2022 Football Game 3 - URI vs. Delaware, Sat. Sept 17, 1 p.m.

[jcru]

Time of Possession:

Delaware 18:49, URI 9:13

oof

The Defense has to defend for 19 mins in one half? Gassed.

[PeterRamTime]

Time of Possession:

Delaware 18:49, URI 9:13

oof

The Defense has to defend for 19 mins in one half? Gassed.

Yeaaah this is just a reminder that Fleming isn't that great of a coach. Just been able to get talent here.

Let's hope our cupcakes lay down for us!

[Rhodymob05]

Always happens in a season opener. Flop.

[rhodyrudder]

They’re 19 of 20 for 16,000 yards in the second quarter alone.

[Native]

an ugly first half for Rhody

[JimSidd]

After that first half, I shudder to think what will happen next week at Pitt.

[rhodyrudder]

They’re 19 of 20 for 16,000 yards in the second quarter alone.

Seriously though, 22-25 with over 500 yards in one half

[PeterRamTime]

After that first half, I shudder to think what will happen next week at Pitt.

Uhhhh pain. They really bring it on defense. Kasim will get killed.

[jcru]

The time of possession is nearly 20 mins to 10 mins in a 30 min half. Even if you didn’t see or hear the game at all, a 20 to 10 ratio pretty much yields a demoralized defense and a 4 TD deficit.

The only way to turn that around is for the offense to come out and drive the length of the field and chew off 5-6 minutes off the clock doing it.

It’s easy to think when you are down 4 TDs, that the only chance you have it to score very fast and hope for the best, but against a ball control team like Delaware, that’s just playing into their hands. You have to beat up their defense to have any shot. Up to now, their defense pretty much had the day off.

[Rhodymob05]

Need to make it close or the student fan base will give up.

[Blue Man]

We have a decent QB on the bench right?

Hill may not be the guy. Misses a lot of open throws (not just this week). Prone to panicking.

I get delawares good - he was very exposed today.

[bigappleram]

Our O and D line got bullied. We couldn’t run, Hill was under pressure and erratic. Henderson was rarely bothered and had a huge day. Hill missed some throws but they dominated us in the trenches.

[ramster]

They’re 19 of 20 for 16,000 yards in the second quarter alone.

That’s a lot of yards rudder.
That’s 9.09 miles in passing!!
Their receivers must be exhausted

[Rhodymob05]

Hill missed a number of throws last week too.

[Obadiah]

Not a surprising result. URI was embarrassed on all fronts especially that on a picture perfect day, the season home opener and a Top 25 match-up, attracted only 4,666 fans. The only plus coming out of this sad situation is that it dispels the notion that you can have a great football with a crappy facility. Twenty years ago when Stowers was coach, a concept of a new Meade Stadium was presented and in twenty years later no progress on a new structure has been made.

[theblueram]

Not a surprising result. URI was embarrassed on all fronts especially that on a picture perfect day, the season home opener and a Top 25 match-up, attracted only 4,666 fans. The only plus coming out of this sad situation is that it dispels the notion that you can have a great football with a crappy facility. Twenty years ago when Stowers was coach, a concept of a new Meade Stadium was presented and in twenty years later no progress on a new structure has been made.

Would it really make any difference? We are coming off being the worst FCS football team. I'm not a college football fan, so maybe I don't know.

[Billyboy78]

We have a decent QB on the bench right?

Hill may not be the guy. Misses a lot of open throws (not just this week). Prone to panicking.

I get delawares good - he was very exposed today.

He's very slow on progressions causing him to miss open guys, he holds the ball too long on timing plays throwing long after the receiver makes his cut, he isn't accurate and he doesn't run well. Other than that, he's great.

[hrstrat57]

Why isn’t a matchup like this under the lights? Wouldn’t that attract more students?

[Billyboy78]

If it's anything like when I went to school, lots of kids go home on weekends.

[ramster]

Providence Journal

It is a sad thing that the State University of Rhode Island plays their 1st home game of the season, with both teams undefeated, both teams Nationally Ranked in the Top 25 FCS Poll, Game time is 1pm and there is no article in the Sunday Paper.

No need for the PROJO Newspaper to waste their time wondering why their circulation dwindles - lack of coverage like this is inexcusable

[Bartoburger]

URI should be embarassed that they didnt even draw a crowd large enough to fill the Ryan Center. I mean I get it, we live in New England where college football is irrelevant. But still if you cant get atleast 7,000 for this game then you need to go back and look at your marketing strategy and find a way to get fans in the stands. Even Maine had a larger crowd at their first home game of the season a week ago!

[ramster]

Our O and D line got bullied. We couldn’t run, Hill was under pressure and erratic. Henderson was rarely bothered and had a huge day. Hill missed some throws but they dominated us in the trenches.

We had 10 sacks vs Bryant, 0 sacks vs Delaware

The only guy who put any kind of pressure on Henderson all day was AJ Pena, and even with that Henderson easily eluded the pressure with his experience and quickness.
The play when there was a bad snap, the ball bounced several times before Henderson picked it up and threw a 65 yard TD pass to Townsend was a killer putting Delaware up 14-0. A broken play that looks favorable for URI turns into a 65 yard TD.

Henderson was deadly accurate all day long. URI defenders were a step slow in coverage and that was all Henderson needed with his pinpoint accuracy. AJ Rogers had a tough game getting beat a couple times, as did Henry Yianakopolos and Frederick Mallay. In their defense, Henderson was perfect and the defensive rush from URI was virtually nonexistent as the Delaware Offensive Line was brilliant.

