Just back from Not-So-Happy Valley...

[jd of de]

Yarns (his 66/yd subtracted) ... 5/20/4.0
Silver ... 5/15/3.0
St Flauer ... 2/5/2.5
Bermudez ... 1/4/4.0
Cumby ... 2/2/1.0
Combined ... 15/46/3.1
Combined w/ Yarns big run ... 16/112/7.0

The jury is still out, but against a massive / fast Penn State D-line, the O-line showed signs that we may be able to run the ball this season.

Is the Cumby experiment over and Bermudez era beginning?

WE PLAYED HARD AND DID NOT QUIT! This was not 60-0 Pitt or 51-7 Navy or 62-28 Maine.

[Cluck U]

Nitpicking…PSU’s starting DL isn’t huge. The commentators repeatedly said the lack of size on the Lions’ starting DL was the team’s only defensive concern and that lack of size is going to allow some teams to run up the middle on PSU. Their starting DTs are only 285lbs and 290lbs.

But yeah, we aren’t going to see a lot of that combo of size and speed at this level.

[tenn hen]

a few thoughts:

Only 2 CAA teams have winning records-Villanova and William & Mary.
our 1st 2 games have not been overly unimpressive to say the least.
our record stands now as expected
as a few of us have posted, Campbell may surprise

on PSU:

the beatdown yesterday was humiliating and demoralizing for all.
a few of our young guys played well, especially a number of freshmen
our schemes were stale and unimaginative- coaches decisions
our 1 big play was awesome and great to view
Nick Ware stood out again
realized Marker was hurt as he ran back to the huddle with his right arm handing by his side-we'll see how that plays out
proud our guys played hard through the entire game

going forward:

cupcake schedule should provide a number of wins for RC and company.
fingers crossed for this important season's results to be at a minimum adequate 8 wins
will we view REAL improvements in our execution and schemes? i.e.- 3 man front, soft coverages, etc.

conclusion-
"don't count your chickens until they hatch"
will any announcement be forthcoming for a step upward from our present FCS status?
better crush ST. Francis
a shout to you Cluck for the most posts in a single thread

[UDFootballFan]

Disappointed in the effort yesterday but expected this result.

PSU ran at will with Manny being Manny and not making adjustments. A quick adjustment I would’ve made is take a DB out and add another lineman.

Offensively…hard to pass when we had hardly any time & when we had time, it was off the mark. Yarns and our stable of backs ran well but just couldn’t stay on the field or sustain a drive

[Maddog@76]

The positives:
1. I thought our punting looked good - despite some of the comments on the game thread. Kost got off 3 or 4 real nice ones.
2. Team did not quit. This was NOT a repeat of 2014 Pitt - the only Hen game I've ever left being embarrassed to be a Delaware fan!
3. We did better running the ball than I expected. (I did not expect much) We do have some speed as evidenced by Yarns' TD.

The negatives:
1. Tackling. We tackled high. PSU ball carriers were consistently getting an additional 5-6 yards after contact.
2. The lines. Totally outmatched on both sides. I honestly don't know why PSU was even bothering to pass.
3. Passing Game virtually non-existent. We did take a shot deep early on, but then gave up. Everything else was 4-5 yard dinks. And where were the YAC so many on here promised from our "best receiving corps ever"?

Can we now stop with the playoff talk? We are NOT a top 20 FCS team - not even Top 25. I don't want to hear how we have a "favorable" schedule. Wake up. We will struggle with New Hampshire, Elon, and Villanova at the very least. And this just in... Campbell is Mmm-Mmm GOOD!

Those rules that apply to everyone else - they apply to us too. Such as... You don't replace as many starters as we have this year and expect to make the playoffs. This is a rebuilding year. They happen, and it's ok. We'll get better.

Hensrock- I hear you loud and clear. I don't agree or disagree with your statement. Just want to address your "rebuilding year" comment. I am not sure what this year is?? Normally when you think rebuilding- I think of bringing in "younger" prospects that fit the teams future program? With the portal and grads- Coach had many slots to fill and many ways to "reload." I find it interesting that during a "rebuilding year" the roster has 45 new faces (which includes 21- TRANSFER). According to game notes, there are approximately 106 players listed on the roster: 20- Grad students, 1- 5th year player, 24- Seniors [that total is 45- players]; there are 20- Juniors [total 65- players]; 17- Sophomores [total 82-players], and 24 Freshmen [total 106- players]. This means after this year, 20+ players [not counting players who will be pursuing greener pastures via the portal]. Does that mean another "rebuilding year"? COVID, NIL, and the portal has definitely redefined the landscape of college football! Maybe UD should use the "Prime Time" model. Take the $400,000 Penn State dollars and redistribute it the form of NIL's (bargaining chips); tell the "weaker" third of the team to enter the portal; then recruit (buy) the players needed for an immediate injection of talent? To paraphrase a "source", the upper echelon of UD football has stated there is a plan for future UD Football, and (to paraphrase) UD fans/alumni - can like it or not [either your with us or against us]. Personally, I yearn for yesteryear- just plain old football. Saturday starts the "real" season for our level of football. UD essentially at least "8" wins to qualify for the playoffs [and decent position in the bracket]. The Penn St. wasted 1 of those opportunities (for $400,00 and an opportunity for the players & some UD fans to be inside Happy Valley" and "enjoy" the experience).This means UD needs 7-wins out of the next 9-games. That is not going to be easy with our nemesis Villa-stinking-nova, always dangerous New Hampshire [and their FCS poliitical clout], at Campbell could be a "landmine" waiting to be stepped on (and maybe even North Carolina Central); and who knows about Richmond? Penn State just made the "cushion" smaller. The season is now in the hands of the coaching staff and players. They have to play the cards they were dealt. Having said that- Let's just "Git-R-Done." Go Blue Hens! Wayne Hanby

