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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly — Western Illinois

September 1, 2008 by Walking on Sunshine 

Some random thoughts after watching the WIU game.

The Good

  • Joe Adams (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)Casey was the man.  He played a part in all four scores and set a career high with 318 passing yards.  We don’t win that game without him.
  • Some of the freshman defensive players can really hit and hit hard.  Linebacker Jelani Smith completely blew up WIU running back Herb Donaldson and forced a fumble that stalled the Leathernecks first possession.
  • As Bobby Petrino might say, the field looked ‘tight.’  The classic logo at midfield is just the right size and is flanked nicely by the SEC logos.

The Bad

  • The protection breakdowns in the offensive line, an assumed strength of this team, was surprising and disappointing.  The sacks and negative plays allowed doomed several first half drives.
  • As feared, the defensive front showed no signs of being able to stop the run.  Granted, Herb Donaldson was as good as advertised (35 carries for 157).  But still, we got pushed around pretty good.
  • Several kickoffs by Jeremy Davis barely made it to the 20-yard line.  We need to try Tejada kicking off ASAP.
  • Pile up those red pants on the 50-yard line and burn the damn things!  We’ve had enough of them in 2008.

The Ugly

  • Elton Ford’s fumble on the opening kickoff immediately took the crowd out of the game.  It also set a tone of tentativeness by the Hogs that lasted well into the second quarter.
  • I lost count of the dropped passes and dropped interceptions.  I know the humidity was really high, but it sure didn’t seem to affect the Leathernecks as much as the home team.
  • When the going got tough, London Crawford took it to the house…just not the end zone.  The oft-injured receiver got his ‘bell rung’ on a fourth quarter kickoff return and was later carted off the field as a precaution.  Coach Petrino couldn’t specify on Sunday when he thought Crawford would be able to return to practice.
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Comments

13 Responses to “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly — Western Illinois”

  1. GonzoHog on September 1st, 2008 8:23 am

    I think fans are simply going to have to realize that this was a game destined to be close. With the exception of Casey Dick, we basicly relied on Freshmen to carry this team on almost every single play. We had Freshmen return men on the kick-offs and PRs. We had 2 more rotating in at RB. We had 3 more rotating in at WR. 3 more at the WLB and MLB spots, 1 at FS, another at the “JACK” LB, and another at DE. I agree we need more depth and size at the interior linemen positions, but the only real ? I seen on Saturday night was the O-Line. What the heck were they thinking? I believe Petrino will get this corrected, and with the return of Micheal Smith, and De’Anthoney Curtis coming back at 100%, and our WRs gaining a little confidence on Saturday, I believe you’ll see a much improved team next Saturday. I still see our defense needing a couple of years to become what it need’s to be, but hopefully, our offense can out score some folks when it need’s to also. All of that aside, I must admit that Willy Robinson was right about WIU’s RB. He stated that you could draft Donaldson on one highlight tape alone. He wasn’t kiddin was he? That team also had something we didn’t — EXSPERIENCE. Don’t be suprised to see that team finish in the top 10 in Div. II this year. A lot of people are disappointed with the Hogs first performance this year, but remember what happened to Michigan in Ann Harbor last year? That team still went on to beat a pretty darn good Florida team in thier bowl game. I bet Ryan Mallett know’s not to get too wrapped up in our first performance. GO HOGS!!!!!

  2. 10KHog on September 1st, 2008 8:31 am

    Two thoughts:

    1. These red pants looked a TON better than the candy red Cotton Bowl pants and on top of that we won. I liked them, but I hear next week’s pants are white with a red stripe. I think those will look “tight”.

    2. London Crawford. I hope he is alright, but I have yet to go to a game or a practice where he got hit that he didn’t go off injured. If it’s not a hamstring, its an ankle, or cramps, or shoulder, and now the neck. The neck is serious stuff so, like I said, I hope he’s alright. I’m just saying he gets injured quite a bit. And I’m not sure he is going to be seeing the field much anyways after he dropped 2 or 3 passes the other night. New coaches, but the same London Crawford.

  3. 10KHog on September 1st, 2008 8:34 am

    One more “good” thing: The receivers. Now that is some SEC talent at receiver. Greg Childs is going to be good and so is Adams. And we really didn’t see Wright get in there much, but he looks pretty salty as well. Yeah, they dropped a few, but they didn’t let it affect them the rest of the game… a previous coach would’ve sat them down and killed their confidence. But, when they’re all you got you go back to them again and again and again.

  4. OwassoHog on September 1st, 2008 9:07 am

    I didn’t mind the red pants with the big white stripes… I’m guessing that folks probably would have like them more if it wasn’t for the bowl game last year and we came out firing at all positions and took charge.

    Dropped passes… folks talk about the “speed” of the game vs. high school. Anybody think this was a factor?

