Gm 6 Football vs Maine 12pm Sat Oct 13 Homecoming for URI

[Shinze88]

The play calling in the 2nd half have been dismal. The wild cat is not going to work more than once or twice a game.
Need to establish the line of scrimmage and pound the ball on the Maine defense, need to wear them down

[ATPTourFan]

Can we not shoot ourselves with dumb penalties?

[ATPTourFan]

Painful. Looking like last year now. Bad picks and discipline.

[Shinze88]

This is really where Lawson makes such a difference with his ability to run, Priore is no threat to run whatsoever. Need to move the chains here, momentum completely with Maine right now

[ramster]

TD Aaron Parker!!!
Go Rhody!!
Clutch 75 yard Drive!

[Rhodyram]

Maine could not have been worse on that last drive.

[ATPTourFan]

Oh. My. God.

[Rhodyram]

Uri kicking off. From the Maine 35. I’ve never seen that before.

[PeterRamTime]

Gotta wrap it up here!

What a ugly ending to this game.

Penalties galore.

Thanks for handing us a touchdown Maine!

[Sweep The Leg]

Horrible in-game coaching at the end. You have the ball at 2 and you don't run it to make Maine burn their final 2 TOs? And then you have a chance to squib a kick at the 35 and you decide to kick out of the endzone? They only need a FG to win.

[PeterRamTime]

Wow

[PeterRamTime]

We are making it so easy for them
Damnit ..

[4Diffs]

Horrible in-game coaching at the end. You have the ball at 2 and you don't run it to make Maine burn their final 2 TOs? And then you a chance to squib a kick at the 35 and you decide to kick out of the endzone? They only need a FG to win.

Agree, that decision not to try an onside kick was ridiculous. If they lose this game, that will be a killer. At worse you have them at the 25, at best you have the ball or inside the 20 or so. And these 12 men on the field penalties at the end are brutal.

[PeterRamTime]

Horrible in-game coaching at the end. You have the ball at 2 and you don't run it to make Maine burn their final 2 TOs? And then you a chance to squib a kick at the 35 and you decide to kick out of the endzone? They only need a FG to win.

Agree, that decision not to try an onside kick was ridiculous. If they lose this game, that will be a killer. At worse you have them at the 25, at best you have the ball or inside the 20 or so. And these 12 men on the field penalties at the end are brutal.

Not doing an onside kick is unbelievable.

[RF1]

Defense could not stop Maine in the 4th qtr. Lose a tough one on a game ending field goal.

[TruePoint]

That was the worst coached 2 minutes by both coaches I’ve ever seen. URI almost got bailed out by Maine’s idiocy and then they returned the favor and handed Maine back the game. It’s been a long time since I’ve been actually mad about a URI football loss, but here I am. What a disappointment.

[PeterRamTime]

Schedule will just get harder every week now.

Really blew that one.
Dumb coaching.
In front of the sell out.
Reminds me of when the basketball team couldn't win in front of sell out crowds.

We need Lawson back bad. Vito is okay but maybe not good enough to take us to the playoffs.

[ATPTourFan]

Keep giving them those 5 yard completions on the sideline. Dumb. Clock is your friend. Nobody should be getting out of bounds.

[Shinze88]

The fact that I'm even upset we lost a football game speaks volumes of how far we've come, but this was about as atrocious a loss as you can get considering what was at stake. How you let a team march down the field like that is inexcusable, Maine had 1 receiver they were throwing to and we couldn't stop them from marching down the field so easily. The play calling in the 2nd half was really bad and RI's inability to move the chains kept the defense on the field for to much time. The loss of Lawson was magnified in this game as his ability to run was missing. Maine did everything they could to give us this game and yet we somehow continue to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

[ElmCityRhody]

I actually saw the ending

Not kicking an onside kick from the 35 is about the dumbest decision one could make

At least pooch it in the air to the 5, or at least try doing that

[Rhodymob05]

I was right at the 15 yard line when the ref didn’t call a push off on Maine which lead to a Maine TD late in the third. It was the most embarrassing non call I’ve ever seen in a football game. Two other notible non calls made a huge difference in this game, I would vouch for the firing of that ref , it was that bad. Thousands of tailgaters and a sold out game was awesome. Let’s hope Lawson is back and we have a good chance against the test of the schedule.

