SHSU GAME THREAD

[UD '01 grad]

The only different CUSA opponents for Missouri State and Delaware are as follows:

UD played/plays Sam Houston and Jacksonville State

MS played/plays New Mexico State and Kennesaw State.

To me that's a wash at best.

[apict]

I agree this is (another) horrible loss. And I am a little tired of the "this is just our first FBS year and building a winner takes time" excuse. Other FCS programs have made the jump into a tougher FBS conference with much more immediate success than UD is having. But then, they had excellent coaching.

[hoopster]

I have always been a proponent of “let players play” just a comment from a fan, but when you said earlier this year that the passive style of defense could affect recruiting …. Well somebody should be listening.

When I was recruited, there was no guidance from my family, coaches, etc. I just came to Delaware and it worked out. Nowadays, recruits have a lot more information to make an informed choice about their future. Plus, they can leave whenever they want to go to a program that better suits their abilities.

Relationships are very important between players and coaches, I get that. I transitioned through two LB coaches @ UD and it wasn't easy. My question is, do the players like playing a passive style of defense? And I could be 100% wrong and maybe they run more blitzes than I realize. If that's the case, then their packages need some work.

I messaged a friend from the 2003 team and said this three man front is garbage. His response was... Yeah, definitely not a Dave Cohen defense!

Speaking of Dave Cohen, he was a long time assistant at Wake Forest but left the program upon the hiring of their new coach. Would love to get him back at UD next year!

[Caribbean Hen]

Missouri State is 5-1 and 7-3 overall

We talk all this talk and we're not even the best team to jump from FCS to FBS, humiliating but I guess not surprising. We couldn't compete at the top of the CAA, always was in the middle tier, now look at us struggling in the worst FBS conference while a different FCS transition team is dominating

You cannot discount the fact that Missouri State was handed an easier in conference schedule.

Also

Missouri State made the jump from the Missouri Valley, far and away the best conference in FCS. In fact, coming up to FBS from the MVFC to CUSA could be argued is not really a jump at all. It’s kind of a parallel move. I say that just comparing the level of play on the football field and not considering the publicity and all the millions of eyes and coverage that you’re gonna get by playing in FBS.

[pikecreekbill]

Not calling for Rojas' head on a pike.

Why not? They could sell naming rights for the pike. I bet Clucker would be high bidder, but plenty of folks would bid the price up.

If UD had a competent administration, which they don't, Carty's seat would be starting to get warm. I've been a big believer in Carty, but it's fading fast. This team has completely lost its way after the WKU game. Two road beatdowns sandwiched around an almost blown lead against maybe the worst team in the conference. Then a well played game and miracle finish against a middle of the pack team. And now a close loss to an absolutely horrible Sammy team, which in my mind is every bit as bad as the two earlier road beatdowns.

Winning is a skill. Skilled coaches win all of the games they should and some of the games they shouldn't. Inglesby doesn't have it. It's starting to look like Carty doesn't either. Giving them too much time to prove themselves is a recipe for disaster.

MO State does have a potential problem that UD doesn't have to be concerned with. IF they continue to be successful with their football program they have a pretty good chance of losing their coaching staff. If UD continues their same path forward Carty could retire from UD as long as he runs a clean program. You don't have to look any further than our present and past men's basketball coaches.

P.S. How did MO State get a home game with SMU?

[RalphD58]

I actually like Carty. I think he sells Delaware football well. I just think he needs to turn over the play calling to a legit OC and figure out what to do in the defensive side of the ball.

[hoopster]

Not calling for Rojas' head on a pike.

Why not? They could sell naming rights for the pike. I bet Clucker would be high bidder, but plenty of folks would bid the price up.

If UD had a competent administration, which they don't, Carty's seat would be starting to get warm. I've been a big believer in Carty, but it's fading fast. This team has completely lost its way after the WKU game. Two road beatdowns sandwiched around an almost blown lead against maybe the worst team in the conference. Then a well played game and miracle finish against a middle of the pack team. And now a close loss to an absolutely horrible Sammy team, which in my mind is every bit as bad as the two earlier road beatdowns.

Winning is a skill. Skilled coaches win all of the games they should and some of the games they shouldn't. Inglesby doesn't have it. It's starting to look like Carty doesn't either. Giving them too much time to prove themselves is a recipe for disaster.

MO State does have a potential problem that UD doesn't have to be concerned with. IF they continue to be successful with their football program they have a pretty good chance of losing their coaching staff. If UD continues their same path forward Carty could retire from UD as long as he runs a clean program. You don't have to look any further than our present and past men's basketball coaches.

P.S. How did MO State get a home game with SMU?

Here is why SMU played at Missouri State according to this article. Moats is their former AD who is now the AD at Eastern Kentucky.

