Game 4 Football @ Villanova 2pm Sat Sept 23 FloSports

[damram]

Richmond 20-19 final.

[RhowdyRam02]

Richmond only won by 1, Towson lost at home to Norfolk State, New Hampshire is beating Delaware 18-7 20 minutes in. I'm just going to hope that weird things are happening in the mid-Atlantic this week because of the storm

[jcru]

Anyone can beat anyone in this conference, apparently. And we are no where's near as bad as we appeared today.

Today was more, the classic "Psyching yourself out" than anything else. Totally abandoning what got you to this point in favor of something you are not.

This entire team is built on the ability of that Offense being able to move the chains and have long, extended drives. Run, Run, Pass and a cloud of dust, three and outs, is what killed this team today. If the Offense cannot succeed at that, the Defense is essentially going to be treading water as well, until they drown out there.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Haven't read it all...crappy weather there today?

[RhowdyRam02]

Even after yesterday's disaster we're still favored in the remainder of our games according to Massey:

vs Bryant 87% chance of winning, 35-17 predicted score
at Brown 77% chance of winning, 37-24
vs Richmond 57% chance of winning, 27-24
at Albany 52% chance of winning, 28-27
vs New Hampshire 56% chance of winning, 31-28
Bye
vs NC A&T 86% chance of winning, 34-17
at Towson 71% chance of winning, 28-21

Do what we should do in the first two and the last two and go at least 2-1 in the middle games and we're in the playoffs

[bigappleram]

I hated our game plan from the jump.
I don't agree to coming out chucking it on every down.
But you don't come out running with Sloat out there to start.
I would have tried to get McKenzie going immediately in a homecoming game and coming off his best performance.
Any type of run game allows for effective play action.
Once we became one dimensional we were toast.

Would love to see more creativity in getting your playmakers (Summers, Savage, Buchanan) the ball.

[jcru]

RR02, basically the same scenario as last year.

Last year was:
Monmouth 7OT win, away
William and Mary, 31-10 loss, going for the 2pt conversion instead of the tie, away
Maine 26-22 win at home
New Hampshire, 31-28 loss, UNH getting the go ahead TD on a play where the ball hit the ground, away
Albany 35-21 win, at home, after they knew they were pretty much eliminated

And they already had the loss to Delaware.

This year it's:
Richmond at home
Albany away
New Hampshire at home
NC A&T home
and Towson away

And they already have the loss to Villanova.

So, they have to find away to only lose one of those games. Really, it's that 3 game stretch from Richmond to UNH, where they need to win 2 of 3. Beat NC A&T at home, and then travel to Towson, with the playoffs on the line.

[jcru]

In fact, if you look at the last three seasons, they all kind of shaped up in a similar way.

In 2021, they didn't have the initial loss to Delaware or Villanova, but they did have the three game stretch, and then the final game, and they lost all 4. And went 7-4. With all 4 losses, CAA Conference losses.

Last year, they had the one loss vs Delaware, heading into that three game stretch, and went 1 of 3 in that stretch and then won the final game. And still went 7-4, but with 3 CAA Conference losses.

So, this is the year, they have all the personnel, they need to win the games they should, go 2 of 3 in that stretch, and then win the final game and finish with only 2 CAA Conference losses, regardless of record.

Hopefully the Offensive Coordinator doesn't suffer an aneurysm for any of those games, like the time he woke up in Phily and decided the most unimaginative Offensive game plan possible was going to beat Nova on the road. I mean, he's not the first one in history, how many years did the Pats have someone other than McDaniels, and the playcalling was little more than Run, Run, Pass, Punt?

[damram]

And in the end the committee will pork us again.

[jcru]

I really think it comes down mostly to what place you finish in the Conference. The CAA will get 5 teams, you have to finish top-5.

Best case scenario is only lose one CAA game for the rest of the schedule, say against UNH, and finish 8-3, and 6-2 in the Conference, and that is a playoff team.

RR02 said that a 7-4 team could make it 50% of the time, well, yeah, but it depends on what games you win, I think. Like if we lost to Brown and UNH, and finished 7-4 but still 6-2 in the Conference. We are a playoff team. If we beat Bryant and Brown and lose to UNH and Towson, hypothetically, that is 7-4, but 3 CAA losses, and I think we are not a playoff team in that scenario, because someone will sneak by us in the standings and we'll likely end up 6th in the Conference.

Anything less than that is obviously not a playoff team.

[NYGFan_Section208]

And in the end the committee will pork us again.

make bacon?

[Bartoburger]

URI looked like they were playing in slow motion on offense. The play calling was awful. Looks like 8 wins will be tough to get. Esp. if Rhody plays like that the rest of the season.

[ramster]

I really think it comes down mostly to what place you finish in the Conference. The CAA will get 5 teams, you have to finish top-5.

Best case scenario is only lose one CAA game for the rest of the schedule, say against UNH, and finish 8-3, and 6-2 in the Conference, and that is a playoff team.

