ULM discussion

[AppSt94]

Man some of you glass half empty worry wart guys crack me up. What does this team have to do to satisfy some of you? It’s like if we don’t win 50-0 intercept 5 passes, commit no turnovers and allow under 100 yards to the other team we have issues. Why do we have to match what CCU does? We beat them. I want us to play complete games and win out but I really don’t think style or margin of victory means much now. Our destiny is pretty much set now. Win out and we aim the East, win the CCG and we go to the same old bowl game to probably play any of the usual 5 or so possible opponents.

Yep, and I would rather rotate in the younger guys to give them some experience once the game is in hand. It also reduces the chances of injury for our 1s and 2s. The W is what's important.

Outside of QB, we do that throughout the game already.

Yeah, I know. My point was that I believe that's the best approach as opposed to keeping the starters in longer to run up the score.

Completely agree.

[BambooRdApp]

Well, we have not had a big lead very often this year to see how that plays out. If we have a 21 point at the beginning of the fourth quarter, it would be nice to see the transfer RB and Castle get more time on the field in addition to the younger WRs...as we get to the last 8 minutes or so and still a 21 point lead per see, let's see 8 or the young QBs in the game. They will probably just be turning around to hand-off..but game experience is better than no experience. Although it may be better for longer-term to get the young QBs in even if to just hand-off to an RB, personally, would like to see 8 get time since he came back...
On defense, most definitely would like to see younger guys in rotation. If Tucker has to continue in secondary...get him some real playing time when a team has to pass consistently if down significantly.

[AppSt94]

I don’t think that we will see any of the young QBs on the field. My reasoning is for what you said. Handing the ball off isn’t really going to get them any beneficial experience. The reps that they get in practice, albeit limited, are much more beneficial as they see full tilt schemes.

[moonshine]

Over halfway through the regular season and this is where the current SBC stat leaders stand:

Passing:
1 - (APP) Chase Brice: 1,840 yds
2 - (USA) Jake Bentley: 1,825
3 - (CCU) Grayson McCall: 1,769

Rushing:
1 - (APP) Nate Noel: 637 yds
2 - (UL) Chris Smith: 551
3 - (GS) Logan Wright: 541

Receiving:
1 (USA) Jalen Tolbert: 873 yds
2 (CCU) Jaivon Heiligh: 676
3 (APP) Corey Sutton: 605
4 (APP) Malik Williams: 548

Tackles:
1 (APP) D'Marco Jackson: 68
2 (Troy) Carlton Martial: 64
3 (GSU) Jordan Veneziale: 58
4 (ULM) Traveion Webster: 52

Sacks:
1 (Troy) Richard Jibunor: 7.5
1 (Troy) Javon Solomon: 7.5
3 (ULM) Ty Shelby: 5.5

INTs:
1 (Troy) TJ Harris: 2
1 (Troy) Richard Jibunor: 2
1 (USA) Tre Young: 2
1 (Troy) Zion Williams: 2
5 (ULM) Ja'Cquez Williams: 1

Ponce needs to come up with a scheme that keeps Shelby (DE) at bay so Brice has time to throw and the blockers need to put a body on Webster (LB) and force other players to make the tackles like the Cajuns did to Jackson. Hopefully Clark will have the players out in the elements tomorrow so they can get a feel for Saturday's cool, wet forecast. With there being a 25-30 degree difference in temps, maybe those boys from Louisiana will have their minds on the weather and not the game.

[AppSt94]

One way to slow down the DE pass rush is to be successful running the ball and staying out of obvious passing downs. In the empty sets, you either get the ball out quickly, or slide the pocket to allow for more time for downfield routes to develop. I’m not sure how you scheme to keep the lb from making plays and I’m not sure that Louisiana did anything special against Jackson.

[biggie]

With weather and pass rush by ULM I would assume we see a lot of runs and quick throws. Maybe a lot of T Henni this game. And the WR screens included.

[moonshine]

One way to slow down the DE pass rush is to be successful running the ball and staying out of obvious passing downs. In the empty sets, you either get the ball out quickly, or slide the pocket to allow for more time for downfield routes to develop. I’m not sure how you scheme to keep the lb from making plays and I’m not sure that Louisiana did anything special against Jackson.

I haven't gone back to watch the Cajun game yet, not sure I want to relive it. I was basing it off of Jackson's lack of production that game. He's averaged over 10 tackles a game in the 6 other games and only 3 against UL. Whether it was their blocking scheme or running plays away from D'Marco, his numbers were well below his season averages.

From your vantage point, what do you think the Cajuns did to minimize his impact? Or do you think he just had an off game? IIRC, there seemed to be several plays where the LBer's got sucked up in traffic which allowed UL RB's to get to the 2nd level. Was it poor gap control, bad angles and/or poor play recognition? Obviously he's only 1 of 11 players and everyone has to do their job but 3 tackles is not the type of production the App D needs from the conference leader. Please don't take this as me calling #52 out as this seems to be more of an aberration than a trend. In my mind, he's the undisputed leader of the D. I'm just wondering what others saw since that particular game was night and day from all his other games this season.

Any word on Virgil? JV, Malik and Wells could make some hay off the quick screens. Utilizing Virgil on the fake jet sweeps will also help to keep the DE's at home

[AppSt94]

One way to slow down the DE pass rush is to be successful running the ball and staying out of obvious passing downs. In the empty sets, you either get the ball out quickly, or slide the pocket to allow for more time for downfield routes to develop. I’m not sure how you scheme to keep the lb from making plays and I’m not sure that Louisiana did anything special against Jackson.

