Valpo vs. USD

VULB#62 · September 16, 2012, 07:40:41 AM

USD lost to Harvard @ Harvard yesterday afternoon 28-13. It was a competitive game for 3 quarters and then Harvard asserted themselves -- USD just couldn't match their resolve. The USD QB was the better one on the field, but wound up getting pretty beat up by the end of the game. The USD DL is GOOD and made life miserable for the Harvard QB and running backs for 3 quarters -- but it was clear in Q4 that they had been on the field too many plays. USD also didn't help themselves with two personal fouls in one Harvard scoring drive. This will be another beatdown for Valpo as I am concerned that the Valpo defense will be on the field way too long.

Butler was down 0-14 at the end of Q1 and although they had some good plays, they were outmatched by a much more athletic Big Green. For Butler their QB is both the passing leader and one of the top two rushers. He's pretty good. I'll have more observations in a pre-Butler game post.

Other PFL vs. Ivy League scores:

Marist 9 - Columbia 10
Butler 7 - Dartmouth 35

It must be noted that in all these games the PFL team had two games under their belt while the Ivy teams were opening up their season and, at least for Harvard and Dartmouth, it took a half for them to realize that the season had begun. Two games from now both will be much more formidable. Can't comment on Columbia, but I know that they are usually in the bottom half of the league and have a new coach this year.

Generally it was a bad week win-wise for the PFL, but across the board, with the exception of JU, it was a real upgrade in terms of competition:

Morehead 23 - St. Francis (PA) [NEC] 57
Dayton 20 - Robert Morris [NEC] 14
Drake 10 - #22 Indiana State [MVFC] 27
Campbell 14 - #4/#6 ODU [CAA] 70
Jacksonville 33 - Webber International [NAIA] 10
Davidson 0 BYE 0

covufan · September 16, 2012, 04:58:05 PM

We play at San Diego this week, then two weeks to prepare for Butler at home. Both our offense and defense need to step up on third downs for us to be competitive. I don't see a win this week, but if we play like the first quarter last week, anything can happen.

Valpo - 17
USD - 35

VULB#62 · September 16, 2012, 05:07:52 PM

Valpo - 17
USD - 35

After seeing the USD-Harvard game in person, I think that's a reasonable projection.

The USD resume so far:

USD 14 - Cal Poly (Big Sky) 41
USD 34 - Western NM (D-II) 27 (in last minute -- they could've been 0-3)
USD 13 - Harvard (Ivy) 28

However, they are vulnerable on D (heck they've given up 96 points in 3 games), yet that front 4 is really good. Their O is pretty good but they allowed a lot of QB pressure.

Despite losing ugly to Duquesne, interviews and quotes coming out of the Valpo locker room seem quite confident ("we can play with anyone in the PFL" kinds of things). They can, they just have to believe what they're saying, and, more importantly, believe it for a 60 minute ball game.

Here's an aside from watching USD and Butler go against Ivy teams this past weekend. In both cases, once Harvard and Dartmouth woke up and started playing tough, you could actually see both USD and Butler lose their edge and become deflated. Neither gave up, but there was timidity that wasn't there early on -- much the same way that Valpo implodes. So now, in PFL play, it'll come down to who believes in themselves the most for the longest part of the game. Good teams not only don't give up (haven't heard from anyone that VU gave up in any game so far), they rise up.

setshot · September 17, 2012, 01:08:12 PM

The team has a long way to go. This week's Sagarin ratings have have Valpo ranked # 246 - DEAD LAST! One hopeful sign is that Davidson is ranked at # 245. Should be a good game when we play them for the Tiolet Bowl Championship.

VULB#62 · September 17, 2012, 01:50:05 PM

Sports Network Weekly rankings of FCS teams of note because they are on PFL schedules:

Montana State #2
YSU #3
ODU #5
Goergia Southern #11
Illinois State #15
Eastern KY #21
Indiana State #22
Cal Poly RV (288)
Harvard RV (174)
U of North Dakota RV (76)
Jacksonville U RV (3) (JU lost 0-58 to GA Southern and beat a winless Charleston Southern (15 game losing streak) and a NAIA team)
Western Ill RV (1)

USD and Drake, the two PFL preseason leaders, have gotten clocked by FCS scholarship programs and both carry a 1-2 record going into conference play.

valpotx · September 17, 2012, 02:47:56 PM

USD 38
Valpo 21

covufan · September 17, 2012, 02:48:18 PM

Quote from: VULB#62 on September 16, 2012, 05:07:52 PM
Valpo - 17
USD - 35

After seeing the USD-Harvard game in person, I think that's a reasonable projection.

The USD resume so far:

USD 14 - Cal Poly (Big Sky) 41
USD 34 - Western NM (D-II) 27 (in last minute -- they could've been 0-3)
USD 13 - Harvard (Ivy) 28

However, they are vulnerable on D (heck they've given up 96 points in 3 games), yet that front 4 is really good. Their O is pretty good but they allowed a lot of QB pressure.

Despite losing ugly to Duquesne, interviews and quotes coming out of the Valpo locker room seem quite confident ("we can play with anyone in the PFL" kinds of things). They can, they just have to believe what they're saying, and, more importantly, believe it for a 60 minute ball game.

