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Post by chirpchirpnation on Oct 3, 2015 18:04:47 GMT -6
I've been down on the sideline. I was today. Toledo was bigger stronger and faster than us and more physical. They had better schemes. Better athletes. More pop. More enthusiasm. Our skill position players are good but aren't being used to their best potential. (4 yard sideline outs to Jordan Williams over and over for example). The secondary is brutal. The tackling was horrible today. The offense is uninspired most of the time. Toledo is very good. More athletes than NW. My question to you is, why are programs like UT this far ahead of us to make us look like puke much of the game? Like I said, this is year 5 of Petes program. This is when his plan should really be kicking in. Right? It's not about being half full, it's about expecting us to be better than we are. And I totally agree. We should be seeing more progress from the defense. That secondary is bad. Like you say in the next post...take the training wheels off. Kids got the talent. You win MAC games 9/10 lighting up the scoreboard. Its time we start doing that. I know we have the offense to do it. |
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Post by TakeMeBackto2008 on Oct 3, 2015 18:20:03 GMT -6
We just haven't recruited well enough to compete in this league. I read online somewhere that we brought in the second-worst class in the MAC this year. I know it wasn't a big class, but Toledo, NIU and WMU just recruit at a much higher level than we do. Having to convince players to come to the shithole known as Muncie doesn't help, along with the fact our facilities are lagging behind most of our brethren.
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Post by rmcalhoun on Oct 3, 2015 18:25:46 GMT -6
Until we beat NIU Im still counting it as a loss. I do think Toledo has a good shot at running the table now though. As far as recruiting goes Toledo and Western have crushed us the last couple years.. NIU has done better but that gap has not been as great. I don't trust the star system but you have to look at players other offers. We have far too many players where we have been their only D1 offer its ok to take some chances but you cant rely on developing every player. The players you mentioned are the best of what Pete has signed but that's 8 or so out of 100 with only wiggins on the defensive side of the ball. We do not have any depth especially on the Defense and its going to can continue to kill us
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Post by TakeMeBackto2008 on Oct 3, 2015 18:28:23 GMT -6
I think Toledo wins the MAC this year. They've looked a lot better than NIU.
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Post by TakeMeBackto2008 on Oct 3, 2015 18:42:22 GMT -6
Off topic: EMU is only down 20-14 at halftime to #9 LSU.
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Post by lmills72 on Oct 3, 2015 19:17:05 GMT -6
Play calling, secondary, etc. I agree with all that.
But specifically to CardFan's thoughts on athleticism, physicality, etc., I just thought we got manhandled on both sides of the ball today. I thought Toledo's O line and D line won that game, that is when they weren't making stupid penalties.
On some of those Toledo runs, we might as well have just been playing the DBs because none of the front seven touched the RB. And offensively, we really needed to pick up a few of those third and 2 or 3s and it seemed like we never did. Either we were dominated physically on the field or we were dominated at the coaching level, but we certainly did not look like a team comparable to Toledo, especially in that first half.
I thought Toledo did a nice job of bottling up Neal's running game. This was the first game where I thought Neal looked like a freshman. A good freshman, but still a freshman.
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Post by cardfan on Oct 3, 2015 19:50:28 GMT -6
Pete said Neal played like a freshman today. But he also gave us a chance once we let him play. Pete also said we didn't play with the physicality needed. So we were right about what we saw. But I also think the lack of aggressiveness in play calling early set the tone. We were surprisingly flat today. Why don't we attack after getting turnovers in good field position? How bout a play fake and deep ball on first down? How bout some crossing patterns over the middle? Using the te more? In short, how bout some more variety/mix? The d is getting pretty banged up. The offense needs to generate some drives and points to take the pressure off.
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Post by redfeather on Oct 3, 2015 21:22:14 GMT -6
Here's what I don't understand we're supposed to have one of the best offensive lines in the Mac. This has been stated by numerous sources yet today how many times did our QB get sacked 3 or 4? He was also hurried numerous times and was left trying to make the play outside the pocket. Anytime you playing like this you're playing hurried and more prone for the offense to fail. Which is what happened.
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Post by rmcalhoun on Oct 3, 2015 21:39:57 GMT -6
The Oline had been good up to this point but they got Manhandled today. Toledo had some beasts on the DL outside of TAMU likely the best DL we are going to see.
