Uni at Illinois State (11/2/19)

[Trey_Guidry4three]

I was at the game with my family. I felt embarrassed such a highly anticipated game had no more than 3,000 fans at such a highly meaningful game for Spack and ISU Football. I am also disappointed at the boring offense ISU continues to run, lack of discipline with unforseen turnovers and most of all lack of effort. I can't tell you how many times I saw some of our guys on defense dogging it. First half or end of game saw it both times. Absolutely inexcusable

 

[Redbirds100]

This is one of the worst games I have attended, embarrassing. Across the field throws, I don't see the other teams QB's doing this stuff, too many runs for little yardage thus too many third and longs...., hated the wild interception pass at the end of the first half.
Now if Ohio State or Norte Dame has this kind of a Performance, they would go into the next week with no changes? Post game press conferences are just full of excuses we hear game after game, when playing a decent team, where are the quality wins? Same as last year...

 

[Redbirds100]

TE Robert Gillium, seemed upset & frustrated during the game on the field, just my fan observation.....

 

[StLRedbird]

At some point, you have to look at the common denominator. And it might not be fair to OC Beathard ... but this is Spacks offense not Beathards IMO. Spack is afraid to let his QB play. IMO, we will always struggle to recruit and develop HS QBs with Spacks philosphy at the QB position .. they play scared to make mistakes .. big difference between that and playing smart.

I like Spack as our Head Coach and the influence he has on defense. He needs to hire a new OC and let them be in charge, period.

I don't believe this is true, fourth. Managed to remember my binoculars for the first time in a while and focused on watching the coaches interactions with the team during dead ball huddles. The coordinators are definitely in charge of their units on a play by play basis. Spack is not directing them during the game and has very limited interaction with the players.

Obviously Spack is the HC and he directs his staff and interacts with the players. All I'm saying is that I watched our sideline diligently during dead balls and it's very clear that the direction of the team from one play to the next is in the hands of the coordinators. They are in charge.

 

[Total Red]

Just got done watching the replay. Outstanding games by McKnight (Def) and Haley (Off).

We passed the ball today more than we ran. We're not afraid to do it but maybe we should be because we didn't do it very well. Davis seemed to be pressing again and he had some ill-advised throws. Other times he just didn't seem to be on the same page with the receiver and I don't know whose fault that is. Maybe everybody's (QB, receiver, coaches). Watching the game it felt like there was a huge difference between Davis and the UNI QB but completion-wise Davis was 13 for 28 and the UNI QB was 14 for 28. There were really just a few key plays where we had INTs and UNI threw for TDs and that added up to a big difference. The UNI QB also showed more escapability.

We're not out of the playoff picture. The playoffs are still clearly in play but we'll need a much better passing attack than we had today. If I was coaching this team I would show Davis highlights of every completion he had today and highlights from other games. I can't guarantee that being positive with the team will enable them to beat a highly ranked team like SDSU but I don't think the coaching staff is going to go negative. That could turn a one game losing streak into four.

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

Freaking amazing how fast in ISU fandom the Redbird kool-aid flows even post beat down. Nothing will change for ISU sports until fan expectations change. By Monday morning Davis likely to be FCS MVP.

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

I was at the game with my family. I felt embarrassed such a highly anticipated game had no more than 3,000 fans at such a highly meaningful game for Spack and ISU Football. I am also disappointed at the boring offense ISU continues to run, lack of discipline with unforseen turnovers and most of all lack of effort. I can't tell you how many times I saw some of our guys on defense dogging it. First half or end of game saw it both times. Absolutely inexcusable

You should be embarrassed because you were one of the 3,000 that showed up as opposed to being one of the other 10,000 who wisely choose not to show up.

 

[vbird]

I was at the game with my family. I felt embarrassed such a highly anticipated game had no more than 3,000 fans at such a highly meaningful game for Spack and ISU Football. I am also disappointed at the boring offense ISU continues to run, lack of discipline with unforseen turnovers and most of all lack of effort. I can't tell you how many times I saw some of our guys on defense dogging it. First half or end of game saw it both times. Absolutely inexcusable

You should be embarrassed because you were one of the 3,000 that showed up as opposed to being one of the other 10,000 who wisely choose not to show up.

Lol, if you think today’s crowd was bad....wait until 2 weeks from now....

 

[Birdswin]

The more I think about our offense, or lack thereof, the more frustrated I get. We have to be the easiest team, not only in the MVFC to defend, but in all of FCS. So predictable, tight formations constantly, and just a general lack of awareness and game situation - pathetic.

Davis had terrible instincts again today. Several times he put himself in worse situations by trying to scramble outside - only to make it easier for the DE to get to him. Throwing off of his back foot - terrible. Then missing open receivers when he had time.

Our offense works good enough to win against average to below average teams - looks terrible against good teams.

 

[TIMMY]

Freaking amazing how fast in ISU fandom the Redbird kool-aid flows even post beat down. Nothing will change for ISU sports until fan expectations change. By Monday morning Davis likely to be FCS MVP.

Is that how you see it? There are 3 pages on the HC Homecoming win. Already 8 pages on yesterdays beat down. And this "fandom" is a bunch of kool-aid drinkers?