URI had a tough time with the Delaware Offensive play calling as well. Delaware offense was very well coached.

Westley Neal Jr had a facemark penalty called on him when he was clearly beat by the ball carrier. Several Delaware fans around me thought it was a horse-collar tackle. Could have been called either a horse-collar or a facemask.

Kasim Hill had an off day. Overthrew open receivers and missed on others.

Great punting from Schaum-Bartocci, trapping Delaware inside the 2 yard line twice, but URI could not capitalize.

Absolutely beautiful day for Football. Lot's of tailgating and Rhody fans enjoying themselves.

[jcru]

Football is such a unique game, there really is no other game like it.

If Hill did even a mediocre job at QB yesterday, and they had three times the number of first downs, a couple of 3rd down conversions, and two less 3-and-outs in the first half, THEN that analysis you just gave would be dead on accurate. Delaware would have just smoked URI in every phase of the game.

But, we know better. If you grew up with football in the 80's. You were around for the Parcells coached Giants. The 85 Bears. The Joe Theismann and John Riggins Redskins. Joe Montana and Jerry Rice and Bill Walsh. Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen, etc, etc, etc. Then through to Parcells taking over the 1-15 hapless Patriots. Then to the Belichick Flip-Flop and the last 20 years of excellence in New England... YOU KNOW, Football is an Offense driven game. Everything goes through the Offense. Even the greatest Defenses in the history of the game, on every level, could not be great, without some assistance from their Offense.

That's why I harp on that 20:10 minute ToP 1st half stat. Once that happens, the rout is on. The Defensive players are literally panting out there on tv, they cannot catch their breathes, and Delaware, who started off with very conservative play calling, is now throwing everything including the kitchen sink at them, because they know the URI Defense might as well be fish in a barrel. Direct snaps to the running back, old school Delaware plays, shuffle passes, all sort of trick plays, you name it. They made URI Defend the entire field over and over again, for 20 mins. No Defense can keep up with that, no matter how good they are.

We called many of the NE Patriots Defenses "bend but don't break" during their lean years. But if it weren't for Brady moving the chains, it would just be "break" during many of those seasons.

One of the purest examples of this, in my mind, is when URI got that quick strike TD at the end of the first half. And people started to feel like "yeah, we can come back, new life". And Delaware was grinning ear to ear, because that score only kept URI's exhausted beyond belief Defense off the field for about 30 seconds, and then they had to come back on the field. Delaware was like Mwahahaha, because they were in full abuse mode to end the half and completely demoralized that Defense, just picking them apart to close the half.

The Offense has to keep the Defense off the field as much as humanly possible in this game, any football game, transcendent of level, to keep them Fresh, so they can be affective and explosive, and opportunistic. That doesn't happen if they have to camp out on the field the entire game because the offense cannot move the ball effectively.

And that's my analysis of what happened, to compliment your analysis. Like two sides of a coin. The silver lining, if there was one, is that in the second half some of those factors improved. They had a decent drive to start the half, they forced a 3-and-out by Delaware, and you could see how if they didn't get blown out in the first half, and protected the ball, and kept the ball moving, and also kept the Defense fresh, this could have been a much closer sort of game. It's not much, but it does show that it is possible. But, I don't really know much about the QB and whether they need to swap him out, or what, but they aren't going to win many games if the Offense plays like they did in that first half.

[RhowdyRam02]

URI should be embarassed that they didnt even draw a crowd large enough to fill the Ryan Center. I mean I get it, we live in New England where college football is irrelevant. But still if you cant get atleast 7,000 for this game then you need to go back and look at your marketing strategy and find a way to get fans in the stands. Even Maine had a larger crowd at their first home game of the season a week ago!

The current version of Meade with the tarps over the top of the East stands has a capacity of 5778. It's sad that this wasn't sold out, and I do think that we should look at why it wasn't, but we're incapable of drawing the crowd you're asking for with our current facilities

[rhodyrudder]

We have a decent QB on the bench right?

Hill may not be the guy. Misses a lot of open throws (not just this week). Prone to panicking.

I get delawares good - he was very exposed today.

He's very slow on progressions causing him to miss open guys, he holds the ball too long on timing plays throwing long after the receiver makes his cut, he isn't accurate and he doesn't run well. Other than that, he's great.

The 2 times he hit the receiver in the hands for touchdowns?
We catch those balls, stop the hens when they SNAP IT OVER THE QB’s HEAD instead of allowing him to pick it up and throw a 90-yard TD, and don’t let them match down the field like a hot knife through butter at the end of the half…and maybe we’re in the game.

Don’t get me wrong, Delaware kicked our ass, but those 3 plays and that drive to wrap up the second quarter were huge.

[Billyboy78]

We have a decent QB on the bench right?

Hill may not be the guy. Misses a lot of open throws (not just this week). Prone to panicking.

I get delawares good - he was very exposed today.

He's very slow on progressions causing him to miss open guys, he holds the ball too long on timing plays throwing long after the receiver makes his cut, he isn't accurate and he doesn't run well. Other than that, he's great.

The 2 times he hit the receiver in the hands for touchdowns?
We catch those balls, stop the hens when they SNAP IT OVER THE QB’s HEAD instead of allowing him to pick it up and throw a 90-yard TD, and don’t let them match down the field like a hot knife through butter at the end of the half…and maybe we’re in the game.

Don’t get me wrong, Delaware kicked our ass, but those 3 plays and that drive to wrap up the second quarter were huge.

