Around the SoCon

[tya1]

ETSU up 10-7 at the half. KSU was driving late in the half but ETSU forced a fumble and recovered inside their own 20 to preserve the margin.

[The Jackal]

Back to the SoCon. Looks like ETSU has an overflow crowd today. KSU has their band there. Just haven’t been impressed with the ETSU offense/qb all year. Struggling today. Defense is playing well.

ETSU's team does a good job of complimenting one another. They aren't overwhelming in any facet of the game, but are good top to bottom team.

Offensively, they've got two good backs, a QB that manages the offense well, and a big play receiver. You can win with that combination and a good defense.

[purplehorse]

I am glad ETSU won BARELY. The Southern Conference will at least have a team in the final 8.

[apaladin]

I am glad ETSU won BARELY. The Southern Conference will at least have a team in the final 8.

Barely is an understatement. On espn KSU went from 100% chance of to 100% chance of losing in the last losing in the last 3 minutes. Etsu scored, recovered the onside kick, scored with 35 seconds, then got the two point conversion. That took a lot of guts. One of those games where the better team didn’t win. Look for ND St. to win big next week.

[FUBeAR]

I am glad ETSU won BARELY. The Southern Conference will at least have a team in the final 8.

ETSU won BARELY over Furman, Mercer, Samford, VMI, and Wofford…and lost to Chatt

They are an excellent representation of the capabilities of the Top 5 or 6 Teams in the SoCon…but that’s the problem, they are the ONLY representative and there should be 2-4 more. The Bucs, of course, now get rewarded with a trip to Fargo, where NDSU is 29-1 in the Playoffs…They might be able to tangle competitively with the bizuns (as would 2-4 other SoCon Teams) somewhere else, but the upcoming game was all but over the day the brackets were released.

…and then we can hear and also lament….’the SoCon hasn’t even had a Team in the Semi’s in X years. Wow, that league has dropped off so much.’ BS - the deck is triple stacked - few representatives, rarely a seed (no bye week / no 2nd round home games), and always routed to Fargo. We saw what VMI nearly did to JMU with their back-up QB (who is OK, but not nearly as good as their Starter was) in the Playoffs last year…and we know that wasn’t a great VMI Team…a freakin’ mis-timed snap is the only reason they beat Furman.

GO BUCS! REPRESENT!! (just keep it competitive-looking)

[FUBeAR]

I am glad ETSU won BARELY. The Southern Conference will at least have a team in the final 8.

Barely is an understatement. On espn KSU went from 100% chance of to 100% chance of losing in the last losing in the last 3 minutes. Etsu scored, recovered the onside kick, scored with 35 seconds, then got the two point conversion. That took a lot of guts. One of those games where the better team didn’t win. Look for ND St. to win big next week.

The better Team won. You are wrong.

[The Jackal]

I am glad ETSU won BARELY. The Southern Conference will at least have a team in the final 8.

Barely is an understatement. On espn KSU went from 100% chance of to 100% chance of losing in the last losing in the last 3 minutes. Etsu scored, recovered the onside kick, scored with 35 seconds, then got the two point conversion. That took a lot of guts. One of those games where the better team didn’t win. Look for ND St. to win big next week.

The better Team won. You are wrong.

How can he be wrong when the losing team had a 100% chance of winning?

[apaladin]

If you watched the game KSU was the best team. 278 yds rushing and holding ETSU’s vaunted rushing attack to 70. ET had the ball bounce their way at the end. KSU went to the old prevent you from winning defense at the end and it cost them as it usually does. KSU outgained them by 150 yds and ET had 182yds until the last 5 minutes before KSU went to the “prevent” defense and gave up 126 the last 5 minutes. That is on the coaches. 41% of the ETSU total offense came in the last 5 minutes. If you want to believe ET is the better team because of some bad opposing coaching and the ball bouncing ET’s way at the end I am ok with thst.

[FUBeAR]

If you watched the game KSU was the best team. 278 yds rushing and holding ETSU’s vaunted rushing attack to 70. ET had the ball bounce their way at the end. KSU went to the old prevent you from winning defense at the end and it cost them as it usually does. KSU outgained them by 150 yds and ET had 182yds until the last 5 minutes before KSU went to the “prevent” defense and gave up 126 the last 5 minutes. That is on the coaches. 41% of the ETSU total offense came in the last 5 minutes. If you want to believe ET is the better team because of some bad opposing coaching and the ball bouncing ET’s way at the end I am ok with thst.

I watched every play of the game.

Don’t need nor intend to read/recite any stats nor qualify my assessment in any way. ETSU is the better Team and won the game.

Your assessment is wrong.

[AstroDin]

A question for FUBear or Jackal…
A few Bison fans are bringing up ETSU's lack of experience playing against A-Gap Football, West Coast Power Football.
I read a little and it reminded me of option football?

