Re: 2018 MIAA Surprise team.
A comparison of Northeastern St. to Missouri Southern returning roster and production
NEO has 32 upper classmen on the roster for 5th year head coach
Mo So has 28 upper classmen on the roster for 4th year head coach
(Both teams at this point should have players and rosters built up by the coaches that fit their scheme and what they want to do to compete in the conference. I don't think that's necessarily true. And for Missouri Southern, it may not matter that Denver Johnson has been there 4 years since literally his whole staff turned over in the offseason.)
NEO returns 6% rushing yards, 66% passing yards, 32% receiving yards
Mo So returns 56% rushing yards, 90% passing yards, 64% receiving yards
(NEO lost a lot of production but seems to want to build around Cade Yeager as he started last year at quarterback as a true freshman. CJ Shavers isn't listed on the roster so without him at RB, the offense is a complete rebuild. Mo So is a mixed bag on offense, they split time equally between QBs last year but Brayden Scott is actually listed as a safety on the roster and Vandeven was also their leading receiver last year. Shemar Coleman does a little bit of everything. It's good to have athletes but at some point you got to keep key players in key roles throughout the game.)
NEO returns 72% of tackles, 68% of sacks, 67% of INTs
Mo So returns 84% of tackles, 100% of sacks, 50% of INTs
(Both teams return a lot on defense and like bad teams tend to do the year before played a lot of freshman and sophomores. So their is experience there to work. However, I think the problem for both teams will be their offenses are so bad that they will be on the field a lot on defense. Which means they'll put up some big numbers in the stats department with tackles, INTs, even sacks but those are pretty hollow numbers given that they are being racked up from excess time on the field. In a perfect world, defense would get 3 tackles and be off the field; these defenses are more like 10 tackles and the other team still scores.)
NEO returns 100% punt, 40% FGs, 62% return yards
Mo So returns 0% punt, 0% FG, 87% return yards
(NEO punted an absurd 84 times last year, hopefully Blake Pearce got some rest on that leg during the offseason because he's likely to be using it at that pace again. For Mo So it wasn't much better punting 74 times, but they have to find a new guy whose leg to abuse, hopefully whoever it is gets their squat workouts in during the offseason.)
Can two bad teams, that not much is expected, have their coaches on the hot seat? I say yes. I really think for both these teams to show just a middling amount of success and improvement it comes down to a simple question of whether Rob Robinson for Northeastern and Denver Johnson for Missouri Southern can coach football. Do they run good practices, are they getting players conditioned, can they run a base offense and defense consistently? If I had to pick I'd go with Denver Johnson being able to do so but then again he lost his staff so he's also got a lot of administrative work to put in now.
A comparison of Northeastern St. to Missouri Southern returning roster and production
NEO has 32 upper classmen on the roster for 5th year head coach
Mo So has 28 upper classmen on the roster for 4th year head coach
(Both teams at this point should have players and rosters built up by the coaches that fit their scheme and what they want to do to compete in the conference. I don't think that's necessarily true. And for Missouri Southern, it may not matter that Denver Johnson has been there 4 years since literally his whole staff turned over in the offseason.)
NEO returns 6% rushing yards, 66% passing yards, 32% receiving yards
Mo So returns 56% rushing yards, 90% passing yards, 64% receiving yards
(NEO lost a lot of production but seems to want to build around Cade Yeager as he started last year at quarterback as a true freshman. CJ Shavers isn't listed on the roster so without him at RB, the offense is a complete rebuild. Mo So is a mixed bag on offense, they split time equally between QBs last year but Brayden Scott is actually listed as a safety on the roster and Vandeven was also their leading receiver last year. Shemar Coleman does a little bit of everything. It's good to have athletes but at some point you got to keep key players in key roles throughout the game.)
NEO returns 72% of tackles, 68% of sacks, 67% of INTs
Mo So returns 84% of tackles, 100% of sacks, 50% of INTs
(Both teams return a lot on defense and like bad teams tend to do the year before played a lot of freshman and sophomores. So their is experience there to work. However, I think the problem for both teams will be their offenses are so bad that they will be on the field a lot on defense. Which means they'll put up some big numbers in the stats department with tackles, INTs, even sacks but those are pretty hollow numbers given that they are being racked up from excess time on the field. In a perfect world, defense would get 3 tackles and be off the field; these defenses are more like 10 tackles and the other team still scores.)
NEO returns 100% punt, 40% FGs, 62% return yards
Mo So returns 0% punt, 0% FG, 87% return yards
(NEO punted an absurd 84 times last year, hopefully Blake Pearce got some rest on that leg during the offseason because he's likely to be using it at that pace again. For Mo So it wasn't much better punting 74 times, but they have to find a new guy whose leg to abuse, hopefully whoever it is gets their squat workouts in during the offseason.)
Can two bad teams, that not much is expected, have their coaches on the hot seat? I say yes. I really think for both these teams to show just a middling amount of success and improvement it comes down to a simple question of whether Rob Robinson for Northeastern and Denver Johnson for Missouri Southern can coach football. Do they run good practices, are they getting players conditioned, can they run a base offense and defense consistently? If I had to pick I'd go with Denver Johnson being able to do so but then again he lost his staff so he's also got a lot of administrative work to put in now.
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