10 thoughts after sleeping

[emmitt01]

1) This team could be 3-0. Let that sink in for, oh, about a decade. Seriously. Minus some key mistakes (yes, I know all teams have them) we could be literally walking on cloud nine right now. I know that some of us had some honest thoughts that 1-3 was entirely possible coming out of OOC. This is a drastic turnaround from those thoughts. I dare say that I can see 7 or 8 wins.

2) This defense is STARTING TO remind me of those defenses of the early 2000's. I say starting to because the Booger and Spencer led defenses did it week in and week out. Still, I'm starting to see some of the same intimidation and rallying to the ball carrier that I saw back then.

3) We TOOK five turnovers from them. Make no mistake, we weren't given anything. We took the ball five times. I'm not sure the guy that Laramie Lee hit on that fourth turnover knows he's made it back to Indiana yet.

4) We won by seven after giving Ball State seven points! We made a crucial mistake on that Jimmerson fumble that led to a gimme touchdown (by the way, I don't remember seeing him after that play). A team the caliber of Ball State was gifted points and we still won by a touchdown. And we also gave up our patented throw it over Hilbert's head and watch him not turn around touchdown...and we won.

5) This team DESERVES for us to bring ten friends to Apogee when we return home 3-2. Yes, I'm calling it now, we WILL beat Tulane. We will be coming off of a win and our boys deserve a loud and rowdy home crowd to take it to the MUTS. What we gave them today (on TV) was pathetic. Our promotions department owes them better. Our students owe them better. Our alumni owe them better. We have said for eons that "We will have better crowds when...." Well, folks, "when" just came to pass.

6) DT played lights out. I know it's been said in pretty much every thread recently but it bears repeating.

7) Brelan is a monster. He was all over the field. The return game, the passing game, everywhere. And when you watch the replay of the game check out the crushing block he delivers to spring Pegram for the last ten yards of his touchdown run.

8) Marcus Trice, if he isn't somewhere playing pro ball, needs to be offered a position in this football program. If not, our athletic department has absolutely missed the bus. He plays hard, says all the right things when interviewed and he brings so much passion and energy to this team. And has anyone noticed that practically every time a kid commits to our program he says something along the lines of "Marcus Trice was my host on my visit..." or "I hung out with Trice and the guys and it just felt like family...". He's just an excellent ambassador for this program.

9) I love the offense we're running. DT is spreading it around. The running game is keeping defenses honest and breaking a home run here and there. Chico deserves BIG TIME kudos.

10) I said it throughout the second half but we just kept working the body. Like a prize fighter we just kept delivering the body blows with our running game and that Ball State defense began to fold up. When I was a student the Dickey ball recipe was a thing of beauty. We may finally be seeing all the things that were great about that style mixed with a passing game that frustrates defenses. And here's the icing on the cake. This is not a senior laden O-line and we have been bringing in the beef the last few recruiting classes.

This post has been promoted to an article

[greenit]

[Travis Scott]

nice post. agreed...and I'll add (and it's been brought up on other threads)...our special teams play is awesome right now. Really love the new Special Teams coach. His energy is infectious.

[GOMG2013]

I had the "could have been 3-0" moment for a minute but realized we had to take one step back to take 2 steps forward.

big adjustments were made that contributed to the comeback. We had to fail on the field before those adjustments were made. Even though we did good in game 1 with an open offense, we went conservative in game 2. Losing game 2 the way we did helped us get this win.

We made adjustments to the kicking game. We went in at the half and changed our coverage and personell to a tighter man to man defense. We pretty much said wr are tired of losing the same way again. This was a huge win. Not just the w, but the way we achieved it.

[PlummMeanGreen]

And keep the offensive tempo upbeat for Derek. He just seems better when this occurs than in a slow down mode.

Couldn't be prouder and Emmitt is right....we own this team to get better crowds and now. I think we are on the cusp (I like that word) of some great and mighty things ahead for the Mean Green and its fans--both new, old and those who will soon jump on this bandwagon. We are too big a school who along with our constituency should begin doing great things at the turnstiles--and not have to lie about attendance numbers (not that we have since we like so many other schools count paid for tickets).

Like Adam told Eve: This thing is getting bigger so you better watch out because I have no idea where all this is going. (I better get ready for church after that one).

GMG!

Edited September 15, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

[Eastwood Eagle]

Great post. If you were going to do #11, I think that should go out to our freshman kicker. When was the last time we had a guy make two 40 plus yarders?

[Danish43]

And keep the offensive tempo upbeat for Derek. He just seems better when this occurs than in a slow down mode.

Couldn't be prouder and Emmitt is right....we own this team to get better crowds and now. I think we are on the cusp (I like that word) of some great and mighty things ahead for the Mean Green and its fans--both new, old and those who will soon jump on this bandwagon. We are too big a school who along with our constituency should begin doing great things at the turnstiles--and not have to lie about attendance numbers (not that we have since we like so many other schools count paid for tickets).

