Post Duke evaluations

[homer]

Not even in the 4th quarter yet but I think we can offer some insight.

Defense is more or less what I expected but they need to tackle better. Front line penetration would be nice. But they have been on the field waaaaayyyy too much. Offense has hurt the defense.

Offense is myopic. Quinn is spooked, it looks like. He's back peddling and throwing off this back foot constantly. O line is being pushed around a little, but that's to be expected. A mobile QB would be a solid boost.

[fc4life]

My take:

Positive:
We looked organized.
Kept penalties at a minimum.
Kickoff returns were strong.
Did not turn it over.
Gallaghet is a kicker.
We actually scored a TD and ran the ball at times. Mostly against the second and third teams of Duke with our starters.

Negative:
We can't tackle. Embarrassing effort at times. Arm tackles everywhere. Need strong technique against bigger teams. It was not there.

Our pass defense was passive and was gutted.

Generated zero pass rush. Never took shots with blitzes.

Quinn is a game manager. Handles short passes well. No deep threats.

Too many dropped balls by the receivers. Killed drives.

Passive play calling on both sides of the ball. Never took chances. We had nothing to lose? Right?!

Third and 1 run call from the shotgun followed by a pass on 4th. Bad, bad.

Overall, another wasted game. We should stop playing these money games against ACC teams. Schedule MAC teams or Sun Belt teams. These games get us off on the wrong foot.

We have a long road ahead. Hopefully, we made it out without any injuries and we have a week to prepare for A&T. Gotta win that one!

[homer]

I was stunned that Skrosky left Quinn in there the entire game. The second half he was ducking while throwing, even though the pressure was minimal. I thought for sure Loughery would play the 4th quarter. I can't think of a reason why he wasn't inserted.

[phoenix2008]

Obviously not happy with the result, but I am encouraged about the future, both short term and long term under Skrosky. I agree we could have taken a few more chances on some of our play calls, but then again, our best chance for success was probably short passing and eating up clock with run plays...I'm not worried about Skrosky's aggressiveness - once we get into league play I think we will see more aggressive play calling.

The below should make everyone feel a little bit better...

Offensive output against last three ACC openers:
328 total yards against Duke, 0 turnovers, 13 points scored, margin of victory -39
253 total yards against Tech, 4 turnovers, 0 points scored, margin of victory -70
170 total yards against UNC, 4 turnovers, 0 points scored, margin of victory - 62

[phoenix2008]

FYI: Elon's next opponent, NC A&T, is playing on ESPN today at 11:45 against Alabama A&M.

[elonfanboom]

Great Observations:

I take a more positive approach to last night's game. Much different than GTech-

Offense:
Positives:
Had a game plan
Run Game looked like it will be a positive this year
Quinn went thru progressions much better- no turnovers- accurate balls
Offensive line was not as overmatched as I thought it would be
Negatives:
Quinn threw off back foot and drifted in pocket in 2nd half... I think it was just a trust issue with O-Line- they will nip that this week in film room and field.
WR's no separation from defenders- too many drops..
a few of you guys mention not taking any chances-When you don't have a deep threat it's hard to take chances. Watching the game (maybe I missed a cpl plays) it looked like there was no opportunity to take a chance and db's were in the Wr's pocket the entire game.

Overall,
Offense played ok- Quinn was a game manager for week 1 against an ACC team that had superior athletes at every position- I think the offense will be fine against CAA opponents and Quinn will continue to get better.
I think Lough didn't play because Skrosky was trying to keep first team out there to work to get better- build some cohesion and learn from playing a top ACC team. Giving Lough meaningless reps in a blowout doesn't really help him.

Defense:
Yikes- just work on open field tackling and pass rush- They should be much better against A & T.
Phoenix2008 hit it on the head... with those stats. I think this group will suprise some teams in CAA.

Just a different feel last night... Progress!

[whoanellie]

Sure Elon was totally over-matched but We are unlikely to be matched up against any better arm than an anthony Boone, He has a rocket of an arm and after Cosch Cutcliff's coaching just might see play on sunday's. His receiving crew is top flight. Duke concentrate's on over-all team speed. So if We can pick up some of that game speed We could be well served.
I saw parts of the NC A&T game and they play Coastal this weekend in Greensboro kind of a mini round-robin as We play Coastal the next weekend also. We just have to get a lot tougher mentally , emotionally and physically ......

[fc97]

A&T will be tough. I expect a close loss there. Unfortunately, this is going to be a rough season.

I will say, I watched some of the game on ESPN3 and listened on the radio. Despite a 47 point loss, we did score 13; much better than Swepson's first two ACC opponents. We played descent, just suck on a handful of bad plays that gave things up big to Duke. The guys never truly rolled over, we have problems, but they played the whole game.

A&T is going to be a test of where we are. Charlotte is going to be a toss up. They aren't great, but they have more depth.

[elonfirefighter]

I was at the game and Duke did eat up our secondary. Even with Bostic out we did run the ball well. Kicking game is off to a better start this year, but we need to work on punting. Our kickoff return was decent too. I watched the A&T game and I agree they will be tough. They are able to pound the ball in there, but we have 2 weeks to prepare and will have 2 videos on them. Being a home game for us I give us the slight edge.

[phoenix2008]

I watched the A&T game as well...they torched their opponent, but I think we are much better team then what they faced...a good test will be how they do against Coastal. I'll wait to predict our outcome until I see that result.

A win against A&T would be huge though.

[homer]

I was encouraged with the rushing displayed against Duke. That was the lone bright spot offensively. If the offense is going to develop into something that wins games this year, it'll be squarely on the shoulders of the QB. If Quinn can't do it, and the Duke game gave me serious doubts, then it's on to Loughery and maybe even Christiansen.

[whoanellie]

Gallagher really has solidified our field goal kicking solid leg let's keep it up

[elonpride]

I watched some of the game, and though it was a 52-13 loss I was impressed with the team. Many of the faces are the same, but this is not the same team that took the field last season. There looks to be progress and confidence. As FC97 stated, they played until the end, and against a top tier ACC team. The big thing that stood out......NO TURNOVERS.

I'm anxious to see where this season goes and have a feeling we may pull off a big win or 2.

[Deleted]

The team also left the field disappointed, but not downtrodden with a sense of betrayal. BIG difference from the previous two years.

[homer]

Give Skrosky a little time. I think you'll see a dramatic turnaround. Sooner rather than later. This year might be a tough one to swallow, but next year significant gains will be evident. And I'm already looking forward to playing Wake Forest (I must be ill)...