[adam914]

Today seemed like further proof that our coaching staff is just not good. We've gotten by so far this year on talent alone but the coaching staff still sucks in game.

[PaulieMash]

A few takeaways from todays game:

Coaching: Why Why Why do you not try a squib kick from the opponents 35 with 50 seconds to go? Why do you attempt an identical play for the two point conversion as the previous TD on Rhody's last drive. Under a minute to go and up only 2, Rhody's D goes into a very soft prevent zone. Maine's wideouts had a TON of dropped balls, why let them march down the field so easily? Most frustrating were the not one but TWO illegal substitutions in almost consecutive plays. That is absolutely inexcusable. Also, would have like to have seen some more emotion of the multiple questionable calls from the sideline during the last 5 mins.

Priore: I watched him the whole game. I did not see one instance where he looked off a WR. He played very scared. He stares down his first option and whether the play is there or not the ball is going to get thrown in that direction. He throws behind and over his receivers and if the play collapses he panics. He has a long way to go, I hope the coaching staff can work with him and this is the floor not the ceiling. I understand he is a sophomore but if this is our guy for the next two years I'm concerned we're going to be right back to 2-9 seasons.

Crowd: During Maine's 4th quarter comeback the life got sucked out of the crowd. At a couple of points in the 4th quarter, the four rows of Maine fans were louder than all of the Rhody fans in the stadium. It was great to see a sold out crowd for the football team, need to use it to our advantage more.

Ref's: This was a chippy game from the onset and the refs seemed to be a step behind the whole game. During Maine's last TD drive, an egregious push off by a Maine WR along the sideline was not called. That penalty is called an perhaps the game plays out differently. Also, laughably the refs originally spotted the ball 10 yards ahead of of the 50 after a URI completion for a holding penalty that was declined. Thanks guys but you can't tack on those yards after the fact. Just an couple of examples of the buffoonery of the crew for this game.

I don't usually get PO'd after a football game, but I left completely frustrated. Hoping they get back on track next week.

[rhodyfan3]

Maine gifted us that late TD with multiple flags on that drive.
We blew this opportunity. Coaching needs to be better. We also NEED a healthy Lawson. Priore at times looked like he closed his eyes, threw it, and hoped for the best.

[Rhody83]

I agree that the coaching wasn’t good but the defense gave up 24 points in the final 25 minutes. They couldn’t stop the run or the pass. The two 12 men penalties where bad but only one was enforced- they took the 6 yard gain on the play over the 5 yard penalty.
Maine had more time had they not got the extra 5 yards. They wasted two plays - one to move the ball to the center of the field and one to run the clock down (then called TO). Your defense has to stop a team from scoring when they start on the 25 yard line.

Maine completed several 3rd and 15s. Thst can’t happen.

[Bos8]

I wonder if we take a look at a 5th year transfer next year at QB. I think it would be an attractive opportunity for a talented FBS guy to come in and play with a group of talented group of veteran receivers and to start working with them in the spring. Parker, Coulter, Kenny, Dorsey and Frimpong along with the running backs could/should be back. Then the following year Vito, Grant and anyone else would have the opportunity to compete for the starting spot.

[ramster]

Sellout crowd of 7,301. It was the largest crowd at Meade since Oct. 19, 1991!!!!
Tough start when Piore passed in 1stQ that was ruled a backwards lateral and not a forward pass. Not good and Maine picks it up and runs 66 yards for the TD. Whistle never blew. URI has easy chances to tackle but just stood there, no effort to try to tackle from any player. Don't stop til the whistle blows. Back to Coaching?

Blocked extra point hurt. FG would have tied the game instead of winning it

Big play by Marvin Beauvais on 4th down in last URI drive to keep it alive.

For those who have watched Fleming and URI much the past several years the 12 men on the field penalties should not be a surprise. I am sure the opposition coaching staff are ready. Why so many substitutions on defense when we are in the pass prevent defense anyway? Maine was hurrying to snap to try to get those 12 men penalties.

