EIU Game thread (9/16)

[saxman210]

Maybe I'm going against the grain here but I'm just not as impressed with Kolbe as Spack seems to be. It could just be that we haven't really opened the playbook the last two games. But I feel like we are more likely to not convert a 3rd than we are, especially if it's long. He underthrew Gillum for his "best" throw, and he was nearly picked off twice yesterday. I just never feel like he's gonna "make something happen". We are clogged with great talent behind this guy...I can see that, just not seeing what he can consistently bring to the table other than experience.

I agree with you on this one. And again, I haven't seen this 2017 team live yet, so maybe my opinion isn't as accurate as some who have seen the Birds live this year. Kolbe seems like a game manager, not one who can consistently make plays down the field or with his legs.

Our defense and whether it can maintain its performances of the past two weeks and stay healthy seems to be the key to our season.

 

[fourthandshort]

So far, Illinois State has the best defense in Div 1 football by points and yards.

Our RBs are drenched in talent, as well.

If Kolbe can manage a game and avg 225 yds plus a 2-1 td to int, ISU will be easily one of the favorites for Frisco.

Keep it up.

Kolbe had just pretty good game yesterday ... he was a little off his targets, but there were at least 3 drops. What I've noticed though is his comfort level in pocket .. he looks much more sure of himself under pressure, and makes better decisions to either step up under outside pressure, or to roll out under inside pressure. One of the sacks, he was hit twice and escaped before 3rd guy finally took him down. Other situations where he calmly stepped up to extend play. That said, pass game was pretty good, not great yesterday. Considering new OL against 1st FCS level defense, Ill take yesterday's performance.

Quick note on RBS Robinson and Smith ... just going to be fun watching these guys pummel and run around tacklers this year. NDSU won most of their championships with 2 strong RBs sharing reps 50/50 ... combine with our defense and Kolbe's maturation in pocket, the is why a playoff run is looking more and more probable.

Just need to know our opponents will keep getting better each week after InSU and MoST games .. we have 2 more "should win" games to get things together, then the meat of our schedule for last 7 ... got to stay hungry, keep getting better, game plan smart for our OL .... this could be a special season folks !!!

 

[Chi-bird]

Didn't get to catch the game yesterday, but boy am I glad that I was wrong about our offense struggling. I like to wait all until conference play begins and until I actually get to watch a few games before forming a season outlook....but just looking at the statistics, the balance, etc..... so far, so good.

 

[TreRoberson4Heisman]

Couldn't catch the game. Trying to find a replay. Does anyone know how OVC Digital Network's "On Demand" works? Right now, it's 30 minutes of the band warming up.

 

[saxman210]

Couldn't catch the game. Trying to find a replay. Does anyone know how OVC Digital Network's "On Demand" works? Right now, it's 30 minutes of the band warming up.

That's what we got to watch for the first half yesterday...Who knows, their system leaves a lot to be desired compared to our deal with ESPN3

 

[Sanantoniobird]

I thought Kolbe played fine. Offense still has not hit their stride but I don't think many of us expected that early on as the line found their lanes in the road. I think a Broadnax package would be a good change of pace and cause the opposition to prepare for a different wrinkle. While Broadnax has played very well and is an exciting player, lets not lose sight of the fact that he has only played at the end of the first two games when the outcome was really not in doubt. Different at the beginning of the game. Defense looked magnificent! Horton had a whale of a game and the EIU QBs are probably glad they don't have to face the Redbird D again. The only thing that bothered me was the points left on the field. A few missed field goals and the Birds had the ball deep inside the Pather end of the field a few times and came away with no points of just the field goal. When you get that kind of field position you have to get points. For those of you, like me, that missed much of the first half on the OVC digital network the game is up for a replay. I just watched the first half that I missed yesterday. They pick up the game with the Birds up 7-0 but you can see a good portion of what was missed yesterday.

well just want to be clear, I'm not saying that Broadnax is the "man" either. Just saying I'm not sure Kolbe is. He's showing that he's much harder to take down this year, and looks much calmer in the pocket...balls don't look great, tho. Hope I'm just hung over from the grainy OVC network.

 

[Virginia Redbird]

Couldn't catch the game. Trying to find a replay. Does anyone know how OVC Digital Network's "On Demand" works? Right now, it's 30 minutes of the band warming up.