[Jaxhen1]

There’s no question we were outmanned yesterday, especially on the line, which was to be expected; however, our defensive scheme compounded the challenge. Unless you have very good or elite players at the DL and LB positions, it’s very hard to stop a power run game with this type of scheme. We play 3 and sometimes 4 safeties which is beneficial against pass heavy teams but makes it difficult to stop power backs. One of the frustrating things about that game is that we often made contact with the Penn State ball carrier in relatively decent position but the ball carrier, assisted by a big OL surge, pushed the pile forward several more yards allowing them to pick up the first down. Our safeties simply aren’t big enough or strong enough to drive the ball carrier backwards upon initial contact against power backs and big line men pushing the pile forward. I agree with previous comments about our OL looking better in the run game. I think we will be able to run the ball better this year. We have a good group of RBs and a lot of depth. We need to establish the run in our future contests.

[Info Hound]

A bit O.T.:

We had 50 yd line seats that I bought off a PSU fan that I met in Buckley's Tavern. We were (obviously) in a section with long time season tickets holders and all that goes with that. I was asked by the fellow in front of me, "how did you get those seats?".

I explained that I paid $100 per seat to a season ticket holder that was in Maine for the week. I asked him how long he has had his seats.

He said he was surprised that the seats had been available, but that he was able to get them when a lot of fans dropped out during the "Paterno problems".

Everybody around us was fine, but for one guy that glared at me when I got loud during "our one shining moment". The only other thing that stood out were the number of morbidly obese and infirm PSU fans that had to navigate steps with no handrails. EMT struggled to get one lady down that was strapped in a chair, very early in the day.

We are glad we went. It is quite a show, except for the domination.

[Roger_Podacter]

I cannot say that the Hens are not a playoff team AFTER losing to Penn State. They got their azzes handed to them by a very good BIG BIG Boy school.

Let’s wait to see what they do after a few more games, maybe. They could get better, they could get worse. A lot of Football left.

I’m confident they will beat the crap teams on the schedule. And it will be fun to see what they do against the couple of good teams left on their schedule.

[mpwerrell]

I just got home from Happy Valley. We had 30 yard line seats on the visitor side. Great tailgate and a great experience except of course for the loss. Mingled briefly with the Brock Gingrich tailgate. There was more UD blue in attendance than I expected.

But if anyone expected an upset or a close game, they were out of their minds. This Penn State team is elite and will compete with the big boys in the BIG Many.

Their number 2’s are collectively more talented than our 1’s.
Coach Rojas cold have placed 8 guys on the DL and we would not been able to consistently stop them.

This is not a slight to our players and coaches just fact. I don’t believe our players were humiliated as someone posted earlier. Disappointed with the loss, of course. The players looked forward to being on the stage and gave their best effort.

Should we play this level of team again, I would say no but it doesn’t diminish their effort yesterday.

[jl1968]

'What's next? Maybe we can get Georgia on the schedule for next year! What was our AD thinking?

[Gannonfan]

We just played a team that is a clear top 10 team in the country, and possibly even top 5. And this in an era where the very tippy top of college football is so much better than the rest of college football. All I can take from the game is that we are not anywhere close to the top 10 in all of college football. Of course, we knew that prior to kickoff. Nothing else can be gleaned from this game. It was a nice field trip for the team and the season resumes with St Francis on Saturday.

[Bluewyn Gold]

All I can take from the game is that we are not anywhere close to the top 10 in all of college football. Of course, we knew that prior to kickoff. Nothing else can be gleaned from this game. It was a nice field trip for the team and the season resumes with St Francis on Saturday.

Agree entirely except for the "nice field trip" part. Seems Coach Carty disagrees with that characterization, but I'm not sure it will matter much. The AD's got to pay the bills.

[Caribbean Hen]

All I can take from the game is that we are not anywhere close to the top 10 in all of college football. Of course, we knew that prior to kickoff. Nothing else can be gleaned from this game. It was a nice field trip for the team and the season resumes with St Francis on Saturday.

Agree entirely except for the "nice field trip" part. Seems Coach Carty disagrees with that characterization, but I'm not sure it will matter much. The AD's got to pay the bills.

Hopefully she got that paycheck several years ago because 500,000 ain’t paying for much these days

[Hengrad07]

'What's next? Maybe we can get Georgia on the schedule for next year! What was our AD thinking?

What was the AD thinking? God only knows!

That said, I would love to see KT interview Rawak to get her thoughts especially after several of Carty’s post game comments, including if she had the chance to watch it yet.

The “above my pay grade” comment was directed at her IMHO!

[Hengrad07]

'What's next? Maybe we can get Georgia on the schedule for next year! What was our AD thinking?

What was the AD thinking? God only knows!

That said, I would love to see KT interview Rawak to get her thoughts especially after several of Carty’s post game comments, including if she had the chance to watch it yet.

The “above my pay grade” comment was directed at her IMHO!