*Official ASU vs Lil Sammy In-Game Thread*

[Seattleapp]

Your signature says it all.... . But having to win games like this is not a good sign for the long term in regards to the rest of the season...If this is the strategy they are using...

Why not? Winning a game against a good opponent on the road the way we did is exactly the kind of thing a team needs to prove to themselves they can win a close game. We stopped them on defense then drove 80 yards to win the game. I know this comes a quite a shock to some of our posters but our opponents have good players and they practice just like we do. Samford has a good team. Why cant we ever just laud the effort of both teams? Our defense played lights out yesterday. Do you think any of the players are not embracing this big road win? Every game is not gonna be 56-0. And i would much rather see us be able to win a game like this because it proves to our players that they can do it. And can we stop with the "we shoulda beaten em by waaaay more points" posts? It makes us look like year olds.

[WVAPPeer]

Your signature says it all.... . But having to win games like this is not a good sign for the long term in regards to the rest of the season...If this is the strategy they are using...

Why not? Winning a game against a good opponent on the road the way we did is exactly the kind of thing a team needs to prove to themselves they can win a close game. We stopped them on defense then drove 80 yards to win the game. I know this comes a quite a shock to some of our posters but our opponents have good players and they practice just like we do. Samford has a good team. Why cant we ever just laud the effort of both teams? Our defense played lights out yesterday. Do you think any of the players are not embracing this big road win? Every game is not gonna be 56-0. And i would much rather see us be able to win a game like this because it proves to our players that they can do it. And can we stop with the "we shoulda beaten em by waaaay more points" posts? It makes us look like year olds.

Seattle - where have you been hiding my friend? - I was wondering about you - glad you made it back and just in time for another set of negative posts after a win - see, you really haven't missed much ---

[App90]

Why not? Winning a game against a good opponent on the road the way we did is exactly the kind of thing a team needs to prove to themselves they can win a close game. We stopped them on defense then drove 80 yards to win the game. I know this comes a quite a shock to some of our posters but our opponents have good players and they practice just like we do. Samford has a good team. Why cant we ever just laud the effort of both teams? Our defense played lights out yesterday. Do you think any of the players are not embracing this big road win? Every game is not gonna be 56-0. And i would much rather see us be able to win a game like this because it proves to our players that they can do it. And can we stop with the "we shoulda beaten em by waaaay more points" posts? It makes us look like year olds.


My point is that it didnt have to be that close I was at the game, but here we go with telling people not to post thier observasions...and then insulting them....And no people wont stop posting how they feel...

Yes ASU got 400 yards but 179 of them came in the 4th quarter with under 12 minutes to go, when they had to open it up to keep up and win...

Samfords skill players were not as good as ASU skills players..close but not the same they were alot of times one or two steps behind.

[cbarrier90]

To those of you saying you feel bad....really?? Do you have actual video evidence that the catch was not a TD? Sheesh.

Anyway, who's to say we would not have scored a TD on the next play, or the one after that? Samford could have prevented a "bad call" by going for it on 4th and .5 earlier (do you really think we could stop them at that point). They could have prevented that call by not letting us move down the field with ease to begin with, or by intercepting that horrible pass by JJ.

It's not about whether or not we would have scored on that last play. The fact of the matter is Samford needed two yards to win that game and thankfully elected to let JJ and Co. choose their own destiny. We were outplayed and outcoached for 59 minutes and are extremely fortunate to escape with this victory. I do feel bad for Samford since their play did not deserve a loss on their SoCon record.

I don't agree that Samford out played us for 59 mins. After they got up 10-7 we shut their offense down until the 4th, and I really believe our D got worn out thanks to the O not moving the ball. Obviously Samford get credit for stopping our O for a large parts of the game. Both teams had tough stretches and we were fortunate enough to have the ball and enough time to score.

Very true. With the impending collapse in the second half combined with the "heat of the moment/I still don't understand how that just happened" time of posting, I forgot how well the team performed in the second quarter and I overreacted.

With a day to reflect, what is concerning is that the team was outplayed in the first quarter and virtually the entire second half. Up by two scores, a FG is missed to end the half and suddenly the offense went conservative, reminiscent of recent seasons past. The defense performed admirably and deserve all the credit in the world but eventually going 3 and out offensively will wear the defense down.