Oh, I agree that the defense had no answer for Henderson and the Delaware offense in the first half. It was total domination on both sides of the ball. After the score being 35-7 at the half, only a somewhat decent 2nd half kept the score to a somewhat respectable (not really) score of 42-21. Otherwise, we could have seen something like 63-10.

[4Diffs]

I was at the game yesterday with my wife and two kids who attend URI. My kids had to pay for their tickets (yes it was a last minute decision) as the student allotment was sold out. I was like wow, this place should be close to a sell out than if they sold out the student allotment. I was quite surprised when I saw how sparse the crowd was. This is an administration failure in my opinion. How do you cap student tickets and then the place is 1/3 empty? I do not know what the number of student tickets was, buy my daughter speculates it was capped at 1,000. How many actually showed up, who knows. But I know at least two that wanted to go that had to pay to get in. I doubt many other students in that position would have done that, they just would have stayed home.

I confess to not going to a ton of URI football games. I might make one a year or so but never with my wife. Yesterday is her first game at Meade and she made an observation that I could not answer and it perplexed me as well. Why is the URI bench in the sun? Gillette has a very similar set up where one side is in the sun and the other in the shade. Patriots are in the shade. Some stadiums it is not that big of a deal because it is not direct sun or shade all day but that is not the case at Meade stadium. She is like this is why they are getting crushed, they are exhausted and the other team is in the shade. Then she made a point of saying how much better they played in the third quarter after cooling down. Now she does know her stuff but that explanation may be a little simplistic but I do think she is onto something here.

Why would Rhody have their bench in the sun and the other team chills in the shade?? It makes no sense and I cannot figure out why they would not flip the benches. It was very hot yesterday and I do think they place themselves at a competitive disadvantage with this set up. I was very hot wearing shorts, open toe shoes and a short sleeve shirt sitting in the East Stands. I could only imagine how hot it was on the field for the players.

It is also much closer to the locker room. Many benefits to that, injured players have to go into the training room, bathroom breaks and anything else that requires running back into the locker room. You turn around and the locker room is right there.

I ask people more involved in the football aspect of URI athletics, is she right? Why doesn't URI flip the benches? Has this ever come up for discussion? If so, why did they decide not to make the switch.

[ramster]

I was at the game yesterday with my wife and two kids who attend URI. My kids had to pay for their tickets (yes it was a last minute decision) as the student allotment was sold out. I was like wow, this place should be close to a sell out than if they sold out the student allotment. I was quite surprised when I saw how sparse the crowd was. This is an administration failure in my opinion. How do you cap student tickets and then the place is 1/3 empty? I do not know what the number of student tickets was, buy my daughter speculates it was capped at 1,000. How many actually showed up, who knows. But I know at least two that wanted to go that had to pay to get in. I doubt many other students in that position would have done that, they just would have stayed home.

I confess to not going to a ton of URI football games. I might make one a year or so but never with my wife. Yesterday is her first game at Meade and she made an observation that I could not answer and it perplexed me as well. Why is the URI bench in the sun? Gillette has a very similar set up where one side is in the sun and the other in the shade. Patriots are in the shade. Some stadiums it is not that big of a deal because it is not direct sun or shade all day but that is not the case at Meade stadium. She is like this is why they are getting crushed, they are exhausted and the other team is in the shade. Then she made a point of saying how much better they played in the third quarter after cooling down. Now she does know her stuff but that explanation may be a little simplistic but I do think she is onto something here.

Why would Rhody have their bench in the sun and the other team chills in the shade?? It makes no sense and I cannot figure out why they would not flip the benches. It was very hot yesterday and I do think they place themselves at a competitive disadvantage with this set up. I was very hot wearing shorts, open toe shoes and a short sleeve shirt sitting in the East Stands. I could only imagine how hot it was on the field for the players.

It is also much closer to the locker room. Many benefits to that, injured players have to go into the training room, bathroom breaks and anything else that requires running back into the locker room. You turn around and the locker room is right there.

I ask people more involved in the football aspect of URI athletics, is she right? Why doesn't URI flip the benches? Has this ever come up for discussion? If so, why did they decide not to make the switch.

I've wondered the same thing. The highest priced seats are on the Ryan Center side of the field. The East Stands have more seats but they are all General Admission. I like sitting on the East side because the URI Team is on that side, but if URI was on the Ryan Center side then that is where I would prefer to sit. Not sure why it is that way. In later October and November it is often nice to be in the sun because some games can be 35 degrees and strong wind chills, can be cloudy and rainy too. Personally I'd move URI to the Ryan Center side for the reasons you state.

[RhowdyRam02]

I was at the game yesterday with my wife and two kids who attend URI. My kids had to pay for their tickets (yes it was a last minute decision) as the student allotment was sold out. I was like wow, this place should be close to a sell out than if they sold out the student allotment. I was quite surprised when I saw how sparse the crowd was. This is an administration failure in my opinion. How do you cap student tickets and then the place is 1/3 empty? I do not know what the number of student tickets was, buy my daughter speculates it was capped at 1,000. How many actually showed up, who knows. But I know at least two that wanted to go that had to pay to get in. I doubt many other students in that position would have done that, they just would have stayed home.

