I'd give it a B+

ODU, a school which keeps getting overlooked took down a P5, App came close and put on a barn burner with UNC despite coming up short, Southern Miss who has been conceived a doormat school came out and gave Liberty a good showing. Coastal took down Army, JMU debuted by beating MTSU like a drum (man they're salty over there on the CUSA board on this one.)

Room for improvement but I think we put on a statement. Onto week 2.

(09-03-2022 11:36 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  I'd give it a B+/A-. The Virginia schools brought the grade up with one win we weren't supposed to get and one dominant win. Very solid win for Coastal though less of a statement than those two. App would've been maybe the biggest statement and was so close, that would've made it an A+ or USM would've made it a solid A. ODU made the biggest statement with a P5 scalp.

Texas State was the only kinda disappointing one with how badly they lost. Everyone else took care of business where they were supposed to.

Texas State decided to poach a bunch of players from a 2-10 team for reasons unknown to all and try to win with them.

At some point, they have to actually recruit High School Kids.

(09-04-2022 09:41 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(09-03-2022 11:36 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  I'd give it a B+/A-. The Virginia schools brought the grade up with one win we weren't supposed to get and one dominant win. Very solid win for Coastal though less of a statement than those two. App would've been maybe the biggest statement and was so close, that would've made it an A+ or USM would've made it a solid A. ODU made the biggest statement with a P5 scalp.

Texas State was the only kinda disappointing one with how badly they lost. Everyone else took care of business where they were supposed to.

Texas State decided to poach a bunch of players from a 2-10 team for reasons unknown to all and try to win with them.

At some point, they have to actually recruit High School Kids.

The way Spavital is recruiting would make me want to get rid of him more than anything. The old coach at Troy mainly recruited JC players at the end of his career. This is worse than that.

My read is that the bottom of the East is much better than I think everyone thought it would be, which is bad news for the top of that division. In the West, we saw improvements from South, AState, and incremental improvements out of Southern Miss, while UL uncharacteristically struggled to put an FCS team away.

I am leaving Troy, ULM, and Georgia State out of these conversations because I don't think its fair to try and read what a program looks like when they are playing a buy game against a major conference school. We'll begin to learn more about those guys next week.

(09-04-2022 09:45 AM)OsageJ Wrote:  

(09-04-2022 09:41 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(09-03-2022 11:36 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  I'd give it a B+/A-. The Virginia schools brought the grade up with one win we weren't supposed to get and one dominant win. Very solid win for Coastal though less of a statement than those two. App would've been maybe the biggest statement and was so close, that would've made it an A+ or USM would've made it a solid A. ODU made the biggest statement with a P5 scalp.

Texas State was the only kinda disappointing one with how badly they lost. Everyone else took care of business where they were supposed to.

Texas State decided to poach a bunch of players from a 2-10 team for reasons unknown to all and try to win with them.

At some point, they have to actually recruit High School Kids.

The way Spavital is recruiting would make me want to get rid of him more than anything. The old coach at Troy mainly recruited JC players at the end of his career. This is worse than that.

Usually you see it when a coach is trying to save his job. (Balado and Raffo are in job saving mode and exclusively recruited Juco's and transfers this offseason) But Spavital has made it his strategy from Day 1 at Texas State that he was going to win through the Transfer Portal.

It hasn't worked yet.

Only grading on GSU for now, ill check out other SBC replays today.

Defense: A
The defense was amazing, they were the villains in the sold out Willams-Brice Stadium. The front seven made quick work of much bigger South Carolina OLs. Rattler faced pressure all night and threw 2 interceptions, could've been more if not dropped. USC's running game was non-existent with 2.5 ypc in 32 attempts.

Offense: C
For the most part, GSU's OL was able to push back USC defense and create holes. RBs rushed 200yds for 5.0 yds per carry on a SEC defense. QB Darren Grainger has to throw better. He missed open throws that had to be made. I understand USC secondary was one of very best in the SEC, but 7/29 for 1 TD 1 INT was a horrendous performance regardless. DG's progression is something keep an eye on.

Special Team: F
The punt team alone gave up 2 touchdowns in a very competitive game in a hostile environment with huge momentum swing. Defense kept USC off the field again and again and again, and ST let them down. This was 20-14 game without special teams blunders. This loss is on them. The punt team didn't communicate on who to block. Punter's kicking motion is extremely slow. We hired a special teams coordinator, he needs to do his job.

(09-04-2022 12:19 AM)sstaedtler88 Wrote:  

(09-03-2022 11:46 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  Overall a good week I'd say. Wins over Virginia Tech, Army, and Middle Tennessee... and 5-0 against FCS.

The SBC and MWC have performed the best so far of the G5 conferences.

CUSA had an absolutely atrocious week. They haven't beaten a single FBS team in OOC play thus far.

Over in the AAC, they went winless against the P5, Navy lost to an FCS school, and the only wins they got were over UMass, UNT, and UTSA.

MAC was just average.

Well, that's true if you aren't counting future CUSA. Liberty won, Jacksonville State won, and WKU is leading Hawaii at the moment. Sam Houston St. defense was very respectable vs. #6 team in country, they just were overmatched on offense.

Did Liberty really look good last night though? We're talking about a Southern Miss team that won 3 games last year and has major problems on offense. I would have expected you guys to be frustrated that it took a bunch of OT's to win that game.

