[SuperJon]

This week's offensive player of the game:


Brock Smith.

[Sly Fox]

I believe Brock answered a number of his critics against Ship. But he still needs to step it up this week against a much stronger foe.

I stand by my previous assertion that this team will only go as far as Brock can take us. He is that pivotal to the ultimate success of this team.

[thepostman]

I am also so sick of the Brock bashing....he can only do so much...he needs to improve, as there is always room for that...the offensive unit as a whole needs to step up in third down situations to extend drives...

[jmdickens]

I heard Wynton Jackson say that rocco didn't want to throw the ball in the second half on saturday.....I don't like that at all

[Schfourteenteen]

Okay since Im probably the one guilty besides dox(who still thinks RD should be coach ) heres my take:

I said this in the sputter offense thread and Ill say it again
Im not going to trust him as a good reliable qb until he has two good or even decent games in a row.
I think hes plenty good, hes our best qb, or else he wouldnt be starting.
Hes the guy who will take us to the next level

[SuperJon]

I heard Wynton Jackson say that rocco didn't want to throw the ball in the second half on saturday.....I don't like that at all

Why? We were up 21. Why run up the score?

[Rocketfan]

I heard Wynton Jackson say that rocco didn't want to throw the ball in the second half on saturday.....I don't like that at all

Why? We were up 21. Why run up the score?

Why not, if we want to have any shot at the playoffs you said it yourself, these types of games shouldn't even be close in the second half.

[SuperJon]

So we shouldn't show class and run up the score on everyone just for the playoffs? I don't think that's right. We still won by 21 one week and 24 another. Rocco's not going to embarrass a team. Oh yea, add to it that your QB got a stinger the week before and your top wide receiver is sick as a dog on the sidelines and you've got a pretty good reason to just run the ball.

[Stevev]

The fact that we couldn't run the ball and eat up the clock more than we did in the second half is not saying much and remember we played division 2 competition. I don't have a problem with not putting the ball up in the second half after a big lead but the failure to move the sticks with or without Rashaad is a serious issue here.

[SuperJon]

You keep harping on the running stuff when we had one offensive lineman completely out of the game and another with a jacked up finger who was playing.

The plays we didn't convert on were the 3rd and 4 type plays. Zach's not that type of runner. 3rd and 4 is where Rashad shines.

Also, those 3rd and 4 type downs are ones where a swing pass, screen, or thing like that would have been called in the past. If Rocco wasn't going to pass, then there goes half of your options on 3rd downs.

[Stevev]

I don't have a problem with that the injury factor but remember we were playing division 2 competition. That is the point I am making. You would think that our second level would more than hold there own against DIVISION 2 COMPETITION (and somewhat average div 2 teams at that). I could see somewhat of a dropoff if we were playing a legitimate 1AA team.

[bigsmooth]

i asked coach rocco last week on his hsow about running upo the score to impress the voters. he said they would just play their game and what happens, happens. while you make excellent points jon, the games where we should be beating people, i would be trying different things to see what would work, and if the score gets a bit out of hand then so be it. these schools know coming in that it could be a long night. but im not the coach, and whatever rocco wants to do is fine. no reason not to trust his decisions.

[LUconn]

I don't really understand why he would choose not to pass. Playing a D2 school isn't just about getting the W. That's supposed to be a given. Sure we don't want to open up the playbook on film, but I really think we should have tried to work on getting everybody more comfortable, which includes passing the ball. Otherwise the game is just a waste of time. But hey, I'm not the coach.

[SuperJon]

It doesn't matter what level of football you are at, if you are not cohesive across the line, you're not going to be able to run. Chances are the coaches were shaking things up and throwing different guys in on the line to see how they would do. That's what these games are for. You're so obsessed with running up the score and all of the stats that you don't look at the overall picture. Getting guys playing time that normally don't get in-game time helps for the future because we can see how those players react. We won by 21 for crying out loud. You're the most pessimistic person on this board so of course you're not going to understand that though (that's to Steve, everyone else posted the same time).

[Stevev]

If we beat W & M and Elon I will take back everything I said about Brock and our offense. Maybe it is just a case of LU playing to the level of competition and not wanting to open the playbook too much or to not embarrass the heck out of these lower level teams. Good teams have the ability to raise the bar against better competition and I believe that W & M and Elon should be wins. These teams are not great by any means. I don't want to lower our expectations on the season just because we play in a crappy conference.