I haven't gone back to watch the Cajun game yet, not sure I want to relive it. I was basing it off of Jackson's lack of production that game. He's averaged over 10 tackles a game in the 6 other games and only 3 against UL. Whether it was their blocking scheme or running plays away from D'Marco, his numbers were well below his season averages.

From your vantage point, what do you think the Cajuns did to minimize his impact? Or do you think he just had an off game? IIRC, there seemed to be several plays where the LBer's got sucked up in traffic which allowed UL RB's to get to the 2nd level. Was it poor gap control, bad angles and/or poor play recognition? Obviously he's only 1 of 11 players and everyone has to do their job but 3 tackles is not the type of production the App D needs from the conference leader. Please don't take this as me calling #52 out as this seems to be more of an aberration than a trend. In my mind, he's the undisputed leader of the D. I'm just wondering what others saw since that particular game was night and day from all his other games this season.

Any word on Virgil? JV, Malik and Wells could make some hay off the quick screens. Utilizing Virgil on the fake jet sweeps will also help to keep the DE's at home

Admittedly, I haven’t gone back and watched it either. I think that it’s a combination of everything that you pointed out. There were just so many little things that went wrong that it just snowballed. We schemed Lewis to make him go right and they schemed him to go left. It created issues with our fits and once got behind three scores, we were chasing the rest of the night. We actually started to figure it out, but wore down due to the turnovers.

As to your question on Jackson, I think that it goes back to the fits. They clogged up lanes that Jackson generally gets free run on. Moving Lewis around keeps him out of the pocket and away from Jackson.

As for Virgil, Clark hasn’t spoken about him in specificity. He has a bad hammy, they are hard to figure out. I don’t have any insider info, but given the weather forecast for Saturday, I’m not too optimistic that he goes.

[biggie]

[Black Saturday]

Over halfway through the regular season and this is where the current SBC stat leaders stand:

Passing:
1 - (APP) Chase Brice: 1,840 yds
2 - (USA) Jake Bentley: 1,825
3 - (CCU) Grayson McCall: 1,769

Rushing:
1 - (APP) Nate Noel: 637 yds
2 - (UL) Chris Smith: 551
3 - (GS) Logan Wright: 541

Receiving:
1 (USA) Jalen Tolbert: 873 yds
2 (CCU) Jaivon Heiligh: 676
3 (APP) Corey Sutton: 605
4 (APP) Malik Williams: 548

Tackles:
1 (APP) D'Marco Jackson: 68
2 (Troy) Carlton Martial: 64
3 (GSU) Jordan Veneziale: 58
4 (ULM) Traveion Webster: 52

Sacks:
1 (Troy) Richard Jibunor: 7.5
1 (Troy) Javon Solomon: 7.5
3 (ULM) Ty Shelby: 5.5

INTs:
1 (Troy) TJ Harris: 2
1 (Troy) Richard Jibunor: 2
1 (USA) Tre Young: 2
1 (Troy) Zion Williams: 2
5 (ULM) Ja'Cquez Williams: 1

Ponce needs to come up with a scheme that keeps Shelby (DE) at bay so Brice has time to throw and the blockers need to put a body on Webster (LB) and force other players to make the tackles like the Cajuns did to Jackson. Hopefully Clark will have the players out in the elements tomorrow so they can get a feel for Saturday's cool, wet forecast. With there being a 25-30 degree difference in temps, maybe those boys from Louisiana will have their minds on the weather and not the game.

Where does “6 for 6” Cam Peoples stand in the touchdown ledger for the conference. He’s been a touchdown machine this season.
6 points for #6

[biggie]

Peoples is first in rushing TDs for the conf at 10. 3 others tied for 2nd with 8.

[biggie]

10 puts Peoples tied for 15th in the nation for overall combined TDs(Rushing/Receiving/Returning).

[Yosef84]

Peoples will start climbing in the yardage ranks quickly. Noel will actually benefit from having Peoples back, at least in yards per carry, because he can be used in a more targeted way.

Louisiana was an anomaly. Call it quicksand, downward spiral, comedy of errors....whatever. Louisiana had the best game of the season by far and we had our worst. One mistake led to the other. Think back to GS in 2019 when Zac got hurt, OL tries to overcompensate and keeps getting penalties....backup QB tries to dig out of the hole and can't....downward spiral. I had that same feeling when we played UL. Having a healthy RB stable changes the game completely.

ULM will be a good test. App can't take anybody for granted. Playoff mentality. GO APPS!

[Yosefus]

Looks like our offense could have a big day. Let's see how defense can hold these guys.
7-0 App!

[Yosefus]

Well 21-0. I guess I'm the only one watching from the house. Go App!

[BambooRdApp]

No, we could not make. Too many 7 hour one way drives.
At this rate, 8 may be in at QB by Q3

[AppinVA]

I couldn’t make it. It’s killing me.

[BambooRdApp]

Cone is playing well.

[Yosefus]

Defense WOW!

[VNova]

Well 21-0. I guess I'm the only one watching from the house. Go App!

Watching from the west coast. Though I don’t get why our banner still doesn’t have play clock, time countdown, or down/yds still. It worked last home game on ESPN+…

Minor complaint, all things considered, with the way App is playing.