Shortly after Missouri State announced it was exiting the Football Championship Subdivision and its longtime membership in the Missouri Valley Conference for the FBS and Conference USA in May of 2024, Moats had a 2025 nonconference schedule to fill.

“Once you make the move to FBS, you have a lot of teams that are looking for those types of games, especially if you’re in Year 1 (of a transition),” Moats said. “You get more people interested in you, most of the time, because you’d be going to their place.”

But SMU, a then-defending American Athletic Conference champion preparing for a transition of its own into Power 4 football in the Atlantic Coast Conference, was open to travel to fill an early spot on its 2025 slate, Moats said.

The Dallas school initially reached out to Missouri State, Moats said, after an online scheduling program matched their open dates.

“I don’t think it took me 30 seconds to call them back,” Moats said.

They were open, needed a game, and the fact we were going to be a first-year FBS program looked good on their resume,” Moats said, inferring that SMU appeared to be looking for a lighter opponent before starting the meat of its Power 4 schedule, including a matchup with rival TCU the following week.

Agreeing to a home-and-home with MSU would also mean SMU wouldn’t have to cut the Bears a sizable check, which would have been the case if MSU had only played the Mustangs in Dallas. The Bears will play SMU in Dallas on Sep. 26, 2026 in a return game to conclude the series.

[Caldwell Chicken]

I actually like Carty. I think he sells Delaware football well. I just think he needs to turn over the play calling to a legit OC and figure out what to do in the defensive side of the ball.

+1

[topstraight]

IMO--forget the Physical for a moment...

SH Mental Outlook:

--just coming off big first Win of the season at Oregon St.; confidence in self and coaches soars

--even though low crowd--playing in front of friends and family in a familiar setting

--Tie game at halftime gives more belief to a team Tired of losing who has recently tasted a win

Delaware Mental Outlook:

--Favorites against a one win team--overconfident?

--turnovers (2 lost fumbles and INT) cause negative momentum

Positive Momentum (which SH had for most of the game) always favors the underdog.

JMHO.

[topstraight]

So... If SH had the "mental" advantage in this game--Why was the score only a three point difference?

Simple. UD is the better team than 1-8 SH coming into the contest.

But--the better team (as all sports fans know) does Not always win.

[dovetail]

It's getting tiresome, the November swoon.

[Cluck U]

Sam Houston is second worst FBS team per ESPN's statistical rankings. Bearkats have scored 23 straight points since 2Q fumble.

Offense does not have a first down since fumble either, if ESPN play by play is correct. Just maddening inconsistency and typical of a team soon to be 5-5.

Thank goodness the players receive motivation from talk on this board. That should spur them on to victory.

An underrated post.

[Roger_Podacter]

Yikes. Tough loss. Didn't see that one coming.

Get that last W in the last game of the season, and Delaware will have 5 FBS wins, yes? That would be a very successful season, IMO.

[Cluck U]

I was at Argilla Brewery Co. @ Pietro’s Pizza and at 6:30pm, I asked the server to turn on the Hens game at 7pm.

Oklahoma and Alabama were playing. At 6:56pm, there was about a minute left in the game, 4th down and 6 at the Alabama 48, Alabama trailing 23-21. Just as they lined up to start the play, the game shuts off and the screen goes through the motions to find the UD game.

Not a peep out of the crowd.

Good food, decent beer, great music (Ritter Lane was playing…yes, two of the band members lived on Ritter Lane), but not a single football fan in the whole place.

Started out hopeful with a bunch of aggressive 4-5 man rushes causing the not-ready-for-FBS-or-FCS Sammy QB to repeatedly miss the barn by a mile. Then, typically, the 3-man rush returns and Sammy converts a couple 3rd and longs. Our D just doesn’t stop anyone after a crucial TO by our offense. We gave up 26 points to a team that only got there once (27 points was their max) in the previous 9 games.

Our D caused 0 turnovers…again. And, our D, supposedly designed to keep everything in front, got burned repeatedly for long gains.

Our OL. WTH was that? Part of that was on Mini4…and that sack he took at the end was atrocious.

Still, almost another miracle. ESPN would have gone nuts if we were again on their highlight show for best endings.

Wake will be a loss.

We have a chance for a bowl if we close out with the W against UTEP. Hope it is a good weather destination.

[UD '01 grad]

Among teams that lost Saturday, Hens had third best performance:

https://x.com/statsowar/status/19904251 ... 64/photo/1

From the creator:

All net success rate does is strip out some noise and present a view of how two teams compared in the down to down business of moving the football.

Games are won and lost with explosives, special teams, turnovers, etc, and looking at net success rate just shows us how close the margins were.

It's a good diagnostic to go back and look at a game and learn something:
• Positive net success rate and lost? Let's identify what went wrong - were those decisive plays sustainable/likely to carry over into future performance?