Report Card - W&M

[fc4life]

Boy, this one stings. Playoff hopes on the line. Playing a team that had not won a conf game and...we lay an egg. Yes. I called it an egg. I made sure to look at all aspects during my re-watch of the game and I came to the same conclusion as I felt on Saturday. Out-played, out-coached and the thing that I hate the most, out-desired. That team wanted it more and it showed.

Offense: D
We averaged 2.6 yds a cary. Cheek was running for his life at times. Our play calls were unimaginative and frankly our scheme stunk. I reviewed the film. We had 8 of 43 pass attempts over 10 yds. Everything was short outs. We had 6 to the middle of the field. No slants, zero screen plays against a pass rush that was winning the line of scrimmage. Our run game was stuck in quicksand. We went wide (designed outside the tackle box) a total of four times by design. Embarrassing. And again and again, no tempo.

Defense: F
We gave up 502 yds to the 12 ranked CAA offense coming into the game. We had no answers for their multiple formations and we were slow to add a spy to their QB. I’m confused on this. No film study? We were bailed out by their poor kicking game, because frankly we should have lost this in regulation.

Special Teams: F
Missed FGs. A blocked punt and a kickoff out of bounds earns you an F.

Coaching: F
This was a game we were favored by 11 points according to Vegas. We lost at home to a winless conference team. They had all to play for and laid an egg. Playoffs are done. And for the third straight season it looks like November will be rough.
I really like this staff. However, something is not right. They are a veteran team. They are constantly up and down. Since the Richmond win, we’ve not played a four quarter game. The bench was flat. Kids looked disinterested and seemed to not care. Sure these are opinions. But I know what I saw and it was not good.

I hope we bounce back. A 6-5 season can be had.

[everelon]

I totally agree. I was there with a W&M alum and was thoroughly embarrassed. The Tribe should send our offensive line a thank you note. I really believe we could have picked up 5 guys in the parking lot who could have given a better effort. On all blocked punts, our punter is only 12 yards deep not 13. Someone needs to help him count yards. I said 5 weeks ago that we need an offensive line coach. We may also need a strength and conditioning coach. Our guys are not as strong of as fast as the opposition.

[Phoenix]

Spot-On Assessment. Thanks for doing the Report Card.

[cardinal]

Piss poor effort all the way around.

The coaches didn't have the team ready - dropped balls and missed opportunities and a defense that got run over

Most frustrating

- we have 4 scholarship kickers. Not one of them can kick it in the end zone. Shameful.

- why not take 3 knees or 3 runs in first OT? Kick the 35-40 yarder and be done?

- how do we take a delay of game penalty lining up for a game winning field goal?

- how do we take a sack in OT within field goal range ? Throw the ball out of bounds. Stop holding the ball.

- play calling is dreadful.

- another November of bad football

[epx]

Nov 5, 2019 8:37:54 GMT -5 cardinal said:

Piss poor effort all the way around.

The coaches didn't have the team ready - dropped balls and missed opportunities and a defense that got run over

Most frustrating

- we have 4 scholarship kickers. Not one of them can kick it in the end zone. Shameful.

- why not take 3 knees or 3 runs in first OT? Kick the 35-40 yarder and be done?

- how do we take a delay of game penalty lining up for a game winning field goal?

- how do we take a sack in OT within field goal range ? Throw the ball out of bounds. Stop holding the ball.

- play calling is dreadful.

- another November of bad football

This was emblematic of Elon's entire game. Listless, disinterested, flat.

[hoidOfYolen]

Just finished watching the game over again. Some thoughts:

- No team deserves to win giving up 7 sacks (1 nullified due to facemask penalty) and being given 6 missed field goals and an extra point.

- That catch from Jackson Parham in the back corner of the end zone should have been called a touchdown

- Playcalling in overtime was HORRIBLE. During the game we were calling a bit too few pass plays, but then in overtime we were passing the ball the whole time. While I get that you should trust your QB and receivers to win you the game, what it ended up doing was gaining few yards due to drops (a key one from Kortez in the red zone would have sealed the deal for the win, almost certainly) and allowing 3 sacks in OT, all on key downs and one pushing Skylar Davis back further for a longer field goal. DON'T PASS WHEN ALL YOU NEED IS A FIELD GOAL!

- Field goal kicking was what kept us in the game in regulation, with Skylar Davis hitting 3 key field goals, and it partially killed us in OT, with two misses.

- Cole had a rough game drops-wise. I counted 7 dropped balls in the game, 6 of which were to Cole and 1 to Kortez. One was an only okay-ish pass from Cheek in the end zone on the second to last 2 pt conversion. The last 2pt conversion attempt was a perfect pass, but Cole couldn't reel it in.

- Every single one of Cheek's sacks were either within 2 seconds of the snap or he was under such pressure that he couldn't reliably throw it away. Not really reasonable to expect him to throw those balls away when he's actively being tackled at the time. Cheek also was flushed out of the pocket on 4 occasions where he was able to get good positive yardage out of it. He was our leading rusher at one point in the 3rd quarter.

- The defense had a really rough day. They were running the ball all over us and we couldn't run the ball on them. We could barely pass the ball too, given the sacks. We have to tighten up our giving up of "big plays" (runs +12, pass +15 yds). I couldn't believe how easy it was for them to run the ball all day.

- Contrary to some on this board, I didn't see any evidence that the team seemed flat or disinterested. It seemed we played hard, we just got bested on defense when it mattered and didn't make good playcalling decisions.

[phoenix5]

There were a few mistakes by certain players here and there but I put this one squarely on the coaches. The play calling in critical situations was atrocious. 

[Phoenix]

Agreed.