Week 1 Live Thread

[Fightingscot82]

Just got back from Duquesne. What a total mess. Everything about that experience was terrible.

Edinboro came out flat, quiet, and seemingly unmotivated. In spite of a quite impressive Edinboro crowd on hand. 85 degrees in the air, no shade, lanternflies everywhere, no wind, and playing poorly took the wind out of their sails early on. Boro OL is hobbled with 2 starters out and it showed. Just couldn't get the offense moving.

Duquesne is the chippiest, chirpiest team I've ever witnessed. They make the most trash talking IUP and Gannon teams look normal. And because the stadium isn't a stadium, you hear all of it. I'm pretty sure I saw and heard an Edinboro player showing people the bite mark on his leg from a Duquesne player.

Speaking of, Duquesne's stadium sucks so bad. On the visitor side there is a terraced concrete wall to sit on, but you're right on the field and the bottom 2 rows can't see above the players. If you get up to leave youre right on the sideline. The players are right there and several times coaches were yelling at fans (mostly player parents) who they felt were too close to the sideline. Duquesne cut their marching band so you're treated to clips of all the top 40 pop songs of the last 15 years every stop in play. Last annoying part, no tickets. You had to go online, create a profile, buy tickets, wait for them to be emailed, then scan the email. Even worse is $12 a person regardless of age. They made me pay $12 for my 6 year old son. WTF

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Just got back from Duquesne. What a total mess. Everything about that experience was terrible.

Edinboro came out flat, quiet, and seemingly unmotivated. In spite of a quite impressive Edinboro crowd on hand. 85 degrees in the air, no shade, lanternflies everywhere, no wind, and playing poorly took the wind out of their sails early on. Boro OL is hobbled with 2 starters out and it showed. Just couldn't get the offense moving.

Duquesne is the chippiest, chirpiest team I've ever witnessed. They make the most trash talking IUP and Gannon teams look normal. And because the stadium isn't a stadium, you hear all of it. I'm pretty sure I saw and heard an Edinboro player showing people the bite mark on his leg from a Duquesne player.

Speaking of, Duquesne's stadium sucks so bad. On the visitor side there is a terraced concrete wall to sit on, but you're right on the field and the bottom 2 rows can't see above the players. If you get up to leave youre right on the sideline. The players are right there and several times coaches were yelling at fans (mostly player parents) who they felt were too close to the sideline. Duquesne cut their marching band so you're treated to clips of all the top 40 pop songs of the last 15 years every stop in play. Last annoying part, no tickets. You had to go online, create a profile, buy tickets, wait for them to be emailed, then scan the email. Even worse is $12 a person regardless of age. They made me pay $12 for my 6 year old son. WTF

That's the white trash of 'D1' football.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

For a D-1 transfer I agree. To be fair, I’ve watched the ball go out of the hands of several WRs, and the OL has struggled with protection.

Well, he's replacing an NFL QB and his 'D1' program probably wouldn't win the PSAC. Keep that in mind.

[Ship69]

Newberry 14, Ship 10, 1:47 4th. Raiders looked like they might get something going, but bogged down at midfield and lost it on downs. Not that he's gotten much help, but McCracken has looked better.

Really? OL play was not much, but I thought McCracken looked hesitant and lost most of the game. He was throwing every pass over the middle into the ground in the fourth quarter. And if the coaches were going to bring in Johnson to relieve, it might have been better to do it before 59 seconds remaining when everyone in the stadium knew he was just in there to heave the ball.

Mac and the Ship staff are just going to have to start retaining some of these experienced players. Here we are starting two freshman and a sophomore on the o-line against a defense that featured eight players who were either seniors or grad students. And that's after Ship had a young o-line last year. Reminded me very much of the IUP game last season, and we'll probably be in the same boat when we travel there in a couple of weeks. We had not a single senior starting on offense.

I thought some of the young defensive guys were playing well at the end of last season and they showed up again today. Except for getting gashed on a 25-yarder that unfortunately was the winning touchdown, they stuffed the Newberry run game most of the time and laid some emphatic hits on the Wolves. The interior defensive tackles were especially strong in stuffing the middle.

