FCS Kickoff: #1 EWU vs. #17 SHSU Game Thread

[EWURanger]

Boom. Game over. Much better performance by the offense in the second half. Defense, not so much.

[Ibanez]

Boom. Game over. Much better performance by the offense in the second half. Defense, not so much.

yes. Defense sucked but the second half was much better.

[htownbearkat]

Congrats eagles. Not unexpected but I do have some good take aways for the bearkat off. Def was awful.
16 penalties to 1, really?
I think the kats will be rolling by conference.

[EWURanger]

Congrats eagles. Not unexpected but I do have some good take aways for the bearkat off. Def was awful.
16 penalties to 1, really?
I think the kats will be rolling by conference.

There were a couple that should have been called on us (one hold and once facemask) and a couple that could have gone either way that were called on you. Still, all the false starts and blatant PI's did not help your cause. A couple of those were TD saving holds. Ton of talent there, but discipline is lacking at this point of the year, which is understandable considering many of your players haven't played together for that long. Sam will be a very good team once some things get figured out.

We obviously have a lot if work to do.

[uofmman1122]

I only really caught the fourth quarter of this game.

The EWU defense didn't look good, but who cares with that offense?

SHSU looked decent, but really undisciplined.

Yay, college football is here!

[ChickenMan]

Over 1150 total yrds.. defense is not something that either team seems to be familiar with.

[Pwns]

Dear Sam Houston,

We are sorry we took your coach. Don't blame us, blame Army.

Hopefully Keeler won't stay there too long.

Signed,

Georgia Southern

[HI54UNI]

Dear Sam Houston,

We are sorry we took your coach. Don't blame us, blame Army.

Hopefully Keeler won't stay there too long.

Signed,

Georgia Southern

[EWURanger]

I only really caught the fourth quarter of this game.

The EWU defense didn't look good, but who cares with that offense?

SHSU looked decent, but really undisciplined.

Yay, college football is here!

The defense wasn't great, but a couple of things to consider.
1) We had zero film on their offense. Nada, zip, nilch. They had tons of film on ours, and specifically Adams.
2) Our defense only gave up 28 points. Theirs have up 56.

[JohnStOnge]

I think Sam Houston State did a good job of re-loading with the transfers. In fact I though tike they looked more athletic than Eastern Washington. A little bit faster maybe. Also maybe a little bit bigger but that's hard to tell when one team is wearing white and the other is wearing black.

To me the big question is: Will the Sam Houston State quarterback develop the ability to give the Bearkats a reliable downfield passing game. The quarterback finished 31 of 53 but I went back and counted while watching a replay on ESPN3 and 22 of the completions were on passes either behind the line of scrimmage or beyond it but within five yards. In fact most of the time I'd say within two yards. They did a lot of hitting guys on the move either behind or just beyond the line of scrimmage and letting them make yards after the catch.

The quarterback was 9 of 24 on passes where the receiver was more than five yards beyond the line of scrimmage and was lucky it wasn't 7 of 24. That's because one of those completions was that tip play where he overthrew it but a guy ended up catching it off the tip and another was when he threw it badly behind #89 but #89 made a great play by spinning this body around and getting a one hand catch.

To me it looked like Sam Houston's receivers were able to get open downfield...sometimes REALLY open...but they couldn't exploit that because the quarterback was not able to throw the ball accurately.

The announcers said they thought it was because they hadn't worked together much. I don't know about that because on some of those throws he looked REALLY bad. But if they were right and he gets better that'll help Sam Houston State a lot.

The other thing is that they insisted on playing man to man defense and they didn't match up. It kind of looks like they may have some issues in the secondary such that they're not going to be able to play that style or if they do play it they're going to get burned a lot. But that could be because Eastern Washington just has really good receivers. We'll have to wait and see on that one.

[uofmman1122]

I only really caught the fourth quarter of this game.

The EWU defense didn't look good, but who cares with that offense?

