Game Thread: Elon

[Jaxhen1]

Didn’t expect to see Elon beat us through the air. Delaware was ranked the #1 team in FCS in pass defense efficiency and Elon was ranked 92nd in FCS in passing offense. Giving up three long passes for TDs was very frustrating. I thought the advantage of playing our style of defense was to have six DBs on the field. Where were they? There was no one in sight on the second TD I believe.

[Warrior Hen]

Let’s not be so quick to be completely sold on Marker as the quarterback that needs to be the starter. He had two good games against two lousy teams. The offensive line gave him an outrageous amount of time to throw the ball and Carty did not ask him to throw a ridiculous number of deep balls as we did today. Remember we are playing with back up receivers. Short passes were what we needed today.

[Firstand10BlueHens]

Let’s not be so quick to be completely sold on Marker as the quarterback that needs to be the starter. He had two good games against two lousy teams. The offensive line gave him an outrageous amount of time to throw the ball and Carty did not ask him to throw a ridiculous number of deep balls as we did today. Remember we are playing with back up receivers. Short passes were what we needed today.

As soon as we switched back to intermediate routes we moved the ball. Not sure if the long balls were reads by o'conner or direct play calls by Carry. Despite the inconsistent offense it was poor D and ST that really made for an uphill battle. At least they buckled down the last 10 mins or so.

[Caribbean Hen]

Carib, I'm reminded of a certain cliché...

HR, we have one

Au contraire, we have 2!
Remember how good Marker looked against Towson?
Remember how good O'Connor looked against Stony Brook?

That's the problem with scheduling cupcakes. Week 10 and we STILL don't know what we have!

I think if Marker was healthy today, he starts and is the guy from here on out. Now what’s different this year is our back up is pretty capable as well. There’s no controversy at all, Marker is clearly the better guy for the job.

[Oldhen]

That's the problem with scheduling cupcakes. Week 10 and we STILL don't know what we have!

We have an average team peppered with real players.

[jd of de]

Carib, I'm reminded of a certain cliché...

HR, we have one

Au contraire, we have 2!
Remember how good Marker looked against Towson?
Remember how good O'Connor looked against Stony Brook?

That's the problem with scheduling cupcakes. Week 10 and we STILL don't know what we have!

WE only scheduled 3 of the 11 games. And it appears what WE scheduled was a top 20 FBS opponent, a FCS opponent likely heading to the playoffs and one FCS opponent that was in last year’s playoffs.

[Cluck U]

In other words, we scheduled a money game (in which we were served as the cupcake) and two cupcakes disguised as FCS first round blowout-level losers…while having a plate full of cupcakes scheduled for us (which was predictable because we reside in the watered down CAA).

No OOC contest was scheduled to help gauge how the team would do against decent FCS teams.


Regardless, the problem with Elon wasn’t the scheduling. Rojas’ D was, once again, beaten long…repeatedly…despite having 400 DBs on the field. The reason for that is obvious, yet we will hear about how Rojas’ D produces good stats over a season. On the other side of the ball, Carty was, once again, determined to do Carty Ball. The man is stubborn. So is the QB. Run, Forest, run!


In the end, we are 7-2. Our schedule has left us with a crappy Campbell team up next. They have skill players that can hurt us. Win that game and we are in the playoffs. Lose, and it could be a bad year. nova can score…and we don’t look capable of stopping them. Can we win a high scoring game? Only if Carty and our QB stop their silliness.

Still, an exciting year so far.

[93BlueHen]

Don't jump off any bridges, guys. We're probably only dropping two spots in the poll. Everyone behind us in the top 10, except two, lost too:

1. South Dakota State (9-0, 6-0 MVFC): 33-16 win over No. 11 North Dakota State
2. Furman (8-1, 6-0 SoCon): 17-14 win at Chattanooga
3. Idaho (7-2, 5-1 Big Sky): 27-13 win at Northern Colorado
4. Montana (8-1, 5-1 Big Sky): 34-7 win over No. 7 Sacramento State
5. Delaware (7-2, 5-1 CAA): 33-27 loss to Elon
6. Montana State (7-2, 5-1 Big Sky): 45-21 win over Northern Arizona
7. Sacramento State (6-3, 3-3 Big Sky): 34-7 loss at No. 4 Montana
8. UIW (7-2, 4-1 Southland): 45-32 loss to Nicholls
9. South Dakota (7-2, 5-1 MVFC): 14-7 win at No. 10 Southern Illinois
10. Southern Illinois (6-3, 3-3 MVFC): 14-7 loss to No. 9 South Dakota
11. North Dakota State (6-3, 3-3 MVFC): 33-16 loss at No. 1 South Dakota State
12. North Carolina Central (8-1, 3-0 MEAC): 38-24 win over Norfolk State
13. North Dakota (6-3, 4-2 MVFC): 45-31 win at Murray State
14. Chattanooga (7-3, 6-2 Southern): 17-14 loss to No. 2 Furman
15. Florida A&M (8-1, 7-0 SWAC): 42-28 win at Alabama A&M

[Henny]

Beat Campbell and we are in the playoffs, beat Campbell and Nova and we are a seeded team. It's still there for this team but treat this as a learning experience for the DBs and the pass rush. Give Elon credit for figuring out a way to knock UD off in Newark. Hopefully the Hens will take it out on the Camels.

I saw Marker give it a try and the shoulder just wasn't ready. Unfortunate.

[dovetail]

Giving up three long passes for TDs was very frustrating.

And to a journeyman quarterback.

[Hens79]

Beat Campbell and we are in the playoffs, beat Campbell and Nova and we are a seeded team. It's still there for this team but treat this as a learning experience for the DBs and the pass rush. Give Elon credit for figuring out a way to knock UD off in Newark. Hopefully the Hens will take it out on the Camels.

I saw Marker give it a try and the shoulder just wasn't ready. Unfortunate.

Saw Marker to. He didn’t even have his helmet on in the second half. The offense is so much more dynamic and varied with him. Oh well ….

[RalphD58]

Giving up three long passes for TDs was very frustrating.

And to a journeyman quarterback.

The safety play was suspect at best. The Elon QB and WR's made some nice plays and catches, credit where credit is due. His long balls were well placed, not too much air like Delaware's. Seemed like they were trying to get some PI calls that the refs weren't selling yesterday.

[Info Hound]

Right on Marker. He and Coach Goldrich were tossing the ball before 2nd half KO. Zach wanted to give it a go, but did not have any zip on the ball.

I'm disappointed that "Mr. Reliable" , Braden Brose wasn't targeted more often.

Lots of worked to do in the next few days. We'll see what the character of this team is.

Albany has the easiest route to ending in first, or tied for first.

Win the next two games, and Elon will just be a bad memory.

[Caribbean Hen]

Giving up three long passes for TDs was very frustrating.

And to a journeyman quarterback.

The safety play was suspect at best. The Elon QB and WR's made some nice plays and catches, credit where credit is due. His long balls were well placed, not too much air like Delaware's. Seemed like they were trying to get some PI calls that the refs weren't selling yesterday.

You give a journeyman QB time, he will hit his man

WR Brayboy, despite his name, was no joke, would take him in a second

[77HEN]

The Hen’s offense is just not going to run on all cylinders unless the QB is willing to run. Without that, the rest of the games is a crap shoot.