Here's an aside from watching USD and Butler go against Ivy teams this past weekend. In both cases, once Harvard and Dartmouth woke up and started playing tough, you could actually see both USD and Butler lose their edge and become deflated. Neither gave up, but there was timidity that wasn't there early on -- much the same way that Valpo implodes. So now, in PFL play, it'll come down to who believes in themselves the most for the longest part of the game. Good teams not only don't give up (haven't heard from anyone that VU gave up in any game so far), they rise up.

My predictions tend to be more hope - hope that if VU plays a good game on both sides that we can keep it to 35-17.

usc4valpo · September 17, 2012, 07:26:19 PM

USD 41
Valpo 7

If the Crusaders consume more protein through fish tacos in San Diego, they could add another score.

historyman · September 17, 2012, 08:01:40 PM

Valpo 10 (all scored in the last minute of the 1st quarter and the first 3 minutes of the 2nd quarter)
San Diego 57

milanmiracle · September 20, 2012, 02:53:03 PM

I'll say 48-7 only because Valpo will be in field goal range late, and choose to go for it rather than kick the field goal.

bmlvu97 · September 20, 2012, 03:34:42 PM

USD 31
Valpo 13

VULB#62 · September 20, 2012, 06:51:11 PM

BLMVU97 - Brian is your dad Dale, out of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma?

willy · September 21, 2012, 08:07:46 AM

My hope is that Valpo can put together a complete game against San Diego. We have seen some pretty good play for potions of games but we don't sustain it. I believe it comes down to our youth. Duquense and Youngstown had 15 junior and senior starters San Diego has 17, we have eight. I don't think the job Coach Carlson and his staff are doing can be truly evaluated until we get to upperclassmen being the majority of our starters like these other programs. I look at it like a high school varsity team playing a sophomore team, what do you think is going to happen. I know they are working hard and better days are ahead of us.

usc4valpo · September 21, 2012, 02:02:02 PM

My question is sustainability. Will the current freshmen and sophomores stay around for the long haul? Or will they bag it and focus on their degree at Valpo or somewhere else?

VULB#62 · September 21, 2012, 03:26:48 PM

Quote from: usc4valpo on September 21, 2012, 02:02:02 PM
My question is sustainability. Will the current freshmen and sophomores stay around for the long haul? Or will they bag it and focus on their degree at Valpo or somewhere else?

Part of sustainability is something for players to look forward to and knowing you're a part of something bigger. Hopefully, buried in the recently released 20 Year Master Plan are specific elements and a time table for development and support of football operations and facilities (Yeah, I know -- there he goes again). Giving the youngsters something to anticipate, even in the next two years (for instance, track installation and grandstand/press box expansion???), might be helpful, and it will be an enticement recruiting-wise for the coaching staff to be able to point to specific Master Plan items that future players will experience in their time on campus. Of course, winning some games is really the best way to sustain program growth and player retention.

Here's hoping VU gives USD a tough game and keeps the score respectable.

usc4valpo · September 21, 2012, 08:33:03 PM

The master plan was rather fluffy. How this will enhance football is beyond me.

VULB#62 · September 21, 2012, 10:17:18 PM

Quote from: usc4valpo on September 21, 2012, 08:33:03 PM
The master plan was rather fluffy. How this will enhance football is beyond me.

Until details and a schedule are described and released, to a certain extent I gotta wonder as well. My previous post was based more on hope than fact. A track and enhanced stands and press box to complete a true college stadium environment scheduled for 2017 isn't going to help the program. If it is planned to be in place by 2014 it could.

I've got to believe that ARC expansion is very high on the to-do list. From another facilities perspective, it might be nice if football operations could be moved into the ARC expansion in that same time frame instead. But IMO football has to be in the facilities mix in the next two years to have an impact My problem with the process is that I still don't understand whether the Valpo development philosophy is (a) winning will bring us upgrades or (b) upgrades will help bring us winning. I am partial to the up-front investment approach. It removes excuses.

I certainly like the two diagrams that have been made public so far. The campus of the future looks great. But if they're all that's the product of two years of effort..........

usc4valpo · September 22, 2012, 08:58:34 AM

I agree with your comments - very well said. I think cleaning up the ARC and expanding it is a great idea for many reasons. Regarding football, Ithink they need to take a systematic, holistic view and see where this fits in the the school goals. Having a football program for the sake of saying you have a football program will not lead to success - where does this fit with the school vision?

crusadermoe · September 22, 2012, 04:20:45 PM

Perfect question to ask. By the way San Diego beating Valpo 37-0 at the half. It looks like we have about 30 yards in net offense.
Everyone seemed to rip Tom Horne 8-10 years ago. But the guy did win titles in 2000 and 2004 if I recall....maybe wrong years. And we actually beat San Diego a couple of times in those years.
Here's where the university element comes in. My understanding is this. When Valpo won the north division and hosted Morehead State in a title game the players were not allowed to stay in their dorms on the Friday night because Spring Break had started. Now there's a way to build football alumni loyalty!!.

covufan · September 22, 2012, 04:32:38 PM

Quote from: crusadermoe on September 22, 2012, 04:20:45 PMBy the way San Diego beating Valpo 37-0 at the half.When Valpo won the north division and hosted Morehead State in a title game the players were not allowed to stay in their dorms on the Friday night because Spring Break had started.