I watched the whole replay this morning. Not sure I can be much help but I had to register on the OVC Digital Network and yesterday got the whole 30 minutes of warmups and band the preceded the game. The minute foot hit ball on the kickoff the feed dropped off and nothing but problems from then on. There appear to be two links on the OVC network...one has the pre-game stuff and the other the game minus basically the 1st quarter. About 3/4 of the game is on their network since I watched it this morning but I spent probably close to two hours figuring out how to use the network. Pretty lousy video stream and not at all user friendly. I will be very glad to be back with the ESPN feed next week.

 

[fourthandshort]

Maybe I'm going against the grain here but I'm just not as impressed with Kolbe as Spack seems to be. It could just be that we haven't really opened the playbook the last two games. But I feel like we are more likely to not convert a 3rd than we are, especially if it's long. He underthrew Gillum for his "best" throw, and he was nearly picked off twice yesterday. I just never feel like he's gonna "make something happen". We are clogged with great talent behind this guy...I can see that, just not seeing what he can consistently bring to the table other than experience.

I don't think we have anyone on our depth chart who is even close to Kolbe as it stands today. Give this some time to develop.

As previously beaten to death, we have 4.5 new OL .. even still, we spent entire spring and good part of August trying to figure out our OL depth chart. So it is not like we've been locked into our 5 OL guys for any amount of time yet. Think about what that does to playbook and play calling ... still figuring out who our OL will be and where they are at development wise .. not to mention chemistry within the OL group and then with the QB. Takes time.

Recall a year ago how up and down we were on offense first half of season .... Kolbe still finished 4th in MVFC in his 1st year as starter, despite all the sacks and ear;ly season turnovers. And he was just 2 points from 2nd place.

PASS EFFICIENCY
1. Christion,Taryn-SDSU 154.8
2. Straughan, Josh-SIU 142.2
3. Stick,Easton-NDSU 142.2
4. Kolbe,Jake-ILS 140.2
5. Streveler,Chris-USD 140.0
6. McGuire,Sean-WIU 130.5
7. Harker, Isaac-INS 128.6
8. Lambert,Brodie-MSU 122.3
9. Mays, Nathan-YSU 112.1

This offense is off to better start than a year ago (Northwestern was an early anomaly) and with 4.5 new OL .. also minus Warrum, and 3 of 4 from last years RB by committee. I like where we are at and Kolbe is the guy to take us thru entire MVFC season into playoffs.

 

[BallwinBird2012]

I would agree that Kolbe is definitely "the guy", but I think the issue may be more with the way our offense is set up. My biggest concern with Kolbe last year and what I saw from the first game this year (couldn't handle the EIU feed) is that I feel like he's very prone to staring receivers down. May have had my mind changed a little while watching the UF-Tenn game yesterday.

Can't remember who made the comment, but they were talking about how a lot of college offenses are sometimes simplified for QB's in that a particular pass play may be designed to go to a specific WR to eliminate a young guy having to go through several reads. If that WR doesn't get open, and there's no check down or "safety valve", then you end up with 1. a sack 2. an incompletion/pick pick from a QB trying to force a ball to a covered receiver or 3. Lamar Jackson video game stuff.

I feel like last year we saw more sacks from Kolbe not knowing what to do when his "guy" wasn't open. This year, he looks more comfortable, but I still see examples of not having a "plan B" when his initial read isn't there, which may be a function of our offense. Just my two cents. Would love to hear others' thoughts.

 

[Virginia Redbird]

I would agree that Kolbe is definitely "the guy", but I think the issue may be more with the way our offense is set up. My biggest concern with Kolbe last year and what I saw from the first game this year (couldn't handle the EIU feed) is that I feel like he's very prone to staring receivers down. May have had my mind changed a little while watching the UF-Tenn game yesterday.

Can't remember who made the comment, but they were talking about how a lot of college offenses are sometimes simplified for QB's in that a particular pass play may be designed to go to a specific WR to eliminate a young guy having to go through several reads. If that WR doesn't get open, and there's no check down or "safety valve", then you end up with 1. a sack 2. an incompletion/pick pick from a QB trying to force a ball to a covered receiver or 3. Lamar Jackson video game stuff.

I feel like last year we saw more sacks from Kolbe not knowing what to do when his "guy" wasn't open. This year, he looks more comfortable, but I still see examples of not having a "plan B" when his initial read isn't there, which may be a function of our offense. Just my two cents. Would love to hear others' thoughts.

