Valpo at home against Drake this week. Gametime weather has chance of showers and T-Storms with a high of 69 degrees.
My prediction: attendance will be 1800.
Oh, the game will be Drake 38 - Valpo 17. Valpo scores late to keep it within 3 TDs.
Drake 76
Valpo 17 (20 if the kicker and holder make it on the field at the same time in the first half)
Drake scores 27 in first quarter and 28 in the second quarter.
Drake 56
Valpo 17
Drake is the THE 2012 PFL monster.
And we gave up 56 to Butler who has lots of flaws.
Gotta go with both usc4valpo and historyman. It will not be pretty be an ugly scene, especially with the injuries to starters that they received v. Butler.
QUESTION TO NO ONE IN PARTICULAR: Why couldn't the PFL have matched up the bottom teams early in the schedule before they got clobbered/dismembered by the leaders? The present scheduling seems to year after year favor the haves vs. the have nots and precludes parity.
With schedules being made so far in advance in some instances and some teams gaining skillful transfers I don't think there is any way to really predict who will be superior over another school. Believe it or not Valpo COULD be much improved in 2 to 3 years with the correct mix of players and coaches. I won't try to tell you who might be in that mix. It might include Dale Carlson.
"With schedules being made so far in advance in some instances"
I don't know if I can agree. The PFL knows annually that the first 3 games are out of conference. Once the conference round robin begins it is 8 or 9 straight weeks. We know who we'll play -- just not in what order. The NFL schedules 32 teams annually and adjusts. i just think that at the end of the season the PFL needs to look at the bottom of the standings and set more games with other bottom teams early in the season to foster development and parity. I realize that the "haves" might have to play earlier against each other, but that spices up the mix and makes for a tighter, more attractive race. It also improves the competition. A valpo with 2 wins and some confidence coming into Drake is a better competitor that VU right now.
Quote from: VULB#62 on October 09, 2012, 08:12:15 PM
"With schedules being made so far in advance in some instances"
I don't know if I can agree. The PFL knows annually that the first 3 games are out of conference. Once the conference round robin begins it is 8 or 9 straight weeks. We know who we'll play -- just not in what order. The NFL schedules 32 teams annually and adjusts. i just think that at the end of the season the PFL needs to look at the bottom of the standings and set more games with other bottom teams early in the season to foster development and parity. I realize that the "haves" might have to play earlier against each other, but that spices up the mix and makes for a tighter, more attractive race. It also improves the competition. A valpo with 2 wins and some confidence coming into Drake is a better competitor that VU right now.
The counterpoint to this arguement is the playoffs. Wouldn't it be better for Drake to play Valpo or another bottom feeder at the end of the year where they can rest starters and represent the Pioneer Football League in the playoffs. It's not good for competitive balance of the league, but it might make for a better representation on a national level.
Drake - A whole lot
Valpo - Very few
Really, do we need more than that at this point? If so, Drake 56 Valpo 7 (I'd say 10, but who knows if they can find the kicker or the holder).
Looks like we'll see more of this if either the kicker or holder are pursuing other interests during the game:
From the Lead-in On Valpoathletics.com
The Crusaders were aggressive in going for it on fourth down last Saturday against Butler, ending the game with five fourth-down conversions on eight attempts. The five successful fourth downs was the most by a Valpo squad since the 2011 team converted seven fourth downs against Butler.
NOTE: the 2011 Butler score was 14-42, 2012 17-56. So.... the margin of victory for Butler went from 28 in '11 to 39 in '12; in 2010 it was 48, but in 2009 (when BU won the PFL at 7-1) the score was 14-23 ( a margin of only 9 points)
Quote from: milanmiracle on October 10, 2012, 10:50:03 AMDrake - A whole lot
Valpo - Very few
Really, do we need more than that at this point?
;D
That is why I started by predicting the attendance.
Drake 45
Valpo 13
Another bad week...
Brian
Attendance 1576 (the fans, not the squirels ...)
So if I use Saginin and add homefield advantage, Drake is a 31 pt favorite.
Yeah, Drake by about 40.
For attendance I will take the "under" and I mean "under" 400 counting the band and the parents. Why guess 1800? Have CO Fan and others been to any 2012 games?
Quote from: crusadermoe on October 12, 2012, 04:24:14 PM
Yeah, Drake by about 40.
