Just back from seeing game in Marshall
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:56 pmA few observations from my weekend in West Virginia...
Marshall fans are the most courteous I have ever encountered as an opposing fan at a game. We were not sitting near the small section of SMU folks, so obviously we were surrounded by Marshall people. They were great to us even when we were winning and seemed very knowledgable about us.
It was interesting to hear their comments after certain plays. I found it amusing, that they were ready to kidnap our punter who they said was the best they had seen all year. Typical quote, "Man, their punter is good. I wish we had him." As you can expect they were less than enthusiastic about their field goal kicker. Lots of mock applause and standing o's when he hit the field goal.
I was proud of our defense. We were right behind them on about the 40 and despite the fact they were on the field all day after our numerous 3 and outs they still had fairly good energy at the end. Justin Rogers had a monster game.
I watched Chris Phillips on the sideline off and on all afternoon for any evidence he might play. He and one of the young quarterbacks (Hassan? I think) were sending some signals in. He only put his helmet on once after the Mustangs returned from half time. He played toss with some of the receivers at that time. He seemed on top of things from the sideline and was following the action intently. He also looks as if he put on some weight since last year. I never saw anything from Bennett that he considered putting him in.
They have a monument/memorial at the entrance to the stadium for the 1970 team that all perished from the tragic plane crash. I remember it as a 10 year old in 1970. As most of you know it was the same fall that Wichita State lost several member of their team in another crash. One of the fans there was telling me that it took about 15 years for them to come back. They started having a little success in the late 80's, then the 1-AA championships and a smooth transition into Division 1.
They're not carried away with their new coach. They were not amused at last week's loss to UCF. Although they graduated something like 16 starters last year and it is his first year.
Finally, the biggest dissapointment for me (and I'm sure most everyone else) is just our total lack of offense. It went from bad to worse. In person, when we line up, we look completely out of synch. I mean you know we're going to be unsuccessful before the play begins. We seem to lack any imagination in our play calling and revert to the delay hand off over and over as if it's the only "safe" play we have. I doubt their defense had any aches and pains late Saturday night and Sunday morning. Also: Do we ever consider abandoning the no huddle when we're trying to hang on? The amount of time we could have burned off the clock would have helped in the last 5 minutes of the game. It's not like our quick sets were fooling anybody. If anything maybe we need to discuss things more at length in the huddle. Ah, who am I kidding. As if it would matter.
It was a nice trip, despite the loss. I am to the point of having no expectations so it helped with the dissapointment. I was pleased at least that the Astros pulled out the wild card though or I might have been on suicide watch!
Marshall fans are the most courteous I have ever encountered as an opposing fan at a game. We were not sitting near the small section of SMU folks, so obviously we were surrounded by Marshall people. They were great to us even when we were winning and seemed very knowledgable about us.
It was interesting to hear their comments after certain plays. I found it amusing, that they were ready to kidnap our punter who they said was the best they had seen all year. Typical quote, "Man, their punter is good. I wish we had him." As you can expect they were less than enthusiastic about their field goal kicker. Lots of mock applause and standing o's when he hit the field goal.
I was proud of our defense. We were right behind them on about the 40 and despite the fact they were on the field all day after our numerous 3 and outs they still had fairly good energy at the end. Justin Rogers had a monster game.
I watched Chris Phillips on the sideline off and on all afternoon for any evidence he might play. He and one of the young quarterbacks (Hassan? I think) were sending some signals in. He only put his helmet on once after the Mustangs returned from half time. He played toss with some of the receivers at that time. He seemed on top of things from the sideline and was following the action intently. He also looks as if he put on some weight since last year. I never saw anything from Bennett that he considered putting him in.
They have a monument/memorial at the entrance to the stadium for the 1970 team that all perished from the tragic plane crash. I remember it as a 10 year old in 1970. As most of you know it was the same fall that Wichita State lost several member of their team in another crash. One of the fans there was telling me that it took about 15 years for them to come back. They started having a little success in the late 80's, then the 1-AA championships and a smooth transition into Division 1.
They're not carried away with their new coach. They were not amused at last week's loss to UCF. Although they graduated something like 16 starters last year and it is his first year.
Finally, the biggest dissapointment for me (and I'm sure most everyone else) is just our total lack of offense. It went from bad to worse. In person, when we line up, we look completely out of synch. I mean you know we're going to be unsuccessful before the play begins. We seem to lack any imagination in our play calling and revert to the delay hand off over and over as if it's the only "safe" play we have. I doubt their defense had any aches and pains late Saturday night and Sunday morning. Also: Do we ever consider abandoning the no huddle when we're trying to hang on? The amount of time we could have burned off the clock would have helped in the last 5 minutes of the game. It's not like our quick sets were fooling anybody. If anything maybe we need to discuss things more at length in the huddle. Ah, who am I kidding. As if it would matter.
It was a nice trip, despite the loss. I am to the point of having no expectations so it helped with the dissapointment. I was pleased at least that the Astros pulled out the wild card though or I might have been on suicide watch!