I confess to not going to a ton of URI football games. I might make one a year or so but never with my wife. Yesterday is her first game at Meade and she made an observation that I could not answer and it perplexed me as well. Why is the URI bench in the sun? Gillette has a very similar set up where one side is in the sun and the other in the shade. Patriots are in the shade. Some stadiums it is not that big of a deal because it is not direct sun or shade all day but that is not the case at Meade stadium. She is like this is why they are getting crushed, they are exhausted and the other team is in the shade. Then she made a point of saying how much better they played in the third quarter after cooling down. Now she does know her stuff but that explanation may be a little simplistic but I do think she is onto something here.

Why would Rhody have their bench in the sun and the other team chills in the shade?? It makes no sense and I cannot figure out why they would not flip the benches. It was very hot yesterday and I do think they place themselves at a competitive disadvantage with this set up. I was very hot wearing shorts, open toe shoes and a short sleeve shirt sitting in the East Stands. I could only imagine how hot it was on the field for the players.

It is also much closer to the locker room. Many benefits to that, injured players have to go into the training room, bathroom breaks and anything else that requires running back into the locker room. You turn around and the locker room is right there.

I ask people more involved in the football aspect of URI athletics, is she right? Why doesn't URI flip the benches? Has this ever come up for discussion? If so, why did they decide not to make the switch.

I'm pretty sure that there was a time shortly after the new Ryan Center seats were built that our team was on that side of the field, but most of the last 40 years at least they've been on the current sideline. I would think they'd be better off, especially now, being on the Ryan Center side for many of the reasons you stated. As you mentioned, it was a nice day but still felt plenty warm when you were in the sun and to compound that they wore the all navy uniform

[rhodyrudder]

They were on the RC side after those stands were built for at least a few years.
Not sure when or why they moved back.
There may be a rule that the chains must be on the side opposite the press box, so most teams take the press box side.
Is it even a big deal to have the chains in front of your bench?

I thought the crowd and the weather were good. The combination of sun, adrenaline, Delaware’s top ranked team, and 20 minutes of possession in the first half were too much to overcome. I don’t think it was just the heat…

[RhowdyRam02]

Time of Possession:

Delaware 18:49, URI 9:13

oof

The Defense has to defend for 19 mins in one half? Gassed.

Yeaaah this is just a reminder that Fleming isn't that great of a coach. Just been able to get talent here.

Let's hope our cupcakes lay down for us!

I don't envy Thorr's job when it come to evaluating the program. As you said, Fleming has brought in plenty of talent and considering the facilities he's trying to recruit with he's done a very impressive job as that part of his job. But we don't seem to have maximized that talent due to the game planning and in game decisions.

Do you look at everything and say that all things considered this is probably the best the program can do? We're 19-21 (.475 winning percentage) since 2018. That would be the best winning percentage for a Ram coach since Hal Kopp back in the 50's. You can certainly make a case that since he got his program fully installed here that it's been some of the best football the University has seen and you're better off keeping it going than bringing in someone new.

Do you look at everything, assuming we don't make the playoffs this year, and say Fleming has probably reached his ceiling here, and if so is this ceiling acceptable? He's about to turn 63 and has 10 previous years of coaching experience, so it's not like there's probably a ton of growth left and this is probably who he's going to be the remainder of his career. This is his ninth season here, even when you throw out the first four years and only count from his first winning season on he's under .500, has one winning conference record in his nine years here, and that was a 2-1 spring Covid season. Even if you only count since 2018 he's been 11-18 (.379 winning percentage) in conference. We'll probably need to go 6-1 after Pitt to make the playoffs.

I can see both sides of the coin here, so like I said, I don't envy Thorr when it comes to evaluating the program

[RhowdyRam02]

Not a surprising result. URI was embarrassed on all fronts especially that on a picture perfect day, the season home opener and a Top 25 match-up, attracted only 4,666 fans. The only plus coming out of this sad situation is that it dispels the notion that you can have a great football with a crappy facility. Twenty years ago when Stowers was coach, a concept of a new Meade Stadium was presented and in twenty years later no progress on a new structure has been made.

Would it really make any difference? We are coming off being the worst FCS football team. I'm not a college football fan, so maybe I don't know.

Yes. It's tremendously difficult to bring in players to what is the worst stadium in the conference. It's no coincidence that we haven't made the playoffs since 1985 and are coming off record futility when you consider our stadium situation. It also probably isn't a coincidence that the program has gotten better since the Ryan Student Athlete Complex, lights, and field turf were added for the program.

Fleming really has done a wonderful job with the players he's brought in. As for game planning and in game decisions, well that hasn't been so good

[PeterRamTime]

Time of Possession:

Delaware 18:49, URI 9:13

oof

The Defense has to defend for 19 mins in one half? Gassed.

Yeaaah this is just a reminder that Fleming isn't that great of a coach. Just been able to get talent here.

Let's hope our cupcakes lay down for us!

I don't envy Thorr's job when it come to evaluating the program. As you said, Fleming has brought in plenty of talent and considering the facilities he's trying to recruit with he's done a very impressive job as that part of his job. But we don't seem to have maximized that talent due to the game planning and in game decisions.

Do you look at everything and say that all things considered this is probably the best the program can do? We're 19-21 (.475 winning percentage) since 2018. That would be the best winning percentage for a Ram coach since Hal Kopp back in the 50's. You can certainly make a case that since he got his program fully installed here that it's been some of the best football the University has seen and you're better off keeping it going than bringing in someone new.

