Elon
Team was very "up" at practice yesterday - lots of whopping and hollering. They clearly feel good about themselves and I see why after watching the video FUBeAR posted. They played a much better game than the score indicated. The first half could have and maybe should have ended with FU down 13-0 against what may turn out to be the best team in the country. Roberts still not ready. He it taking snaps but does not use his right hand at all in drills, etc. - so it is apparently still sore. As expected, the freshmen QBs took most snaps. Several RBs missing from practice. Did not see Dirks at all but have no idea why. Our receiver corps looks really sharp and is very deep. Unless Elon has 4 or5 CBs better than Amir Trapp as Clemson apparently did from his place in their depth chart last season, they are in for a long afternoon. He looked awfully good to me on the tape. Thanks for that tape, BeAR and the great analysis by you and The Jackal. I understood every word of it...really I did...not kidding. 
Any word on Dirks or Morehead or ... which RBs were not in practice yesterday ? I had heard a few RBs were dinged up. Dirks and Morehead are REALLY important to our offense - that's our starting bruising back and our starting speed back ...other guys are great but I see those two as the biggest game breaking weapons at their respective positions.Jasper wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 11:01 amTeam was very "up" at practice yesterday - lots of whopping and hollering. They clearly feel good about themselves and I see why after watching the video FUBeAR posted. They played a much better game than the score indicated. The first half could have and maybe should have ended with FU down 13-0 against what may turn out to be the best team in the country. Roberts still not ready. He it taking snaps but does not use his right hand at all in drills, etc. - so it is apparently still sore. As expected, the freshmen QBs took most snaps. Several RBs missing from practice. Did not see Dirks at all but have no idea why. Our receiver corps looks really sharp and is very deep. Unless Elon has 4 or 5 CBs better than Amir Trapp as Clemson apparently did from his place in their depth chart last season, they are in for a long afternoon. He looked awfully good to me on the tape. Thanks for that tape, BeAR and the great analysis by you and The Jackal. I understood every word of it...really I did...not kidding.
There is an FCS Team in the upper Midwest...I won’t name them, but their initials are NDSU, that runs a A-Gap version of this Power scheme (this is C-Gap Power) as their Favorite Play. They scheme it several ways depending on the D-Front, so it can actually ‘hit’ from p/s B-gap to b/s B-gap...and it is BEAUTIFUL. The pulling b/s OG in their version may just wrap around the C or he may wrap the p/s OG, and on occasion, go all the way around the p/s OT - as seen in this pic. I’ve even seen them skip pull and go right back into their own A-gap because of what the C needed to do and/or the way the p/s LB flowed. They are able to run it SO effectively because they have agile athletes playing OL, they rep it over & over in practice, AND they run it over & over in games. It’s their version of Furman’s Toss Sweep of the 80’s. I’ve heard that Team up there has won a few games in recent years. Yes?
hypercycloid liked this
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers,
For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother
For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother
GREAT !!!
We have two freshman QBs who I hope are great but football is a game of reps... and we are short on experinece at QB right now. It would really help the QB situation - and CCH wants it to be what we do anyway - if we had a great running game.
One point that worries me is that USF (who crushed Elon and would be top 3 easily in FCS) wasn't able to run that well on Elon. Elon and USF both achieved 3.9 yards per carry vs each other. That's pretty good run defense I think for Elon. Granted, USF is NOT Clemson.. but Clemson gained 7.1 yards per carry v us.
For those of you that watched Elon v USF - did Elon stand up pretty well v USF run game when it mattered ? Or is that stat a little off because just USF got a big lead and then just ran every play to eat clock (in which case Elon stacked the box knowing USF would just run every play)?
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Our goal under CCH is 'to run the ball, and to stop the run' - I agree that will win a lot of SoCon games !!! point is, Elon appears to have done that pretty well vs USF, Elon ran for 192 yds and 2 TDs vs USF at 3.9 yards per attempt.. USF ran for 148 and 1 TD vs Elon , at 3.9 yds per clip. Rarely does an FCS team average the same yards per rushing attempt as the FBS team.
Put another way, You would think Elon could hold us below the USF average meaning we average less than 3.9 yds per carry... that would not bode well for the good guys. Also, if they get more vs us than USF they would be running for 5 yards a carry. That too would not bode well for the good guys.
