Great Game Against Ball State..

FirefightnRick · September 6, 2009

I added a few photos on the GMG.com front page.

We had a blast even though it was a 17 hour drive to Muncie. The weather never got hotter than 81 degrees and it was nice and cool into the evenings making it a great night for football.

It was great to see our defense kick someone in the mouth for a change. Huge props to Coach Deloach and his assistants.

Riley is amazing. He is such a threat on the read options. Definately one of the fastest QB's we have ever had on the field. The BSU student paper had their sports editor give a comparison on both teams in the paper Thursday, and of course gave Ball State the advantage in every category. The funny part was under QB, he lists Riley's accomplishments in HS including the Gatorade All American listings etc etc etc. Then for Kelly Page, he lists that he learned the system well from the sideline as a redshirt freshman last year and finishes: "QB Advantage: Ball State". LOL, cracked me up.

Overall, just a great game and huge props go to Coach Dodge and Company for what looks potentially to be an impressive one-offseason turnaround for this team.

Word of Caution: If you have your tires and wheels rotated and balanced at the at the "Discount Tire" in Bedford anytime in the near future, take our your lug wrench out and test the lugnuts for tightness before you drive off the lot because some dumbass there currently doesn't know how to use a torque wrench. Heading out the day of having his tires R and B'ed, ScreamingEagleFan and I kept feeling a vibration in one of the wheels on his minivan but during several stops along the way to fill up and inspect we couldn't detect anything visibly wrong. Then just outside of Little Rock on the return trip the vibration suddenly got worse. We immediately pulled over to find two lug stems on the front right wheel had sheered off and the three other nuts on that wheel were not even hand tight, causing at least an inch of play of the wheel. A third nut on the front left wheel had come off, and all the rest of the nuts on both rear wheels were loose as I tightened them anywhere from a quarter to a half turn each. It's a wonder we weren't killed or killed someone else. After tightening all the lugnuts on the van we slowly limped into Texarkana to a place called Gateway Tire Service Center to have all three stems replaced. The guy who took care of us has a son currently attending NT and he was excited to hear about the win against BSU.

Rick

stebo · September 6, 2009

Hey Rick - y'all looked awesome on TV. I hope that there is a recording around for you to watch.

One thing that is tough to tell on TV- SPEED. Were they slow or are we really fast now? I saw guys flying around, out-running, running down guys, etc... It was like watching Tenn and WKY - Tenn just had all the speed... well, from the media room at the Pourhouse (and a few beers) it looked like we had REALLY gotten FAST. What were your observations first hand? Thanks bro, steve

FirefightnRick · September 6, 2009

Hey Rick - y'all looked awesome on TV. I hope that there is a recording around for you to watch.
One thing that is tough to tell on TV- SPEED. Were they slow or are we really fast now? I saw guys flying around, out-running, running down guys, etc... It was like watching Tenn and WKY - Tenn just had all the speed... well, from the media room at the Pourhouse (and a few beers) it looked like we had REALLY gotten FAST. What were your observations first hand? Thanks bro, steve

I thought we looked stronger and faster. Non of the LB's were any match to Riley on the read option plays. This all could be because of position though? Remember seeing Deloach talk about guys being out of position last year. I think we had the upper hand in that this time. I have heard and read several here mention that we need to get more pressure on the QB, but I thought we forced him into "Happy Feet" mode much of the game and I counted at least 6 tackles for us for a loss? So to me I think we got more pressure behind the line on BSU than we have the past 2 years for sure, maybe 3?

Rick

UNTnewbie · September 7, 2009

The one thing that impressed me more than anything was the quickness of both Cam and Riley. Everytime either of these two decided to head down field, they looked like they were shot out of a cannon. Both seemed to reach full speed in two steps which was simply amazing in my view. Royce had the same type of explosion which he shows when he closes on a pass while it is in the air. That's three starters with quickness that would rival anyone on the field.

NT80 · September 7, 2009

I thought we looked stronger and faster. Non of the LB's were any match to Riley on the read option plays. This all could be because of position though? Remember seeing Deloach talk about guys being out of position last year. I think we had the upper hand in that this time. I have heard and read several here mention that we need to get more pressure on the QB, but I thought we forced him into "Happy Feet" mode much of the game and I counted at least 6 tackles for us for a loss? So to me I think we got more pressure behind the line on BSU than we have the past 2 years for sure, maybe 3?
Rick

Several BSU posts and articles mentioned our superior speed as a factor for their loss. It's been many years since I've heard anyone say NT had better speed than an opponent. The TV guys liked the way Cam ran upfield and thru people with his big body, not side to side.