Like Adam told Eve: This thing is getting bigger so you better watch out because I have no idea where all this is going. (I better get ready for church after that one).

GMG!

Kudos

[UNT90]

Very nice comeback win. There is a lot to like about this team when they are allowed to play aggressively. DT di a great job. Amazing how that can change when you allow your QB to throw the ball on first down.

I don't know what defensive adjustments were made at the half (aside from playing the receivers tighter at the LOS and more blitzing), but we just looked like a different team in the 2nd half.

I would ease up on calling this D anything close to the D of the early 2000s. They did give up almost 300 yards of offense in the first quarter. I would love to see a complete game from them.

One thing the D did was bring the F'n wood and they brought it all day. This may be what eventually wore down Ball St. in the 2nd half (sometimes you just get tired of getting the crap knocked out of you). We were BY FAR the more physical football team.

Ohio beat Marshall by 3, but Marshall scored a TD with around 20 seconds left to make the game seem closer than it was. The CUSA west is wide open at this point. Winnable games are La Tech, Tulane, USM, MTSU, UTSA, Tulsa, and UTEP. Rice still looks like a struggle. Winnable doesn't mean we will win all of them, especially the ones on the road, where we seem to wet our pants at every given opportunity, but all the games should be competitive and there is the very distinct possibility that we are a bowl team.

I will take credit for the go ahead touchdown, as DT obviously did not spike the ball at the 10 yard line when he was running free toward the end zone. I'm glad he listened to me.

[NT91]

Man they did look so bad in the first half.

[H-towngreen]

agree about Trice needing to be on staff next season

[EagleMBA]

My adopted player, Hilbert Jackson, did get torched twice but in his defense he was in good position. I too was screaming for him to get his hands up as that ball came in, but on TV it was clear to me that there was really nothing much he could have done short of interference. Their QB threw a perfect ball on the receiver's outside and away from Hilbert. RE: the earlier TD catch, Kansas City just ran the same damn play on the Cowboys and scored. Hilbert played it exactly the same as the Cowboy corner, with the same result. This is not the adopted player thread but overall my man played a good game and delivered the pain with the rest of his Mean Green Defense brothers.

[SSP]

My adopted player, Hilbert Jackson, did get torched twice but in his defense he was in good position. I too was screaming for him to get his hands up as that ball came in, but on TV it was clear to me that there was really nothing much he could have done short of interference. Their QB threw a perfect ball on the receiver's outside and away from Hilbert. RE: the earlier TD catch, Kansas City just ran the same damn play on the Cowboys and scored. Hilbert played it exactly the same as the Cowboy corner, with the same result. This is not the adopted player thread but overall my man played a good game and delivered the pain with the rest of his Mean Green Defense brothers.

He didn't play the 2nd half.

[Rudy]

We REALLY need to do some drills on watching the reciever.

[EagleMBA]

He didn't play the 2nd half.

I'll take your word for it, without going back to the DVR. I guess I was too busy watching the Trice show.

[FirefightnRick]

Good Post E.

Rick

[UNTLifer]

1) This team could be 3-0. Let that sink in for, oh, about a decade. Seriously. Minus some key mistakes (yes, I know all teams have them) we could be literally walking on cloud nine right now. I know that some of us had some honest thoughts that 1-3 was entirely possible coming out of OOC. This is a drastic turnaround from those thoughts. I dare say that I can see 7 or 8 wins.

2) This defense is STARTING TO remind me of those defenses of the early 2000's. I say starting to because the Booger and Spencer led defenses did it week in and week out. Still, I'm starting to see some of the same intimidation and rallying to the ball carrier that I saw back then.

3) We TOOK five turnovers from them. Make no mistake, we weren't given anything. We took the ball five times. I'm not sure the guy that Laramie Lee hit on that fourth turnover knows he's made it back to Indiana yet.

4) We won by seven after giving Ball State seven points! We made a crucial mistake on that Jimmerson fumble that led to a gimme touchdown (by the way, I don't remember seeing him after that play). A team the caliber of Ball State was gifted points and we still won by a touchdown. And we also gave up our patented throw it over Hilbert's head and watch him not turn around touchdown...and we won.

5) This team DESERVES for us to bring ten friends to Apogee when we return home 3-2. Yes, I'm calling it now, we WILL beat Tulane. We will be coming off of a win and our boys deserve a loud and rowdy home crowd to take it to the MUTS. What we gave them today (on TV) was pathetic. Our promotions department owes them better. Our students owe them better. Our alumni owe them better. We have said for eons that "We will have better crowds when...." Well, folks, "when" just came to pass.

6) DT played lights out. I know it's been said in pretty much every thread recently but it bears repeating.

7) Brelan is a monster. He was all over the field. The return game, the passing game, everywhere. And when you watch the replay of the game check out the crushing block he delivers to spring Pegram for the last ten yards of his touchdown run.