[FUBeAR]

A question for FUBear or Jackal…
A few Bison fans are bringing up ETSU's lack of experience playing against A-Gap Football, West Coast Power Football.
I read a little and it reminded me of option football?

Nah - tight power scheme - RB hits hole between C & G w/lead back & b/s OG wrapping to lead…p/s OG is down blocking…C blocks back…p/s OT is outblocking (instead of downblocking) because it’s A-Gap power instead of ‘normal’ power….variations to all of this depending on the D

Here is a good article with videos https://www.cover1.net/north-dakota-st ... ariations/

[The Jackal]

If you watched the game KSU was the best team. 278 yds rushing and holding ETSU’s vaunted rushing attack to 70. ET had the ball bounce their way at the end. KSU went to the old prevent you from winning defense at the end and it cost them as it usually does. KSU outgained them by 150 yds and ET had 182yds until the last 5 minutes before KSU went to the “prevent” defense and gave up 126 the last 5 minutes. That is on the coaches. 41% of the ETSU total offense came in the last 5 minutes. If you want to believe ET is the better team because of some bad opposing coaching and the ball bouncing ET’s way at the end I am ok with thst.

See previous post about why yards aren't dispositive.

[The Jackal]

Do we keep a running list somewhere of Furman alums in the coaching ranks?

[apaladin]

If you watched the game KSU was the best team. 278 yds rushing and holding ETSU’s vaunted rushing attack to 70. ET had the ball bounce their way at the end. KSU went to the old prevent you from winning defense at the end and it cost them as it usually does. KSU outgained them by 150 yds and ET had 182yds until the last 5 minutes before KSU went to the “prevent” defense and gave up 126 the last 5 minutes. That is on the coaches. 41% of the ETSU total offense came in the last 5 minutes. If you want to believe ET is the better team because of some bad opposing coaching and the ball bouncing ET’s way at the end I am ok with thst.

See previous post about why yards aren't dispositive.

Will you at least admit that it is very unusual for any team to get 6 short fields to work with? 90 yds yielded six scores.So the average scoring drive was 15 yds. Hard to pile up yardage. They also had 2 other drives that totalled 112 yds. So 202 yds. produced 8 scores. Average of 25 yds per drive for 8 scores. Has to be some sort of a record.

[The Jackal]

If you watched the game KSU was the best team. 278 yds rushing and holding ETSU’s vaunted rushing attack to 70. ET had the ball bounce their way at the end. KSU went to the old prevent you from winning defense at the end and it cost them as it usually does. KSU outgained them by 150 yds and ET had 182yds until the last 5 minutes before KSU went to the “prevent” defense and gave up 126 the last 5 minutes. That is on the coaches. 41% of the ETSU total offense came in the last 5 minutes. If you want to believe ET is the better team because of some bad opposing coaching and the ball bouncing ET’s way at the end I am ok with thst.

See previous post about why yards aren't dispositive.

Will you at least admit that it is very unusual for any team to get 6 short fields to work with? 90 yds yielded six scores.So the average scoring drive was 15 yds. Hard to pile up yardage. They also had 2 other drives that totalled 112 yds. So 202 yds. produced 8 scores. Average of 25 yds per drive for 8 scores. Has to be some sort of a record.

My point is that it is fairly common for a team to win a game in which they are outgained in yardage. Furman won two such games this year, and in both instances were the clear better team that day (Citadel and VMI). It literally happens all the time. Sometimes, the gap is just more drastic.

I raise this only because of the frequent collective freakout over "total offense" in a game or season. How many yards we gain. How our "soft" pass defense let a team throw for too many yards.

Total offense is sometimes only very loosely connected to the game's final outcome. Time of possession is a stat that frequently has nothing to do with who wins and loses. There are other data points that ARE closely connected with the final score (turnover margin, for instance). We just ignore those for whatever reason.

Football is a team game. The team is working for a common goal - from play calling, to the decision to go for it on 4th down, to playing zone coverage against a passing offense. The hope is that all three phases will complement one another in furtherance of the ultimate goal of winning.

This is the primary reason why ETSU is good and Samford is not.

ETSU doesn't have the SoCon's best offense. They don't have the SoCon's best defense. In fact, they are the SoCon's worst team in pass defense.

What do they do well? They don't make a ton of mistakes. They are top two in red zone scoring and defense. They have an insanely high turnover margin (+10). They lead the league in 3rd down conversion rate. They are highly efficient throwing the ball, even though they are not near the best passing team in the league.

Those are data points more closely associated with winning, not whether their pass defense opts for a "soft zone."

So, yes, the Montana game was a statistically unique contest, but it doesn't change the larger point - a lot of the stats that we think matter really don't matter that much.