We're 6-3. I like our kids. Quit on them if you want. Wallow in the bad stuff along with the others that pour on here when something bad happens. Let's work hard to turn this into the basketball board. 8 pages to 3. Kool-aid drinkers.

 

[TIMMY]

I was at the game with my family. I felt embarrassed such a highly anticipated game had no more than 3,000 fans at such a highly meaningful game for Spack and ISU Football. I am also disappointed at the boring offense ISU continues to run, lack of discipline with unforseen turnovers and most of all lack of effort. I can't tell you how many times I saw some of our guys on defense dogging it. First half or end of game saw it both times. Absolutely inexcusable

You should be embarrassed because you were one of the 3,000 that showed up as opposed to being one of the other 10,000 who wisely choose not to show up.

This is the kind of crap I'm talking about. This guy has posted 317 times on Redbirdfan. 314 of them on the basketball board. Always negative. And now after a bad loss he shows up here. Posting the same crap he posts on the basketball board. So feed your ISU fan buddy and his agenda. Buulshit..

What by the way is an unforseen turnover? The opposite of a forseen turnover?

 

[StLRedbird]

I was at the game with my family. I felt embarrassed such a highly anticipated game had no more than 3,000 fans at such a highly meaningful game for Spack and ISU Football. I am also disappointed at the boring offense ISU continues to run, lack of discipline with unforseen turnovers and most of all lack of effort. I can't tell you how many times I saw some of our guys on defense dogging it. First half or end of game saw it both times. Absolutely inexcusable

You should be embarrassed because you were one of the 3,000 that showed up as opposed to being one of the other 10,000 who wisely choose not to show up.

This is the kind of crap I'm talking about. This guy has posted 317 times on Redbirdfan. 314 of them on the basketball board. Always negative. And now after a bad loss he shows up here. Posting the same crap he posts on the basketball board. So feed your ISU fan buddy and his agenda. Buulshit..

What by the way is an unforseen turnover? The opposite of a forseen turnover?

I hereby nominate this for POY. I do not want that shit over here on this board. And oh, by the way. Stop it over there too.

 

[StLRedbird]

Alright, so in a nutshell, the question is time to fish or cut bait at the QB position, right? I'm still in camp fish, but was thinkin' a lot about cutting bait yesterday.

Couple other things about the game... We clearly had a contain strategy with the pass rush, including a very long stretch of three man rushes. I thought McElvain was allowed to spend crazy amounts of time in the pocket, but we kept sending three. We bent but didn't break, trailing 14-10 going into the fourth quarter, when the wheels fell off our offense.

Is JR hurt? I just don't see the same ability to escape the first hit. Judging by the crash of the pads he's still eager to lay a lick on on defender that presents themselves.

Oh, and this game could've started out waaaay differently. McElvain tried hard to complete passes to Romeo McKnight and Charles Woods deep in their own territory during their first two possessions.

 

[Manchester Matt]

Alright, so in a nutshell, the question is time to fish or cut bait at the QB position, right? I'm still in camp fish, but was thinkin' a lot about cutting bait yesterday.

Couple other things about the game... We clearly had a contain strategy with the pass rush, including a very long stretch of three man rushes. I thought McElvain was allowed to spend crazy amounts of time in the pocket, but we kept sending three. We bent but didn't break, trailing 14-10 going into the fourth quarter, when the wheels fell off our offense.

Is JR hurt? I just don't see the same ability to escape the first hit. Judging by the crash of the pads he's still eager to lay a lick on on defender that presents themselves.

Oh, and this game could've started out waaaay differently. McElvain tried hard to complete passes to Romeo McKnight and Charles Woods deep in their own territory during their first two possessions.

I also keep thinking about the missed sack when McElvain escaped two defenders and threw the TD pass to put them up 21-10 in the fourth.

Felt like we had a great chance until then.

 

[Virginia Redbird]

Alright, so in a nutshell, the question is time to fish or cut bait at the QB position, right? I'm still in camp fish, but was thinkin' a lot about cutting bait yesterday.

Couple other things about the game... We clearly had a contain strategy with the pass rush, including a very long stretch of three man rushes. I thought McElvain was allowed to spend crazy amounts of time in the pocket, but we kept sending three. We bent but didn't break, trailing 14-10 going into the fourth quarter, when the wheels fell off our offense.

Is JR hurt? I just don't see the same ability to escape the first hit. Judging by the crash of the pads he's still eager to lay a lick on on defender that presents themselves.

Oh, and this game could've started out waaaay differently. McElvain tried hard to complete passes to Romeo McKnight and Charles Woods deep in their own territory during their first two possessions.

