Big Step Backwards Yesterday

[elcid83]

Not wanting to be overly critical of our school, team or coaches, but it's difficult to not say anything about yesterday's game. Stony Brook made us look pretty silly which was all the more disappointing because it appeared that we were on track to have a really nice finish to our season for the first time in a while. While we were certainly in contention into the 3rd quarter, it then became clear that we were facing the same Stony Brook team that I have come to know for the past 3 years - a very aggressive, very physical football team that makes things happen for themselves. They fight for turnovers and they get them and it makes it easy for them to score in short field situations.

If Gardner-Webb is going to be competitive in the Big South, we are going to have to learn how to play this style of football. I hope we get to do this very soon.

Go Runnin' Bulldogs!

[gwebb1994]

Dickerson gets a true full recruiting class in next season. Marked improvement should be the result, although road trips to Richmond, Liberty, Stony Brook and an as of yet unnamed FBS opponent makes for a brutal schedule.

Rallying from the turnover fest Saturday with a season ending win at VMI is a must at this point not only for said recruiting, but also for the overall direction of the program for Dickerson's second season as HC.

[unk96]

Wow, that was pretty crazy. Again, special teams and Defensive backfield pulled a samford on us. Good job offense. They had been giving up 75 yards rushing and we put 250 on them. There are some serious questions that need to be asked and some could include coaches. Who knows but that was just plan bad. No sense in it. We could play with that team no problem. Something has got to change.

[unk96]

Does anyone know of somewhere we see the coaches comments about the game and what they think. I cant find any anywhere. What do they have to say about what went on?

[eagledawg]

Unk96 - You can get some filtered comments occasionally from HC Dickerson in sports articles in the Shelby Star, he also gives his take on the past game and upcoming game lasting maybe 5 minutes on the Big South Football Coaches Teleconference. You can listen usually after 2 pm on Tuesdays via internet and they break the coaches segments out so you can listen to only your schools coach or listen to the entire bit hearing from all the coaches. Again, there's a lot of cliches and such used so it's only every once in awhile you get a really good piece of information.

With regard to Saturday, it's 28-20 in the 3rd qtr and we end up 76-28. The defense just plain gave in/gave up, though there were instances where a turnover or two gave SBU a short field. I can't recall ever seeing a team in a game score wise, mentally, physically, etc. and then see it all go up in smoke so fast. SBU's pretty good, very physical and they didn't mind trying to run up the score. You may hear an SBU poster say they put their backups in but the starting QB was in in the 4th and they are up 28 points, they tried several long passes which seemed to be at best an attempt to get ready for Liberty or worse turning the knife in an open wound. There's a way to fix that kind of thing without trying to injure an opposing player but you hit every single skill position player over and over clean of course even if it draws a penalty for a tad late hit or unnecessary roughness. I'm not talking hitting in the knees or taking head shots but just flat out laying the wood on em even if it's a tad late.

Our guys coming back should file this one away and next year on Long Island get ready for some big time payback. What's Jackolski doing in the game in the 4th with the score 56-28, you tell me. After his last TD it was just lack of tackling and effort on Defense, lack of concentration on Special Teams and turnovers on Offense.

Hanging 250+ rushing on them was the bright spot. With our entire O-line coming back and Kenny Little, the run game can be even better next year. We just have to improve the passing game even while losing Tre Perry and Lyndon Leslie, see a ton of improvement on Special Teams (kick coverage, punt protection and kick return game) and our defense has got to improve, especially on 3rd down.

Coach Dickerson has to be given at least 2 full years of recruiting and he must make staff adjustments if he senses a weak link or two. I'm not calling for anybody's job but the HC surely sees what we see, it's just a question of whether it's a coaching issue that can be fixed or one that can't, I dunno.

[unk96]

I agree with these two post completely. Believe me, I dont know the fix but I dont get paid to know. But we have struggled with these problems all year, but this is the first time it looked like some of the D just gave up. Special teams are just rediculous. Something has got to change. As far as recruiting, you dont get the good players when they see this kind of results at the end of the season. But, I look foward to things getting figured out and us getting on the right track.

[gwebb1994]

Nov 14, 2011 13:02:44 GMT -5 gwalphachiba said:

It was a complete collapse of the GWU defense in the second half, not seen since the 71 points the GWU defense gave up to UCF in 1992. There's plenty of options a smart coach and team can use to stop score run ups. The defense team and coaches, get a big fat "F" for this game.

The 1992 ran the table to the NAIA title game after that blowout.

As for the 'running up the score' issue, it is a non-issue. There is no such thing in sports. You compete for a full 60 minutes, not 50, not 55.

[seawolves]

eagledawg, cut it out with the Stony Brook trying to run up the score nonsense. When Essington was throwing the ball it was a three score game with 15 minutes left to play. "What's Jackolski doing in the game with a 28 point lead" - He's trying to take care of the football and run out the clock. There was still 13 minutes left in the game.

Stony Brook's four TD drives in the fourth quarter only took 3 minutes and 8 seconds with all 143 yards rushing. That's on Gardner Webb. Their run defense, which Priore thought was the best Stony Brook would see other than the two FBS teams we played, needs to slow them down, and their offense and special teams need to take care of the football.