*So I am hoping someone tells me this was garbage time.. ??
Now, i get it - USF CRUSHED Elon. Crushed them - unfortunately it was all through the air. USF threw all over them. I would always prefer to play a team that can't stop the run than one that can't stop the pass. Basically - from the numbers - it appears Elon couldn't throw and couldn't stop the pass but ran the ball well and stopped the run well
Going back through some of those Clemson games.
Still impressed with McKoy. He rarely misses a tackle. I bet he will lead the league this year. Furman's DL does a good job of keeping him clean back there.
One series when Trevor Lawrence gets in there, Furman is all over Clemson. Sack, pops, strong tackling. Lawrence tries to get around the edge and gets popped by McKoy.
Still impressed with McKoy. He rarely misses a tackle. I bet he will lead the league this year. Furman's DL does a good job of keeping him clean back there.
One series when Trevor Lawrence gets in there, Furman is all over Clemson. Sack, pops, strong tackling. Lawrence tries to get around the edge and gets popped by McKoy.
The Elon D line is much smaller than Clemson and its a save bet they are not nearly as talented and experienced. The latter was a huge factor. It was very hard to fool those guys. But if they do have a hard time defending the pass, I think they will have a lot of trouble with our attack. I did not see their game last week but it appears to me that USF got up big early and then took the air out of ball for whatever reasons. I would think they ran the ball behind a sub line in the second half thus the poor stats. As I recall, we should have scored a lot more on them last year and am hoping we cleam up some of the thing that prevented that.gofurman wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 1:50 pmGREAT !!!
We have two freshman QBs who I hope are great but football is a game of reps... and we are short on experinece at QB right now. It would really help the QB situation - and CCH wants it to be what we do anyway - if we had a great running game.
One point that worries me is that USF (who crushed Elon and would be top 3 easily in FCS) wasn't able to run that well on Elon. Elon and USF both achieved 3.9 yards per carry vs each other. That's pretty good run defense I think for Elon. Granted, USF is NOT Clemson.. but Clemson gained 7.1 yards per carry v us.
For those of you that watched Elon v USF - did Elon stand up pretty well v USF run game when it mattered ? Or is that stat a little off because just USF got a big lead and then just ran every play to eat clock (in which case Elon stacked the box knowing USF would just run every play)?
\
Our goal under CCH is 'to run the ball, and to stop the run' - I agree that will win a lot of SoCon games !!! point is, Elon appears to have done that pretty well vs USF, Elon ran for 192 yds and 2 TDs vs USF at 3.9 yards per attempt.. USF ran for 148 and 1 TD vs Elon , at 3.9 yds per clip. Rarely does an FCS team average the same yards per rushing attempt as the FBS team.
Put another way, You would think Elon could hold us below the USF average meaning we average less than 3.9 yds per carry... that would not bode well for the good guys. Also, if they get more vs us than USF they would be running for 5 yards a carry. That too would not bode well for the good guys.
*So I am hoping someone tells me this was garbage time.. ??
Now, i get it - USF CRUSHED Elon. Crushed them - unfortunately it was all through the air. USF threw all over them. I would always prefer to play a team that can't stop the run than one that can't stop the pass. Basically - from the numbers - it appears Elon couldn't throw and couldn't stop the pass but ran the ball well and stopped the run well
Why this would be a good win - tough opponent:
-Davis Cheek ( QB) finished in the top 25 for the Jerry Rice Award by placing fifth on the
list in 2017. - top freshman player at the FCS level based on the regular season alone. -Cheek was named CAA Football Offensive Rookie of the Year, becoming the first Phoenix player to win a freshman or rookie of the year award since quarterback Scott Riddle did so in the Southern Conference in 2007.
(I hate to mention Scott Riddle.. lol)
- coach Cignetti, like our CH ! , completely turned Elon around in one year from a losing team to a playoff team.. very similar teams in many respects. Good coaching is the top key to success and both teams have it so not as much of an advantage as we have on some teams (CItadel coaching ?)
-both games were very close last year
- LB Messer was named First Team All-CAA Football after the 2018 season while picking up
a pair of Second Team All-America honors ...
