Mt/nt Observations

[GrandGreen]

Well, it seems that Riley is the goat in many opinions. 4 turnovers, I guess gets you that moniker. However, I think few are considering that he was running for his life most of the game. To go with his four turnovers, he had 313 yards passing and 57 running for a mere 370 yards. Outside of the great run by Dunbar that was about all the offense. I wonder what all those calling for Riley's head, think about NT veteran line who got manhandled most of the game. The offensive line looked totally intimidated in the first half. A lot of this criticism reminds me of the last game with SMU, with Meager passing for nearly 600 yards and getting blamed for the defeat by many of our fan base. Riley was not why NT lost, the total domination of the offensive and defensive lines by the MUTS for most of the game is the reason that NT faltered.

Dunbar had a breakout game and where did those kick off returns come from. Atterberry's punting is almost unbelievable. Knotts kickoffs were deep. The special teams took an overall step up but a blocked kick and several stupid penalties on kickoff returns negated a lot of the improvement. It happens on every team, but why even block someone behind the play if there is any chance of a penalty.

The defense played well at times, but where totally shredded in the first half. Tackling was improved but still not good. The Green actually did a good job stopping a lot of the MUTS passing offense but still gave up too many easy first downs by the corners giving up way too much cushion on the sideline coverage. The defensive line looked totally gassed at times despite having a large rotation of players.

The offense had the same problems, lots of offense but too many missed scoring opportunities. A lot of receivers got into the mix, but IMO NT is still lacking the development of a go to receiver or receivers. Way too many first down penalties. It appears that the MUTS defense's constant movement really confused the offense.

Overall, MTSU came out an dominated NT in the first half. NT rallied to outplay them in the second half but couldn't over come an awful first half. I hate to alarm many, but I don't think MTSU is as good as many believe. They are a very one dimensional offensive team who relies on their QB's running ability. The MUTS will definitely be in the conference race but I don't see them in the top couple of positions. NT has two weeks to regroup and hopefully improve. The team that played last night will be fortunate to get a couple of conference wins. A more focused confident team that works on their mistakes could still finished in the upper part of the league.

Edited September 27, 2009 by GrandGreen

[DallasGreen]

Well, it seems that Riley is the goat in many opinions. 4 turnovers, I guess gets you get that moniker. However, I think few are considering that he was running for his life most of the game. To go with his four turnovers he had 313 yards passing and 57 running for a mere 370 yards. Outside of the great run by Dunbar that was about all the offense. I wonder what all those calling for Riley's head think about NT veteran line who got manhandled most of the game. The offensive line looked totally intimidated in the first half. A lot of this criticism reminds me of the last game with SMU, with Meager passing for nearly 600 yards and getting blamed for the defeat by many of our fanbase. Riley was not why NT lost, the total domination of the offensive and defensive lines by the MUTS for most of the game is the reason that NT faltered.

Dunbar had a breakout game and where did those kick off returns come from. Atterbury's punting is almost unbelievable. Knotts kickoffs were deep. The special teams took an overall step up but a blocked kick and several stupid penalies on kickoff returns negated a lot of the improvement. It happens on every team, but why even block someone behind the play if there is any chance of a penalty.

The defense played well at times, but where totally shredded in the first half. Tackling was improved but still not good. The Green actually did a good job stopping a lot of the MUTS passing offense but still gave up too many easy first downs by the corners giving up way too much cushion on the sideline coverage. The defensive line looked totally gassed at times despite having a large rotation of players.

The offense had the same problems, lots of offense but too many missed scoring opportunites. A lot of receivers got into the mix, but IMO NT is still lacking the development of a go to receiver or receivers. Way too many first down penalties. It appears that the MUTS defense's constant movement really confused the offense.

Overall, MTSU came out an domininated NT in the first half. NT ralleyed to outplay them in the second half but couldn't over come an awful first half. I hate to alarm many, but I don't think MTSU is as good as many believe. They are a very one dimentation offensive team who relies on their QB's running ability. The MUTS will definitely be in the conference race but I don't see them in the top couple of positions. NT has two weeks to regroup and hopefully improve. The team that played last night will be fortunate to get a couple of conference wins. A more focused confident team that works on their mistakes could still finished in the upper part of the league.

I have to agree totally with your assessment of the line play on both sides of the ball though I can't concur that either Dodge did anything to put us in a position to win this game. I also concur that we made a good to mediocre Sun Belt team look like contenders for the national championship. Before the season I kept hearing about what a great job we were doing in the weight room. One play in particular comes to mind when Dasher made a ten yard scamper to the south end zone. Our #92 JC transfer looked like the cartoon character Baby Huey pursuing him. There is a difference from lard weight to the rangy in shape linemen that MTSU put on the field.

[TheColonyEagle]

Pretty good observations.

One thing that still has me scratching my head is what the offense did after they got momentum in the second half. I remember saying to my friend, "I would love to get it to 9 by the time the 4th quarter starts, then it's a ball game." A few plays later Dunbar takes it to the house to end the 3rd. We're down 30-21 and the defense starts the 4th with another 3 and out. We've been moving the ball well the previous 2-3 series and getting it in the end zone.

So after Dunbar's score, another 3 and out, we come out on offense and go under center with two runs up the middle that get stuffed? Then we're looking at a 3rd and long, don't get it and punt. They come down and put the game away.

My question is.....Why did they switch it up? I didn't understand the thinking on that offensive series.

[Guest JohnDenver]

My question is.....Why did they switch it up? I didn't understand the thinking on that offensive series.

That drive stuck out in my mind too. We seemed to have figured out a nice pattern that allowed us to get down field. Cam hadn't been able to run it up the middle in this game at all, not at all. So why did we hand off to him in that situation?

The real two plays that took the stand out:

1) Riley fumble near the redzone, would would have cut the lead to 9. From my point of view, he looked like he could have been down before his knee got rolled up on and he dropped the ball (I am assuming from pain). On the positive, our D made their O go 3 and out and punt. We go down and score, this time cutting the lead to 9. Getting to 2pt lead would have been the awesome.

2) WTF is wrong with Nwigwe? He all but ended our come back bid in one numb skull moment. I know, I know, he was intentionally stepped on by he MTSU player, right in front of the ref. He starts kicking, the ref comes in and starts waiving, giving Nwigwe the opportunity to stop and just get up. Instead, he keeps kicking and hits (or nearly hits) the ref. Flag comes out. Personal foul is called. 15 yards.. We had *just* stopped them on 3rd down. They were going to punt to us.. All for not. Instead they go down and score their only TD in the second half and put this game completely out of reach. In all his playing days, he wasn't ever stepped on? There was a ton of talk between the teams going into half time, then it continued into the second half.. The leader of the D has to keep his cool.

[NTEdgex2]

Pretty good observations.

One thing that still has me scratching my head is what the offense did after they got momentum in the second half. I remember saying to my friend, "I would love to get it to 9 by the time the 4th quarter starts, then it's a ball game." A few plays later Dunbar takes it to the house to end the 3rd. We're down 30-21 and the defense starts the 4th with another 3 and out. We've been moving the ball well the previous 2-3 series and getting it in the end zone.

So after Dunbar's score, another 3 and out, we come out on offense and go under center with two runs up the middle that get stuffed? Then we're looking at a 3rd and long, don't get it and punt. They come down and put the game away.

My question is.....Why did they switch it up? I didn't understand the thinking on that offensive series.

My question, too. Why stop what seemed to be working for us?

GMG!