Topic: What I Expect To See Out of WCU

[cutmeopenibleedgreen]

Since I didn't weigh in on WVU (I told myself to keep my mouth shut all around this year), I figured I'd throw up some of my expectations for WCU.

Here they are, please feel free to weigh in.....

1. A MUCH improved defense. As much as all of us hate to admit it, WVU is a legit #11 team. Geno is a man-child, and their receiving corps had the experience to shred our chemistry-lacking secondary. One bright spot was the fact that on more than a few plays, Geno couldn't find anyone to throw to, even though he had all day.

2. We have the ability to, and WILL stop the run. Who in the world woulda guessed they woulda amassed 300 yards on the ground? Not calling complete fluke, but that wasn't expected. We counted on them slinging the ball around, and our inexperienced LBs getting some game experience without getting too pressured. With WCU, containing their RBs and Sully need to be priority.

3. Look for at least one HUGE hit on Sullivan. They guys seem okay with him on the record, but you can bet someone's gonna headhunt him at least once. "That'll teach you to leave."

4. Our corners are gonna be okay, I believe that. We have a bunch of speed, and BCS level talent. Once these guys start working together, no one is gonna wanna throw on us.

5. Our offfensive line is MUCH IMPROVED. We didn't yield a sack to my memory Saturday, and Cato will have all day to shred an inferior WCU secondary. Look for some ole fashioned MU GUNSLINGING Saturday.

6. We are DEEP at RB. One of those three guys are gonna be our next Ahmad. Young running talent is always good, when you have a leader like Cato. Makes for a two-headed monster that NO ONE wants to mess with.

7. Aaron Dobson playing 4 quarters of football equals a LOT of points. Just wait.

That's all I can think of for now, please weigh in guys.....GO HERD, see you all Saturday!!!

[goherd24]

Nice, i like it. I think Grooms is that Ahmad. I also am not sold on our O-Line, i believe WVU is a very average, if not below average defense (also the strip fumble recovery counts as a sack). Run blocking was certainly awful, no one but Grooms could make anything happen.

I expect us to throttle WCU by 40-50 points, get a lot of younger guys some experience, and build some confidence going into OU, which is our must win OOC game IMO. If we beat Ohio, coupled with the weakness of CUSA, we stand a real shot of being 9-3 or 10-2. Maybe 11-1 if we beat Purdue. I don't think any CUSA teams are better than us this year, that is evidenced by this weeks results, but then again, thr biggest improvement is from week one to two, so lets watch our opponents closely.

[banker]

I like your enthusiasm and agree with a lot of what you say. The one thing I will disagree with is the rushing performance by wvu. All they did was run everytime we showed a 3 man front. In that look we were dropping our linebackers in to an 8 man zone. Basically that gave Alston a 7 yard free run to get up a head of speed to knock our undersized LBers back another 5 yards.

There was nothing fluke about it. We had a poor gameplan and they exploited it.

[cutmeopenibleedgreen]

Banker, I agree. I also shoulda touched on the fact that we didn't make the changes we needed to contain that run. We were so afraid of the pass that it's almost like we forgot about their rushing attack.

[cutmeopenibleedgreen]

....and this is why I don't post much. Negative Karma for an expectations post? You guys are funny.  ::)

[Big City]

Nice, i like it. I think Grooms is that Ahmad. I also am not sold on our O-Line, i believe WVU is a very average, if not below average defense

I agree about WVU's defense. If Marshall could have stuck the ball in the endzone and kept pace it would have been much closer. Marshall had a decent opening drive just couldn't convert when it counted. That is where the O Line comes in to play. Marshall needs to be able to get the tough yardage everytime when it counts!

I expect us to throttle WCU by 40-50 points, get a lot of younger guys some experience, and build some confidence going into OU, which is our must win OOC game IMO. If we beat Ohio, coupled with the weakness of CUSA, we stand a real shot of being 9-3 or 10-2. Maybe 11-1 if we beat Purdue. I don't think any CUSA teams are better than us this year, that is evidenced by this weeks results, but then again, thr biggest improvement is from week one to two, so lets watch our opponents closely.

I hope you are correct about the 40-50 points but IMO I just don't see it getting to that point. Is the team capable- I absolutely think so but... I still see a lot of our youngers players getting in to the game.
Also CUSA will improve week to week as will Marshall. I think it will be a bigger challenge that what we all think. I am anxious to see what UCF does against the buckeyes this week as well as ECU. I hope Marshall fans see the importance of the Ohio game. I dont want to make a mountain here however this game- wow.

[wvmafia]

I'm not as strongly on the "fire Rippon" bandwagon as some, but if we don't get up and jam I-AA receivers I'll be the first one to sign the petition.  If the "athletes" we have play a 10 yard cushion on a below average I-AA team, we obviously have the wrong guy running the defense.  We should be able to make it nearly impossible for them to get off the line of scrimmage, let alone catch a pass.

[marshallz13]

I agree that the defense is way to far off the line and they were killing us with quick passes and on top of that the tackling was poor so they were busting off 1st downs all game and the corners just looked silly.

[richmondherdfan]

I just checked out WCU's record from last year and it was 1-10. Their only victory last year was against Mars Hill, who they beat again last week. Most teams hung at least 45 on them last year, so I am expecting at least that amount from us. We can't overlook anyone, but this isn't a good 1-AA team that we're playing.

MU-56
WCU-21