From VU message board:

"just heard from Coach Ferrante on this:

he said that Justin Covington had his leg twisted in an odd direction resulting in an injury to his lower leg but that after being checked out by the staff at the game he was actually asking to get put back in - however, the staff kept him out as a precautionary measure.

Covington will have an MRI and X-Ray this afternoon and Coach should have a better idea on his status late today or tomorrow."

https://247sports.com/college/villanova/...136616496/

(10-07-2019 07:22 AM)doubleduke2016 Wrote:  

(10-07-2019 06:54 AM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  It is stacking up to be the game of the year in the CAA. It looks like Villanova hasn’t faced a good defense yet, but little Danny Smith has fixed their QB problem from the last 2 years. Whenever Bednarczwyzczywczk was hurt, their QB’s were terrible.
Should be a fun game to watch

After this weekend I am not convinced they will this week either. It is a little strange going from the Trott defense to what we have now. I'm not used to teams being able to move at will against us but it seemed like Saturday they could. Perhaps that was an anomaly game and we get things back together this week but it is a good thing our Offense is running well right now because our defense is showing glimpses of a defense from a few years ago run by a coach we would all prefer to forget.

Trott’s defense’s weren’t always very good.
Was a sieve for much of those 1st 9 games of 2016, mainly against the pass.
Outstanding the last 6 of 2016 and almost all of 2017.
Had some struggles last year/2018- Elon, UNH, URI.

Cig said in press conference that he expects "some guys" back in secondary this week. Getting Robinson and Tutt back on the field together would be huge. If you've noticed, Tutt has been used sporadically, mainly on big drives late in games (Stony) or times guys have gotten hurt (Elon) or consistently beat bad (Chatty). I'm thinking maybe he just hasnt been able to play that many plays in a row or something of the sort. If we could get him and robinson back at the same time that would be huge. Carroll, Drew, McCormick just aren't cutting it currently IMO. McCormick is a serviceable 3rd, atleast. I just think we are going to need to see significantly better safety play for any of it to be noticeably different.

Nice to get them back but only if they’re going to help and not continue to aggravate an injury. Otherwise shut it down and get as close to getting back to 100% as you can for the stretch run as we hope to go deep and don’t want it to linger all season.

(10-07-2019 08:22 AM)doubleduke2016 Wrote:  

(10-07-2019 07:36 AM)bjk3047 Wrote:  

(10-07-2019 07:22 AM)doubleduke2016 Wrote:  I'm not used to teams being able to move at will against us but it seemed like Saturday they could.

The big shift for me is how porous the secondary is. When the other team can bomb it down the field and turn the field on one play, that's a major issue. The way we can score on offense, I'm a little surprised we're not playing more conservative coverage. Let them dink and dunk for 8 and 10 yards. Do not let them beat you deep.

It would make more sense if we weren't repeatedly reminded that we have 20/22 starters returning. If it was new players it would make more sense what happened year to year but for the most part these are players that were here last year on a good D. Which means it means it is more likely scheme or injuries or both. But I agree that seeing teams be able to get big chunk plays out of us is alarming and it means teams are never really out of a game against us if they can string together a couple of those big chunks.

Was 19 of 22 since lost Chavious in the offseason.
Missing 2 of those returning defensive starters in Robinson & Tutt for multiple games each has obviously hurt. I’m willing to give a mulligan for SBU. Am optimistic that will get Robinson & Tutt back and/or Hetherman, Birkett & Smith will get the problem fixed. Obviously VU and TU with Baby Flacco will be big tests.

I wasn't very confident but now I feel better about this one than Stony Brook. Dukes are gonna dial it in on all 3 phases and crush this week and expose Villanova. 44-13

This is going to be a slugfest unless our D forces some turnovers as I don't see one week being enough time to fix our issues in the secondary.

I am going somewhere in the range of 45-42 Dukes prevail but I leave the game with even less hair than I already have.

(10-07-2019 03:44 PM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  I wasn't very confident but now I feel better about this one than Stony Brook. Dukes are gonna dial it in on all 3 phases and crush this week and expose Villanova. 44-13

Yeah, I could see that happening.

Offense continues to roll and defense does enough to get it done. This game is more about showing if VU are contenders or pretenders than about where we are. And they are just kitty cats in the end.

38-21 but not as close as the score.

(10-07-2019 02:33 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  

(10-07-2019 08:22 AM)doubleduke2016 Wrote:  

(10-07-2019 07:36 AM)bjk3047 Wrote:  

(10-07-2019 07:22 AM)doubleduke2016 Wrote:  I'm not used to teams being able to move at will against us but it seemed like Saturday they could.

The big shift for me is how porous the secondary is. When the other team can bomb it down the field and turn the field on one play, that's a major issue. The way we can score on offense, I'm a little surprised we're not playing more conservative coverage. Let them dink and dunk for 8 and 10 yards. Do not let them beat you deep.

It would make more sense if we weren't repeatedly reminded that we have 20/22 starters returning. If it was new players it would make more sense what happened year to year but for the most part these are players that were here last year on a good D. Which means it means it is more likely scheme or injuries or both. But I agree that seeing teams be able to get big chunk plays out of us is alarming and it means teams are never really out of a game against us if they can string together a couple of those big chunks.