SBC, a solid B. Was just 4 points from an excellent Week 1

CUSA - F. Only beat one FBS team, WKU over Hawaii. Had one FCS lost and one went to OT. Every team gave up +37 points except UAB against Alabama A&M.

About right. Wish App and USM had made a couple of more plays but overall, not bad. ODU, CC and JMU were great wins. I think C overall maybe B-

(09-04-2022 09:46 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  while UL uncharacteristically struggled to put an FCS team away.

We beat Nicholls by 3 last year, and Southeastern 51-48 in 2017. I would disagree with your statement.

Agreed on "Solid B" for the conference overall. App vs. UNC for best game based on excitement. If App can get the defense together, they will be quite formidable by late season. SBC-East overall looking strong.

The refs in the Georgia State game get an F while SBC teams get an A- for their solid opening week of action

(09-04-2022 11:04 AM)El Chanto Wrote:  The refs in the Georgia State game get an F while SBC teams get an A- for their solid opening week of action

Must be an SEC thing. Refs in the Ole Miss & Troy game weren’t great.

As someone who grew up a UVA fan in Newport News I have to say great game ODU! I was also hoping that App State could pull off the win over the Tar Heels.

As a JSU alumni I’m not going to act like the Sun Belt doesn’t have some teams that can be big threats in football now and the future JMU especially I think has HUGE potential. I’m man enough to hope for the best for CUSA and the Sun Belt in the future. Great first week Sun Belt!

(09-04-2022 08:40 AM)Big Buds Wrote:  I grade week 1 with a solid B.

Same here. Maybe even a B+.

(09-04-2022 09:46 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  My read is that the bottom of the East is much better than I think everyone thought it would be, which is bad news for the top of that division. In the West, we saw improvements from South, AState, and incremental improvements out of Southern Miss, while UL uncharacteristically struggled to put an FCS team away.

I am leaving Troy, ULM, and Georgia State out of these conversations because I don't think its fair to try and read what a program looks like when they are playing a buy game against a major conference school. We'll begin to learn more about those guys next week.

Lol. What a crock.

There was never one shred of doubt of who would win that game. True, we came out flat in Q3, and our O struggled more than we would have liked, but given that SLU is a solid club and an in-state team who views us as a ‘rival,’ it was a good win.

To say we ‘struggled’ is just plain dumb.

(09-04-2022 11:05 AM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  

(09-04-2022 11:04 AM)El Chanto Wrote:  The refs in the Georgia State game get an F while SBC teams get an A- for their solid opening week of action

Must be an SEC thing. Refs in the Ole Miss & Troy game weren’t great.

all freaking night on 3rd downs. no calls.

(09-04-2022 09:46 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  My read is that the bottom of the East is much better than I think everyone thought it would be, which is bad news for the top of that division. In the West, we saw improvements from South, AState, and incremental improvements out of Southern Miss, while UL uncharacteristically struggled to put an FCS team away.

I am leaving Troy, ULM, and Georgia State out of these conversations because I don't think its fair to try and read what a program looks like when they are playing a buy game against a major conference school. We'll begin to learn more about those guys next week.

Have to disagree on that. I think it's great news for the SBC east and SBC as a whole. That's like saying its bad news for the SEC if Vandy suddenly starts playing better.

These OOC wins are going to do nothing but help boost respect for whoever manages to come out on top. This is what could help us start getting NY6 and CFP bids down the road.

(09-04-2022 11:14 AM)FrankyP Wrote:  

(09-04-2022 09:46 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  My read is that the bottom of the East is much better than I think everyone thought it would be, which is bad news for the top of that division. In the West, we saw improvements from South, AState, and incremental improvements out of Southern Miss, while UL uncharacteristically struggled to put an FCS team away.

I am leaving Troy, ULM, and Georgia State out of these conversations because I don't think its fair to try and read what a program looks like when they are playing a buy game against a major conference school. We'll begin to learn more about those guys next week.

Lol. What a crock.

There was never one shred of doubt of who would win that game. True, we came out flat in Q3, and our O struggled more than we would have liked, but given that SLU is a solid club and an in-state team who views us as a ‘rival,’ it was a good win.

To say we ‘struggled’ is just plain dumb.

Agree. I thought the Cajuns did quite well putting Southeastern Louisiana away.

(09-04-2022 11:14 AM)FrankyP Wrote:  

(09-04-2022 09:46 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  My read is that the bottom of the East is much better than I think everyone thought it would be, which is bad news for the top of that division. In the West, we saw improvements from South, AState, and incremental improvements out of Southern Miss, while UL uncharacteristically struggled to put an FCS team away.

I am leaving Troy, ULM, and Georgia State out of these conversations because I don't think its fair to try and read what a program looks like when they are playing a buy game against a major conference school. We'll begin to learn more about those guys next week.

Lol. What a crock.

There was never one shred of doubt of who would win that game. True, we came out flat in Q3, and our O struggled more than we would have liked, but given that SLU is a solid club and an in-state team who views us as a ‘rival,’ it was a good win.

To say we ‘struggled’ is just plain dumb.

Hey, I tried to follow the game through a play by play on my phone, so I saw was the score never changing for 2 quarters plus practically.