Ouch, just tuned into the score.

Probably not Spring Break, but agree that VU wanted students out of dorms for long breaks - probably Thanksgiving Break. You'd think they could let them stay one more night, and be out by Saturday evening.

VULB#62 · September 22, 2012, 06:18:09 PM

Quote from: crusadermoe on September 22, 2012, 04:20:45 PM
Everyone seemed to rip Tom Horne 8-10 years ago. But the guy did win titles in 2000 and 2004 if I recall....maybe wrong years. And we actually beat San Diego a couple of times in those years.

Arghhhhhh! I watched the entire game on the USD internet hook-up. 14-51. Enough dumb (but aggressive, I must admit) errors to seal the coffin very early. Basic, fundamental football ------- not. I have to believe that all the kids on the field are fairly comparable (height, weight, speed). What's causing these implosions? I checked Wofford out for grins. 1536 students and only 736 males on campus. They are #7 FCS at 3-0 and their stadium averages 10K per game. They are scholarship FCS, but they are 1/2 the size of Valpo. They have great baseball and could probably hang with us in mens basketball for 3/4ers of a game. The point I'm trying to make is that this little school has a very high profile due to athletics that boosts the entire university's profile nationally. For them it's FB, but their other sports are extremely competitive (see ESPN crawler in the Winter -- they're there maybe because they are competitive in the Fall). Valpo has most of it's eggs in the basketball basket, but as most of us agree, without a dance bid, regular season titles are not enough to put VU in the limelight. So, in the Fall, when peoples' attention swing to college athletics, VU as a D-I program, needs to project a competitive profile in the national media.

BTW, I hate the current no-huddle, spread 'em out, empty backfield offenses that all the copy-cat college programs are running these days.

But, then, I am dating myself.

KL31NY · September 22, 2012, 11:14:28 PM

What kind of unwritten rules are there in football? I grew up with baseball as my primary sport and those debates are interesting to talk about...

I ask that question to ask this one: at what score or in what scenarios do you "call off the dogs?" I didn't follow the game actively because I was at another event, but I saw in the box score that San Diego had a late 2nd quarter drive, seemed to run a 2-minute offense, stopped the clock with a late timeout to get a field goal in before halftime to make it 37-0. Obviously from our perspective, it'd be easy to say that the game was already over by then. I'm sure this situation isn't even close to the magnitude of Jacksonville doing it during its blowout 2 years ago, but the small similarities to that incident came to my mind when I saw the final.

valporun · September 22, 2012, 11:49:27 PM

The Valpo-Morehead State game was on the Saturday after the Purdue game, prior to the start of Thanksgiving Break. I remember this game because we had Jerry Glanville and DeMarco Farr calling the action on television. I don't know what is the tough sell about being a part of something new in Valpo football, but whatever Coach Carlson is trying to sell, it seems NO ONE is willing to really buy into it completely. Why is this?

usc4valpo · September 23, 2012, 08:15:26 AM

Well, the good news is that Valpo won't get spanked again this weekend. I saw Carlson's comments about how the defense should have had 5 sacks instead of zero. He is starting to sould like Wannstadt when he was coaching the Bears - and beleive me, that is not a good sign.

I hope the team enjoyed some good fish tacos before they flew back...

Let's be realistic here - is there progress being made?

covufan · September 24, 2012, 11:01:39 AM

Quote from: KL31NY on September 22, 2012, 11:14:28 PM
What kind of unwritten rules are there in football? I grew up with baseball as my primary sport and those debates are interesting to talk about...

I ask that question to ask this one: at what score or in what scenarios do you "call off the dogs?" I didn't follow the game actively because I was at another event, but I saw in the box score that San Diego had a late 2nd quarter drive, seemed to run a 2-minute offense, stopped the clock with a late timeout to get a field goal in before halftime to make it 37-0. Obviously from our perspective, it'd be easy to say that the game was already over by then. I'm sure this situation isn't even close to the magnitude of Jacksonville doing it during its blowout 2 years ago, but the small similarities to that incident came to my mind when I saw the final.

In football I think the first half is fair game. The coach of the better team is still trying to coach skills and play execution. For the Valpo USD game, both teams should be evenly matched - no scholarships, same opportunities for recruiting and coaching, etc. I remember when Notre Dame played SMU just after SMU came off the "death penalty". SMU was undermanned, did not have full complement of scholarships, no team the previous year, etc. In that case calling off the dogs might be a little different. Even in the the Valpo-USD game, if USD puts in second and third teamers, each of them should play their hardest, and if they still score, it is on Valpo not USD. Even a second or third team QB should get a chance for a few passes, but not downfield. However, if the QB and recievers are well coached, and the defense makes mistakes and the receivers and QB react properly, it will look as though the team is running up the score, when actually they are more prepared and reacted as they were coached. Hopefully, we'll be in that position one day.