[JK37]

After writing my letter very sincerely to the Big South, I’ve experienced an epiphany:

Yesterday’s CCU/G-W game turned into a nice one, with a late score for the win. Even going into the season, when these TV schedules are made, that’s a pretty appealing match-up. One could argue just as appealing as LU/VMI, if not more so.

So why couldn’t the conference have selected CCU/GW as its game of the week at 3:30, then allowed LU to produce its own game at 7:00 – also televised on MASN – and secured a Big South doubleheader on the network…all for the cost of producing only one game?!

Sort of, buy one-get one free, TV production style! If the conference had the opporutnity to do this, and neglected ot notice, or knowingly decided against it, I'd love to know their logic.




Ps – maybe MASN restricted them from doing this, in which case blame shifts back to being equally shared by both the BSC and MASN.

[bigsmooth]

congrats to the guys on the win! i just did not feel that great about it, til the second half. we do need to get TD's instead of FG's Though. i did love our defensive effort, very solid. but hey a win is a win, and we move on.

[Number1inda'hoodG]

Always classy in defeat

FYI Did anybody hear the radio broadcast when Wade mentioned that the NCAA should look into the situation where after you leave the big programs ( if still eleigible) you can transfer to the 1AA schools and not wait out a year? I do not have his exact quote but it was something to that effect. Now that would effect Liberty and the other schools in 1AA and maybe is a good thing for schools like VMI to ask the NCAA to consider. Also may D-2 should just be D-1 as well.
Liberty is not any 40 points better than VMI and once they get rid of the turnover situation and the kickoff coverage issues they could have whipped Liberty. If the NCAA would require many of Liberty's players to wait out a year how many would they really get and would these players actually come to that school? Also I wonder how many of these transfer players actually graduate from Liberty with a legitimate degree not Bible teaching.

Did you really hear Wade say all of this? That's shocking to me, and terribly dissapointing if he did..

[Stevev]

I watched the whole game on MASN and liked what we did on defense. Those fumbles were a result of our hard hitting and outhustling them to the ball. Ther interceptions were clearly VMI;'s fault and the return by Childress was him being in the right place at the right time and was a gift . We did struggle against their triple option and that is expected since we don't see it too often. The triple option is tricky and sometimes it is hard to tell who has the ball but is is rather outdated. Defenses are getting better and quicker and it is hard to execute with pentration. The QB gets hit all of the time and hard to comeback from a deficit since it chews up too much time. We gave up 250 yards but most of that was early but ounce we adjusted to it we seemed to have better luck and made stops when we had to but in the past we have given up 3 or 4 hundred against those guys. Maypray is dangerous and it was a good decision to kick away from him. He just keeps cranking and doesn't go down easily. Clearly VMI's biggest threat.

Not that impressed with the offense even though Beecher made good decisions and ran well. Our running game was unimpressive and should have done better early on. Not finishing drives would have cost us but against VMI it didn't impact the result due to there high turnover count. No turnovers by us is a good thing

[BJWilliams]

The thing that worries me is this:

Homecoming weekend we beat Coastal 58-13...the very next week we beat CSU 20-13
Against NCCU we rushed for 231 yards...against Lafayette we rushed for 119
Against Coastal we ran for 300 yards as a team...against CSU we ran for 55
Against Coastal we had 575 yards of offense...against CSU we had 165

In short, its been very Jekyll and Hyde most of the year. At home we have largely dominated almost every category offensively (the exception being the JMU game). On the road its like they turn into a totally different team. We have to come out with our guns a blazing against the Runnin Bulldogs or this could be our "Presby" game.

[Th3rd]

The thing that worries me is this:

Homecoming weekend we beat Coastal 58-13...the very next week we beat CSU 20-13
Against NCCU we rushed for 231 yards...against Lafayette we rushed for 119
Against Coastal we ran for 300 yards as a team...against CSU we ran for 55
Against Coastal we had 575 yards of offense...against CSU we had 165

In short, its been very Jekyll and Hyde most of the year. At home we have largely dominated almost every category offensively (the exception being the JMU game). On the road its like they turn into a totally different team. We have to come out with our guns a blazing against the Runnin Bulldogs or this could be our "Presby" game.

2 games in a row and we have killed.. i think everything is clicking right now

[rogers3]

Early Christmas present for VMI from Rocco:

I'd imagine that Sparky has one in the mail for Rocco. The tag says- to help with all those missed tackles in the first half!