Last year I do think we probably saw that happen quite a bit. This year I have not seen enough to make a call on the offensive system causing hesitation with Kolbe's decision making. He was under some pressure at times yesterday. I did not see the beginning of the game due to the streaming video feed not working but I noticed when I did get the picture (no sound while I was watching) that the starting center, Dean Helt #58, was not playing. Garret Hirsh #72, was playing and I wondered if that caused some problems with an O-line already trying to get in a groove. Does anybody know if Helt started the game? I did not know if he was hurt or if the coaches made a switch at that position. If there was some changes on an already inexperienced O-line that could impact the offensive strategy. I would also think the coaches are looking for Kolbe to manage the game and avoid mistakes. They have what looks to be a very good and maybe great defense. They have a stable of impressive running backs who have all been productive. The receiving corps has been pretty good with some big plays but also quite a few dropped passes in the first two games. I can see right now where the coaching staff may want to play it a bit conservative while the offense has a chance to grow together. I have not looked at any stats as yet, just my thoughts from watching the first 1.75 games.

 

[StLRedbird]

You know how they say there are no dumb questions? Well, keep that in mind in the near future please. How important is staring down receivers in the college game? Is it something that definitely gets exploited by defenses?

 

[MadBird]

I saw Helt playing in the second half. Hoselton also was on the field at times. Looked like they were doing some rotating there in the second half, before the game was "decided". Seems like a good thing, getting a few guys some PT.

Gillum said "It was a great ball. Jake had real good ball placement." Spack said "Jake did a good job finding him". So, you know, I'm sure neither one is going to sort of call out Kolbe, but I have to think they wouldn't be so full of praise if it was a crap throw.

I would say also that there's a period of adjustment with some of the receivers, most have been around, but there's some shaking out of who's moving to the front of the "rotation" so to speak, who Kolbe is getting most comfortable with, who he has the best rapport with, whose moves he can anticipate, etc.

But you have to feel good about the OL at this point, they seem to be getting the job done. We'll see when the competition gets tougher, but they stepped up after the Butler game and met the challenge, and I'm not sure MSU will be any tougher than EIU, but it will be another decent test, and on the road.

Seems like a team we can all get behind! Good bunch of guys.

 

[Seeing Red]

Helt was injured in the second half and he tried to make a go of it, but clearly was hurting. It looked to be an ankle. He did come back in after a while, but did not look to be at full strength and then once we put the game away there was no reason to risk anything further.

 

[fourthandshort]

Helt got banged up and left game, then apparently returned.

I don't recall if Conley made it back after injuring his left arm .. were deep at DL, but definitely want him healthy.

 

[fourthandshort]

Pass to Gillum was barely behind him, which is not uncommon on vertical routes over middle .. beats the hell out of overthrowing the wide open target.

Great YAC for Gillum shedding couple tacklers in secondary.

Good to see big plays from our TEs .. 2 catches for 109 yards. Got to keep finding our TEs.

 

[MadBird]

Helt was injured in the second half and he tried to make a go of it, but clearly was hurting. It looked to be an ankle. He did come back in after a while, but did not look to be at full strength and then once we put the game away there was no reason to risk anything further.

Which raises the question, what up with Tyler Brown? Injured? What did I miss?

 

[Virginia Redbird]

Helt was injured in the second half and he tried to make a go of it, but clearly was hurting. It looked to be an ankle. He did come back in after a while, but did not look to be at full strength and then once we put the game away there was no reason to risk anything further.

Thanks for the info about the injury. Hopefully nothing serious. The video was pretty blurry so it was hard for me to make out uniform numbers unless it was a close up shot. I too have thought the O-line has played well so far. They will have their hands full later on in the season.

 

[Total Red]

Impressive. That was the largest margin of victory ever for the Redbirds at Eastern and we've been playing this one for a long time. Hoist it.

 

[Sanantoniobird]

Helt was injured in the second half and he tried to make a go of it, but clearly was hurting. It looked to be an ankle. He did come back in after a while, but did not look to be at full strength and then once we put the game away there was no reason to risk anything further.

Which raises the question, what up with Tyler Brown? Injured? What did I miss?

Tyler Brown came in immediately when Helt was hurt. I can't tell you how long he played tho. Could barely make out numbers.

 

[JHBird]

Tyree Horton looked like a stud. A couple sacks, 11 tackles I think. I expected a closer game, so it was a pleasant surprise. I really enjoyed the walk around the EIU campus after the game, wearing the red of course.

The passing game looked a little out of synch, but the running game was on in a big way. I've been impressed with how Markel and Robinson keep breaking tackles. Those guys are hard to bring down, and they have deceptive speed - not Coprich speed, but good enough to break some big ones.