You can easily chalk it up to youth and depth, which will eventually catch up to us.

I'll be the first to post the optimist observations, but in previous games ASU has made the plays down the stretch to wear the opposition down (Chattanooga, Elon, Montana.) Yesterday, the shoe should have been on the other foot and very well would have if Samford converts a 4th and 1.

[WVAPPeer]

90 - I wasn't at the game - with you being there did you get the sense that because of the time on the field + plus being depleted of depth that the defense was tiring and possibly the play-calling and the speed of the game might have been dictated by that? - no question we left too many points on the field - it didn't sound as if Coach Moore has a lot of confidence in the FG team at this point ---

[WataugaMan]

d

[Deano]

I think one of the reasons why some of us fans are so hard on our team even when we end up winning the game , is because we all know the explosive potential of this team. We look brilliant on some downs and then others we don't. The decision making problems that JJ is having in my opinion is because he is putting too much pressure on himself. He is second guessing when he should run and when he should pass. He needs to relax and trust what he sees. I like that our offense tries to go hurry up at times, but then there are times when the offense looks like mass confusion. The next to last drive was an example of this. Miller had a 30 yd run and then we tried to go into hurry up, well miller tried to get back to the line of scrimmage and you could tell he was gassed from the long run and we end up giving it to him again for only a one yard gain, we should have subbed for him if they wanted to run it again. Then we looked incredibly confused and we try that half back pass that did not work, because that goes incomplete we then have a 3rd and 9, still trying to hurry up we get a few yards and its 4th down and short and thats when JJ throws the interception.
My point is that if we are going to go hurry up JJ needs three or four plays that has already been given to him that he can call and not wait for the sideline regardless of down and distance. Kudos to the defense yesterday, they played really well!

[moehler]

not sure SS completely trust Jackson and the receivers over the middle. Noticed that much of our passes are quick outs, bubble screens, etc. Teams are doubling up on the outside, and taking away any short passes, the middle of the field, 15-20 yds downfield is open, but we rarely throw the ball there. Sooner or later we have to make teams pay, and get the ball in the middle of the field.

[Black Saturday]

not sure SS completely trust Jackson and the receivers over the middle. Noticed that much of our passes are quick outs, bubble screens, etc. Teams are doubling up on the outside, and taking away any short passes, the middle of the field, 15-20 yds downfield is open, but we rarely throw the ball there. Sooner or later we have to make teams pay, and get the ball in the middle of the field.

Hopefully we see the non existant use of the TE over the next couple of weeks.

[Seattleapp]

Why not? Winning a game against a good opponent on the road the way we did is exactly the kind of thing a team needs to prove to themselves they can win a close game. We stopped them on defense then drove 80 yards to win the game. I know this comes a quite a shock to some of our posters but our opponents have good players and they practice just like we do. Samford has a good team. Why cant we ever just laud the effort of both teams? Our defense played lights out yesterday. Do you think any of the players are not embracing this big road win? Every game is not gonna be 56-0. And i would much rather see us be able to win a game like this because it proves to our players that they can do it. And can we stop with the "we shoulda beaten em by waaaay more points" posts? It makes us look like year olds.


My point is that it didnt have to be that close I was at the game, but here we go with telling people not to post thier observasions...and then insulting them....And no people wont stop posting how they feel...

Yes ASU got 400 yards but 179 of them came in the 4th quarter with under 12 minutes to go, when they had to open it up to keep up and win...

Samfords skill players were not as good as ASU skills players..close but not the same they were alot of times one or two steps behind.

That may be true that we are more athletic at the skill positions, but good defensive schemes can negate alot of that. All I am saying is Samford was actually trying to win against us and it showed. Could we have won by a wider margin? For sure we could have, but it played the way it did and I cannot believe more people are not impressed with the way we responded when faced with a do or die situation. Last year's team probably doesn't do that. No not our posters. We have to complain because we didn't win by "more points." The more some things change the more they stay the same.

