Haha, not calling you a liar, but I specifically remember the Stix spelled with an 'X' catching my eye last week, and the Wayback Machine Internet Archive snapshot from Sept 5th at 10:33PM shows it being there: https://web.archive.org/web/201509052233...com/a-z/#n
Always interesting to read the opponent's (fan's) scouting report on us. I'd have to say I don't disagree with a lot of this guy's analysis:
Quote:As the Owls head into Cincinnati, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at some key players that the Owls will have to deal with. Although we can't take much from their game this past weekend, we can still take a look back at 2014 with some key returning players. I'll start with the offense.
The man that makes all of this offense run is right under center, and I'm not talking about the quarterback. Center Deyshawn Bond has started for 3 straight years and is also on the Rimington Award watch list. He anchors a line that gave up the second fewest sacks in the AAC last year and held the fort for the second best offense in the AAC. Arguably as good as our on Friend, Bond is a freak in his own right and will be part of an interesting battle with Ioannidis and Co.
Behind him under center is their QB Gunner Kiel. Much of the talk this week will focus around him, and for good reason. We all know his story, a former LSU, IU, and Notre Dame commit, he eventually settled in Cinci. He threw for almost 4000 yards last year and is arguably the best player in the conference. He's also been listed as a dark horse candidate for the Heisman. He won't be staring at the defense waiting on the blitz, he will change plays accordingly and he has some move-ability in the pocket. He won't stand around waiting to be sacked. As it stands right now he's a better overall QB than Hackenberg and is light-years ahead of him making his reads.
He will be helped out tremendously by a veteran receiving core made up of seniors Shaq Washington, Mekale McKay, and Chris Moore. Gunner spreads the ball around pretty well as all 3 receivers caught around 700 yards. Shaq Washington is probably the #1 WR and caught the most yards last year at 760 but McKay and Moore had the most TDs with 8. This past weekend he lead the team in receptions but another senior WR named Johnny Holton had the most yards and TDs. They have plenty of weapons at WR. They don't use the TE that much in the passing game, and they don't really need to.
At RB they have a three headed monster with Boone, Williams, and Green splitting the carries. Boone is their future and he had the most TDs last weekend. They like to run the ball, a lot. And they will keep running the ball because they will have 3 RBs to rotate and stay fresh. They had 51 rushing attempts this past weekend. This is a very dangerous offense. If they can run the ball on us we'll probably lose the game. We're going to have a difficult time as it is keeping Gunner Kiel in check, we have to stop the run game.
On the defensive side they have Silverberry Mouhan coming back from last season at DE. Another senior, he had 4 sacks and lead the DL in tackles last year with 46. Interesting player to watch as he had 9.5 sacks in 2013. He was on the 2014 Rotary Lombardi Watch list but was not able to keep the numbers up last year. His TFLs also slipped from the year before. He'll be alongside two young DL, so the focus will once again be on neutralizing him. If nothing else he has a really cool name. He's their most dangerous lineman.
FS Zach Edwards was tied for first on the team in tackles last year and tied for first in interceptions. He leads a veteran secondary looking to tighten up after allowing 255 receiving yards per game and 22 scores through the air. Their nickel corner Payne lead the secondary in TFLs last year and is a solid player overall, probably their best defender. Leviticus Payne is another Bearcat with a sweat sounding name. Their LBs are fresh into starting roles and are probably the weakest link on the defense.
Overall the defense lost a few impact players from the team that gave up 440 yards per game, particularly at LB. They return a veteran secondary but also have some fresh new faces along the DL. They had a similar problem last year in terms of not having enough depth and talent to pressure with their front four. They turned it around last year with an easier second half schedule and a **** ton of blitzes and that helped out both the DL and DBs. I expect to see a lot of blitzing this weekend to try and cover up those same issue holes.
As vaunted as their offense is, this defense is vulnerable if the line can hold the blitzes. It's hard to see exactly where they stand so far given their week 1 opponent, but there is an opportunity to run the ball at them and be successful. For the most part it'll be a battle between their offense and our defense. That and even with their defense being as bad as it was we only put up 6 points. We're going to have to do better than that if we want to win this game. If we can stop the run, which will be difficult given the experience and talent upfront for the Bearcats, then we will have a good chance at winning this game.
Quote:Big win behind them: Owls face huge road test in Cincinnati
John N. Mitchell, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: Saturday, September 12, 2015, 1:06 AM
While Penn State may have literally buried the game film of its 27-10 humiliation against Temple in State College this past week, the 1-0 Owls, which will play their biggest conference game of the season Saturday at Cincinnati (1-0), have sounded all week as if they have figuratively done the same thing.
"We enjoyed Saturday," American Athletic Conference defensive player of the week Tyler Matakevich said earlier this week. "Once it turned Sunday that game was behind us. Last year Cincy averaged over 40 points a game. It's a nice win but it's over. Our goal is to win a conference championship."
The road there begins Saturday (8 p.m. ESPNEWS) at Nippert Stadium, which recently completed an $86 million overhaul and is said to be exponentially louder than it was before its transformation. There the Owls will find a Cincinnati team that received fewer votes (7) than the Owls (8) did in the AP Top 25 balloting after barley working up a sweat in last Saturday's season-opening victory over FCS Alabama A&M, 52-10.
Temple is not only facing a team that was the unanimous choice to win the conference in their AAC opener. The game represents the first of three consecutive road games that will be crucial in determining whether or not the Owls will potentially play in a bowl game and are really serious contenders for the conference crown.
By the time the Owls play their next home game on Oct. 10 against Tulane, 34 days will have passed since the Owls defeated Penn State. In the interim, they've got games at Massachusetts (Sept. 19) and Charlotte (Oct. 2) that are broken up by a bye week before returning home for three of their next four.
While they have spoken this past week of being singularly focused on the Bearcats, who are led by the conference's top quarterback in Gunner Kiel and a core of returning vets on offense and a veteran defense that has been stingy against the run, the Owls know the importance of being successful in the following two road games as well.
"If you look at them like a block of games then, yes, they are very important," said quarterback P.J. Walker, who made his first career start against Cincinnati two seasons ago. "On the road we feel like we come out with a chip on our shoulder. That's different from being home.
"But at the end of the day, we have to win these games by looking at them one at a time," he continued. "Cincinnati is next. But we know what coming after that. We are very aware."
There's a real solid chance that too much has been made of Temple's PSU victory. This happens every year. We have no frame of reference regarding Penn St's 'goodness'.....until now.
They're doing very little against a lowly Buffalo team.
It wasn't a matter of how good they were. We get zero respect from Penn State people. A lot of us have friends and family who went to Penn State. They do not take us seriously. As you could imagine, like tO$U, they are the top rooting interest (along with Notre Dame) for high school dropouts in PA. It is a huge, huge deal to beat them.
(09-12-2015 11:02 PM)JHG722 Wrote: It wasn't a matter of how good they were. We get zero respect from Penn State people. A lot of us have friends and family who went to Penn State. They do not take us seriously. As you could imagine, like tO$U, they are the top rooting interest (along with Notre Dame) for high school dropouts in PA. It is a huge, huge deal to beat them.
yup, I hear ya and agree
I would love to beat Ohio State...even if it was a year they were really bad and went 3-9. I wouldn't care. I would love to kick them in the nuts. If their fans said, "you beat us in the worst year we've had ever" I wouldn't care. I would just say "scoreboard". It wouldn't tarnish the win to me at all.
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Let's talk Temple
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