@ Davidson 10/3

[VULB#62]

Just setting a placeholder for next week.  I'll have the Sagarin update and scores from the other PFL games to start the week off.

[usc4valpo]

If the Sagarin rankings hold, where currently they are at the bottom 2, this game has college gameday potential!

[VULB#62]

PFL Week #1 Results
Butler 25, Campbell 24
Jacksonville 20, Marist 16
Morehead State 34, Davidson 0
San Diego 38, Valparaiso 6
Drake 41, Stetson 3
Dayton 31, Kennesaw State 27

Some quick Davison stats:

6 RB's combined for 190 net yards
2 QBs combined for 9/25/2 and 64 yards.

Methinks we need to stop the run and force them to pass.

[VULB#62]

Latest Sagarin raings: Some interesting movement [Click on image to enlarge].

JU beat Marist but dropped 5 places while Marist went UP 2 places
Butler beat Campbell and went DOWN 2 places while Campbell remained unchanged
Morehead is now rated 5th in the PFL

[usc4valpo]

the Sagarin futility bowl is coming up!!

[VU2624]

Sad to say that this might be a real big game for Valpo and Davidson as well.

A much better Valpo team was up 4 in the 4th quarter in last year's Davidson game in weather Valpo is much more acclimated to. Davidson is going to try to run the ball and had a fair amount of success last year with the now sophomore RB they have. Valpo may have to stack the box to make them throw.

Valpo is going to have to figure out how to run the ball effectively and pass the ball far more efficiently and hang on to the ball. This year's squad is not a big play roster or so it appears.

[VULB#62]

Sorry but don't have the time to make pretty. Thought bold numbers interesting.

Davidson vs Morehead State (Sep 26, 2015 at Morehead, Ky.)
Team Totals    DAV    MOR
FIRST DOWNS    15    19
   Rushing    12    7
   Passing    3    12
   Penalty    0    0
NET YARDS RUSHING    190    159
   Rushing Attempts    53    32
   Average Per Rush    3.6    5.0
   Rushing Touchdowns    0    0
   Yards Gained Rushing    221    174
   Yards Lost Rushing    31    15
NET YARDS PASSING    64    281
   Completions-Attempts-Int    9-25-2    19-38-0
   Average Per Attempt    2.6    7.4
   Average Per Completion    7.1    14.8
   Passing Touchdowns    0    4
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS    254    440
   Total offense plays    78    70
   Average Gain Per Play    3.3    6.3
Fumbles: Number-Lost    2-1    1-1
Penalties: Number-Yards    4-30    3-25
PUNTS-YARDS    10-350    7-282
   Average Yards Per Punt    35.0    40.3
   Net Yards Per Punt    32.9    37.7
   Inside 20    1    4
   50+ Yards    1    0
   Touchbacks    1    0
   Fair catch    7    2
KICKOFFS-YARDS    1-65    6-360
   Average Yards Per Kickoff    65.0    60.0
   Net Yards Per Kickoff    40.0    46.2
   Touchbacks    1    0
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD    3-18-0    2-1-0
   Average Per Return    6.0    0.5
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD    5-83-0    0-0-0
   Average Per Return    16.6    0.0
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD    0-0-0    2-51-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD    0-0-0    0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards    0    0
Possession Time    34:08    25:52
   1st Quarter    9:02    5:58
   2nd Quarter    7:15    7:45
   3rd Quarter    9:19    5:41
   4th Quarter    8:32    6:28
Third-Down Conversions    5 of 20    6 of 15
Fourth-Down Conversions    3 of 5    0 of 0
Red-Zone Scores-Chances    0-0    3-3
   Touchdowns    0-0    2-3
   Field goals    0-0    1-3
Sacks By: Number-Yards    1-9    4-18
PAT Kicks    0-0    4-4
Field Goals    0-0    2-3
Points off turnovers    0    17

[covufan]

We get back to winning this week:

Valpo        34
Davidson   23

[usc4valpo]

Valpo 17
John Davidson 14

[historyman]

Valpo 17 John Davidson 14

Steph Curry considers them Harley Davidson.

[FGColonel]

Good Luck against Davidson Saturday.     

[VULB#62]

Thanks Colonel.  We need this game as a building block for the rest of the season.  I'm content this season to wrestle with the lower tier PFL teams (Davidson, Stetson, Morehead and Butler) and just try to be competitive with the iron (SD. Jacksonville, Drake and Dayton).  We made a quarter of it against USD but.....

[VULB#62]

Stokes might be good to go.  No word on Scott's concussion recovery yet.

[Tweet]649270746599002112[/Tweet]

[vu72]

So those of us that were at the Honors Breakfast last Saturday had the privilege of hearing Scott Staal speak.  What an impressive young man!  He has been out now for three weeks. Any hope of him being ready by Saturday??

[VU2624]

So those of us that were at the Honors Breakfast last Saturday had the privilege of hearing Scott Staal speak.  What an impressive young man!  He has been out now for three weeks. Any hope of him being ready by Saturday??