For attendance I will take the "under" and I mean "under" 400 counting the band and the parents. Why guess 1800? Have CO Fan and others been to any 2012 games?
No, I have not been to any games. However, the posted attendance for home games this season are all much higher than 1800: 3848 for St. Joe, 2177 for Duquesne, and 3676 for Butler (Homecoming). Last year also saw some good attendance for opening game and homecoming, but tapered off after that.
Quote from: covufan on October 12, 2012, 05:59:29 PM
Quote from: crusadermoe on October 12, 2012, 04:24:14 PM
Yeah, Drake by about 40.
For attendance I will take the "under" and I mean "under" 400 counting the band and the parents. Why guess 1800? Have CO Fan and others been to any 2012 games?
No, I have not been to any games. However, the posted attendance for home games this season are all much higher than 1800: 3848 for St. Joe, 2177 for Duquesne, and 3676 for Butler (Homecoming). Last year also saw some good attendance for opening game and homecoming, but tapered off after that.
don't believe the numbers posted. these numbers are higher than what we typically saw for basketball games last year, and i have a hard time believing that's really the case. unless we're swapping sides of the field with our opponents and they're now filling up the big bleachers every week. when i was a student, you could usually fit the valpo crowd in those smaller bleachers...
Quote from: covufan on October 12, 2012, 05:59:29 PM
Quote from: crusadermoe on October 12, 2012, 04:24:14 PM
Yeah, Drake by about 40.
For attendance I will take the "under" and I mean "under" 400 counting the band and the parents. Why guess 1800? Have CO Fan and others been to any 2012 games?
No, I have not been to any games. However, the posted attendance for home games this season are all much higher than 1800: 3848 for St. Joe, 2177 for Duquesne, and 3676 for Butler (Homecoming). Last year also saw some good attendance for opening game and homecoming, but tapered off after that.
You could knock me over with a feather if those are true attendance numbers
Has anyone had any issues accessing the WAKE stream on wireless internet? Every place I've tried to access the stream on a wireless network this season I get the page to load but I keep getting the rotating loading circle and no audio. The FAQ only suggests having an up-to-date flash player, and I know I'm good there.
Well, we're off to a great start. Took Drake 12 seconds to score the first TD on a KO return.
After 3 Qtrs: Butler 17 - Marist 14
0.49 before the half: Dayton 17 - Morehead 13
1:41 before the half: JU 24 - Davidson 10
Threw a pic at the Drake 2; Drake went on to a 14-0 lead.
Q 3:35: Ben Lehman in at QB
After a fumble at on a Drake punt return -- Lehman to Slenk 24 yd. TD
It's a Christmas miracle! Valpo scored in the first quarter against a team that was actually still trying!
Drake 14 Valpo 7 at the end of the first.
After being outscored 76-24 in the first quarter on the season, being down only a touchdown is a significant accomplishment.
Yup -- played them pretty even except for the KO-TD, gave up a TD to close the half though after a couple of 3 and outs and a costly personal foul.
This is the competitiveness that we all have hoped for, but will we compete the entire game? Second hals will tell us much.
Apparently, the staff has changed their "system" a bit. 14-21 with 9:46 to go in the 3rd and they are running the ball with less reliance on the pass (Hoffman did not start). Defense is playing tough as well. The Drake O has not been on the field all that much in comparison to previous opponents.
Quote from: VULB#62 on October 13, 2012, 02:41:46 PM
Apparently, the staff has changed their "system" a bit. 14-21 with 9:46 to go in the 3rd and they are running the ball with less reliance on the pass (Hoffman did not start). Defense is playing tough as well. The Drake O has not been on the field all that much in comparison to previous opponents.
I'm just following on gametracker, and it appears that this is an actual football game...what a concept!
Were any reasons given for both Hoffman and Ali-El not playing? I missed the pre-game and first quarter, so I didn't hear those details.
Both Injured. Lehman appeared to do well early on, but didn't have a good 2nd half. Replaced for one drive at the end by Quinn Schaefer for the final TD. 21-35 the final.
Yes, it was a football game.
I really need a report from somebody who actually went to the game. From the gametracker, and looking at the stats...everything seemed out of character for Valpo. More rushing attempts than passes and reasonable score at the end of the game. The starting quarterback and running back didn't play either. Huh?