SHSU looked decent, but really undisciplined.

Yay, college football is here!

The defense wasn't great, but a couple of things to consider.
1) We had zero film on their offense. Nada, zip, nilch. They had tons of film on ours, and specifically Adams.
2) Our defense only gave up 28 points. Theirs have up 56.

Oh, definitely agreed.

In the battle of "Whose defense looked worse", I'd say SHSU's lost (or won? ) in a landslide. They couldn't tackle for shit, and looked like no one briefed them on the rules of contact football. Seriously, some of those penalties looked like they could have had two or three things called on them on one play.

I will say EWU got away with a few things like holding a few times, but overall looked much cleaner.

But if I'm an EWU fan (....sorry, just threw up in my mouth a little), I wouldn't be too worried about what I saw from the defense, especially with how well the O played in the second half.

It was a good run from SHSU, but it looks like things are back to normal.

[uofmman1122]

The other thing is that they insisted on playing man to man defense and they didn't match up. It kind of looks like they may have some issues in the secondary such that they're not going to be able to play that style or if they do play it they're going to get burned a lot. But that could be because Eastern Washington just has really good receivers. We'll have to wait and see on that one.

I think you answered your own question.

EWU more than likely has the best group of WRs in FCS.

[clenz]

I only really caught the fourth quarter of this game.

The EWU defense didn't look good, but who cares with that offense?

SHSU looked decent, but really undisciplined.

Yay, college football is here!

The defense wasn't great, but a couple of things to consider.
1) We had zero film on their offense. Nada, zip, nilch. They had tons of film on ours, and specifically Adams.
2) Our defense only gave up 28 points. Theirs have up 56.

On the flip side.

SHSU has to replace like 98% of their offense, a new coach, an all new coaching staff, a new offensive system, a ton of new players/transfers that need game time to gel, and a QB that I can throw better than

and yet

SHSU put up 317 yards passing (with nearly identical YPA and YPC as EWU)
threw for more yards than EWU
Ran for over 240 yards
averaged over 7 yards per carry
Averaged more yards per play (total) than EWU


Either SHSU's offense will be 100% unstoppable by the end of the year (could be the case) or EWU's defense is still quite porous and EWU will have to beat teams 56-54 again this season.

If SHSU could have found a way to keep their hands off of EWU's facemasks that game would have been very different. EWU had 20% of their first downs off of penalties.

[ChickenMan]

If SHST gets better QB play their offense could be very good.. but Johnson will have to show the ability to do more than just hit the short dumps. Strong arm.. but way too little accuracy down the field.

[JohnStOnge]

EWU more than likely has the best group of WRs in FCS.

Believe it or not I'm not sure they have better receivers than Sam Houston State does. I was listening to the announcers talk about all the studs Sam Houston got via the transfer route. And when I was watching it looked to me like Sam Houston State receivers were beating the coverage an awful lot. You can't see the whole field on TV but that's how it looked. They were running wide open a lot. To me EWU's secondary clearly couldn't cover them.

But the SHSU QB couldn't hit them. That was the thing.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

If SHSU could have found a way to keep their hands off of EWU's facemasks that game would have been very different. EWU had 20% of their first downs off of penalties.

And if Shaq Hill doesn't drop those two early deep balls, we would've scored 70.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

EWU more than likely has the best group of WRs in FCS.

Believe it or not I'm not sure they have better receivers than Sam Houston State does.

Just stop talking.

[Mvemjsunpx]

SHSU put up 317 yards passing (with nearly identical YPA and YPC as EWU)
threw for more yards than EWU
Ran for over 240 yards
averaged over 7 yards per carry
Averaged more yards per play (total) than EWU

If SHSU could have found a way to keep their hands off of EWU's facemasks that game would have been very different. EWU had 20% of their first downs off of penalties.

Apparently Portland State decided to put on orange jerseys yesterday.