8) Marcus Trice, if he isn't somewhere playing pro ball, needs to be offered a position in this football program. If not, our athletic department has absolutely missed the bus. He plays hard, says all the right things when interviewed and he brings so much passion and energy to this team. And has anyone noticed that practically every time a kid commits to our program he says something along the lines of "Marcus Trice was my host on my visit..." or "I hung out with Trice and the guys and it just felt like family...". He's just an excellent ambassador for this program.

9) I love the offense we're running. DT is spreading it around. The running game is keeping defenses honest and breaking a home run here and there. Chico deserves BIG TIME kudos.

10) I said it throughout the second half but we just kept working the body. Like a prize fighter we just kept delivering the body blows with our running game and that Ball State defense began to fold up. When I was a student the Dickey ball recipe was a thing of beauty. We may finally be seeing all the things that were great about that style mixed with a passing game that frustrates defenses. And here's the icing on the cake. This is not a senior laden O-line and we have been bringing in the beef the last few recruiting classes.

Amen!

[MeanGreenDadx2]

Emmitt

Absolutely, this is one of your best posts, ever. We all need to find someone to bring to Apogee to see this team. They won't win every game BUT they won't quit any of the games.

Dale

[mad dog]

Emmitt -

Pretty good post. There's a lot of positivity about this team right now; I was so thrilled about this win that nothing could dampen my spirits the rest of the weekend.

DT missed a few wide open throws, and still pats the ball way too much for my liking, but you can't argue with the end result. If he can increase the speed of his reads a tick and get a "take off or throw away" clock in his head, he could do some really special things this season.

I agree with you the most on points 2 and 3. The last time we had this kind of thunderous physicality on defense, Craig Jones and Jonas Buckles were roaming the secondary, and Booger and Cody Spencer were holding down the middle. And the best part of all was that it was CONTROLLED physicality. How many times have I turned to you these past few years after a dumb late hit out of bounds and just shrug like "is this really happening again?" What made the early 00s defenses great were that they played hard AND disciplined.

The one area where I'll respectfully disagree is that I still believe this is a .500 football team. We have days of putting it all together, but we're just not consistent enough yet. Make no mistake, this is as close to truly good football since the waning days of DD. But, against this level of competition, I think we still may have another season before it gels.

That said, I think we're on the right track. All of those redshirts McCarney was able to stockpile last year are really coming home to roost. When our guys take the field, they at least now have a fighting chance of being physically prepared for success. As long as he keeps bringing home the beef in recruiting, and can get a few pieces here or there at the skill positions, I guarantee you won't see many more crowds like we saw on Saturday. We live in front-runner land, and our stands have plenty of room for each and every one of them.

[Harry]

Ball State fans are saying we were one of the most physical teams that they have played. I take a lot of pride in that. And it does remind me of days gone by.

The one huge difference I will say is that this team has WAY more speed... we were very physical back in the Dickey era but we didn't have the speed of like say a Marcus Trice or Hilbert Jackson...or Zed Evans...that is a key difference. I think Craig Jones and Jonas Buckles were like having linebackers in the secondary against the run but we struggled against the higher level programs with faster players.. I think this Mac secondary may be the fastest we have ever had.

[GOMG2013]

Ball State fans are saying we were one of the most physical teams that they have played. I take a lot of pride in that. And it does remind me of days gone by.

The one huge difference I will say is that this team has WAY more speed... we were very physical back in the Dickey era but we didn't have the speed of like say a Marcus Trice or Hilbert Jackson...or Zed Evans...that is a key difference. I think Craig Jones and Jonas Buckles were like having linebackers in the secondary against the run but we struggled against the higher level programs with faster players.. I think this Mac secondary may be the fastest we have ever had.

Maybe I missed something. Our secondary is not fast. Maybe fast-er than the old team you mentioned, but we have some slow spots out there. Good thing they can hit.

[Harry]

Maybe I missed something. Our secondary is not fast. Maybe fast-er than the old team you mentioned, but we have some slow spots out there. Good thing they can hit.

No I agree it's not Georgia fast but its certainly faster than what we had back in the day. - - I'd be interested in your perceived slow spots -- I think Buyers is faster than you think, Trice is fast and Jackson/Evans are pretty fast...actually Evans is supposed to be the fastest guy on the team.

[Got5onIt]

I agree with Harry regarding team speed. This is one of the fastest NT teams I've witnessed. Team speed has increased across the board significantly.

Not Georgia fast or even close to being one of the fastest mid major teams, but much improved in that aspect.

[UNTLifer]

Great post emmitt, but my #1 is usually, "I gotta pee."

[Mo Green]

DT plays much better at home than on the road. Let's hope he's mentally on target this week.

Keeping the TE's in the game will keep their LB's honest I hope. We can't wait until the second half for a running game. We can't spot them points the first qtr like all the games this year. I pray.

[Rudy]

Maybe I missed something. Our secondary is not fast. Maybe fast-er than the old team you mentioned, but we have some slow spots out there. Good thing they can hit.

I think we have speed, its our turning our heads back to look at the ball that is slow.