RR02 said that a 7-4 team could make it 50% of the time, well, yeah, but it depends on what games you win, I think. Like if we lost to Brown and UNH, and finished 7-4 but still 6-2 in the Conference. We are a playoff team. If we beat Bryant and Brown and lose to UNH and Towson, hypothetically, that is 7-4, but 3 CAA losses, and I think we are not a playoff team in that scenario, because someone will sneak by us in the standings and we'll likely end up 6th in the Conference.

Anything less than that is obviously not a playoff team.

The Conference games are more critical to Selection than the Brown or Bryant or Georgia State games.


4-5 teams will likely go to FCS Tournament from CAA.

Since we don't play William & Mary or Delaware then we need to beat most of the other teams that will contending.

[ramster]

Most complaints here seem aimed at the play calling and we ran too much

URI: 28 carries for only 60 yards = 2.1 yards per carry
Villanova: 43 carries for 287 yards = 6.7 yards per carry

URI: 15-27 for 181 passing yards
Villanova: 9-16 for 172 passing yards

URI ran 28 of 55 plays for 51% running
Villanova ran 43 of 59 plays for 73% running

10 of URI's 28 runs were by Kasim Hill who struggled gaining yards.

Hill will be 26 years old this December. He was outplayed by the Villanova QB. Hill threw some balls much too long as has been a problem for him in the past. Not one of Hill's better games.

[jcru]

If you go to the play/drives:

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/side ... e_Book.PDF

Scroll down to page 11. Sorry, I didn't know how to save the link so that it would just bring you to page 11.

Those drives at 10:59 and 06:37 are right around the time I was starting to lose my mind. Because if you see the drive before these is where they got the field goal and made it 14-3. And they abandoned that in the 10:59 drive, leading with the run, then a sack. And then the next two drives, they went full Run, Run, Pass, Punt, and you were like, did we just concede the game here? Why would you do that, three drives in a row, when there was still a chance to make a comeback? Not to mention that is a lot of minutes for your Defense, who is already too winded to contain the outside run, to be out there.

Granted, Hill was having a bad game. That is very true. Just a frustrating game to watch, and I'm sure it was plenty frustrating for the actual team as well. Last year, they had such a game at home vs Delaware and were able to use that experience to motivate themselves and come out gangbusters the following weeks. Here's hoping they can do something like that again.

Couple of other thoughts: It's been since 2017 since we played Villanova at Meade. Perhaps after the stadium construction year we can get them to come here for a change? That seemed to help our fortunes against them quite a bit in the past.

Villanova had 287 yards on the ground, but 117 of that was by their QB Watkins. I believe it was basically three big plays (two of which resulted in 2 of his three running TDs). Another 63 yard run TD by #1 Ayo-Durojaiye their first play in the second half.

Villanova had a lopsided 17:40 to 12:20 Time of Possession advantage in the first half. Imagine being on Defense, and being out there for almost 18 mins in one half? Likewise, that Villanova D had to be loving that 12 mins on the field in one half, they were flying to the ball, and they are already great to begin with.

[ramster]

Freshman, Left footed punter Devin Walter may be the son of the former New England punter but he is struggling. URI had Dylan Shank punt once and he got off a 50 yarder. Maybe a change coming?

We need somebody to step up at running back. Marques DeShields was a big reason for our success last year but nobody coming close to DeShields.......yet.

Only 3 penalties for URI compared to 12 for Villanova. The Horse-collar tackle by Westley Neal hurt early in the game.
URI had Villanova 1st and 30 due to multiple penalties and still couldn't hold them.

[Farrell_Fan]

[PlayMikeMotenMore]

Freshman, Left footed punter Devin Walter may be the son of the former New England punter but he is struggling. URI had Dylan Shank punt once and he got off a 50 yarder. Maybe a change coming?

We need somebody to step up at running back. Marques DeShields was a big reason for our success last year but nobody coming close to DeShields.......yet.

Only 3 penalties for URI compared to 12 for Villanova. The Horse-collar tackle by Westley Neal hurt early in the game.
URI had Villanova 1st and 30 due to multiple penalties and still couldn't hold them.

I'm sure this is not the first time it's been said but Dylan Shank...can you have a worse name for a kicker/punter?

[NYGFan_Section208]

Freshman, Left footed punter Devin Walter may be the son of the former New England punter but he is struggling. URI had Dylan Shank punt once and he got off a 50 yarder. Maybe a change coming?

We need somebody to step up at running back. Marques DeShields was a big reason for our success last year but nobody coming close to DeShields.......yet.

Only 3 penalties for URI compared to 12 for Villanova. The Horse-collar tackle by Westley Neal hurt early in the game.
URI had Villanova 1st and 30 due to multiple penalties and still couldn't hold them.

I'm sure this is not the first time it's been said but Dylan Shank...can you have a worse name for a kicker/punter?

Chris Blewitt?