Newberry is probably one of the better defensive teams they'll face this season, but there is a LOT of work to do on offense. The running game that was supposedly revamped did not show up, and this looks like the weakest group of wide receivers Ship has had in some time. McCracken had time to throw on occasion, but his receivers had little separation when he did. Redd Douglas is going to draw a lot of double teams. I think the Raiders can be competitive defensively with most of the teams in our division, but they're going to have to score to win games.

Typical first game with a lot of mistakes by both teams. Pre-season reports were that Newberry fans were worried about the guys they lost on offense, and from what I saw they have reason to be. They had some big studs on offense, but showed little explosiveness and not a ton of speed. It they're the No. 24 team in the country, I'm Uncle Sam. I think they're going to have some problems in the SAC this season. I'm hoping that some of what I saw was due to Ship's defense. We'll know better in 3-4 weeks.

[Ram Tough]

Well, he's replacing an NFL QB and his 'D1' program probably wouldn't win the PSAC. Keep that in mind.

While I agree with most things. He was also the QB that helped VMI win the Southern Conference and clinch a playoff spot.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

While I agree with most things. He was also the QB that helped VMI win the Southern Conference and clinch a playoff spot.

Yes, perhaps a hint of sarcasm. Just saying you guys got so used to a prodigy it may take time to come back to Earth a bit.

He's replacing an every couple decade talent.

[Ram Tough]

Yes, perhaps a hint of sarcasm. Just saying you guys got so used to a prodigy it may take time to come back to Earth a bit.

He's replacing an every couple decade talent.

We also had good QBs in Ziemba and Jessop before Bagent.

I'll say this about Morgan. He has a good arm. He just seemed to struggle at reading the field at times.

[CUlater]

Yes, perhaps a hint of sarcasm. Just saying you guys got so used to a prodigy it may take time to come back to Earth a bit.

He's replacing an every couple decade talent.

The one thing that has stood out to me across the board is the lack of good consistent QB play from any PSAC team. We still have a game to go tonight but it was a less than stellar start for the QB position for the conference.

[ironmaniup]

The Hail Mary falls short and Shepherd survives, 27-26.

It was ugly as hell, but I would rather have this than a pretty loss.

Since Shepherds been in the PSAC, I’ve seen them have more last minute winning drives than any other team. I figured it was just Bagent, but seems there is more to it than that

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The one thing that has stood out to me across the board is the lack of good consistent QB play from any PSAC team. We still have a game to go tonight but it was a less than stellar start for the QB position for the conference.

Just worry about that WR from Greensburg. Nobody in the PSAC can stop him (so I hear). His act must not work as well in Wild and Wonderful.

Side note, I caught the biggest small mouth bass of my life this morning in the Clarion River (around 650am). I was in waist-high water when it hit, and, of course the Clarion is all rocks. I about took a swim.

[IUPNation]

He never lets facts get in the way of his feelings...

And you can’t control your ridiculous hatred..

[Ram Tough]

Since Shepherds been in the PSAC, I’ve seen them have more last minute winning drives than any other team. I figured it was just Bagent, but seems there is more to it than that

As unimpressive as Morgan was overall, he made a few nice throws on that final drive. And I am hoping that means he has a clutch gene.

[WarriorVoice]

And you can’t control your ridiculous hatred..

I'll tell you what ridiculous is. Holding on to an incident that happened before most of these posters were born. You're the biggest hater on this board, with nothing nice to say about anyone but IUP folk. You're a hypocrite and a fraud and everyone knows it.

[IUPNation]

I'll tell you what ridiculous is. Holding on to an incident that happened before most of these posters were born. You're the biggest hater on this board, with nothing nice to say about anyone but IUP folk. You're a hypocrite and a fraud and everyone knows it.

Really? This from the guy who has accused IUP of something several times.

The next nice thing you say about IUP will be your first.

[DawgUp]

As a side note, let me give props to Mercyhurst. Despite the score, their offense was giving the bulldawgs D the business. Said this Urena kid was the back up but he was hitting passes from all sorts of angles while under distress, especially on 3rd and longs. Although Hurst D couldn't match up athletically (that was to be expected). I think the team represented the PSAC well with their play.