Bloomsburg football

[Ship69]

Several penalties on both sides of the ball that were costly. The turnover on the best drive of the day was ugly. NG Yacovelli was out with an injury which may have slowed down the runs up the middle. No question ESU dominated the entire game and they do have around 15 starters who are seniors or 5th year players. I never thought of ESU has a running team. At least it didn't rain and punter Richards had a nice debut.

If you think ESU has a lot of seniors and fifth-years, wait until you play Kutztown.

[BloomFootballDad]

Several penalties on both sides of the ball that were costly. The turnover on the best drive of the day was ugly. NG Yacovelli was out with an injury which may have slowed down the runs up the middle. No question ESU dominated the entire game and they do have around 15 starters who are seniors or 5th year players. I never thought of ESU has a running team. At least it didn't rain and punter Richards had a nice debut.

I also noticed ESU was very very senior/5th/grad heavy. Not that that necessarily guarantees anything but it certainly is an advantage to have that much experience. Bloom is still building towards having that type of team. I still have faith they will get there. They really need to get some things figured out on offense though. Hopefully Shep can get some more playmakers on that side of the ball. I feel like they’re set up for some sustained success on the defensive side over the next couple of years.

[Bart]

Several penalties on both sides of the ball that were costly. The turnover on the best drive of the day was ugly. NG Yacovelli was out with an injury which may have slowed down the runs up the middle. No question ESU dominated the entire game and they do have around 15 starters who are seniors or 5th year players. I never thought of ESU has a running team. At least it didn't rain and punter Richards had a nice debut.

[CC_BU]

It was mentioned during the radio broadcast that ESU is perfect against Sheptock. Interestingly enough, the last time we hosted in 2024 was another shutout 31-0. What can we say, ESU has our number. Perhaps they can challenge Kutztown.

[BloomFootballDad]

Oof. Tough game. Back to the drawing board. ESU dominated in all three phases. I was really expecting a tight low scoring game but that didn’t materialize. It doesn’t get any easier with a road trip to Shepherd looming. Time to regroup.

[Bart]

I believe Mark Ross was the DC at Bloomsburg. That's what he told me when we spoke earlier in the season...

You are correct sir

[WarriorVoice]

The Lackawanna football game is scheduled to be on local TV in NE PA. on MYTV WQMY, also on their Facebook Page, or on our FOX56 WOLF-TV YouTube page.

Sadly, the playback had no audio...

[WarriorVoice]

...Their new HC is former Bloom OC Ross who comes from Cornell with 30 years coaching football...

I believe Mark Ross was the DC at Bloomsburg. That's what he told me when we spoke earlier in the season...

[WarriorVoice]

It's a terrible job. They have the travel combined with low pay. They get screamed at the whole afternoon. Add those three items up and it makes you wonder why on Earth anybody would actually want to officiate.

So, what's left is a lot of the undesirables who should be working the small school high school circuit.

Guess what? The officiating this week was twice as bad as last week...

[Bart]

Lackawanna uses a stadium where two high schools also play their games. It has large stands on both sides with nice turf. I heard some say it may be the best facility in the PSAC. Their team is primarily freshmen and sophomores, but they have a nice football history as a junior college. Reportedly they had 450 players go D1 and 25 sign NFL contracts. Their current OL averaged 326 pounds per player with the lightest being 320. Their new HC is former Bloom OC Ross who comes from Cornell with 30 years coaching football, and the DC is former Bloom coach Will Blanden. They could eventually become competitive.

Any word on Zimmerman? There was speculation he tweaked an injury against Lackawanna since he only had 1 rush for 1 yard and didn't play afterwards. I thought it looked like he came up limping his last rush of the Ship game. They will need him against ESU.

[WarriorVoice]

my understanding is the scoreboard message said "hey ref your mother wears army boots" and that distracted him from seeing the clock expire

lmfao

[RocknTheSnackBar]

ESU ran a play after the clock had expired on Saturday night. They scored a TD on the play and I can't believe the crew let it stand. The diminishing quality of officiating is more than concerning...