I don't think anyone, Stony Brook or Gardner Webb, is happy with the final score.

[unk96]

I agree seawolf guest. There is no such thing as running up the score. Besides, the score looked like it did more because our guys quit than you guys doing great things. It was just a depressing day. Our D has really been good with a weakness in the D-backfield. Man did it get bad saturday. We playd three quarters pretty much and showed we could stop them. A couple of bad breaks caused by ourselves and it was like we just stopped. You quit, dont whine about the score.

[eagledawg]

Seawolves - I gave plenty of credit to SBU for being talented and very physical and indicated our D gave in/gave up. I went so far as to say that the long pass attempts at the end of the 3rd beginning of the 4th were at best an attempt to get ready for Liberty and at worst trying to run up the score. I didn't say which one it was regarding the passes. I do stand by my comment that Jackolski in the game with a 4 TD lead in the 4th stretches the imagination a bit with regards to the score. That young man is impressive and in my opinion better than Maysonet as an overall threat to score every time he gets his hands on the ball. His 4 TD's in the game Saturday versus 1 for Maysonet give some credence to that notion. Jackolski is an extremely important piece to the SBU attack and should the Seawolves handle Liberty Saturday, he may well prove to be a catalyst for your team in the playoffs. It was a risk to have him in the game with that lead in the 4th and G-Webb coming unglued defensively, the game was clearly decided at least one to two TD's prior to his last score. Fortunately the young man avoided injury while scoring a meaningless TD.

Saturday was an embarrassing day for GWU football at least for about the last 22 minutes of the game. On the other hand, the first 38 minutes wasn't too bad considering SBU's season long ability to defend the run and G-Webb's ability to run the ball well.

Good luck to the Seawolves Saturday, hopefully next season on Long Island G-Dubb will give you guys a better effort. I would guess CCU and GWU after this year's tail kicking will circle SBU on next years schedule.

[unk96]

Eagledawg, again, to me running up the score is never an issue. However, I was thinking in the 4th quarter how stupid it was to have thier key guys in there with Liberty coming up. They can say whatever, but that was dumb. Those are the times guys get hurt more often,saddley because of frustration on the defensive guys part. They should have been out. But, thats the coaches call,maybe he believes he is so deep with talent that it doesnt matter.

[seawolves]

Eh, if Priore knew how things would turn out he might have pulled Jakolski after getting up 28, but there was still 13:50 left on the clock at the beginning of that drive. All Stony Brook starters were pulled with 13 minutes left in the game. I'm not really sure how much earlier you can pull starters from a game. Also Jackolski and Maysonet both had season lows in carries. They're about as rested as one could possibly hope for heading into the game against Liberty. Admittedly, I would have a much different tone if either were hurt during that drive.

[unk96]

All I will say is go kick Liberty's Butt!! I will be pulling for the seawolves!!

[gwalphachiba]

You can add Liberty and Stony Brook to this list of score run up colleges. Oklahoma is the one I remember most. When I played football we shut down the offense at 62 points, which you will see as the max number of points in some FBS games, especially FBS playing FCS. The NFL shuts down the offense at around the 40s.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_up_the_score

GWU is ranked #95 FCS and has not had a winning season for a while, and Stony Brook is ranked #25. Stony Brook should have shut down about 14 minutes left in the game. Here are the fourth quarter stats:

TD 14:23 Brock Jackolski 53 Yd Run (Wesley Skiffington Kick) Score: 56 to 28

TD 12:47 Brock Jackolski 30 Yd Run (Two-Point Conversion Failed) Score: 62 to 28
TD 09:01 JeVahn Cruz 43 Yd Run (Wesley Skiffington Kick) Score: 69 to 28
TD 07:21 Davon Lawrence 3 Yd Run (Wesley Skiffington Kick) Score: 76 to 28

Score run ups are a big deal, especially when you do it at another team's stadium. There are Mercy Rules, both official and unofficial in sports. I think baseball, and maybe softball has a 10 run ahead is end of game rule, or something. Now, Liberty will have to score 77 points on someone to break the Stony Brook record.

If score runs continue in the 70s, and maybe soon into the 80s, the NCAA may knock a minute off of the game clock each quarter, cheating fans out of four minutes of football.

Let's keep it real here. As for GWU football in the NAIA days, it's defense choked at the end of the game at Spangler, and lost the National Championship.

[gwebb1994]

The defense was gassed at the end of that 1992 title game. Where we lost the game was on 3rd and long on our last possession, Central had used their last timeout, and we called a pass play that fell incomplete and stopped the clock. If we run the ball up the gut and kill another 45 seconds on clock, we win.

Back to the 'issue' of running up the score. Since players on third and fourth string rarely play but bust their ass in practice, when they do get in the game winning by 40+, their coach is supposed to stop adhering to the game plan simply because the opponent is outmatched and sometimes has quit?

If you give a team a short field and/or give up big run plays for scores, it isn't running up the score. It's playing championship-level football, something unfortunately G-W hasn't been able to do consistently for quite awhile. I am confident we will again, and soon, as soon as Dickerson finishes his purge of the Patton chaff and gets a recruiting class or two under his belt.