Wanted to start a new thread for some more sober, light-of-day post-game observations.

Let's start with giving NCST some credit. They answered their QB question in a big way. I know we didn't apply much pressure, but Finney was impressive and very precise. NCST offense was crisp and executed very well for an opener. I didn't see any weakness in their game or personnel and think they'll have a solid year ending in a bowl game (top 40 team). I have no doubt that NCST will be the best team we play all year. WM fans have been spoiled in recent years by our team's showings in these matchups. Lest we forget, there was one player on our entire roster that was offered a scholarship at NCST. This is the equivalent of a pick-up game where one coach gets to pick the first 85 players (and play at home). That's not to say we can't compete, but we shouldn't expect close games year-in and year-out.

Its hard to take too much away from one game, especially one game against an FBS opponent and come to any meaningful conclusions as to how the team will fare against FCS competition. Here is what I took away.

The Good:
Parker and Jones had great debuts on defense and stood out during the game.
I see where Atkins quietly had double digit tackles.
Bill Murray blocked an extra point.
Gavin Johnson contributed with two tackles.
If the defense is rebuilding then the building blocks are there in the freshmen and rfr classes.

I thought the defense generally did a good job of running to the ball and tackling. While we could not get off the field on 3rd down and need to improve there, we did not give up a ton of huge plays.

Jalen Christian is a dynamic athlete and may give us the top two returners in the league. The KR blocking (minus the one hold) was very good.

We played a ton of guys and seem to have good depth at most positions.

Goal line stand showed some grit and the ability to control the LOS in short yardage and GL situations.

Funderburke is the real deal at RB. Made the most of his carries with limited openings. Very capable backup and hopefully stellar career ahead of him.

Great to see Swinton out there. Think he is going to have a big year.

The okay:
I think criticism of the OL is undeserved. That was by far the best DL we will see all year. No where is the talent spread between FBS and FCS greater than on the DL. I think the OL did a respectable, though not exceptional job, against NCST's arguably best position group.

Hunter did not have his best night, but I expect he will return to the form of last season.

Coverage in the secondary was generally good.

The bad:
Penalties. We had too many, including three for lining up off side.

No sugar coating it. With the exception of the two TD drives Cluley had a poor outing. I think he gets right against Hampton.

Pass rush. We generated zero pass rush with our front four and had to blitz to apply pressure. The unit lacks a consistent/reliable edge rusher. We are big and physical, but linger on blocks longer than I'd like to see. Let's see the unit against some FCS lines, but this areas seems to remain an issue. Solution might be going to 3-4 in obvious passing downs and blitzing.

Injuries. Jennings and Dulaney returned to the game. Hayes injury appears to be the season ending variety unfortunately. Unsure on severity of Martinelli. It stinks, but its part of the game at any level.

It was obvious that Anderson was hampered by his injury and/or missed practice time. NCST did not give him much chance to get north/south.

A loss is a loss, and this game was almost certainly always going to be a loss. I know the manner in which we lost is concerning, but I see no reason for panic. Biggest improvement typically happens between week one and week two. One of the reasons Laycock likes these games is that they expose and chinks the armor right out the gates. Time to get back to work with a couple extra days to prepare for the Pirates.

A+ recap.

Thanks 90.

True, we did very little off the edge but all is not lost at DE. Burning Gavin's RS will at least add some depth there and will grant him some significant game time. Suarez also played quite a bit...not sure if he played well or not but it was nice to see him out there. Frankly, I thought we needed more from our MLB, Atkins. He scored lots of tackles but he was deep when he made most of them.

Can someone, anyone, enlighten me as to why Harvey covered WRs?

I'm nowhere near panic mode. Not even close. If we fall to Hampton, though, I'll get sideways. They will be tough but losing to them to go 0-2 would be murderous for any run for a playoff spot.

A lot of LB action comes about when the DL play is so solid the offense cannot free up guys to get to the LB's, and the LB's are free to make plays at the LOS. Most great LB's can attribute some of their success to the guys in front of them. Perhaps a factor last night? Remember the 2008-2009 defense?? The DL was dominant, and teams had to double Tracy & Lissamore and gave the LB's better angles and chances to make plays. It does seem that in the last couple of years we have not gotten off blocks as well as did in the past. Hoping that with a couple of extra days after a weekday game we can make some adjustments. I like Jones at LB, I think on his first play he got a sack, and chased the QB across/down the line.

My guess for Harvey covering receivers was our scheme. If they went 3 wide or we were in zone, we have LB covering receivers in the middle. I don't know how often we were in nickel, but the way they were running the ball I would have been surprised to see anything other than 7-8 in the box for us. I did notice a lot of throws to receivers "covered" by LB, though.

I also expect Caskin to have a better game against Hampton. He always plays with an "edge" but those penalties were pretty costly. Otherwise he was a bit of a nonfactor. I think Caskin's improvement will go a long way to help Cluley

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WMTribe90 nice way to calm the loyal, well meaning fans down.

It's a long season. Last year when we played UVA I believe we already had a game under our belt.

The film is in. The work begins now to teach and develop.

A lot of good football left for a bunch of good Tribe ball players

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Will be watching the offensive line against Hampton and am hopeful they will bounce back from a surprisingly poor showing against NC State.

This is a veteran group and they may be the biggest ever at W&M, averaging 6-4, 295 pounds. NC State's defensive line was big but our guys were equally so and I don't buy the size of NCState as an excuse...and that is a NC State OL that was among the worst in the ACC last season. I'm sure we'll see a big bounce back Saturday evening.

(09-03-2016 05:34 AM)BigTribe2 Wrote:  Will be watching the offensive line against Hampton and am hopeful they will bounce back from a surprisingly poor showing against NC State.

This is a veteran group and they may be the biggest ever at W&M, averaging 6-4, 295 pounds. NC State's defensive line was big but our guys were equally so and I don't buy the size of NCState as an excuse...and that is a NC State OL that was among the worst in the ACC last season. I'm sure we'll see a big bounce back Saturday evening.

Not sure where you get that NC State DL was among worst in ACC last year. Their defense was 5th in ACC and 29th in all of FBS. They returned everyone, and their DL is generally considered the best in the ACC this year.

NC State was way, way better than the Virginia team we played last year. They looked like a quality ACC team on both sides of the ball. They stretched us sideline-to-sideline on defense and #1 Jaylen Samuels for them was a matchup nightmare. The Boise State transfer QB was excellent.

Weird, I thought our OL played pretty well, especially in pass protection. I'm not sure about the final stat, but toward the end of the game, we had 2 sacks and they had only 1. In fact, our OL is probably the strength of our team but some want to criticize them after one game against 3 and 4 star recruits across the line.

We expected a much better outcome, for sure, but let's give our team a couple of weeks and simply acknowledge that the Wolfpack is vastly superior.

The DL for the Wolfpack is one of the best in the ACC. Our line will probably grade out pretty well. Not perfect, but considering the size and talent our big boys did ok.

We can make more out of this game than need be. The Richmond game today will make most make too much out of the NCS game.

Let's just play one at a time and see what happens.

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Ever since we lost DC Bob Shoop, our defense has not been that good. I don't know if our scheme changed under DC Andrews. I am sure our talent level is about equal. Just wondering what has happened.

We were solid with Boone as well. The 2013 defense was really good, not 2009 good, but really good.

well last year the front 7 couldn't tackle anyone and I'm not really expecting much improvement this year, especially with what seems like an influx of youth.

if we are going to be any better than last year, the offense will need to put up more points. Otherwise, we are probably good for 1 round in the playoffs, and about 4th in the conference.