My understanding is the scoreboard message said "Hey ref your mother wears army boots" and that distracted him from seeing the clock expire

[Ship69]

It's a terrible job. They have the travel combined with low pay. They get screamed at the whole afternoon. Add those three items up and it makes you wonder why on Earth anybody would actually want to officiate.

So, what's left is a lot of the undesirables who should be working the small school high school circuit.

100 percent. I had a friend who was thinking of becoming a PIAA basketball official not long ago. He's an athletic guy with a good knowledge of the game, and I think he would have been an above-average ref. But he officiated a few games in the local "Y" league and get screamed at so much, including by a couple of guys he considered friends, that he decided not to get into it. I'll yell about a bad call at Ship games, but I try never to make it personal. It's a tough job, and I've been crap at it on the few occasions I tried to do it. Then you look at youth football where you see parents brawling on the field. As you said, a lot of sane people want no part of officiating.

[TheBigCat2192]

And finally, some team stats:

3rd Downs	Average Distance	7.96
Distance	Conversions	Attempts	Percentage
Short (0-3)	7	10	70.00%
Medium (4-6)	5	13	38.46%
Long (7-10)	7	19	36.84%
Extreme (>10)	4	13	30.77%
Totals	23	55	41.82%

4th Downs	Average Distance	5.00
Distance	Conversions	Attempts	Percentage
Short (0-3)	0	3	0.00%
Medium (4-6)	0	0
Long (7-10)	0	0
Extreme (>10)	0	1	0.00%
Totals	0	4	0.00%

After excelling in the conversion department last season, BU has seen a falloff. It probably doesn't help that their average distance to go on third down has increased from 7.7 yards (50 attempts through four games) to almost 8 yards (55 attempts), but the team has been worse at every distance except short yardage. I'm not sure if this is a reflection of their diminished passing game, a flaw in play-calling, or just a bit of bad luck, but it's putting a little more pressure on the defense than at the same time last year. Things have been even worse on fourth down, especially when you consider that 3/4 attempts have been in short yardage, which is typically a favorable position for an offense.


As for the red zone:

Totals
Plays	Yards	First Downs	Big	Stuffs/Losses	Long	TD	INT	Fumbles	Lost
39	158	4	4	2	16	8	0	1	0

Rushing
Carries	Yards	First Downs	Big (10+)	Stuffs (<= 0)	Long	TD	Fumbles	Lost
26	116	3	4	2		7	1	0

Passing
Completions	Attempts	Yards	Air Yards	Long	Big (20+)	Losses (<=0)	First Downs	TD	INT	Fumbles	Lost
5	12	42	25	16	0	0	1	1	0	0	0

3rd Downs	Average Distance	5.55
Distance	Conversions	Attempts	Percentage
Short (0-3)	5	6	83.33%
Medium (4-6)	0	1	0.00%
Long (7-10)	1	3	33.33%
Extreme (>10)	0	1	0.00%
Totals	6	11	54.55%

4th Downs	Average Distance
Distance	Conversions	Attempts	Percentage
Short (0-3)	0	1	0.00%
Medium (4-6)	0	0
Long (7-10)	0	0
Extreme (>10)	0	0
Totals	0	1	0.00%

These numbers are also a bit of a dropoff from last year - the number of plays and yardage really aren't that different, but BU has two fewer red zone TDs. Some of that can be chalked up to giving Sheptock a kicker he has a modicum of trust in, which immediately turns him into Kirk Ferentz when it comes to kick vs. go decisions. Not every red zone trip is the same, but BU is not good enough as whole to not finish drives or settle for FGs too frequently.

[TheBigCat2192]

Now for some rushing and receiving stats. The QB play problems will get a bit of an explanation when we get to the second half of that opener. A few notes

• QB rushing does not include sacks. I've also removed select plays that I would characterize as bad snaps, which effects Etheridge, Ruhland, and Zimmerman. Because of these choices, the players' rushes and yards won't perfectly match the official stats at the BU/PSAC websites, but I think they're more reflective of what really happened on a given play.