Do you look at everything, assuming we don't make the playoffs this year, and say Fleming has probably reached his ceiling here, and if so is this ceiling acceptable? He's about to turn 63 and has 10 previous years of coaching experience, so it's not like there's probably a ton of growth left and this is probably who he's going to be the remainder of his career. This is his ninth season here, even when you throw out the first four years and only count from his first winning season on he's under .500, has one winning conference record in his nine years here, and that was a 2-1 spring Covid season. Even if you only count since 2018 he's been 11-18 (.379 winning percentage) in conference. We'll probably need to go 6-1 after Pitt to make the playoffs.

I can see both sides of the coin here, so like I said, I don't envy Thorr when it comes to evaluating the program

I would say he us good enough for URI and he has done a tremendous job building the program into what it is now.

He wouldn't last that long anywhere else because his game plans and in game coaching is absolutely abysmal.

It is still absolutely incredible to me we won two games in 2019 with three NFL players on the roster. We had enough talent on that team to take Virginia Tech to the wire! That was like an 8 win FBS team!

I had hope when we beat Stony Brook by 21 on the road. Usually we need some last second miracle to win a conference game. Probably the most impressive conference win in forever really. Delaware is very good, but we obviously weren't prepared at all. Like they aren't 35 points and 400 yards better than us. We were just woefully prepared and flopped in a big moment. That wild inconsistency is a problem.

But I mean I'll take another 6-5... it's still worlds better than it was and maybe other teams will mess up enough for us to win 8 or 9 games and make the playoffs.

[jcru]

Unfortunately, at this level, you can have a lot of talent at many positions but if your QB is below avg you are going to struggle. There is no easy solution for that.

Kevin Brown Jr would have helped hide many of the QB's deficiencies, by making the team a run first offense, and making the other team's D have to focus on that first. Just like he did in that truncated season.

[Rhodysk]

I was at the game yesterday with my wife and two kids who attend URI. My kids had to pay for their tickets (yes it was a last minute decision) as the student allotment was sold out. I was like wow, this place should be close to a sell out than if they sold out the student allotment. I was quite surprised when I saw how sparse the crowd was. This is an administration failure in my opinion. How do you cap student tickets and then the place is 1/3 empty? I do not know what the number of student tickets was, buy my daughter speculates it was capped at 1,000. How many actually showed up, who knows. But I know at least two that wanted to go that had to pay to get in. I doubt many other students in that position would have done that, they just would have stayed home.


I confess to not going to a ton of URI football games. I might make one a year or so but never with my wife. Yesterday is her first game at Meade and she made an observation that I could not answer and it perplexed me as well. Why is the URI bench in the sun? Gillette has a very similar set up where one side is in the sun and the other in the shade. Patriots are in the shade. Some stadiums it is not that big of a deal because it is not direct sun or shade all day but that is not the case at Meade stadium. She is like this is why they are getting crushed, they are exhausted and the other team is in the shade. Then she made a point of saying how much better they played in the third quarter after cooling down. Now she does know her stuff but that explanation may be a little simplistic but I do think she is onto something here.

Why would Rhody have their bench in the sun and the other team chills in the shade?? It makes no sense and I cannot figure out why they would not flip the benches. It was very hot yesterday and I do think they place themselves at a competitive disadvantage with this set up. I was very hot wearing shorts, open toe shoes and a short sleeve shirt sitting in the East Stands. I could only imagine how hot it was on the field for the players.

It is also much closer to the locker room. Many benefits to that, injured players have to go into the training room, bathroom breaks and anything else that requires running back into the locker room. You turn around and the locker room is right there.

I ask people more involved in the football aspect of URI athletics, is she right? Why doesn't URI flip the benches? Has this ever come up for discussion? If so, why did they decide not to make the switch.

Rhody’s home side was always the big stands . Where the Ryan center sits use to be the old visitor stands and behind that was the football field house. When the Ryan center was built that was all torn down.
Football boosters did raise enough money and chair back seats on the Ryan center side after a few years the Ryan center was built.

Yes the sun may be on Rhody’s side now in September but if you ever sit on the sidelines on the Ryan center side in late October and Beginning of November you will know how could it gets and you would wish for that sun to be one you.

I also think NCAA rules states teams have to designate which side is home and away and stay with that all year. So you couldn’t bounce back in forth every week.

[BigBlueDawg]

Football is such a unique game, there really is no other game like it.

If Hill did even a mediocre job at QB yesterday, and they had three times the number of first downs, a couple of 3rd down conversions, and two less 3-and-outs in the first half, THEN that analysis you just gave would be dead on accurate. Delaware would have just smoked URI in every phase of the game.

But, we know better. If you grew up with football in the 80's. You were around for the Parcells coached Giants. The 85 Bears. The Joe Theismann and John Riggins Redskins. Joe Montana and Jerry Rice and Bill Walsh. Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen, etc, etc, etc. Then through to Parcells taking over the 1-15 hapless Patriots. Then to the Belichick Flip-Flop and the last 20 years of excellence in New England... YOU KNOW, Football is an Offense driven game. Everything goes through the Offense. Even the greatest Defenses in the history of the game, on every level, could not be great, without some assistance from their Offense.

That's why I harp on that 20:10 minute ToP 1st half stat. Once that happens, the rout is on. The Defensive players are literally panting out there on tv, they cannot catch their breathes, and Delaware, who started off with very conservative play calling, is now throwing everything including the kitchen sink at them, because they know the URI Defense might as well be fish in a barrel. Direct snaps to the running back, old school Delaware plays, shuffle passes, all sort of trick plays, you name it. They made URI Defend the entire field over and over again, for 20 mins. No Defense can keep up with that, no matter how good they are.