[SuperJon]

If you'll "take it back" then what was the point in saying it in the first place? I'm all for being critical and questioning things, but some of the things that have been said are completely over the top from what has actually gone on in the games. You can't "take back" those things. You've already said them.

[Stevev]

All that I can say right now is that we are going to find out where we are as a program in the next 2 weeks, plain and simple. Forget about the last 2 games since they don't mean much. I just hope that these concerns I am bringing up don't raise their ugly head in the games that mean the most. I think that most on this board would agree with me on that.

[SuperJon]

It's one thing to bring up concerns. It's one thing to question coaches. Everyone on here is ok with that. We have NEVER been ok with throwing players on the ground and stepping on them which is what a lot of people have done.

[Stevev]

Yes, it is human nature to do that especially when expectations are so high this year and things don't happen as planned. If expectations were lower nobody would give a crap.

[ALAFlamesFan]

If we beat W & M and Elon I will take back everything I said about Brock and our offense. Maybe it is just a case of LU playing to the level of competition and not wanting to open the playbook too much or to not embarrass the heck out of these lower level teams. Good teams have the ability to raise the bar against better competition and I believe that W & M and Elon should be wins. These teams are not great by any means. I don't want to lower our expectations on the season just because we play in a crappy conference.

EXACTLY.

[FlamingChick]

This week's offensive player of the game:


Brock Smith.

Was this from a poll, or is it a team award?? I think it's a nice award and Brock deserves it due to his improvement from Game 1. Hopefully it will boost his confidence and he'll come out Saturday night with an even better performance

[Knucklehead]

Some points to ponder here!

If we get some really bad injuries to the line, you (SJ) paint a very bleak picture of the back-up line. If the reason we couldn't run against 2 dII schools is really the line injuries, then we will be in big trouble if there are ANY long term injuries. I would think our back-ups could push around some dII guys much better than you say. Yes, Eddie is a beast, but come on the depth at our level should be better than that.

Second - Not one person on this board set up the expectations for this team, the coach did. I am 100% behind him! But if you set the expectations at great, then expect criticism when you look MUCH less than great against 2 DII pushovers.

Bottom line - I have not and will not throw any players under the bus, train, or amphibious vehicle. But the team must step up this week if the Great thing is to happen. It will take Brock, Eddie, and Rashad to do that. I think all 3 are up to the task. I think the playbook will get opened up a lot more and we'll see some folks shine.

PS - Who was the sick as a dog receiver?

[Stevev]

If we get some really bad injuries to the line, you (SJ) paint a very bleak picture of the back-up line. If the reason we couldn't run against 2 dII schools is really the line injuries, then we will be in big trouble if there are ANY long term injuries. I would think our back-ups could push around some dII guys much better than you say. Yes, Eddie is a beast, but come on the depth at our level should be better than that.

That seems to go against what Coach Rocco has stated concerning the depth of the O Line. He stated something to the effect of the top 8 linemen being very good and depth much better than last season. Yes, we will have injuries at somepoint in the season and we have to learn to compensate. The first 2 games are not a good indicator if we have starters going down at any point during the season. Afterall the O line is supposed to be our key strength. Not a liability.

[RagingTireFire]

I'm a negative person. I admit it. It's a character flaw. But, at least, I have nothing on FlameFans.com.

We could win every game 400-0 and some of you guys would still be whining about how we won. I remember -- just two years ago -- struggling to beat a crappy Concord team and then bombing out the rest of the season. We got blown out by Norfolk State for crying out loud! Fast-forward a bit and now we've got "expectations" so high that not scoring 40 is considered unacceptable. "Expectations", by the way, that did not come from Rocco. He said we expect to be a better team and win the Big South. He did not say we expect to smoke every team on the schedule or that we expect to win the national championship. That crap came from you all on here. I talked to one of you morons yesterday who thought we should be airing it out to Wynton 50 yards downfield on every other play. Honestly, I don't know who has the more clueless message board geeks, us or VMI.

I'm going to go hang out in the Track forum for a while. There's a lot less whining over there.

[Stevev]

On this thread it is the whiners and the negative ones (me included) that care the most about the program. We have reasonable expections ( I have been following LU football since 1980) so I have been around long enough to know what reasonable expections are and should be. The rest of you could care less about LU football.