I saw on my screen that summed up this whole game to me was when ESU tossed the screen pass to that tiny receiver running behind that tall 410 pound lineman. I’m like this is what is going to beat us…

[iupgroundhog]

Sexton kind of reminds me of Chase Haslett. Lots of talent, a little too much confidence, and mediocre results. But it was just the first game. Another downside of the 10 game schedule: you're still shaking off the rust but your opponent isn't. I imagine IUP will finish 8-2. They'll probably drop Slip plus one annual bone head loss.

Mediocre results? The guy was 26-36 (72%) for 360 yards. He led the team to victory under the most unfortunate circumstances. He was as advertised from what I saw. Some of those throws were masterful. Confidence? I thought he showed a ton of experience back there. He's played a lot of football in his life. He had poise and he went home a winner.

[IUPNation]

Mediocre results? The guy was 26-36 (72%) for 360 yards. He led the team to victory under the most unfortunate circumstances. He was as advertised from what I saw. Some of those throws were masterful. Confidence? I thought he showed a ton of experience back there. He's played a lot of football in his life. He had poise and he went home a winner.

Yes. He’s not one of the issues.

Now what worries me is last night was the same insanity as last years opener and what followed the next week…a smack down. Shippensburg has to have some confidence a wounded bird is coming to town.