I didn't like watching the big gains that VMI was getting on their side of the field, though I did like the defensive response when they got down towards the red zone. Early in the game, there seemed to be a lot of missed tackles, but that might have been due to the game speed of a multiple running threat offense that we see once a year. I was surprised... and worried to see how well the VMI lines seemed to perform against us as compared to last year.

2 HOME games in a row and we have killed.. I HOPE everything is clicking right now

FIFY

[rueful]

I didn't like watching the big gains that VMI was getting on their side of the field, though I did like the defensive response when they got down towards the red zone. Early in the game, there seemed to be a lot of missed tackles, but that might have been due to the game speed of a multiple running threat offense that we see once a year. I was surprised... and worried to see how well the VMI lines seemed to perform against us as compared to last year.

2 HOME games in a row and we have killed.. I HOPE everything is clicking right now

FIFY

LU 68
VMI 24

Att: 16,115

LU 65
VMI 30

Attendance: 16,771

LU 63
VMI 17

Att: 15,243

I'm still thinking about the possible results of this game, but I think I'll wait to post until someone starts a thread with serious predictions!

UMMM dude, did you see the final score? It seems some people will complain about anything. Not you, but others, who have said on here "A win is a win" yeah, a win is a win. But we won by 40 pts. Its not like we were in danger of losing this game. And remember that time so many on here last week were complaining about the students leaving early, and there were a few of us being rational saying "it was halloween, it was raining, etc. etc., chillax"

I dont understand some of the complaining on here lately. This season we have outscored our opponents 316 - 146. Is our offense perfect? No. Is our defense perfect? no. Do we need to freak out and get nit picky? no. We have a slim shot at the playoffs, but realistically will most likely be left on the outside, so lets just worry about the big south, which we kiiiinda dominate right now.

[SuperJon]

Some of you people who look at pure stats really miss a lot of the game.

Some teams have good run defenses and our game plan is to pass the ball.

Some teams have good pass defenses and our game plan is to pass the ball.

VMI puts eight in the box on almost every play. They dare you to throw the ball. Of course our rushing game isn't going to be great statistically if we are going up against a consistent eight-man front.

Watch more of the game and less of live stats.

[BJWilliams]

Jon's right (and this coming from someone who went to every home game this year and has seen firsthand what he is talking about) with his point. You do miss a lot of the game when you dont see it (either in person or on TV). having seen this team myself that is why I am rather concerned about the Jekyll and Hyde nature that sometimes seems to take place. The last couple weeks what Ive liked is that they take a shot and then deal out about 20 in return and these guys can smell teh championship now and they will no doubt be ready to lay some serious smackdown these next two games and send a message to the selection committee

[SuperJon]

BJ, you were the one that inspired my post. Your Jeckyl and Hyde post completely negates what the defenses of the opposing teams did.

[BJWilliams]

Point taken Jon...

[rogers3]

I dont understand some of the complaining on here lately. This season we have outscored our opponents 316 - 146. Is our offense perfect? No. Is our defense perfect? no. Do we need to freak out and get nit picky? no. We have a slim shot at the playoffs, but realistically will most likely be left on the outside, so lets just worry about the big south, which we kiiiinda dominate right now.

Weren't you at the game? Nothing wrong with pointing out some missed tackles. My post about predictions was directed at people who obviously disrespected a team that played well for three quarters at JMU and a whole game at Richmond. Had they not given us 5 of the turnovers, the score would have been closer. I never thought that VMI would win, just that they were better than many were giving them credit for. The brightest spot of the game for me wasn't the scoring margin; it was the FG kicking. It sure is nice to see that when a decent drive stalls, it is ended with a FG instead of missed FGs or short punts. BTW, I still think that we have two very tough games in front of us and talk of playoffs is premature.

[SumItUp]

talk of playoffs is premature.

It is never premature on a message board

[rogers3]

talk of playoffs is premature.

It is never premature on a message board

... and kool-aid flows from the taps. It stains my dentures!

[BJWilliams]

So now that we're playing well and there is a chance (with help) of us making the playoffs, talk of the playoffs is premature and anyone who does is a koolaid drinker? Some people just are never happy...

[rogers3]

Don't get all worked up, BJ! As we both know, there are all types on the board and we tend to balance one another out. Usually, I only come across as negative Nancy when I want to balance out others on the orher end of the spectrum. Call me superstitious... old... whatever, but don't think I'm not happy. If you've heard Rocco speak about his team, you can't help but be happy.

[Rooster Cogburn]

Call me superstitious... old... whatever, but don't think I'm not happy. If you've heard Rocco speak about his team, you can't help but be happy.

Or just not wanting to get hopes up too early. Most of us are right there with you