Merrimack

[van]

OL can't hold their blocks long enough for our slow developing run plays, I would put the QB under center and give the TB some lanes and a head of steam and run some FB as was noted by others

[CHIP72]

I was at yesterday's game (though I left with 4-5 minutes left to drive to the Penn/Lafayette game and only miss a small portion of that game), but I posted my in-game thoughts on AGS. That was an ugly, ugly win for Lehigh. Both teams made many mistakes offensively, especially in the 1st half (Merrimack's unexpected snap that led to a 27 yard sack along with Lehigh's bad interceptions stand out in my mind), though to be fair the defenses played well and I thought LU's defense tackled well. But to put things in perspective, in recent years Merrimack was a mid-level team in the Northeast 10 Conference, considered by many people one of the weakest conferences in D2. (It is probably the weakest conference in D2's Super Region 1, and SR1, which the PSAC is also part of, is probably the weakest of the four regions in D2.) The Mountain Hawks are in deep trouble program-wise if they struggle to beat a team like Merrimack, which is probably worse than about 85% of the current FCS programs, by only 7 points at home.

Additional thought - does Lehigh have the quarterback sneak in its playbook? IMO, it was obvious that after the 80 yard pass play that took the Hawks inside the 1 yard line that a QB sneak was in order. Instead, Lehigh lines up IN THE SHOTGUN and calls a conventional running play. Dumb, dumb, dumb IMO. The play calls after the 80 yard pass (which included a toss sweep run to the short side of the field after LU was stuffed running the ball on 1st and 2nd down) were Keystone Cops quality stuff.

P.S. Based on what I saw during the Penn/Lafayette game (and last week's Penn/Delaware game, which I also attended), the Leopards may win L-L 155 this season. Though Lafayette was ultimately outclassed in the 4th quarter (the 28-24 Penn victory final score was a little deceptive in that regard), they hung pretty well against a team that went for 2 points late in the game and ended up losing by 1 point on the road against what appears to be a good DI-AA/FCS team, and that opponent (Delaware) only lost by 3 points yesterday on the road against a fairly good DI-A/FBS team (PItt) that beat Central Florida and stood toe to toe with Penn State this season. Getting back to the Penn/Lafayette game, I liked what I saw out of Keegan Shoemaker, Lafayette's freshman QB. He could end up being a good college QB.

[Lehigh74]

A win is a win. Clearly our offense has a long way to go before we can hope to be a decent team. However,
I see some trends which I believe are positive for Lehigh Football long term:
1. The defense is dramatically better than it was in the last 5 or 6 years particularly against the run.
2. Fundamentally the team seems to be much improved, particularly on special teams and tackling technique.
3. There are a lot of freshman who are playing and really contributing.
4. Gilmore seems to be willing to make the hard decisions that Coen was reluctant to make i.e. if a player or coach are not doing the job they are replaced. It will be interesting to see who starts at quarterback next week and how we do against Colgate.
Go Lehigh!
P.S. I share your thoughts about the poor play calling on the 1 yard line. That’s the second time this year we had first and goal at the 1 and didn’t get a touchdown. Inexcusable.

[RichH]

OL can't hold their blocks long enough for our slow developing run plays, I would put the QB under center and give the TB some lanes and a head of steam and run some FB as was noted by others

Yes. In the 1st half particularly, the OL seemed tentative. They were much slower than the MC DL. Better in the 2nd half. Putting Motley in helped a great deal.
Stop calling WR screens. They just waste a down.
Shotgun formation on the 1 yd line?? Really! We are remarkably ineffective inside the 20.
MC played a single S most of the game. Yet we threw mostly to the sidelines to covered WRs. Partly pressure. Partly QB not making his reads.
Is this all on Brisson and TG? No. At base it is mostly lack of execution.
D much improved without doubt. MC tho is not a good team. Some spectacular talent but a good team would have beaten us easily.
Do we face any more good teams? No but we will face teams that are better than what we are right now.

[Hawktalker]

I'm a glass is half-full kind of guy so I'll post only about what I liked about yesterday's game:
- The improved defense had six sacks and forced two turnovers
- Special teams got their second blocked punt of the season
- Zaythian Hill's 60 yards on 4 carries
- The quarterback change
Next week will be a much truer test but the defense and special teams seem to get better each week. Here's hoping the offense starts doing the same