IIRC Scott's dad posted here a few times in the past.  Coach Cecchini's eyes said no when asked the question as to whether he'd be available in the preview (I think).

[VULB#62]

More from Brandon Vickrey:

[Tweet]649270348786089984[/Tweet]

[Tweet]649271477674606593[/Tweet] 

Nate is the hub of the OL and a 5th year senior captain.  Kyle Jones is the starting RG.  AJ is listed a a starter at CB. Mike is listed as backup to Sr. DT Nick Scoville

Our line apparently took a literal beating last Saturday, which could explain the less than stellar running game and the shuffling mentioned in other posts.  Let's hope for the best on all of these guys.  On the OL, if these guys can't go, we will line-up with RT-Soph, RG - Soph, C - Soph, RG - Fr, RT - Sr.          LT, LG, RG and RT backups are freshmen.

[VULB#62]

More scouting material from the Game Notes release earlier today.

Scouting Davidson: Like Valpo, Davidson has stumbled out of the gate in 2015. Opponents have posted 138 points in three games versus the Wildcats for an average of 46 points per contest. The discord hasn't been quarantined to the defensive side of the ball, either. Davidson has been on the wrong end of two shutouts in three weeks. The Wildcats put 21 points on the board at home versus Catawba College, but were kept on the perimeter of the Citadel 40-yard line in Week 1, and marched no farther than the Morehead State 29 in Week 3.

While Davidson's passing game has been unfruitful at times (32-for-78, 1 TD, 7 INT), Jeffrey Keil has emerged as a force at running back. As a freshman last season, Keil led all rushers in the 2014 season finale at Brown Field with 132 yards on 26 carries versus the Crusaders. The sophomore has totaled just under 200 yards on 34 attempts and is responsible for two of Davidson's three touchdowns on the young season. Coach Nichols has one of the elite receivers in the PFL in William Morris, but getting him the ball has proven easier said than done. Morris's 1,224 receiving yards last season led the league and was good for 9th-most in the nation. Furthermore, only two players in Division I FCS reeled in more passes than his 98. In last November's tilt at Valpo, Morris and then-senior Tanner Kuramata produced carbon copy games of 10 catches and 122 receiving yards. Taylor Mitchell and John Cook both project to take snaps under center Saturday. [Edit note:  Cook led all rushers last week with 72.]

The Davidson defense is a young unit as just three seniors grace its two-deep. Having surrendered an average of 338.7 yards on the ground per game, the Wildcat rush defense is last in all of D-I FCS. Valpo's four-man running back rotation of Jake Hutson, Brandon Hall, Grayson Bastin, and Legend Choudhry should expect more success on the ground than last Saturday versus San Diego.

In addition to serving as quarterback, Cook logs overtime on special teams. All 24 of Davidson's punts have come off the junior's foot (34.7 yards per punt average). Trevor Smith handles the kicking duties for the Wildcats. He's been flawless on his three PAT attempts, but came up short on his lone field goal attempt - a 48-yarder - versus Catawba on September 12th.

[VULB#62]

The more I look at the scouting report, the more I see 8 in the box ( 1st and 2nd downs at least) and a tight 3-deep m2m in the secondary until they prove they can complete passes.

On O I'd power run (lots of big boys -h backs- in the backfield and overwhelm them. Starting like that should open Ryan up for easy completions.  Go  Crusaders😈

BTW I have a favorite movie clip that runs through my brain a lot when I think of football. It's from the movie Gladiator. Russell Crowe issues the command:  "On my command unleash hell."  That is what we need to do with our ground attack on Saturday.  Our kids can do it.

[VULB#62]

Oh, BTW, I hate this whole spread trend. Let's play freakin football. There. I said it and I don't regret it. Let's move on.

[RS]

Concerning the game on Saturday, don't you think trying to play in a foot of water may be a little to tough! I doubt the game will be played with what is soon to be a category 3 or 4 hurricane bearing down on North Carolina this weekend

[usc4valpo]

If there are hurricane effects on Saturday, it favors Valpo as their running game should be more effective against Davidson's defense than Davidson's passing game against Valpo's defense.

On the other hand, with 2 young teams trying to establish an identity, who knows what will happen.

[VULB#62]

Latest computer models have the hurricane most likely going out to sea towards Bermuda.  However, the Weather Underground 10 day forecast for Davidson, NC, still is for 100% chance of rain, temps in the mid-50s, and winds of 17 mph.

[FWalum]

Love the Weather Underground reference.    http://www.wunderground.com/q/zmw:28201.1.99999
Davidson is pretty far inland.  The forecast seems to show that Joaquin is moving fairly slowly and, as stated, the majority of models have the track further East. While the forecast for the Charlotte area is for significant rain it doesn't appear to be of Hurricane proportions.   

[VULB#62]

Not so good update.

[Tweet]649630083251052544[/Tweet]

[VU2624]

Latest computer models have the hurricane most likely going out to sea towards Bermuda.  However, the Weather Underground 10 day forecast for Davidson, NC, still is for 100% chance of rain, temps in the mid-50s, and winds of 17 mph.

Major concern in wet weather is turnovers particularly with the two young teams.