I listened to the game on WAKE as well. What you see on tracker is pretty much what happened. They ran A LOT. I loved it. The PXP and Color (actually Oren) made constant remarks about the ground game. Some stupid penalties and that KO return sunk them. Except for those this was a close game.
I give credit to Crusaders where due today. They stayed within 21-14 through nearly 3 quarters. That is major progress and I think I heard from other posters that Drake is tough.
Anyway, I'm glad to have been wrong about the loss by 40 points!!
It's too bad we gave up the KO return. Because obviously we struggle to match the plays run from scrimmage already.
I was listening to part of the game on the Web from WAKE and it seems every time Valpo does something exciting, Iclow overreacts and there is some technical difficulty. It is actually pretty entertaining.
Attendance was about 1200. My guess was a little high.
Yeah, every time the PxP guy raised his voice about an exciting play, the sound crashed.
Drake had beaten San Diego 38-10 on the previous week.......so perhaps best team of all we've played?
Drake, Butler, and Jacksonville are all 3-0. San Diego and Dayton 2-1.
Campbell, Morehead, VU, and Davidson are all 0-3. Haves and have-nots.
Quote from: milanmiracle on October 13, 2012, 10:09:51 AM
Quote from: covufan on October 12, 2012, 05:59:29 PM
Quote from: crusadermoe on October 12, 2012, 04:24:14 PM
Yeah, Drake by about 40.
For attendance I will take the "under" and I mean "under" 400 counting the band and the parents. Why guess 1800? Have CO Fan and others been to any 2012 games?
No, I have not been to any games. However, the posted attendance for home games this season are all much higher than 1800: 3848 for St. Joe, 2177 for Duquesne, and 3676 for Butler (Homecoming). Last year also saw some good attendance for opening game and homecoming, but tapered off after that.
You could knock me over with a feather if those are true attendance numbers
Have no idea if they are true, guesses or what. The Drake game, with rain and cooler temperatures, was 1189. For those that attended both Butler and Drake, was the attendance for Drake about 1/3 of Butler?
Valpo ran the ball really well against Drake, they even ran the ball well against Butler. Here are the rushing stats for each game
St. Joe - 35 for 129 yds
YSU - 25 for 47 yds
Duq - 30 for 67 yds
SD - 17 for 34 yds
But - 40 for 112 yds
Dra - 41 for 162 yds
You see once Valpo has around 35 to 40 rushes a game, they get atleast 100 yards. We had to run the ball against Drake, because it was going to be hard to throw the ball around in that weather we had Saturday. It would be nice to see Valpo have more balance in the offense. Jake Hutson has been running the ball really well and hopefully Ali-El isn't hurt too much longer.
It was nice to be competitive against Drake, but that doesn't mean Valpo is going to turn things around just yet. They still need more consistency. They need to beat Dayton or atleast keep it close. If they get blown out, its back to square one.
"They still need more consistency. They need to beat Dayton or at least keep it close. If they get blown out, its back to square one."
Welcome Luke. Yup, I think that's the general consensus on this board. That thread is carried through of Football 2012 too. Hoping for competitiveness in very game left this season.
Thanks for the rushing stats. Didn't realize there were so many carries v. Butler. Apparently V. Drake they were able to cobble a few rushes together to allow for some ball control and clock management that was not accomplished against Butler judging from thescores.
Let's be realistic, 62. Less turnovers means your defense is on the field a lot less. If your runners hold onto the ball and you don't throw interceptions the opposition won't score as much. Especially when it doesn't matter how far the opponent has to go to the end zone they still score within 2 plays.
Against Butler we fumbled on the first play from scrimmage around the Valpo 10 and it took the Bulldogs 2 plays to score. On the next possession we fumbled within the first 3 plays (I can't remember exactly) from around the Valpo 40 and it took Butler 2 plays to score.
Against Drake we held the ball better and they still managed to score on the opening kickoff return.
If Valpo just comes out ready to play it seems that is half the battle to win games.
Can't argue with you on that. Tough digging out of 14 and 7 point holes after only 2 minutes of play. Seems like in almost every game, something weird happens very early that derails the positive vibes. Even if you discount the two quick fumbles, the roof caved in vs. Butler in the first half and that, to me, was a bit different that against Drake, where they seemed to hold onto rtha ball on the ground a lot better than previously.