- Ill take an ugly win over a pretty loss, especially when it comes to a team like Southeastern. SELA is a very good program and honestly I ended up staying at home with the weather not great because I felt like we were going to get absolutely destroyed, and then the ghosts of the Blue Gang defense came alive on Halloween, which we will get into later. You really have to feel good about beating a team like Southeastern, especially when they have owned you for 3 straight years and have hammered you pretty much every single time. This one feels good.
- The offense struggled all day long but came through when they had to. I did not really get the game plan and felt like it was kind of crawling in the dark, but after the game, HC Dolezel said that some of the starting offensive linemen were out sick and could not play, so that makes a huge deal and explains why the offense was so ineffective today, but did just enough to win it. I did notice that Reese Mooney did not have the time he had the previous game and now it makes sense, as well as the lack of early production on the running game. That also explains the presnap penalties and holding that set the Lions back. I thought ET was going to win the game with a touchdown but a chop block and then a false start moved them back. Once again…..I Hate the RPO. Not saying never ever run it but when you have a mobile pocket passer who has an impressive arm and athletic moxy, you can spread the ball that way and just set up basic run plays. The final drive was a good mixture of misdirection and pushing the ball downfield. You can’t give Dolezel too much greif, he has had to play 4 quarterbacks in 9 games all with very different skill sets. That’s hard for any OC.
- Defense pitched a shutout. A SHUTOUT. SELA had averaged 40 points per game on you since joining the Southland, and your defense did not allow them get ANY offensive points. The only points came because of a punt return for a touchdown. This defense really shows itself to get better and better when they tackle well (as they did today) and when they play assingment football. Props to Jesse Thompson for having them in proper alingments and making adjustments.
- Special teams……I have been very hard on Special teams Coach Roberts becuase I disagree with his “dont kick it to anyone who can make a play.” At some point, you have to teach your players to run their lanes hard, converge on the ball carrier, and make a tackle. The first punt by Ben Mehan resulted in SELA’s only score, but that was not because of Mehan’s kick, it was because of poor punt coverage and poor tackling, which has been an issue this entire year. Ozlo Rigby was forced to squib it but again you CANNOT allow fear of a good return to not allow your kickers to do what they do best. You have to work on coverage and open field tackling. It was good on defense, but not on special teams. Stop with these Mickey Mouse tricks and just kick the ball and coach your coverage guys to run their lanes and finish tackles. Cheap tricks produce cheap results, and when it goes wrong, the coach takes the blame, not the players who are forced to make plays in ways they are not used to.
- Speaking of those two specialists, Ozlo Rigby to me is the best kicker in the Conference. Two clutch game winners and a Fred Mitchell Award Watch List Member, and once again, his sidekick Ben Mehan had to make two clutch plays, first a good hold to set up the game winner and second was having to stare down all 11 SELA players who rushed his final punt and get off a good kick. These guys are invaluable to this team.
- At the end of the game, I felt like once again our lack of discipline was going to give it away, but what really got me was at the end, we ran a play before the 2 minute warning. There was absolutely no need to do that. Unless you see a player wide open with nobody covering him, you take it down to the 2 minute warning and then you give your opponent 40 less seconds to operate. I do not get that and there was no need to run a play. It was poor clock management that could have cost us the game. If that does not happen, SELA MIGHT have 25 seconds left. The clock read 2:14, and the playclock could had more time on it than what you needed to get to the 2 minute warning. If you do that, you set up a 3rd down play with 2 minutes left and you are able to run at least 30 seconds off the clock, and Rigby makes the field goal which takes another 2-3 seconds off the clock and you are down to 1:27 left. Defense stops SELA and the clock has maybe 35 seconds on it which means you can easily run the clock out. Thankfully, that did not allow SELA to tie the game.
- Clint Dolezel has won his 10th game and when you take a look at the teams he has beaten, he has some things to be proud of. He has taken down two teams outside the FCS top 25 this year, and in his time, He has never lost to Northwestern State, is 2-2 against Houston Christian, and has beaten McNeese, Incarnate Word, SFA, and now Southeastern, all top teir SLC teams that have made playoff runs. The only teams he has never beaten he faces in the next two weeks. The only question is, if he can take this momentum to the final 3 games and go 6-6, is that enough for Jim Curry to give him 1-2 more years? The fact he would have beaten 3 quality teams would strengthen that case. We will see, and next week against a very beatable Nicholls team is once again another chance to prove he should stay around.
Related posts
The Pre Snap Read: Lion Offense vs. Southeastern Defense
Texas A&M-Commerce-31, # 20 Southeastern Louisiana-28—5 Thoughts