It looked like when they sent four after the UNI QB they got burned more often than not. The three man run contained him for a good portion of the game but he started to makes plays as the game wore on. I thought the defense still played well. Especially at the end of the game where the three straight turnovers put them up against the wall and they only gave up a couple of field goals. I saw someone posted that it looked like the Redbirds quit but I did not see that, at least not from the defense.
Anyone who says this offense is more than one dimensional and mediocre at best is looking through rose-colored glasses. They have a great running back and with Proctor a very good tandem. It takes more than that though. Special teams I thought played well yesterday. The offense needed to do something at the end of the first half. At the very least keep the ball and go into the half 7-7. Instead they give the ball back to UNI and they take the 14-7 lead into the half. Then with the first possession of the 2nd half the Birds offense does nothing. That time span is where the game really swung to UNI and the Birds never recovered. I think they played hard just did not make the plays.
Talking about what could have been is what losing teams do. If Brady hits that long pass deep, if they made the interceptions, if, if, if. The post game press conference nobody did that and that is good. Talking about if though is really pointless. They did not make those plays and they lost. That is the game.

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

Freaking amazing how fast in ISU fandom the Redbird kool-aid flows even post beat down. Nothing will change for ISU sports until fan expectations change. By Monday morning Davis likely to be FCS MVP.

Is that how you see it? There are 3 pages on the HC Homecoming win. Already 8 pages on yesterdays beat down. And this "fandom" is a bunch of kool-aid drinkers?

We're 6-3. I like our kids. Quit on them if you want. Wallow in the bad stuff along with the others that pour on here when something bad happens. Let's work hard to turn this into the basketball board. 8 pages to 3. Kool-aid drinkers.

call a spade a spade, Timmy. Defense team played well. Offense team played poorly especially at the leadership position. Give the next “kid” who has been working hard a chance at Qb. This game was a significant and highly ranked opponent vs the HC game. Though stadium attendance was lower likely many more eyes watching on line

 

[TIMMY]

Freaking amazing how fast in ISU fandom the Redbird kool-aid flows even post beat down. Nothing will change for ISU sports until fan expectations change. By Monday morning Davis likely to be FCS MVP.

Is that how you see it? There are 3 pages on the HC Homecoming win. Already 8 pages on yesterdays beat down. And this "fandom" is a bunch of kool-aid drinkers?

We're 6-3. I like our kids. Quit on them if you want. Wallow in the bad stuff along with the others that pour on here when something bad happens. Let's work hard to turn this into the basketball board. 8 pages to 3. Kool-aid drinkers.

call a spade a spade, Timmy. Defense team played well. Offense team played poorly especially at the leadership position. Give the next “kid” who has been working hard a chance at Qb. This game was a significant and highly ranked opponent vs the HC game. Though stadium attendance was lower likely many more eyes watching on line

I'm with you on all of this with one caveat. Give the kid a chance at QB if he's shown in practice he can compete with the first team.

Yesterday sucked.

 

[redbirdfan04]

Same thing every year. I am over ISU football!!

I was pretty much done last season when he started Davis over Jake. As far as I’m concerned it ruined the chemistry of the team, AND I don’t think Davis was better than Jake.

When Jake played last year it was not great. Jake had an amazing Sophomore year here and his Junior was a struggle due to poor offensive line play and many WR drops. Brady did win the job fairly over Jake last year but he has not performed even close to what he is capable. His comments about this being his last because he is tired of camps did worry me. It sounds as if he is not putting the work in possibly. On the other hand if we can some how go 2-1 we will more than likely get a home playoff game. He keys on one receiver and also leaves the pocket way to early. A lot of people have magically shown up after this game which I understand but I am going to still support this group. We have a chance to make the playoffs and that is the goal.

 

[JHBird]

The one thing I'd like to see more of are bootlegs off of play action with 2 receiver routes. Make UNI play 3 over 2. Some crossing routes. Stick routes. Curl flat combos. Smash. Scissors. Easy peasy. Drag a TE and throw it to him. I think that could open things up a little bit. Everyone's keying JR. So use that and bootleg away from him.

It ain't brain surgery.

Pass to a TE? Is that legal? Someone, please inform our OC that it is a possibility.

Who remembers -- 2 years ago, 2017, TE Robert Gillum had the longest reception of the year, 80 yd TD?? Seemed so promising way back when!!

I was there, at EIU. I thought wow, we have a potential star at TE, and then pffffft two years go by and you barely notice him out there. The TE might be our weakest position. Nobody seems to be a factor in the passing game.

 

[redbirdfan04]

I was at the game with my family. I felt embarrassed such a highly anticipated game had no more than 3,000 fans at such a highly meaningful game for Spack and ISU Football. I am also disappointed at the boring offense ISU continues to run, lack of discipline with unforseen turnovers and most of all lack of effort. I can't tell you how many times I saw some of our guys on defense dogging it. First half or end of game saw it both times. Absolutely inexcusable

I was at the game too and do not recall the defense playing with lack of effort even in the fourth quarter. Can you give specific players that were dogging as you say. Yes, the QB play was terrible I do not think anyone is arguing that. As for attendance we are averaging one of the best attendance numbers in FCS. If you take out the HBC schools we are in the top ten in attendance.

11,256 vs Moorehead
9,891 vs. UNA
13, 391 vs NDSU
8,510 vs INDSU
6,705 vs UNI
For an average of 9,950 per game

On the road
14,568 at NIU
6,119 at EIU
5,525 at SIU
2,984 at WIU
For an average of 7,299