The HB pass was the big headscratcher IMO.

But they've also called stuff like that flea flicker that work to perfection

Fresh outlook after more cocktails and the hose job Notre Dame got tonite. What a great job by the offense today. Great calls (short of last series) all game. Frustrating that again we let VU steal one. If the offense is now unleashed, I hope we can now do some some damage.

The all-green unis with the classic silver/gold stripe were terrific and, as McBride said after the game gave the team and extra boost. Those critics are not familiar with the significance of the all-green and the history of our program: the great teams of the late Thirties, Forties, the Iron Indians and some of Jimmye's greatest wins took out the all-green.

Check out the photos of Buster Ramsey, Jack Cloud, Vito Ragazzo, Charlie Sumner, Shawn Knight and Jimmye himself...W&M teams weren't called the "Big Green" for decades for nothing.

Great to see them return for Homecoming.

(10-19-2014 05:38 AM)BigTribe Wrote:  The all-green unis with the classic silver/gold stripe were terrific and, as McBride said after the game gave the team and extra boost. Those critics are not familiar with the significance of the all-green and the history of our program: the great teams of the late Thirties, Forties, the Iron Indians and some of Jimmye's greatest wins took out the all-green.

Check out the photos of Buster Ramsey, Jack Cloud, Vito Ragazzo, Charlie Sumner, Shawn Knight and Jimmye himself...W&M teams weren't called the "Big Green" for decades for nothing.

Great to see them return for Homecoming.

Love the all green. It seemed that they were using a "flat" or "antique" green hue instead of the brighter version that is usually used. Definitely looked vintage. Could look for a slight modification of the gold stripe...maybe break it up with white trim

Since i have personally complained that our offense is too conservative and seemingly plays not to lose at times, I will not complain about the HB pass call. Trick plays worked for us earlier in the game and if the HB pass had worked this time, we'd all be praising the brilliance of a gutsy call. My only complaint is execution. I think Abdul had time to throw that ball away when VU didn't take the bait and avoid the loss. Without the lost yardage we might opt for the FG attempt. Given the options for the fourth down, punting was the right call, but again the execution killed us.

Final thought on the HB pass. Radio crew indicated Tre was the intended receiver. I would not design that play to go to Tre. We're going for deception. VU defense much more likely to lose track of our 2nd or 3rd receiver, especially after the day Tre had burning them deep. Nit-picky I know...

Obviously the turnovers is where the game was lost.

Impressive performance by OL, especially considering the injuries at guard. Really displayed the depth we have there.

(10-19-2014 06:25 PM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  Trick plays worked for us earlier in the game and if the HB pass had worked this time, we'd all be praising the brilliance of a gutsy call. My only complaint is execution. I think Abdul had time to throw that ball away when VU didn't take the bait and avoid the loss.

That's the first time I thought about throwing it away. It looked like MAS had practiced tucking and running when the pass wasn't there, but they probably need to work on throwing it away when it's not there.

If MAS throws the ball away, he stops the clock and Villanova doesn't have to burn their last timeout. That's not a good outcome either, which is another reason why I hated that play call. As well as Cluley was throwing the ball there was no need to let someone else throw if the coaches wanted to pass there to win the game. They didn't need a knockout blow, they needed 9 yards over their next 3 plays.

It was obvious, and refreshing, from the start of the game that W&M had "discovered" new pages in its playbook - our Offense was exciting to watch [for the first time in many years] and, with the exception of VU's first drive for a TD [in the first two minutes of the game] and VU's last drive for a TD [in the next to the last minute of the last two minutes of the game] I thought the Tribe outplayed VU for most of the game [even with the two red zone fumbles].

Now the question is;against Delaware which Tribe team will show-up?? The UNH/ Tribe team, or the VU/ Tribe team??.

If the offense keeps going like this, and from what little I know of how the coaches progressively open up the playbook with a QB, I think the offense just gets better. We need the defense to play like the teams of recent years, and not the ones older ones.

I'm not going to get too up after this game, but this was the best the team has played as a whole all season. Offense, Defense, Special Teams, playcalling, all of it. Pretty easy to nitpick a few little things, but really we were in it against a team receiving 1st place votes in some polls.

As fans (not as much as a coach/player), there are a lot of positives to take away from this game. If we play like this for the rest of the season, playoffs are very much in our grasp.

I wasn't there - but the punt that traveled 2 yards was equally problematic.

Don't know how he tried to boot it - but I remember very well at the 2009 semi game at Villanova, they (Nova) did a good job of managing field position - and a big part of that was their punting. Their punter in that game would take the ball, run toward the sideline and then pooch the ball. There was never a chance for a return or a touchback - he was consistent to have it run out-of-bounds deep in our end. It seemed we started every drive inside our 10 yard line.

