Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke, Class of 20Something
Tribe4SF wrote:Thanks! What are you having?http://flamefans.com/viewtopic.php?t=20 ... c&start=75
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
Mike Potts (Middletown, Del.) completed 27 of 50 passing attempts for a career-high 244 yards and provided the Tribe’s only points of the contest on a 35-yard touchdown pass to Joe Nicholas (Sugarloaf, Pa.) in the third quarter. Nicholas finished with five catches for 62 yards and recorded his fourth consecutive game with a scoring reception.http://www.tribeathletics.com/story.php/4983/
SuperJon wrote:The best place for you probably would be down in the pit. I forget what number it is but come in from the Wingate turn right by the field and park down there. Our tailgate will be in Upper P1 (the lot closest to the field)Is that the lot by the ice center? P-38 on the campus map.
El Scorcho wrote:post at your own risk.
LU Notebook: Defensive coordinator coached at William & Maryhttp://newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellit ... th=!sports
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
October 11, 2006
William & Mary coach Jimmye Laycock isn't surprised at the success Liberty's defense has had this season.
The Flames enter Saturday's game against the Tribe ranked No. 3 in the country in scoring defense, having allowed 10.2 points per game. Only San Diego (9.6) and Cal Poly (9.7) have been better.
Current Liberty coordinator Tom Clark held the same job at William & Mary between 2001 and 2003. In 2001, the Tribe won a share of the Atlantic 10 championship, had one shutout and held six of 12 opponents to 20 points or fewer.
Laycock complimented Clark's preparedness and expects nothing less from his former colleague Saturday at Williams Stadium.
"They're very sound on defense and they're very well coached," Laycock said. "He's just a very solid, thorough football coach who looks at every little thing. He's going to be completely prepared."
Where's Luck?
After partially tearing the ACL in his left knee in the season finale at Norfolk State last November, Liberty tight end Chris Luck has slowly worked himself back to 100 percent.
The Liberty High grad caught 24 passes for 239 yards and a touchdown last season, but he hasn't been as successful in 2006. Luck has just two catches for 25 yards in LU's first five games. He's also dropped a couple of passes.
"I know I can play better," Luck said. "I need to do that now."
Luck had similar numbers in the first five games last season, when he caught four passes for 24 yards.
He broke out against Gardner-Webb in week nine, grabbing eight passes for 66 yards. The next week against Charleston Southern, he caught five passes for 71 yards and a TD.
"I have higher expectations for Chris than the way he's performed," LU coach Danny Rocco said. "He certainly is a talented player who could become a very valuable weapon in this offense."
Role reversal
Last season, Liberty limped into Williamsburg at 1-2 after losing 59-0 at Connecticut and 42-0 at home to Youngstown State.
So the Flames were ripe for the 56-0 beatdown William & Mary administered at Zable Stadium.
This season, it's Liberty who is playing well and William & Mary who is struggling. The schedules have something to do with that. Liberty's wins have come against two DII teams (Saint Paul's, Glenville State) and one awful I-AA school (Savannah State).
The Tribe got its one win against woeful VMI and lost games to Division I-A Maryland and A-10 rivals Hofstra, Maine and Massachusetts.
Any thought that Saturday's game at LU will provide the Tribe with a breather hasn't crossed Laycock's mind.
"I think our guys are intelligent enough that when they see a good team on film, they know it," Laycock said. "I think they'll look at this film and see that Liberty's a good team. There's no question about that.
"Also, when they look at the film, they'll see some of the mistakes that we've made and the things we haven't done. We've got to get better. That's the bottom line. We've got to improve as a football team."
Extra points
Liberty officials are anticipating a record-breaking crowd Saturday at Williams Stadium. The current attendance mark is 12,750, set in 1989 when LU hosted Towson. Close to 15,000 are expected for the William & Mary game, and the athletics department is looking into getting portable bleachers to accommodate the extra fans. * Rocco said guard Britt Stone (knee), who missed the Wake Forest game, is healthy and should be able to play Saturday. Linebacker Nick Hursky (appendix removal) is questionable. Everyone else is healthy.