- again, they look pretty strong running the ball and stopping the run. Not the TYPE of team I want to play, especially with a freshman QB. If I were Elon I would stack the box on D and make us beat them in the air
EDIT - I do like playing against Run offenses, I believe in our run D.. Just wish they weren't so strong on Run D.
- big difference is they return their starting QB from last year as a Soph.. we have a brand-new QB
- All-conference CAA players for Elon (the CAA only does one all-conference team?- no second or third team? That's harsh with a 12 team league)
OFFENSE
CJ Toogood, Elon Sr. OL 6-2 293 Holly Springs, N.C./Holly Spring
DEFENSE
Warren Messer, Elon Sr. LB 5-11 227 Garner, N.C./Garner
-Davis Cheek ( QB) finished in the top 25 for the Jerry Rice Award by placing fifth on the
list in 2017. - top freshman player at the FCS level based on the regular season alone. -Cheek was named CAA Football Offensive Rookie of the Year, becoming the first Phoenix player to win a freshman or rookie of the year award since quarterback Scott Riddle did so in the Southern Conference in 2007.
(I hate to mention Scott Riddle.. lol)
- coach Cignetti, like our CH ! , completely turned Elon around in one year from a losing team to a playoff team.. very similar teams in many respects. Good coaching is the top key to success and both teams have it so not as much of an advantage as we have on some teams (CItadel coaching ?)
-both games were very close last year
- LB Messer was named First Team All-CAA Football after the 2018 season while picking up
a pair of Second Team All-America honors ...
- again, they look pretty strong running the ball and stopping the run. Not the TYPE of team I want to play, especially with a freshman QB. If I were Elon I would stack the box on D and make us beat them in the air
EDIT - I do like playing against Run offenses, I believe in our run D.. Just wish they weren't so strong on Run D.
- big difference is they return their starting QB from last year as a Soph.. we have a brand-new QB
- All-conference CAA players for Elon (the CAA only does one all-conference team?- no second or third team? That's harsh with a 12 team league)
OFFENSE
CJ Toogood, Elon Sr. OL 6-2 293 Holly Springs, N.C./Holly Spring
DEFENSE
Warren Messer, Elon Sr. LB 5-11 227 Garner, N.C./Garner
Jasper liked this
The more I look at the video of the Clemson game posted by Fu BeAr, the better I feel about our chances vs. Elon tomorrow and going forward. We may have some as yet unanswered questions about the offense but our defense will be very tough. I just watched some great defensive plays by our kids that were not rewarded because of the great athleticism of some of the Clemson players. In the 3rd quarter, DE Dru Seabrook was within a millisecond of a drive stopping sack of the QB when Bryant flung the ball downfield to a totally covered receiver who made an incredible leaping catch. One play later, he scored on a QB draw. I do not expect to see athletes like that playing for Elon or our other opponents this year. We just may have lost our game for this year and I don't care how many big fat guys they have on their o line. (BTW, I have not as yet indulged in a Friday afternoon adult beverage - a situation that will be remedied very shortly)
Last edited by Jasper on Sat Sep 08, 2018 9:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
Elon's running backs are all very similar - (#5) 5-9 201, (#28) 5-8 214, (#33) 5-9 205 they run hard and they're quick.
Furman's backs are quite different - our running backs (6-0 250), (5-11 233), (6-0 229), tailbacks (5-9 185), (6-0 203), (5-9 192). Our big backs run hard and all three can bust a big run. Dirks and Sanders have deceptive quickness. Our tailbacks are fast and shifty - a healthy Morehead is an edge weapon, and after watching the Clemson game I'm really excited about Watkins.
My point - I think we have enough diversity to emulate just about any teams running game in practice. Doesn't mean we'll shut 'em all down, but Staggs as a coach has always schemed run defense's well, as well as passing games.
I have a hunch… but I could be way off here. Against Clemson, we got to their QBs more often than I thought we would, getting two sacks are solid, but I was impressed with the hits on Bryant and Lawerence. I think the DINS have quickly raised defensive speed. Okonya and Seabrook are interchangeable, Seabrook was a hair away from several big plays. The Bandit position is what I want to watch closely, I've always loved Washington and now you have Hope backing him up, Hope got one of Furman's sacks. With those four guys getting in the Clemson backfield, making some big hits and big plays, and missing a few by a whisker, I'm expecting our edge players to put some heat on Cheek, especially if they try to run some long pass plays.