[kalm]

SHSU put up 317 yards passing (with nearly identical YPA and YPC as EWU)
threw for more yards than EWU
Ran for over 240 yards
averaged over 7 yards per carry
Averaged more yards per play (total) than EWU

If SHSU could have found a way to keep their hands off of EWU's facemasks that game would have been very different. EWU had 20% of their first downs off of penalties.

Apparently Portland State decided to put on orange jerseys yesterday.

Now that's funny...

[AZGrizFan]

Apparently Portland State decided to put on orange jerseys yesterday.

Now that's funny...

Funny, but too close to the truth. I really felt like that's who I was watching....

[YoUDeeMan]

SHSU's QB is young...and he got a lot more accurate late in the second half.

People say that EWU didn't have much film to work with, but SHSU certainly didn't have their entire offensive system put in yet. Some of their players only joined the team a week or so ago.

By the end of the year, SHSU will make the playoffs and will have a dizzying offense that no one will want to face.

As far as SHSU's D goes, they'll be all right. There is a lot of talent, they are fast, and they just need to get into their new system.

EWU is a good looking team, but their D will be their Waterloo. They gave up 28 points, and should have given up a lot more, to a young, inaccurate QB.

If these two teams meet again in the playoffs, and with regionalization, I think they might, SHSU will have a great shot at putting up 50-60, and EWU isn't going to get a lot of those easy mental error scores.

[kalm]

SHSU's QB is young...and he got a lot more accurate late in the second half.

People say that EWU didn't have much film to work with, but SHSU certainly didn't have their entire offensive system put in yet. Some of their players only joined the team a week or so ago.

By the end of the year, SHSU will make the playoffs and will have a dizzying offense that no one will want to face.

As far as SHSU's D goes, they'll be all right. There is a lot of talent, they are fast, and they just need to get into their new system.

EWU is a good looking team, but their D will be their Waterloo. They gave up 28 points, and should have given up a lot more, to a young, inaccurate QB.

If these two teams meet again in the playoffs, and with regionalization, I think they might, SHSU will have a great shot at putting up 50-60, and EWU isn't going to get a lot of those easy mental error scores.

So SHSU is the only team of the two that can improve? Easy mental error scores? Cripes, our defense improved right during this very game, holding the Kats to 35 yards of offense in the deciding 3rd quarter, and keeping the game in front of them with a lead in the 4th. And we ran the ball right down their throat to the tune of 327 yards against what was supposed to be their best defense ever and a loaded D-line. Unlike last year, we had more sustained drives and the TD's were power running plays or short passes.

I agree that SHSU has a ton of upside. They are big and fast at every level. If the QB gains accuracy and they play with more discipline they will make the playoffs and be a tough out.

I'm just happy that VA can have a sub-par performance, we can give up three big plays, and can still hang 56 and win by three touchdowns against a talented team.

[Grizalltheway]

Forte is a very underrated back. VA and Kupp rightfully get a lot of attention, but that kid is a beast.

[AZGrizFan]

EWU more than likely has the best group of WRs in FCS.

Believe it or not I'm not sure they have better receivers than Sam Houston State does. I was listening to the announcers talk about all the studs Sam Houston got via the transfer route. And when I was watching it looked to me like Sam Houston State receivers were beating the coverage an awful lot. You can't see the whole field on TV but that's how it looked. They were running wide open a lot. To me EWU's secondary clearly couldn't cover them.

But the SHSU QB couldn't hit them. That was the thing.

If SHSU's QB could hit the broad side of a barn, SHSU would have scored 70. Then again, if EWU's receiver (#1) could catch a cold, EWU would have put up about 21 more as well. A LOT of receivers, wide open, either badly missed by their QB's or dropping balls placed right in their laps.

[AZGrizFan]

Forte is a very underrated back. VA and Kupp rightfully get a lot of attention, but that kid is a beast.

He's the guy I was most impressed with in that game.