Kick off from the Maine 35 yard line with only 51 seconds remaining? enuff said
Squib kick it.
Chance to recover it and game over
Kicking a squib kick runs maybe 5-8 seconds off a very critical 51 second clock
Chance to pin them back past the 25 yard line if you squib kick. Maybe the 15? 20? Critical yards with only 51 seconds left
Booming the kick out of the end zone gave Maine a physiological lift. I am sure Maine's Coaching Staff and players did not expect that from URI - unfortunately I was not that surprised having seen Fleming and Company weird coaching calls over the years
Our defense had to stop Maine regardless but my guess is the URI Coaching Staff did not feel we could stop them or the Coaching staff just had a brain cramp or the Coaching staff was just oblivious in the moment and made a panic stupid decision. Judging from the past I would say it was just a staff oblivious, in a panic, not at all well thought out, a stupid decision - plain and simple

On to Stony Brook.

[TruePoint]

The two most curious coaching decisions I’ve seen in years were Maine’s decision to kick an XP up 4 points with a minute left and URI’s decision to kick the ball thru the end zone from Maine’s 35 yard line. Only our decision turned out to be consequential, but you’d think an alien that just arrived on earth and was somehow thrust into coaching a football game immediately upon his arrival would figure out (or intuit) why they shouldn’t do those those things having only seen the previous 59 minutes of football. Truly incompetent coaching, but ours was worse.

[Bos8]

For those who have watched Fleming and URI much the past several years the 12 men on the field penalties should not be a surprise. I am sure the opposition coaching staff are ready. Why so many substitutions on defense when we are in the pass prevent defense anyway? Maine was hurrying to snap to try to get those 12 men penalties.

Look at our typical starters in the secondary.
DJ Stewart- Out Hurt
Ahkema Evans- Out Hurt
Momodou Mbye- Out Hurt

So that means the only original starter in our secondary was Dickerson, who was banged earlier in the game. I believe the first substitution penalty was because LB Mack was shaken up. I saw him grabbing for his ankle/calf and was late getting off. The second one was because Maine made a late sub before centering the ball and we didn't get one of the lineman off the field.

[4Diffs]

I agree that the coaching wasn’t good but the defense gave up 24 points in the final 25 minutes. They couldn’t stop the run or the pass. The two 12 men penalties where bad but only one was enforced- they took the 6 yard gain on the play over the 5-yard penalty.
Maine had more time had they not got the extra 5 yards. They wasted two plays - one to move the ball to the center of the field and one to run the clock down (then called TO). Your defense has to stop a team from scoring when they start on the 25 yard line.

Maine completed several 3rd and 15s. That can’t happen.

I think you are downplaying how bad the coaching was in the last 2 minutes. Yes, the defense stunk, but as a coaching staff, you have to recognize that and manage around it. No one has mentioned it, but they could have run a little clock at the end of the game by running once when they had first down from the 2-yard line. Would have made them burn one of their timeouts and taken some time off the clock. Splitting hairs here a little bit because you do have to score, but I do not think they even considered clock management in their play calling down there.

I still cannot believe they did not onside kick from the 35. Just speechless at the incompetence that decision indicates. And that five-yard 12 men penalty at the end cost them the game. That Maine kicker had not made a kick longer than 40 yards all year. Guess what that penalty made that kick, yes a 39-yard field goal. And everything you mentioned had already happened as the five-yard penalty happened on the last play of the game prior to the kick. After watching it, that kick was leaking right and would not have been good from five yards further back.

And True Point, I had to laugh at your comment about being a long time about being upset about the outcome of a Rhody football game. How true.
Same here.

[rhodyfan3]

I completely understand wanting to kill some clock before that last touchdown...but the way the offense was operating I think you just needed to score. With Lawson at QB, we have a lot of options. You would play it totally different. But if you see that mismatch with Parker you just have to go with it and hope your defense can hold them with less than a minute.
Kicking it through the end zone is the most bizarre decision I’ve seen in a while. I would have just done a full onside kick. Maybe you recover? Worst case, they get the ball at the 25, which is what happened anyway.