W&M looks for an identity for its struggling offense
The Tribe's offensive struggles contribute to the team's slow start.
BY DAVE FAIRBANK
247-4637
October 13, 2006
WILLIAMSBURG -- Points are few and reasons are many as William and Mary's offense lurches toward the midpoint of the 2006 season.
The Tribe is 1-4 heading into Saturday's non-conference game at Liberty, matching the program's worst five-game start in 20 years.
Most unusual, however, is the offense's inability to gain traction. W&M has stumbled out of the gate before, has had losing streaks before. Yet the problem rarely has been because of a lack of points or yards.
"In the playoff season (of 2004) and early last year, we were an offense that set the tone," senior tailback Elijah Brooks said. "We took what we wanted and made the defense adjust. This year we're more reactive on offense, letting defenses dictate. We don't just take what we want. We settle, and that's just the mindset of our offense right now."
Five games in, the Tribe is next-to-last in the Atlantic 10 in scoring (18 ppg), third from the bottom in rushing (108.2 yards per game) and fourth from the bottom in total offense (318.8 yards per game).
W&M's 90 points thus far are the fewest in the first five games since 1982.
Last year, even with a four-game losing streak to end the season, William and Mary averaged 32.5 points and 378 yards per game.
In the 2000s, which include two losing seasons and two playoff appearances, the Tribe has averaged 30.2 points and 400.8 yards per game.
"We're trying to find an identity," Brooks said. "We don't have anything to really hang our hats on right now. We're not really putting drives together. We're trying to be successful, but it hasn't worked so far."
Inexperience is a big reason for the offensive struggles. Brooks, center Cody Morris and tight end Matt Trinkle are the only senior starters and the only seniors on the depth chart.
Quarterbacks Mike Potts and Jake Phillips are underclassmen. There are two new starters on the line. With Morris's move from guard to center this season, the line has three players starting at their respective positions for the first time.
"We've played well in spurts, but it's been very difficult for us to be consistent through a whole game or through a series of drives," head coach Jimmye Laycock said. "We haven't gotten many big plays. Maybe that's an indication that we have some players who aren't ready to step up or have big-play capability right now."
Laycock readily conceded that the Tribe was outplayed by Massachusetts last Saturday in a 48-7 thumping. But he said that after reviewing game videotape, there were only seven or eight plays out of 71 offensive snaps in which W&M had disadvantageous personnel matchups.
He rattled off a litany of errors that scuttled most of what the offense might have accomplished: improper pass routes; blocking breakdowns; mis-steps by running backs; mis-reads by the quarterback.
"Those things obviously are correctable," he said, "but you need to keep working at it, keep drawing from your experience and hope you get better at it."
The Tribe's inability to generate a running game has put more pressure on Potts and Phillips and the passing game. It's also created an imbalance in play-calling. W&M has 135 rushing attempts and 178 passing attempts thus far.
Though Laycock's reputation is of someone who wants to fling footballs all over creation, the Tribe nearly always runs more than passes. Last year W&M ran the ball nearly 100 more times than it passed (417-319) and never attempted 40 passes in a game. This season, the Tribe already has had three games with 40 pass attempts, with 50 against UMass.
Even with Payton Award winning quarterback Lang Campbell in its I-AA semifinal run in 2004, W&M still had more rushing attempts (511) than pass attempts (473).
"We have really good backs with Elijah and DeBrian Holmes, so we ought to be able to run the ball," Trinkle said. "It all starts with us up front. You need all five linemen, plus the tight end and the fullback, working together. One little screw-up and it can mess up the whole play. The problem is we've all made mistakes, me included, and we have to work on techniques and assignments."
Though players are disappointed, they are not discouraged. Brooks and Trinkle said the enthusiasm level at practice has never wavered. With more than half the season remaining, they said there is ample time to improve.
"I have a feeling," Trinkle said, "this is the week things will get turned around for us." «
- By Dalegarz1