We called many of the NE Patriots Defenses "bend but don't break" during their lean years. But if it weren't for Brady moving the chains, it would just be "break" during many of those seasons.

One of the purest examples of this, in my mind, is when URI got that quick strike TD at the end of the first half. And people started to feel like "yeah, we can come back, new life". And Delaware was grinning ear to ear, because that score only kept URI's exhausted beyond belief Defense off the field for about 30 seconds, and then they had to come back on the field. Delaware was like Mwahahaha, because they were in full abuse mode to end the half and completely demoralized that Defense, just picking them apart to close the half.

The Offense has to keep the Defense off the field as much as humanly possible in this game, any football game, transcendent of level, to keep them Fresh, so they can be affective and explosive, and opportunistic. That doesn't happen if they have to camp out on the field the entire game because the offense cannot move the ball effectively.

And that's my analysis of what happened, to compliment your analysis. Like two sides of a coin. The silver lining, if there was one, is that in the second half some of those factors improved. They had a decent drive to start the half, they forced a 3-and-out by Delaware, and you could see how if they didn't get blown out in the first half, and protected the ball, and kept the ball moving, and also kept the Defense fresh, this could have been a much closer sort of game. It's not much, but it does show that it is possible. But, I don't really know much about the QB and whether they need to swap him out, or what, but they aren't going to win many games if the Offense plays like they did in that first half.

If the offense had "2 less 3 and outs" in the first half theyd have had NEGATIVE 2 (-2) , 3and outs in the first half, as the offense had exactly 1 3&out in the first half (they scored a TD on the 3rd play of a drive). The offense did had over 20 first downs which is a solid showing against the top scoring Defense in the league. The problem was Delaware had 30 first downs! The offense ran about 23 total plays in the first half btw. Kind of hard to play ball control Tom if the offense doesn't touch the ball. But I DO agree they need to do MUCH better on 3rd Down. Which according to the stats they were leading the conference in prior to this game. Just my fact based analysis looking at the stats.

[Bartoburger]

URI looks like they will 6-5 this year. Hill does not read the defense and ends up in trouble for many plays.

[4Diffs]

I was at the game yesterday with my wife and two kids who attend URI. My kids had to pay for their tickets (yes it was a last minute decision) as the student allotment was sold out. I was like wow, this place should be close to a sell out than if they sold out the student allotment. I was quite surprised when I saw how sparse the crowd was. This is an administration failure in my opinion. How do you cap student tickets and then the place is 1/3 empty? I do not know what the number of student tickets was, buy my daughter speculates it was capped at 1,000. How many actually showed up, who knows. But I know at least two that wanted to go that had to pay to get in. I doubt many other students in that position would have done that, they just would have stayed home.


I confess to not going to a ton of URI football games. I might make one a year or so but never with my wife. Yesterday is her first game at Meade and she made an observation that I could not answer and it perplexed me as well. Why is the URI bench in the sun? Gillette has a very similar set up where one side is in the sun and the other in the shade. Patriots are in the shade. Some stadiums it is not that big of a deal because it is not direct sun or shade all day but that is not the case at Meade stadium. She is like this is why they are getting crushed, they are exhausted and the other team is in the shade. Then she made a point of saying how much better they played in the third quarter after cooling down. Now she does know her stuff but that explanation may be a little simplistic but I do think she is onto something here.

Why would Rhody have their bench in the sun and the other team chills in the shade?? It makes no sense and I cannot figure out why they would not flip the benches. It was very hot yesterday and I do think they place themselves at a competitive disadvantage with this set up. I was very hot wearing shorts, open toe shoes and a short sleeve shirt sitting in the East Stands. I could only imagine how hot it was on the field for the players.

It is also much closer to the locker room. Many benefits to that, injured players have to go into the training room, bathroom breaks and anything else that requires running back into the locker room. You turn around and the locker room is right there.

I ask people more involved in the football aspect of URI athletics, is she right? Why doesn't URI flip the benches? Has this ever come up for discussion? If so, why did they decide not to make the switch.

Rhody’s home side was always the big stands . Where the Ryan center sits use to be the old visitor stands and behind that was the football field house. When the Ryan center was built that was all torn down.
Football boosters did raise enough money and chair back seats on the Ryan center side after a few years the Ryan center was built.

Yes the sun may be on Rhody’s side now in September but if you ever sit on the sidelines on the Ryan center side in late October and Beginning of November you will know how could it gets and you would wish for that sun to be one you.

I also think NCAA rules states teams have to designate which side is home and away and stay with that all year. So you couldn’t bounce back in forth every week.

You are probably right about not being able to switch it game to game. They should switch the sidelines next year. They play 11 games this year and eight are in September and October and three are in November. And cold has very little impact on football players unless it is really cold which is seldom the case in November. Heat and fatigue is a much bigger issue. Will reach out to the AD on this issue and see what he says, if anything. I think it should be switched. I have not heard one good reason why it should not.

And I should not jump into this debate because I know how this board rolls but will anyway. To blame the offense for that game is quite the stretch. I agree with BigBlueDawg. The defense gave up 35 points in one half, 35!! Come on now trying to blame the offense and the QB for that game. Was Hill good, no he has been alot better and needs to be much better going forward. I mean the defense was beyond bad in that second quarter. They gave up 28 points and not one was from a short field due to an offensive turnover. Yes Hill through an interception in the end zone but that is not a short field. And when Rhody finally scored to cut the lead to 28-7 with the second half kickoff coming their way, the defense went out and gave up a long touch down drive in eighty seconds and just killed any chance of getting back in that game. Defense was not very good in this game, and that is the reason why they got trucked.