[ramster]

I completely understand wanting to kill some clock before that last touchdown...but the way the offense was operating I think you just needed to score. With Lawson at QB, we have a lot of options. You would play it totally different. But if you see that mismatch with Parker you just have to go with it and hope your defense can hold them with less than a minute.
Kicking it through the end zone is the most bizarre decision I’ve seen in a while. I would have just done a full onside kick. Maybe you recover? Worst case, they get the ball at the 25, which is what happened anyway.

Worst case is that they pick up the ball and run it back for a TD. I think that is what the staff had in mind when they kicked it out of play. The staff either was afraid of the consequences of Maine running it all the way back or part way back or the staff thought they had the game locked up - whatever they were thinking they really were not thinking

[TruePoint]

I completely understand wanting to kill some clock before that last touchdown...but the way the offense was operating I think you just needed to score. With Lawson at QB, we have a lot of options. You would play it totally different. But if you see that mismatch with Parker you just have to go with it and hope your defense can hold them with less than a minute.
Kicking it through the end zone is the most bizarre decision I’ve seen in a while. I would have just done a full onside kick. Maybe you recover? Worst case, they get the ball at the 25, which is what happened anyway.

Worst case is that they pick up the ball and run it back for a TD. I think that is what the staff had in mind when they kicked it out of play. The staff either was afraid of the consequences of Maine running it all the way back or part way back or the staff thought they had the game locked up - whatever they were thinking they really were not thinking

I think I’ve watched close to 10,000 footballs games at all levels and I’ve never seen an onside kick returned for a touchdown - and 99.9% of those onside attempts did not come from the other team’s side of the field. If thats what they were thinking it is even crazier than them not thinking of it at the time, which is what I assumed.

[JimSidd]

When they called timeout right before that kickoff, I thought, good, they’re discussing whether they want to try and have the kicker squib the ball inside the 10 or onside kick it and try for a recovery. I was shocked when he kicked it through the end zone. Calling a timeout and then kicking through the end zone makes the coaching decision even worse. It indicates to me they deliberated and felt this was the best course of action.
I also was stunned when Maine kicked the extra point to go up by five with 2 1/2 minutes left. What good is a five point lead that late in the game?

[PeterRamTime]

I completely understand wanting to kill some clock before that last touchdown...but the way the offense was operating I think you just needed to score. With Lawson at QB, we have a lot of options. You would play it totally different. But if you see that mismatch with Parker you just have to go with it and hope your defense can hold them with less than a minute.
Kicking it through the end zone is the most bizarre decision I’ve seen in a while. I would have just done a full onside kick. Maybe you recover? Worst case, they get the ball at the 25, which is what happened anyway.

Worst case is that they pick up the ball and run it back for a TD. I think that is what the staff had in mind when they kicked it out of play. The staff either was afraid of the consequences of Maine running it all the way back or part way back or the staff thought they had the game locked up - whatever they were thinking they really were not thinking

I think I’ve watched close to 10,000 footballs games at all levels and I’ve never seen an onside kick returned for a touchdown - and 99.9% of those onside attempts did not come from the other team’s side of the field. If thats what they were thinking it is even crazier than them not thinking of it at the time, which is what I assumed.

My middle school team returned an onside kick for a touchdown....

I have a lot of fear about how the rest of this season is going to go.

[Rhody83]

Some responses to points above.
Agree the kickoff thru the end zone was a horrible play. The timeout was bad too. Maine had its regular kick return team on the field drill it into those big guys 10 yards away. Their best play is to fall on it. Once Flemming called TO the Maine HC came running down and switched to their onside kick team - all receivers and RBs.

The missed extra point kick had no impact on the game. You have to go forward and do the extra point decision from every TD after that for both teams. Maine had a missed 2 point conversion that would’ve been a 1 point kick. So Rhody would’ve lost by 1 instead of 2.

The last play of the game before the FG kick was not the second 5 yard penalty. They ran two wasted plays after that. They easily could’ve used those to gain 5 yards.

Don’t live on stats. Maine was kicking with the wind on the last FG. On the field before the game and just before 2nd half he was hitting FGs of 45 yards. They also had a second FG kicker who was practicing longer kicks and hitting them.

[bigappleram]

Fwiw Maine’s kicker made a 52 yard FG to win their game last week against Nova.