[WVAPPeer]

although none of us like these tight games - especially us old-heads - there is no better way to win a game to pull the team together as ONE - I know Coach Moore would have liked to have won by 21 (and heck he is older than me) but I bet he would tell you if he could have scripted the game for the maximum positive affect this would be the way --- great special teams throughout - defense comes up big with 3 big stops when the alternative was sure defeat and the offense takes the ball 80 for the winning TD !!! - they should really be stoked heading into this week ---

[App90]

[quote]That may be true that we are more athletic at the skill positions, but good defensive schemes can negate alot of that. All I am saying is Samford was actually trying to win against us and it showed. Could we have won by a wider margin? For sure we could have, but it played the way it did and I cannot believe more people are not impressed with the way we responded when faced with a do or die situation. Last year's team probably doesn't do that. No not our posters. We have to complain because we didn't win by "more points." The more some things change the more they stay the same.

Heres the deal, you talk about scheme, Samford was pulling thier LB's up, and cheating thier safties up and had them wide on the hash marks. This left the 15-20 yards and long passes basically one on one with ASU's recievers for most of the day. Samford was daring JJ to throw into that coverage. ASU didnt exploit this until the 4th quarter. When Price caught the TD, he even said in his post game that they went 4 vertical. That meant 2 of the recievers would have caught one on one coverage on the outside. SS had to have seen this, Samford (they) had been doing it the whole game. I am not complaining or fussing at all about the coaches. I beleive they were trying to shorten the game for the defense by throttling down the offense and grinding it out, but in this atmosphere I just feel ASU would have been better off taking what Samford was giving them. By doing that ASU would have put Samford back on thier heels. The fact of the matter Seattle, and do I respect your posts, but yesterday ASU played Samfords game, instead of playing ASU's game, and it almost didnt work.... And thier is nothing wrong in pointing this out. If ASU would have took what Samford was giving them game would have, IMO been over by the end of the 3rd quarter.

[App90]

That may be true that we are more athletic at the skill positions, but good defensive schemes can negate alot of that. All I am saying is Samford was actually trying to win against us and it showed. Could we have won by a wider margin? For sure we could have, but it played the way it did and I cannot believe more people are not impressed with the way we responded when faced with a do or die situation. Last year's team probably doesn't do that. No not our posters. We have to complain because we didn't win by "more points." The more some things change the more they stay the same.

Heres the deal, you talk about scheme, Samford was pulling thier LB's up, and cheating thier safties up and had them wide on the hash marks. This left the 15-20 yards and long passes basically one on one with ASU's recievers for most of the day. Samford was daring JJ to throw into that coverage. ASU didnt exploit this until the 4th quarter. When Price caught the TD, he even said in his post game that they went 4 vertical. That meant 2 of the recievers would have caught one on one coverage on the outside. SS had to have seen this, Samford (they) had been doing it the whole game. I am not complaining or fussing at all about the coaches. I beleive they were trying to shorten the game for the defense by throttling down the offense and grinding it out, but in this atmosphere I just feel ASU would have been better off taking what Samford was giving them. By doing that ASU would have put Samford back on thier heels. The fact of the matter Seattle, and do I respect your posts, but yesterday ASU played Samfords game, instead of playing ASU's game, and it almost didnt work.... And thier is nothing wrong in pointing this out. If ASU would have took what Samford was giving them the game would have, IMO been over by the end of the 3rd quarter.

[bobbylight]

Guys, A win is a win. No matter how it happens. We walked out of their with a W not a L. I know that we could have had better play calling in the second half, but we didn't. So lets look a head to this weekend.

[asumike83]

How about the great performance by our young D-Line? We rotated out 4 freshmen, 1 sophomore and 1 junior, got 6 sacks and held them to 82 yards on the ground. As great as the final offensive drive was, that is why we won, IMO. If Blair, Harris and Scott don't make two big stops at the end, this board would be in meltdown mode. Samford had two chances to get just 1 yard and we didn't give it to them. Our season was on the line and those guys came up huge.

[moehler]

cant believe Scott is a junior...where the hell has he been for 3 years?, Oh well, glad he has stepped up, and is playing great. Not complaining, great win, but I agree there seems to be a problem calling pass plays over the middle of the field. Last week, we did not get a first down until almost 8 minutes into the game. Same thing happen against Chatt, and Elon. Teams are selling out stopping the run, and taking away the quick out pass, they pretty much are daring us to throw 15-20 yds down the middle of the field. We were able to get away with it so far, but I'm afraid against Wofford and GS we can't wait until the 2nd quater to start moving the chains. SS is going to trust JJ and the recievers and let them try and complete some dangerous, risky passes in the middle of the field.