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Post by lmills72 on Oct 3, 2015 21:52:48 GMT -6
Pete said Neal played like a freshman today. But he also gave us a chance once we let him play. Pete also said we didn't play with the physicality needed. So we were right about what we saw. But I also think the lack of aggressiveness in play calling early set the tone. We were surprisingly flat today. Why don't we attack after getting turnovers in good field position? How bout a play fake and deep ball on first down? How bout some crossing patterns over the middle? Using the te more? In short, how bout some more variety/mix? The d is getting pretty banged up. The offense needs to generate some drives and points to take the pressure off. If we look back at years when we've been good under Pete, it seems to me the defense still struggled. Even with better playmakers than we currently have, the defense struggled. But what those defenses had was an offense that could score, an offense that put the other team at a disadvantage by oftentimes getting ahead early and forcing the opposing offense to play catch-up. Clearly, this year's defense can't rely on that. Perhaps if the offense was a little more attack-oriented, it would be a better friend to our defense. Neal's going to make more mistakes, but we aren't doing much with the way things are currently playing out. |
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Post by cardfan on Oct 3, 2015 21:59:14 GMT -6
Totally agree. We've never had a good d w Pete but the offense was so good it covered for it. Not last year or so far this year. Plus our place kicker is not ready for prime time, which has hurt us.
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Post by rmcalhoun on Oct 3, 2015 22:01:34 GMT -6
Agreed since we burnt the redshirt go ahead and let him throw and learn to read the defense and get through his projections. If he throws some pics and makes some bad decisions that's all right he will learn from it. The only way we are going to win games is score with the other team and hope for a couple timely stops on D. I love Green and Gilbert but its hard to run when everyone in the stadium knows whats coming
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Post by cardfan on Oct 3, 2015 22:11:33 GMT -6
While we're at it, why are all our runs up the middle or off tackle? Green cant keep going up the middle, why no toss sweeps to get him out on the perimeter? With his speed and quickness if he can make one man miss he's gone.
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Post by chirpchirpnation on Oct 3, 2015 22:37:36 GMT -6
Agreed since we burnt the redshirt go ahead and let him throw and learn to read the defense and get through his projections. If he throws some pics and makes some bad decisions that's all right he will learn from it. The only way we are going to win games is score with the other team and hope for a couple timely stops on D. I love Green and Gilbert but its hard to run when everyone in the stadium knows whats coming Trial by fire. The progression he went through to Jordan on the TD was beautiful. |
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Post by redfeather on Oct 4, 2015 7:14:05 GMT -6
Here's the Indy Star article. Pete even says that they need to find ways to make plays out on the perimeter.
Football: Ball State falls to Toledo
Dakota Crawford, Muncie Star Press
Updated 12h ago
Photo: The Star Press
MUNCIE — He saw it coming, but that meant nothing in the moment.
Ball State head football coach Pete Lembo knew beating Toledo would require getting past some serious pressure. The Rockets’ defensive front is strong, but even stronger when able to rush extra men — like it did during Ball State’s 24-10 Homecoming loss.
“I told the kids last night, this is what’s going to come at us,” he said after Saturday’s game. “We’ve got to find a way to run it, and we’ve got to find ways to make plays on the outside. We’ve got to do a better job of that.”
Freshman quarterback Riley Neal was 3 of 11 in the second quarter, which allowed the Toledo defense to start blitzing as it jumped out to a big lead. Neal was sacked twice on the day and he rushed 11 times for 0 yards. In his three previous games, Neal put up rushing totals of 57, 86 and 74.
The pressure Saturday was certainly serious.
Ball State was 24th in the country through four contests with 232 rushing yards per game. The ground attack, led by sophomore Darian Green, had been absolutely potent. Not this time. The Cardinals were held to 26 rushing yards on 30 attempts.
“I don’t think we controlled the line of scrimmage today,” Lembo said. “Whether it was our inability to run the football — especially in the first half — we struggled to stay on the field.”
Despite the dreadfully slow start on offense, there were a handful of bright spots for Ball State. As the first half ended, the Cardinals drove 61 yards in just over one minute, setting up Morgan Hagee for a 29-yard field goal — their first points of the game.
Ball State found some rhythm right out of the gate in the second half, despite trailing 24-3. Neal connected with senior receiver Jordan Williams on a pair of passes, one going for 14 yards, to push Ball State well into Toledo territory.
Then the execution problems crept back into play.
Neal couldn’t get his hands on an early, low snap from senior center Jacob Richard on a fourth-and-1 attempt . Neal fell on the loose ball, but Ball State still turned it over on downs. Another missed opportunity.
“Today was one of those days where everybody had their moment where they broke down,” Lembo said.
Richard echoed his coach’s thoughts with one simple answer for Ball State’s offensive struggles.
“Missed cues and miscommunications,” he said.
Early in the fourth quarter, Neal connected with Williams on a 51-yard touchdown pass to bring Ball State within 14 points. Lembo was glad to see his team avoid “pressing the panic button.”
Again, this time with about 7 minutes left in the game, Ball State found itself driving, driving, driving all the way down to the Toledo goal line. Neal completed a would-be touchdown pass to Williams with just over five minutes left in the game, but it was called back due to an offensive holding penalty.
Ball State faced a lot of pressure Saturday, that’s for sure. But much of it was self-inflicted. Each time the Cardinals gained momentum, the Cardinals kept themselves from fully capitalizing.
“And that being said, we still had a chance to beat a good football team,” Lembo said.
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