[Uncle Ed]

Very disappointing loss, but certainly not surprising having watched this coaching staff for 5 seasons. On a positive note, saw lots of former players from recent teams - all excited for the teams success. Great to see two former 3 year starters at tackle who left in their 5th year to become starting tackles for top FBS programs. Some conversation that 3 year starter Dwayne Scott will follow the same path. Good for him if that is what he wants to do. I think I know what Fleming's response will be.

Bottom line - upset Stony Brook and a special season is still a possibility, Can't say I am optimistic, I have not seen Fleming win a game like this. Show me something Jim and I will gladly give you all the credit!

[rjsuperfly66]

Worst case is that they pick up the ball and run it back for a TD. I think that is what the staff had in mind when they kicked it out of play. The staff either was afraid of the consequences of Maine running it all the way back or part way back or the staff thought they had the game locked up - whatever they were thinking they really were not thinking

I think I’ve watched close to 10,000 footballs games at all levels and I’ve never seen an onside kick returned for a touchdown - and 99.9% of those onside attempts did not come from the other team’s side of the field. If thats what they were thinking it is even crazier than them not thinking of it at the time, which is what I assumed.

My middle school team returned an onside kick for a touchdown....

I have a lot of fear about how the rest of this season is going to go.

The only times it happens in a college football game is if the ball is lobbed up in the air, someone gets a running start, they catch it, and land with momentum on the other side of the kick coverage. It's kind of dumb luck.

Ive never seen in a college football the situation where if the ball is kicked at someone's feet, they are going to stand up and run through 11 guys. If the ball is kicked at someone's feet, they are more than likely going to fall on top it.

[Hal Kopp]

All you guys are right.
They worked sooooooooooo hard to avoid scenarios like the last minute.
Almost opposite of first 5 games.

[Running Ram]

yeah, sorry not onside kicking in that situation is the dumbest, just daft. But we've all allowed opportunity to slip through our own fingers once or twice I'm sure, it happens, chalk it up as a major boner and move on.

[bigappleram]

The other thing to consider is that is not likely a scenario the team has ever practiced....you are up 1 and kick off from the opponents 35 yard line. Coaches are creatures of habit, and asking the team to execute a squib to pin them in at the 10 given the short field just might not have been something they ever worked on or felt they could execute. What if it goes out of bounds, doesn't the other team get it at the 35? Maybe that was a concern. Also may have felt that with the way the defense played leading up to this game that they could stop them from driving 50 yards in 50 seconds. Seems like a coaching blunder for sure, but circumstances matter.

[Running Ram]

Not a squib, a straight up onside kick going for the ball, the momentum and throat and if you don't recover they do at the 22. The creatures of habit argument is why the decision was so glaringly dumb, it's a slow to react, non-quick thinking reaction, oh well I'm not worried about one boner moment, blunders happen to the best of us.

[TruePoint]

The other thing to consider is that is not likely a scenario the team has ever practiced....you are up 1 and kick off from the opponents 35 yard line. Coaches are creatures of habit, and asking the team to execute a squib to pin them in at the 10 given the short field just might not have been something they ever worked on or felt they could execute. What if it goes out of bounds, doesn't the other team get it at the 35? Maybe that was a concern. Also may have felt that with the way the defense played leading up to this game that they could stop them from driving 50 yards in 50 seconds. Seems like a coaching blunder for sure, but circumstances matter.

BAR - this is not second guessing. At the time it was happening, everyone I know who was watching the game had the exact same thought. Almost nothing is unanimous in sports, but from the time of the kick until I just read your post 30 seconds ago I hadn’t seen one person even attempt to defend the 10 yard kickoff decision. And even your defense is not really a defense, it’s more like “what if they are just so brutally unprepared that they didn’t have anything at all that they could call up that was a better option AND so utterly incompetent that they couldn’t feel their way thru the situation on the fly?” Kicking it out of bounds sucks but in this case it would have only cost them 10 yards! The chance to pin them back or, better yet, never give them the ball at all would only cost you a maximum of ten yards? Sign me up for that every time.

[bigappleram]

I wasn’t able to watch and only followed online. Does seem all feel it was a no brainer move, all except our coaching staff. Yikes!