    How about poise and composure? I think this was a big plus for us as I didn’t see anybody panic.

    Finally, no mention of the fireworks. What’s up with that? I thought that it was a nice touch but we needed much, much more. ;-)

  5. Okiehog on September 1st, 2008 9:35 am

    I can not believe what I am reading here. We almost lose to a sub standard team and every blog I read someone makes a comment or two about the damn pants we are wearing. I care about how the hell we are going to improve to BEAT TEXAS!!!!! Lets talk about football not fashion!

  6. Guinness Snout on September 1st, 2008 10:33 am

    BP played it right. He held out his top running back, played a plethora of freshmen, and had them wear not-so-tight red pants. He did just enough to get the W, but the way they played lowered expectations back to reality. Call me a “BP pumper”, but it can only get better.

    WARNING, RANT: This is why we should not schedule an FCS opponent. It’s a no win situation. If we blow them out . . . we scheduled a cupcake. If we loose . . . see Citadel. If we barely win . . . HDN > BP. This is also why ole Frank is right, we should never play Ark St, it’s a no win situation. . . . see A&M.

  7. Heart of Swine on September 1st, 2008 10:45 am

    Maybe I shouldn’t care, but I hate it when my beloved alma mater comes out looking like a team out of the mountain west or wac. It gives the appearance of a small time school doing anything it can to get noticed, rather than a long standing member of some elite conferences. Also win, lose, or draw — there just flat out ugly.

    It’s selfish on my part, but I’m glad Mallet is red shirting. This is gonna be a long year.

  8. BlindHog on September 1st, 2008 11:43 am

    I Love the Red Pants.

  9. Smedlap on September 1st, 2008 12:33 pm

    New uniform: I don’t oppose an attempt at creating a flashier uniform; however, from the photos I’ve seen from the first game, the new uniform has the look and feel of a Mountain West team or two of recent years, or perhaps one of Petrino’s old Louisville teams. New flash is fine, but overkill makes us look cheesy and minor league. That’s my take.

    Offensive line: The comment acted surprised that the o-line did so poor with protection. Have we forgotten that the o-line’s reputation in the past few years was built on RUN-BLOCKING. Pass protection would not be an area that the o-line should be considered experienced at. Thus, I’m not surprised that their attempt at it during the very first game under a new coach came up short. I bet they get better though. New coach, new regime, new offense. They’ll get better and so will the entire team. It will not be a lights out year, but give it time and we’ll be happy.

  10. big d on September 1st, 2008 1:04 pm

    Heart of Swine, Mallet HAD to sit out this year, redshirting is not a factor. Besides, if Mallet was playing the recievers can still drop the ball just as good as they drop Casey Dick’s passes. I listened to the game online, but it sounded like 98% of Casey’s passes were right on target; the balls were dropped on key plays. What is positive is that WIU was focusing on the pass and we could still gain yards. Granted, WIU is no SEC team.

    The La-Monroe game will tell us where we really stand. I chalk up this game to working out the nerves amoung the freshmen and the D (how many possible INTs were dropped?). One thing that is interesting is that there was no film to view on WIU so that could be a factor in prep.

  11. New Orleans Hog on September 1st, 2008 1:31 pm

    Here are some positives I noticed:

    1. Very few penalties, and if I remember correctly, none in the first half. I would have thought with the new play clock rule, we would have had at least one delay of game penalty. But it is obvious this is a much better disciplined team than in years past.

    2. Along with that, I thought it was awesome that we broke the huddle almost every time with15 or 16 seconds on the play clock. It is obvious also that Petrino is always a step ahead in his play calling, not a step behind.

    3. Along with #2 as well, we did not have to take any stupid timeouts because the play clock had run down. In years past, it seemed like we were always having to call a timeout in the first quarter because somebody didn’t know where they were supposed to be or the play didn’t get in on time. This simply was not the case Saturday. When it got to the end of the half and it was time for a two minute offense (and thank God we could actually execute one for once!!!), we had all three timeouts to aid us in our effort.

    Although or play was sloppy at times and did not meet most fans expectations, there are OBVIOUS improvements in coaching. It was the little things that a former coach never seemed to worry much about.

    GO HOGS!!!

  12. T-towner on September 1st, 2008 6:06 pm

    I thought the uniforms were tight. It will be just fine if the Hogs are in white pants going forward. I really do not care about pants other than they need to wear some.

    The offense and defense will show significant improvement for ULM.

  13. Monday Trough « Hawg Blawg on September 2nd, 2008 8:47 am

    [...] score mid-way thru the WIU game. Here’s a report card on the game. The Razorbloggers have the Good, Bad, and Ugly. Whole Hog Sports looks back at the Off. and Def. line play. Another FYI to the local media: [...]