Sounds like it may have worked well for us here. Nova starting inside the 10 instead of at the 31 yard line could have made a big difference in getting down the field in short order. One sack and they would have been under tremendous pressure with the clock.

I was watching online and of course the feed timed out right around that punt, so I didn't see what happened. Can anyone who was there or saw it give a quick idea of the play?

On another note, I watched most of the game on my phone with no problems (other than that glitch around the punt).

Still really bummed even today. I think Villanova going down the field and scoring a TD was forseeable and likely given their offense. After all, they did it to us last year in the final minute up there and several of their drives were the under 2 minute drive the field variety. Hindsight is always convenient, but I would like to see us give the offense a chance in that situation. We had just completed a pass to Tre to get to the 35 and then we mismanaged the end game. 2 first downs or a TD would have ended the game. If we let Carpenter kick, we probably lose 35-34. Overall, though, I was really happy that we threw the ball more down the field. Our running game was solid and it was definitely the best game the O-line has played all year. Only downside was the last 3 minutes and Christian Reeves inability to catch the ball. The defense was up and down. Our defense this year seemed to be completely tied to the front four. If we get pressure, we are tough. If we don't, we give up big plays. Overall, it was a fantastic effort and tremendous improvement from the week before. Given the conference standings though, I think we might have to win out to make it. If we can lose one, it can't be against Richmond.

(10-20-2014 10:29 AM)TribePride91 Wrote:  If we can lose one, it can't be against Richmond.

If both us and Richmond take care of business until this last game, I think the atmosphere at Zable could be electric. Last game of the season with major playoff implications on the line. Night game on national TV; I hope if we get to that point that the athletic department does something to get a great student turnout and to pack the stadium. The potential is exciting, but it's over a month away.

(10-20-2014 10:29 AM)hktribefan Wrote:  I was watching online and of course the feed timed out right around that punt, so I didn't see what happened. Can anyone who was there or saw it give a quick idea of the play?

On another note, I watched most of the game on my phone with no problems (other than that glitch around the punt).

Not a ton to tell really. It looked like Windmuller was trying to pop it up with a ton of hang time and angle to come short or be downed, rather than coffin kicking it. It came off weird on his foot with a TON of backspin and just went practically straight up in the air and not getting very far past the line of scrimmage.

(10-20-2014 10:29 AM)hktribefan Wrote:  I was watching online and of course the feed timed out right around that punt, so I didn't see what happened. Can anyone who was there or saw it give a quick idea of the play?

Windmuller just kicked the ball straight up. It had great hang time. The ball probably went about 7 yards and then bounced backwards. It was funny because before the play I had said "What he needs to do here is just kick the ball straight up in the air." I didn't mean it that literally though.

He was trying to pooch punt it with end over end with back spin. Punters do this all the time. The problem was that he missed it and it was all back spin and no distance. Just like a shank, but not off the side of his foot. He kicked the pointy away from him instead of near the middle of the ball. It happened right in front of where I sit. Of course it did what it was supposed to do and it checked up right where it landed. It was a bout 18 yards in the air.

This is NOT why we lost though. Even if he puts it down inside their 20 we weren't going to stop them. They had a lot of time left and we weren't getting to Richardson enough.

We win this game going away if we simply don't give up the red zone scoring opportunities in the first half. Villanova could have been down by a pile at half time and then their second half game plan is totally different.

Windemuller has an NFL caliber leg. We haven't had anyone punt like this in my memory (going back about 40 years). Russell Brown and Joe Agee were good punters, but this kid is awesome if he can figure out how to punt for accuracy and not just distance.

We only dropped to 18 in the TSN poll this week. Albany sneaks in at #25.

On a positive note regarding the vu game was the student section and the rest of the crowd. Normally at halftime of a Homecoming game half of the crowd reunites outside Zable and the students just go where they go never to return, but not so much saturday. Plus, it has been awhile since I have heard the old ball yard that loud and most of the westsiders stood up ! We had some atmosphere
With the early start time this saturday we pretty much know the student section will be full of empty rows of seats and the rest of the crowd will go back under the cone of silence.

I agree with you that, barring a small miracle, the student sections will be sparsely populated
despite a rival opponent in Delaware.

However, I do believe there has been a subtle change this season in the usually torpid West stands. You point out those usually placid folks were up and their feet and really creating some noise last Saturday; but the fact is some of us have seen this a lot more this year, with more noise and standing than in previous years.

I believe we'll see some strong support from these good folks, many of whom are our most solid financial supporters of the football program, this coming Saturday.

Especially if this team puts together another solid effort and a convincing win over one of our oldest CAA rivals.