Give me your AFA snowflakes
So I'm aware of the new rule, but I also wanted to gauge everyones reactions to the game now that they've come back off the ledge or sobered up. Hopefully, after sleeping on it, everyone will have more insight on the matter. I won't give my opinions in the OP, as to not anger the mods for creating an 'I think...' thread. I do like hearing some of the more informed opinions on the game after we have had time to digest.
Maybe this will help mitigate the risk of 19 million threads today about nuances of the game that probably don't require posts.
September 9th, 2012 at 12:20 PM ^
I really think that going for it on 4th and 19 would have been a low risk, low probability, high reward gamble. With the way the defenses played, 24 yards was like a few feet. That's also making a large assumption that we wouldn't gain at least SOME of that 24 yards and not get the first down. So not converting on 4th down would have been a net loss of between 6-24 yards, likely between 10-18 yards.
But, you're right. This is definitely in the realm of debatable topics.
September 9th, 2012 at 12:41 PM ^
IIRC, Air Force had scored only three points at the time of that punt. Pinning them deep in their own territory made sense. There was a point in the second quarter when it looked like we'd blow the game open. The interception (which happened around midfield when we led 14-3) changed the field position around and gave them the break they needed to stay in the game.
September 9th, 2012 at 12:28 PM ^
Also, the wimp out. As I recall they ran the ball twice for nothing and had an incomplete pass. This is pretty standard fareActually, we ran once and then threw two (incomplete) passes.
September 9th, 2012 at 10:03 AM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 11:02 AM ^
Don't forget that botched clock management at the end of the first half that cost us a scoring chance.
September 9th, 2012 at 9:42 AM ^
If you do you will be "neged".
LOL.
September 9th, 2012 at 10:14 AM ^
Better "renege" your statement.
September 9th, 2012 at 10:23 AM ^
Spend far less time worrying about being "neged". You might invest a moment or two in fear of being "negged", but press on, don't let fear stop you. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that no one has died because someone didn't like a post.
September 9th, 2012 at 10:37 AM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 10:46 AM ^
Not for nothing, plenty of people said negative stuff, but yours is the ONLY POST in this entire thread that got negged. And none were neged, whatever that is.
September 9th, 2012 at 9:55 AM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 10:03 AM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 10:32 AM ^
I have come to accept what Denard is as far as the passing game. He will throw a few balls he shouldn't. He will throw a couple in the dirt. Even a couple to Tacopants. However, when your best asset if your feet, and there is a lane to moonwalk to a first down; JUST GO, DENARD!!
September 9th, 2012 at 10:34 AM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 10:37 AM ^
The D line missed penetration, but I am not so sure that that was not a game plan to prevent running by plays. Did the coaches seem upset with the two BWC holding calls? No. Why? Because I am sure it was in the game plan to stay with the O-Line and let them take you to the play. BWC just got caught. I bet it happens a lot with AF and is something thier coach harps on the officials about.
Just my 2 cents.
September 9th, 2012 at 10:41 AM ^
The defense is a concern, but it was a concern at this point last year too. Look what happened by the end of the year; we had a top 20 D. I believe that we will see something similar happen this year.
The offensive line is far more concerning for me. We should have one of the better starting 5 in the B1G, but right now they look mediocre. They will need to start gelling, and do it fast because we have ND in 2 weeks.
September 9th, 2012 at 10:59 AM ^
At least we don't have to worry about Fitz leaving for the NFL at the end of the season anymore.
September 9th, 2012 at 11:04 AM ^
D line rarely got penetration. I don't know what the hell BWC was doing to get two holding penalties. Indicates something is clearly amiss there. The freshman were as effective as the older guys which is a good news, bad news story. Great to have good freshman play, but the veterans really should be overshadowing them. Freshman play like freshman.