[jcru]

I agree 4Diffs.

Being close and having access to the Ryan is too big of an advantage to give up to the visiting team. And if get's cold, do what the pros do, and have those big heaters out there, which can be used on that sideline... because it is close to the Ryan.

Makes too much sense, good luck trying to convince them.

[jcru]

Oh, and about the Offense vs Defense.

In the second half, the Offense was "available" and you saw a dramatic turn around. Whereas, in the first half, the Offense couldn't get out of their own way, and stay on the field, and you saw what happened, the results speak for themselves. Football 101.

[jcru]

I wasn't really banging a drum against the QB per say. But, if that continues, don't be surprised if he gets yanked.

Here is the drive chart...

Drive Chart

1st Half:

4 plays, 12 yards ... Punt ... 01:15 ToP

6 plays, 5 yards ... Punt ... 03:07 ToP

7 plays, 37 yards ... INT ... 03:16 ToP

3 and Out, 3 yards ... Punt ... 01:21 ToP

3 plays, 75 yards ... TD ... 00:35 ToP

2 plays, 44 yards ... Fumble ... 00:16 ToP

Interceptions will happen, and the Defense just has to suck it up. That I do agree with. But those three punts? All garbage. Not worthy of a ranked team.

Even the TD didn't do us any favors. Because they should have eaten the clock and made that the last play of the half. Instead, they use 35 seconds and send the Defense back out there to get clobbered. That's not how you play this game to win. I mean, if you expect the Defense to just sit out there like they did that half, expect some really ugly losses going forward, it's something that needs to be addressed.

[ramster]

I wasn't really banging a drum against the QB per say. But, if that continues, don't be surprised if he gets yanked.

Here is the drive chart...

Drive Chart

1st Half:

4 plays, 12 yards ... Punt ... 01:15 ToP

6 plays, 5 yards ... Punt ... 03:07 ToP

7 plays, 37 yards ... INT ... 03:16 ToP

3 and Out, 3 yards ... Punt ... 01:21 ToP

3 plays, 75 yards ... TD ... 00:35 ToP

2 plays, 44 yards ... Fumble ... 00:16 ToP

Interceptions will happen, and the Defense just has to suck it up. That I do agree with. But those three punts? All garbage. Not worthy of a ranked team.

Even the TD didn't do us any favors. Because they should have eaten the clock and made that the last play of the half. Instead, they use 35 seconds and send the Defense back out there to get clobbered. That's not how you play this game to win. I mean, if you expect the Defense to just sit out there like they did that half, expect some really ugly losses going forward, it's something that needs to be addressed.

URI got the ball with 1:58 left in 2ndQ
2nd and 10 Gabe Sloat had a gaping hole opened up for him and he raced 65 yards for TD.
How was URI supposed to eat the clock? Should Fleming have told him to run slower to get tackled? Or scream at the offensive line for opening too big a hole? It was a great play, great call, great execution. That was not bad coaching.

Delaware got the ball and scored. URI still got the ball back, got all the way to Delaware 3/ but Jaylen Smith fumbled his reception.


From GoRhody…..

FOURTH DOWN - There's A First For Everything
Rhode Island's highlight of the game came in the second quarter when redshirt-sophomore Gabe Sloat had a play to remember. With his family in the stands, the North Kingstown native took his lone rushing attempt 65 yards up the middle to put the Rams on the board. It was Sloat's longest rush of his college career, as well as and his first career rushing touchdown.

[OBRAM]

I may have missed any posts about our injuries.
All the young men standing on our sideline wearing gray outfits, are they all Rhody injured players?

[Bos8]

I may have missed any posts about our injuries.
All the young men standing on our sideline wearing gray outfits, are they all Rhody injured players?

Are they red shirts? I seem to recall URI always having quite a few redshirts that didn't travel with the team, but were on the sidelines during the home games.

[RhowdyRam02]

I wasn't really banging a drum against the QB per say. But, if that continues, don't be surprised if he gets yanked.

Here is the drive chart...

Drive Chart

1st Half:

4 plays, 12 yards ... Punt ... 01:15 ToP

6 plays, 5 yards ... Punt ... 03:07 ToP

7 plays, 37 yards ... INT ... 03:16 ToP

3 and Out, 3 yards ... Punt ... 01:21 ToP

3 plays, 75 yards ... TD ... 00:35 ToP

2 plays, 44 yards ... Fumble ... 00:16 ToP

Interceptions will happen, and the Defense just has to suck it up. That I do agree with. But those three punts? All garbage. Not worthy of a ranked team.

Even the TD didn't do us any favors. Because they should have eaten the clock and made that the last play of the half. Instead, they use 35 seconds and send the Defense back out there to get clobbered. That's not how you play this game to win. I mean, if you expect the Defense to just sit out there like they did that half, expect some really ugly losses going forward, it's something that needs to be addressed.

That interception probably shouldn't have happened, and that whole sequence was a killer. We had it 3rd and 21 from the Delaware 24. Hill had to scramble and was out at the 20, but the refs missed a clear roughing the passer when the Delaware defender pushed Hill after he was already out of bounds, which should have been half the distance to the goal line and automatic first down. Instead of 1st and goal from the Delaware 10, it was 4th and 17 from their 20. Instead of getting at least 3 downs from the 10 to score a touchdown or kicking a 37 yard field goal to cut into Delaware's 14-0 lead, we decide to go for it, which is a super low percentage play. Hill ended up throwing a pick in the end zone, but the same result would have happened if he threw an incompletion, first and 10 Delaware at their own 20.

