Dark Day for Football
The news is bad out of Hamilton to say the least. Today I witnessed one of the worst offensive performances in a long time for the Raiders. First of all, congratulations are in order for CCSU. They came to win and did not give up. I wish them the best for the remainder of the season. They represented the NEC very well.
From this Colgate's fan perspective, here's what I took away from the game. Our defense played fairly well, if one can over look a huge missed play to set up the winning CCSU field goal. The run defense especially seemed up to task. We could use some work tackling in the open field and containing the quarterback, but those are typical early season mistakes. More game time will tighten that up nicely. I particularly think Zach Dollar stood out in the linebackers.
However, like many fans in the stands, I was stunned to see the lack of offensive firepower. A team cannot expect to beat anyone giving up the ball that many times to an opponent. I believe 21 of the 24 CCSU points came off of turnovers. That is simply unacceptable. If this same team shows up next week against UMass, we will lost by at least 40 points. Of course the fingers can start to point to the quarterback, but the blame is not soley his. The running game did not get established early on and frankly, Steve Hansen looked better at tailback than Ray LaMonica. Our receivers made some nice places and DeWayne Long is a threat all by himself. But if we turn over the ball every other series, we will lose a lot of games this year.
I will choose to be positive for now. Saraceno still should get a chance to work those kinks out and the team could use this game as motivation for the remainder of the season. Still, I must say the rose colored glasses were sharply ripped off from my face today, and the Raiders have a lot of hard work and soul searching ahead of them this week. A UMass win would certainly be redemption, but after todays game, it seems miles away from being possible.
From this Colgate's fan perspective, here's what I took away from the game. Our defense played fairly well, if one can over look a huge missed play to set up the winning CCSU field goal. The run defense especially seemed up to task. We could use some work tackling in the open field and containing the quarterback, but those are typical early season mistakes. More game time will tighten that up nicely. I particularly think Zach Dollar stood out in the linebackers.
However, like many fans in the stands, I was stunned to see the lack of offensive firepower. A team cannot expect to beat anyone giving up the ball that many times to an opponent. I believe 21 of the 24 CCSU points came off of turnovers. That is simply unacceptable. If this same team shows up next week against UMass, we will lost by at least 40 points. Of course the fingers can start to point to the quarterback, but the blame is not soley his. The running game did not get established early on and frankly, Steve Hansen looked better at tailback than Ray LaMonica. Our receivers made some nice places and DeWayne Long is a threat all by himself. But if we turn over the ball every other series, we will lose a lot of games this year.
I will choose to be positive for now. Saraceno still should get a chance to work those kinks out and the team could use this game as motivation for the remainder of the season. Still, I must say the rose colored glasses were sharply ripped off from my face today, and the Raiders have a lot of hard work and soul searching ahead of them this week. A UMass win would certainly be redemption, but after todays game, it seems miles away from being possible.
Congratulations are in order for Holy Cross, Lehigh, Lafayette and especially Georgetown! Great win for the Hoyas. Fordham, keep your chin up, we've both got some work to do. Now, time for my weekend long mourning period to begin...
posted by colgate13 at
7:25 PM
5 Comments:
Good writeup.
I have to agree that we cannot throw the towel in yet.
But...with 4 other quaterbacks on the sidelines, couldn't one of them have been given a shot to see what he could have done.
Oh well. There is always a next Saturday.
By
Anonymous, at 10:32 PM
We couldn't believe the score announced at Goodman. (of course, you probably didn't believe ours, either, when announced in the first quarter). Turnovers are the killers of any good team. We've learned today that the top NEC teams aren't all that bad and with a few breaks, can knock our blocks.But, silver lining, if you're going to have a stinker, the first game is the best one to do it. Next week will tell us all just how good the PL will be this year.
-Ngineer
By
Anonymous, at 12:56 AM
Hey 13:
I'll be at the Colgate game on Saturday. I'll stop by the righthand endzone (as facing the home stands from the visitor's side) about 15 minutes before the game.
Stop by and say hello.
No internet access or e-mail now until I get home.
By
UMass74, at 6:40 AM
Saturday's performance speaks volumes
for itself . A few questions as the
Gate looks forward to next Saturday
and a team clearly superior to CC
State :
1 - How would you rank the QBs in
terms of pure POISE , in dropping
back , picking a receiver and
firing the ball ?
2 - Assuming some teams defend against
Colgate by playing against a tail -
back run and double teaming Long ,
which other players ( whether now on
offense or defense ) have the great-
est ability to open up the field ,
and the game with speed and elusive-
ness ?
3 - Which other frosh do you see as
contributing this season beyond
those who played , and did so very
well , Saturday .
Thanks ! Keep up the great work .
By
Anonymous, at 4:46 PM
Watched the game on TV, so I had the benefit of instant replay. Here's my assessment.
CCSU wasn't that bad, but we gave them the game. Our inability to score in the red zone kept us from putting the game away early. That inabilty to score stems from our inability to run inside. LaMonica gets knocked down way to easily - he's not a punishing runner ala Jamal who can shake off a hit and gain yards. Usually he goes down on the fist hit.
Sarceno's obvious nervousness in the first half had him forcing passes. He also had happy feet. He got better at looking off the defenders in the second half, but locked onto receivers early. He was also high on many passes and that is due to his sidearm motion. Like in baseball, when the elbow drops down the ball sails up. He played much better in the second half. I like his arm strength. He might turn into the best passer in the Biddle tenure.
Receivers were great. Long and Parker made some tough cathses in coverage and were the bright spot in the offense.
Defense played very well. Sheard was a tough quarterback to contain because of his scrambling ability. Our pursuit was too good and that gave him and that JoJo back some room to escape. Our linebackers played great and generally so did our DBacks. Chris Williams played a bit too soft and got burned, but that's a rookie mistake. 18 of the 24 points came off turnovers (3 points off that "onsides kick")and 6 of those was the interception for a TD. So the defense gave up 12 points after a turnover and just 6 (2 fg) otherwise. Good enough to win even this game.
Special teams. Good coverage. Our returns were very good. Beane is a very good punt returner and Long and Parker taking kickoffs were good except for the freakish "onsides" kickoff that led to 3 CCSU points.
CCSU scored half their points off FGs with a combined distance of 154 yards. They scored their other half on 2 touchdowns of a combined distance of 90 yards. 9 times out of 10 we win this game.
By
Anonymous, at 8:14 AM
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