Early in the game, it was the Jordan Kovacs show. He was cleaning up a lot of plays. Later in the game, his number wasn't called as often because the linebackers were finally getting to the ball...except for the wide option pitch when it was quite often "2 against one Michigan guy" who had to make a choice. Linebackers were getting caught in the wash or just weren't reacting fast enough. Joe Bolden looked good. He was reading better. I assumed it had to do with talent and since he was in high school last year, he's played against this type of offense more recently than the rest of the D. Ross looked good, too. Ojemudia made some plays. Ondre appeared to have a better push than BWC, but he seemed to be single blocked. I think double teams were eating up BWC. Air Force QB made some great fakes and many times the defense as a whole bit on the fake, such as the pass to a wide open receiver totally behind the secondary. I know the defense is glad they won't see AFA any time soon.
O line had the same problem. I didn't see any lineman past the line of scrimage on Fitz's carries. Yikes. Scofield has problems with the smaller faster guys lined up across from him. He had some critical missed blocks, then again, others did, too. Mealer has got to watch his head timing. Head down, head comes up, one beat, ball is snapped. That is going to get eaten up by a good line that can time things. I don't know what else to say about the blocking given you never really saw lineman downfield if Denard wasn't hiding behind them.
DFunch is going to be a weapon all season. He's made for scoring in the red zone and getting big mismatches on LBs and safeties.
Devin Gardner did look much better.
Denard's passing was pretty good, but he squeezed some balls in when other guys were more open. He's just got to feel more comfortable going to his second and third reads. Still pressing a bit. He doesn't look like he's totally comfortable out there, but with wheels like his, he can run away from lots of problems.
Jake went beast on the last series and saved the day after he had an up and down afternoon himself. He is sneaky fast.
September 9th, 2012 at 11:07 AM ^
We can all breathe a sigh of relief in that next week is a tune up. We're taking on a team that Indiana manhandled. Indiana, fergodsakes. UMass is in for a bloodbath.
Still really concerned about our defensive line. Man do we miss Martin and RVB.
September 9th, 2012 at 12:53 PM ^
Dunno if anyone's mentioned it yet, but we gave up 207 yards at 4.5 YPC last year against Eastern.
Obviously, no Mike Martin or RVB this year, but considering that EMU isn't even close to the specialty team that Air Force is, I think its still too early to judge.
(Watching the ESPN EMU highlights from last year: Did you know we had guys named Kevin Codger and Drew Delayo on our team last year?)
September 9th, 2012 at 11:20 AM ^
due to son's Pop Warner game.
Just saw the highlights.
We looked great. I'm going to pretend the other 150 plays looked the same.
September 9th, 2012 at 12:26 PM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 11:29 AM ^
Here are my snowflakes:
-With the interior line on offense looking as bad as it has, I wouldn't be shocked to see Kalis coming in sometime in mid-season. The guys seem to be getting pushed around all over the place. Given Fitz seems to be a known commodity, I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt and place blame on his lack of stats on the line. Denard had some big runs but anecdotally it seemed like he was making something with very little on a couple of plays. We now know how important having Molk in the middle was.
-Ironically this year the passing game seems like it may eclipse the running game. I definitely think Denard has looked more crisp and polished to date this year than he has in years past, and with Funchess and Devin emerging, along with the fact that right now our pass pro > our run blocking, we might see much better success through the air this year than on the ground.
-We should be a little worried that we only put up 31 points with very few sustained drives on this team. Realizing they chewed clock on us, but at the same time this is probably the smallest and maybe the worst defense we should face all year.
-On defense the jury is still out. I think overall we were bad, but it's always hard to tell how bad against a team like this. I think people who use the argument that AFA have put up yards/points on good teams from time to time are citing too small a sample size and ignoring half the data. I'd like to know if good defenses shut them down sometimes as well. Unfortunately I'm not sure where to find game by game data, but it would be nice to see where we stack up vs. all of their BCS or top-25 opponents. Still - seeing two experienced linebackers get yanked for two freshman is not encouraging at this point in the season. Hoping for now that it was meant to send a message to the starters, but we'll see.
September 9th, 2012 at 11:36 AM ^
Given the quality of the staff and the athleticism of the guys, I was surprised by how befuddled they seemed to be by the cut blocks. Which leads to my question: how the hell do you avoid being cut, whether in space or on the interior?