Down 14-0 we got all the way down to the Delaware 9 and came away with no points because of a penalty, poor officiating, and poor play calling. Really in that situation Hill only had one option, go for the end zone, and the resulting pick didn't matter. Absolutely back breaking and the ensuing Delaware touchdown was practically game over.

It's absolutely crazy talk to say the touchdown didn't do us any favors and that we should have eaten the clock. We had the ball at our own 35 and rushed up the middle and we broke the play for 65 yards. I'm not really sure what else you expect the offense to do there. Finally you have some juice in the crowd, you have points on the board and you can go into the half 28-7 getting the ball and the defense spit the bit yet again in the half

[ramster]

I wasn't really banging a drum against the QB per say. But, if that continues, don't be surprised if he gets yanked.

Here is the drive chart...

Drive Chart

1st Half:

4 plays, 12 yards ... Punt ... 01:15 ToP

6 plays, 5 yards ... Punt ... 03:07 ToP

7 plays, 37 yards ... INT ... 03:16 ToP

3 and Out, 3 yards ... Punt ... 01:21 ToP

3 plays, 75 yards ... TD ... 00:35 ToP

2 plays, 44 yards ... Fumble ... 00:16 ToP

Interceptions will happen, and the Defense just has to suck it up. That I do agree with. But those three punts? All garbage. Not worthy of a ranked team.

Even the TD didn't do us any favors. Because they should have eaten the clock and made that the last play of the half. Instead, they use 35 seconds and send the Defense back out there to get clobbered. That's not how you play this game to win. I mean, if you expect the Defense to just sit out there like they did that half, expect some really ugly losses going forward, it's something that needs to be addressed.

That interception probably shouldn't have happened, and that whole sequence was a killer. We had it 3rd and 21 from the Delaware 24. Hill had to scramble and was out at the 20, but the refs missed a clear roughing the passer when the Delaware defender pushed Hill after he was already out of bounds, which should have been half the distance to the goal line and automatic first down. Instead of 1st and goal from the Delaware 10, it was 4th and 17 from their 20. Instead of getting at least 3 downs from the 10 to score a touchdown or kicking a 37 yard field goal to cut into Delaware's 14-0 lead, we decide to go for it, which is a super low percentage play. Hill ended up throwing a pick in the end zone, but the same result would have happened if he threw an incompletion, first and 10 Delaware at their own 20.

Down 14-0 we got all the way down to the Delaware 9 and came away with no points because of a penalty, poor officiating, and poor play calling. Really in that situation Hill only had one option, go for the end zone, and the resulting pick didn't matter. Absolutely back breaking and the ensuing Delaware touchdown was practically game over.

It's absolutely crazy talk to say the touchdown didn't do us any favors and that we should have eaten the clock. We had the ball at our own 35 and rushed up the middle and we broke the play for 65 yards. I'm not really sure what else you expect the offense to do there. Finally you have some juice in the crowd, you have points on the board and you can go into the half 28-7 getting the ball and the defense spit the bit yet again in the half

The "eating the clock" comment, like The URI Coaching Staff did something wrong is absolutely crazy talk.

Paul Woods had a terrible missed catch right in front of The URI Sideline early in the game. That ball absolutely has to be caught - right in the breadbasket! Things like that don't help a QB get off to a good start.

The shove of QB Hill out of bounds on the Delaware side of the field was ridiculous. I kept waiting for a flag, late flag, any flag to be thrown and nothing. No way that would have gone uncalled.

[ramster]

I may have missed any posts about our injuries.
All the young men standing on our sideline wearing gray outfits, are they all Rhody injured players?

Are they red shirts? I seem to recall URI always having quite a few redshirts that didn't travel with the team, but were on the sidelines during the home games.

I know a few guys are injured 2 Players came out to the bench early before game time with their leg on one of those rolling platforms so they walk on one leg while the other is parallel to the ground from the knee to the foot. They were not dressed the same as the 4 players you are referring to. They had normal clothes on.

Johnny Alvarado is out, as is Adam Mckanna and Kevin Brown. I am sure there are others. I saw McKanna's Dad ( I assume it's his Dad since he had his name on his Jersey. at the game in the East Stands.

I saw 4 players dressed as you said along the sideline. My guess is that they are redshirts, but I don't know for sure. Jarrett Martin's Dad too - in East Stands just behind The URI bench

[sectionj]

I'm sure this is a bit reductionist but the UD team seemed bigger faster stronger than the Rams.

[sectionj]

The shove of QB Hill out of bounds on the Delaware side of the field was ridiculous. I kept waiting for a flag, late flag, any flag to be thrown and nothing. No way that would have gone uncalled.

Two ref's were right there and neither made the call. If you look at it on replay, which I did, Hill did a nice job with the flop. Hell, he could play in the Premier League.

[ramster]

I'm sure this is a bit reductionist but the UD team seemed bigger faster stronger than the Rams.

I entered when the games opened. Watched both teams warming up. My initial thoughts were that Delaware was bigger and stronger than URI. They put their entire team out on the field lined up perfectly and they all did warm up exercises. Every player was on the field doing pushups in unison.
URI si more spread around in smaller groups during warmups.

During the game itself I thought Delaware looked strong - guys with huge biceps on defense and offense too. Not quite as sure Delaware was faster but could be. But definitely bigger and stronger.