Am optimistic that will get Robinson & Tutt back and/or Hetherman, Birkett & Smith will get the problem fixed. Obviously VU and TU with Baby Flacco will be big tests.

I've seen a similar sentiment a few times about Robinson coming back and fixing things but are we convinced at this point that he is coming back? Not that he will come back and play but that the player that will come back will be the same one that looked better than Moreland a few years ago. So far this year it looks like that player is not here. I'd love for him to get back to where he was and hopefully it is just a conditioning/getting used to feeling good again but so far this year it looks like the 2017 Robinson is not around and the 2019 version has been burned a number of times for big gains. So I'm not sure if I'm convinced that the answer is just to wait till he gets back on the field. It is a similar situation with Amos and PR's is he the same player that was destroying returns not long ago? And if not will that guy return or is it time to move on to other players?

If Robinson is still hurting a bit I would keep him out and get him back to full strength. Understand that he needs reps, but we need him healthy for a playoff run.

(10-08-2019 09:05 AM)jmu98 Wrote:  If Robinson is still hurting a bit I would keep him out and get him back to full strength. Understand that he needs reps, but we need him healthy for a playoff run.

Yep, yep, yep.

Mid season availability would be nice. Postseason is a strong need.

45-17, Dawgs.

(10-07-2019 08:22 AM)doubleduke2016 Wrote:  

(10-07-2019 07:36 AM)bjk3047 Wrote:  

(10-07-2019 07:22 AM)doubleduke2016 Wrote:  I'm not used to teams being able to move at will against us but it seemed like Saturday they could.

The big shift for me is how porous the secondary is. When the other team can bomb it down the field and turn the field on one play, that's a major issue. The way we can score on offense, I'm a little surprised we're not playing more conservative coverage. Let them dink and dunk for 8 and 10 yards. Do not let them beat you deep.

It would make more sense if we weren't repeatedly reminded that we have 20/22 starters returning. If it was new players it would make more sense what happened year to year but for the most part these are players that were here last year on a good D. Which means it means it is more likely scheme or injuries or both. But I agree that seeing teams be able to get big chunk plays out of us is alarming and it means teams are never really out of a game against us if they can string together a couple of those big chunks.

We may have experience with our returning starters (the muscle) but most of the coaches (the brains) are quite young and inexperienced, especially on the defensive side. Both Hetherman (DC) and Birkett (Corners) come from Maine and Ryan Smith (safeties) after two yrs at Elon

(10-08-2019 01:40 PM)RamDawg Wrote:  

(10-07-2019 08:22 AM)doubleduke2016 Wrote:  

(10-07-2019 07:36 AM)bjk3047 Wrote:  

(10-07-2019 07:22 AM)doubleduke2016 Wrote:  I'm not used to teams being able to move at will against us but it seemed like Saturday they could.

The big shift for me is how porous the secondary is. When the other team can bomb it down the field and turn the field on one play, that's a major issue. The way we can score on offense, I'm a little surprised we're not playing more conservative coverage. Let them dink and dunk for 8 and 10 yards. Do not let them beat you deep.

It would make more sense if we weren't repeatedly reminded that we have 20/22 starters returning. If it was new players it would make more sense what happened year to year but for the most part these are players that were here last year on a good D. Which means it means it is more likely scheme or injuries or both. But I agree that seeing teams be able to get big chunk plays out of us is alarming and it means teams are never really out of a game against us if they can string together a couple of those big chunks.

We may have experience with our returning starters (the muscle) but most of the coaches (the brains) are quite young and inexperienced, especially on the defensive side. Both Hetherman (DC) and Birkett (Corners) come from Maine and Ryan Smith (safeties) after two yrs at Elon

You should read their bio. You might change your mind about young and inexperienced.

JMU tweeted there’s less than 150 seats away from a sell out. If you haven’t bought yet, you may want to do that.

Just watching the VU/WM highlights on YouTube and WM receivers were beating the VU backfield badly on their various TD passes. Very wide open receivers with no ability to contest the pass.

(10-08-2019 09:21 PM)Potomac Wrote:  Just watching the VU/WM highlights on YouTube and WM receivers were beating the VU backfield badly on their various TD passes. Very wide open receivers with no ability to contest the pass.

As stated above, in the CAA VU is dead last is pass defense:
PASS DEFENSE
4. James Madison 214.5
12.Villanova........ 269.3

(10-08-2019 09:43 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  

(10-08-2019 09:21 PM)Potomac Wrote:  Just watching the VU/WM highlights on YouTube and WM receivers were beating the VU backfield badly on their various TD passes. Very wide open receivers with no ability to contest the pass.

As stated above, in the CAA VU is dead last is pass defense:
PASS DEFENSE
4. James Madison 214.5
12.Villanova........ 269.3

*drool*. Let's pass to set up the run -- some bootlegs and spreads then we can start running for 15 yards a carry.

(10-08-2019 07:05 PM)Potomac Wrote:  JMU tweeted there’s less than 150 seats away from a sell out. If you haven’t bought yet, you may want to do that.

apparently we are officially a sellout now.