September 9th, 2012 at 12:27 PM ^
2. Passage attach -2 games in and Denard really does look like a real qb. Way more accurate and much better decision making. Yes, he gets passes batted down ad yes there are still a few wobblers, but overall way better.
2a. The receivers look ok against crappy DBs. If Devon can play like this against real defense (ditto fuchness) we may have a better passing offense than our non-Denard rushing offense.
3. Running backs - let's jus hope that this is a 1 time crappy performance form fitz. He should be fine throughout the season but wow did he look crappy. He had better be because after him I have no faith in our rb situation (ther than Norfleet).
4. Defense - read nothing into this or bama or umass. We will get a real read after ND.
September 9th, 2012 at 12:30 PM ^
singular
1) the inside LBs got changed to Bolden and Ross...FINALLY!!!
Actually, I think overall we will be fine. The Defense had two tough tests but the rest won't be as difficult especially with the new inside LBs (although I think the countess injury is a big deal). This team will go only as far as Denard can throw. Funchess, Gardner and gallon make for a solid WR/TE core...the better teams (i.e. MSU, Ohio, etc...) will only allow Denard to throw...if he can, then we win the B1G...otherwise 7-5 or 8-4
September 9th, 2012 at 2:35 PM ^
Finally? It was the second game of their college careers.
September 9th, 2012 at 5:08 PM ^
I particularly meant #44....he played last year ALOT and was totally a piece of S....FINALLY he got benched
September 9th, 2012 at 12:44 PM ^
I think the UFR is going to show a lot of "almosts" on the OL. Maybe not on the Fitz runs - for whatever he reason he seemed to be swallowed immediately - but on the QB runs I think there was even more there to be had. The classic "a different guy on each play missing his assignment", whereby if they would have reached just a little more Denard would have broken even a few more times.
September 9th, 2012 at 12:47 PM ^
My biggest worry - Those insider bits saying the D Line was looking good was just due to the bad o-line rather than the D performing against a good line in practice.
September 9th, 2012 at 1:30 PM ^
After seeing upsets and the B1G playing terrible as a whole, I'm glad that we came away with a win against a tricky opponent.
After the first two games last season, Western and Notre Dame, I remember thinking that it was going to be a very long season. Out DL wasn't getting any push, and the only way we could pressure the QB was by blitzing linebackers and safetys. We had no running game outside of Denard. Things changed as the year went on.
The season is still young, and we clearly have a long way to go, but i'm not ready to lose hope just yet. We have a lot of freshman playing who will have more chances to make big plays. Right now, I'm really worried about playing Michigan State, Nebraska, and Ohio State, just as I was after two games last year.
September 9th, 2012 at 1:51 PM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 2:39 PM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 6:15 PM ^
September 10th, 2012 at 11:17 PM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 2:42 PM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 4:09 PM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 4:47 PM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 2:42 PM ^
Would have lost this game without shoelaces. The defense still gave up to many rushing yards.
September 9th, 2012 at 2:52 PM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 2:55 PM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 6:54 PM ^
Interesting that the coaches stuck with the same five offensive lineman the whole game. They're clearly trying to build chemistry amongst those five. I wonder if this is the proper approach, though. Rotating in other guys (Kalis, in particular) here and there might show them that there are better options. They seem to be going all-in with the five starters.
September 9th, 2012 at 8:19 PM ^
I think that's pretty common. Coaches want the OL to build chemistry as a unit.
September 9th, 2012 at 7:02 PM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 11:37 PM ^
did Michigan have a lack of a running game last year? Denard and Fitz combined for about 2,000 yards. As far as this game, I would hardly say having over 200 yards on the ground is having no running game, not sure why people don't want to include Denard's runs as being part of the overall running game. Obviously 8 carries for 7 yards for Fitz isn't going to cut it moving forward, but to try and say that Borges had to deal with a non-existant running game against AFA is not remotely accurate.
September 10th, 2012 at 7:35 AM ^
September 10th, 2012 at 1:28 PM ^
I got this:
Our line play is terrible. O-line got no push against Air Force's defensive line that weighed, on average, 40 lbs less per person than we did. Defensive line is generating no pressure whatsoever.