I was happy with the overall effort....effort is not the problem...lack of playmakers on offense and defense continue to hurt the Sycamores.....
I thought that Ryan did fine.....but teams are going to try and lock him up.....keep him from beating them.....and, as he acknowledged after the game, he needs to work on his passing game.....
If he is to remain at quarterback, then he's going to to have to improve as a pocket passer....reading defenses......knowing his progressions.....looking for the secondary receiver....and the receivers need to do a better job in scramble situations of working themselves back to the quarterback and not leaving him out there hanging....which happened a couple of times on Saturday.......
Dropped passes hurt.....there were a couple......making yards after the catch.....got to get better at that.....but some of that falls on Ryan to put the ball where the receivers can make the catch on the run.....
punt protection has to get better...can't afford to give up easy touchdowns....one punt was blocked...as many as three more could have been blocked if not for the moves of the punter.....to get out of harms way.....
here is what was impressive to me...and maybe I am the only one who thought that it was impressive....the same SIU team hung 60 on the Sycamores a year ago....scored 50 of those point by halftime...
this year, however, it was 14-0 near halftime if not for a blocked punt returned for a touchdown....21-0 is a tough hole to dig yourselves out of even with the best of offenses....and when you are struggling to mount an offensive attack, it's a killer....
SIU's running back was among the I-AA leaders in rushing coming into the game....he was limited to something like 87 yards on Saturday.....that's a good thing....the bad thing, defensively, is when some of the guys tend to loose their cool in key situations....those penalties hurt.....guys, you gotta play smarter....don't fall for the tricks.....remember, its never the first penalty that the game officials see...but they ALWAYS see the retaliation.....so keep your cool....don't be sniping....just play the game.....play smart.....
Improvement in the program can be seen...it's there....this program is lightyears ahead of where they were when Trent Miles took over as the head coach.....
They had more recruits at the game Saturday...I saw them along the sidelines during the pregame warmups...and they had a reception for the recruits and their families after the game.....
I see good things in the future....make that the immediate future....and, no, I am not some pollyannish fan......If I see things that I don't like, I'll make my opinions known...to the right people....lol.....
There are two games remaining on the 2009 schedule, Missouri State and North Dakota State....both games are very winnable.....Two wins in 2009 would be good....three wins in 2009 would be great when you consider when the program has been.....
I thought that Ryan did fine.....but teams are going to try and lock him up.....keep him from beating them.....and, as he acknowledged after the game, he needs to work on his passing game.....
If he is to remain at quarterback, then he's going to to have to improve as a pocket passer....reading defenses......knowing his progressions.....looking for the secondary receiver....and the receivers need to do a better job in scramble situations of working themselves back to the quarterback and not leaving him out there hanging....which happened a couple of times on Saturday.......
Dropped passes hurt.....there were a couple......making yards after the catch.....got to get better at that.....but some of that falls on Ryan to put the ball where the receivers can make the catch on the run.....
punt protection has to get better...can't afford to give up easy touchdowns....one punt was blocked...as many as three more could have been blocked if not for the moves of the punter.....to get out of harms way.....
here is what was impressive to me...and maybe I am the only one who thought that it was impressive....the same SIU team hung 60 on the Sycamores a year ago....scored 50 of those point by halftime...
this year, however, it was 14-0 near halftime if not for a blocked punt returned for a touchdown....21-0 is a tough hole to dig yourselves out of even with the best of offenses....and when you are struggling to mount an offensive attack, it's a killer....
SIU's running back was among the I-AA leaders in rushing coming into the game....he was limited to something like 87 yards on Saturday.....that's a good thing....the bad thing, defensively, is when some of the guys tend to loose their cool in key situations....those penalties hurt.....guys, you gotta play smarter....don't fall for the tricks.....remember, its never the first penalty that the game officials see...but they ALWAYS see the retaliation.....so keep your cool....don't be sniping....just play the game.....play smart.....
Improvement in the program can be seen...it's there....this program is lightyears ahead of where they were when Trent Miles took over as the head coach.....
They had more recruits at the game Saturday...I saw them along the sidelines during the pregame warmups...and they had a reception for the recruits and their families after the game.....
I see good things in the future....make that the immediate future....and, no, I am not some pollyannish fan......If I see things that I don't like, I'll make my opinions known...to the right people....lol.....
There are two games remaining on the 2009 schedule, Missouri State and North Dakota State....both games are very winnable.....Two wins in 2009 would be good....three wins in 2009 would be great when you consider when the program has been.....