Rushing
Player	Carries	Yards	First Downs	Big (10+)	Stuffs (<= 0)	Long	TD	Fumbles	Lost
Achenbach	1	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Clancy	69	379	13	11	7	32	4	0	0
Etheridge	8	36	2	2	1	14	2	2	0
Gingrich	2	9	0	0	0	7	0	0	0
Parker	2	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	0
Ruhland	24	70	3	2	9	35	1	2	1
Wolfe	7	50	2	3	2	20	1	0	0
Zerbe	2	7	0	0	1	7	0	0	0
Zimmerman	26	167	8	7	6	45	1	0	0

Short Yardage Rushing
Player	ALLC	ALLA	ALL%	3DC	3DA	3D%	4DC	4DA	4D%
Clancy	7	10	70.00%	3	4	75.00%	0	0
Etheridge	2	4	50.00%	1	1	100.00%	0	2	0.00%
Gingrich	0	1	0.00%	0	0		0	0
Ruhland	1	1	100.00%	0	0		0	0
Zimmerman	4	6	66.67%	3	3	100.00%	0	0

Clancy has taken a small step forward and looks like better version of who he was as a rusher last year. He's still not super elusive in the open field, and his long gain isn't huge (not helped by a holding penalty bringing back a 40yd TD run), but his explosive rate has improved and he's gotten stuffed less often. Zimmerman has more obviously improved; he's flipped his big vs. stuff rate from last season (although he's still getting stuffed a bit too often) and after being a non-factor the first two games got more heavily involved as both an RB and a wildcat QB. These two are looking like a nice pair of finds for Sheptock and his staff. The QB run game, on the other hand, could use some serious work. Etheridge has been hobbled by injury, and his average is being dragged down a bit by two short-yardage TDs, but he's put the ball on the ground way too often (25% of his runs!) Ruhland has also been brutal outside of his 35yd TD against Fairmont state. He's been stuffed on >1/3rd of his carries and has put the ball on the ground twice as well. Wolfe has mostly picked up where he left off last year, but unfortunately BU hasn't been able to find another swingman/pivot type to use with him and replicate the Brower + Wolfe pairing from last year. Achenbach and Diaz haven't looked the part, and while Zimmerman did get on the field as a WR a few times early, I don't believe any of his runs came on jet sweeps, WR pitches, or WR options. Clancy has been a bit worse on short-yardage rushing than last year, but it's a small sample so far and the team as a whole has been okay. Gingrich, Parker, and Zerbe all got their carries in garbage time so I won't be writing about them.

As for the receivers:

Player	Targets	Receptions	Yards	YAC	First Downs	Big (20+)	Losses (<=0)	Long	TD	Fumbles	Lost
Achenbach	30	20	187	80	10	0	1	18	0	0	0
Clancy	1	1	8	2	0	0	0	8	0	0	0
Diaz	19	10	122	14	6	2	0	36	0	0	0
Ryan	8	4	49	12	2	1	0	34	0	0	0
Shultz	2	1	9	18	1	0	0	9	0	0	0
Wolfe	26	13	220	72	7	4	0	48	2	1	1
Young	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Zimmerman	4	1	3	2	0	0	0	3	0	0	0

Things here have been pretty rough. Achenbach and Diaz have gotten more involved in the passing game in weeks 3 and 4, to the point that Achenbach actually has the most targets and receptions of any player, but BU has still been searching for contributors beyond those three, turning to Nick Ryan over week 1 & 2 rotation player Damon Young for a spark at the 4th WR spot. Shultz (TE) converted from OL - he's an enthusiastic blocker and BU likes to bring him in motion to get the most out of that, but as a receiver he's been a non-factor. The fact that no one else has been able to cut into his playing time doesn't give me much hope for the TEs to get involved in the passing game and lighten the load on the WRs or the rushing attack. Neither RB has really added anything out of the backfield either, with Zimmerman having at least one play that I would characterize as a drop on his four targets, and Clancy's lone 8yd reception being a checkdown on 3rd and 13. There's a bit of a chicken-or-egg situation here where it's somewhat difficult to determine if the WR corps is holding back the QB(s), or if the QB play is making the WRs look worse than their true talent, but either way the passing attack has been a big step back vs. last season.