Very Abbreviated Maine Analysis

[Big R]

b]Note: This will be a VERY abbreviated FBI, although I think there may be a few tidbits of interest.[/b]

As readers may recall from past years, I try to write up my notes and observations from the games I am able to attend using the acronym FBI (for Field, Press Box, and Interviews).

I always try to write up my observations before reading other GoHens posts so that, right or wrong, what you read are, hopefully, my unfiltered, unbiased observations and opinions that are not influenced by outside factors. This does, however, mean that a lot of what I write may already have been posted, discussed, and dissected. So, if you feel that there is not much here that is new material, that is the reason.

Historically, I run up to the press box to drop off my binoculars and notebook, then spend Pre-game and 1st Quarter on the field, and then go back up to the press box for the rest of the game.

Field (Pre-game and Qtr 1)
There were more recruits on the field pre game than I can remember seeing in a long time. I counted over 20, and provided names, etc. to our recruiting gurus so they can investigate.

It seemed to me that the energy by the team was fairly good, although not at the same level as at Monmouth.

Thinking about the “Touchdown that wasn’t” at the Monmouth game, I asked Jordan Skolnick if FBS has certain rules for the number and positions of cameras to support replays. He said that there are and that UD is in pretty good shape. We only have to add two cameras, up high but directly on the goal line.

Press Box (Qtrs 2, 3, & 4)

Everything I saw has, no doubt, been reported, discussed and digested, so no need to regurgitate it here.

Post Game Interviews

This is from the Wednesday media interview with Coach Carty:

GH: Hey coach, last week after the Monmouth game, you talked a little bit about game-time, decision-making and how most of it you've gone over with coaches, a lot of its analytical decisions, occasionally you'll make a gut call - the last play of the half against Maine, was that an analytical call or was that more of a gut call?

RC: That was an analytical call for sure - and a gut call. There's no doubt. I'm not kicking that extra point field goal there. It's too early in the game to play for three points. It's just not when you should do that. Analytically, from 4th and 7 on the 7, you should not kick balls. You know the only thing that would change it there would be last like that fourth and one from the one you should almost never kick because you're normally going to pin the other team deep also. So eventually you're gonna score points out of that. You'll be in field goal range as long as your defense doesn't give up three first downs, even if you don't get it. However, when you get to that point, hat would be the time where the field goal might make a little more sense because you don't even gain that second-half of this equation, the analytical stat of pinning them deep, right? So last play of the half, you're either gonna score or you're not that early in the game. You got to go for seven there. You just do. You're not going to win the game by scoring 3 points. Not in this day and age in college football, OK.

GH: And then to me, it was one of those games that I didn't think the final score reflected how I felt during the game, you know, how the game was going. Did you feel the same way or did you feel that 44-21 was kind of representative of the game? And have you ever had other games where you didn't think the final score reflected the game itself?

RC: Yeah, I don't know. I thought it was a good game, a good physical game. I mean, I've been in games like that before, obviously, where it's back and forth and it's very physical and, and it's really about who can make that play to kind of cut it open? I do think that, talent wise, I do feel like as we started to pull away. I don't want to say it was inevitable because it was not, but it did feel like it was something that we should have been doing from the start. You know they were doing a great job stopping us in some situations, but we certainly were moving the ball OK. You know, if we don't turn the ball over we should have the capability to score some points in batches like we do, but obviously the pick 6 helped us kind of spark plug us there, and the big long run by Jo’Nathan, and those are the things that I think we’ll continue to do - we can wear somebody out as the game goes on. And so, for sure, I'm with you. It's not like at halftime I felt like we were blowing them away by three scores. But I certainly felt like we could have finished the half 21-14 and that would have been a little different feeling, I bet, for you.

GH: And was it evident to you that they had the extra week to prepare, especially during the first half, and then you were able at halftime, or even later in the first half, once you saw they were doing, that you were able to make the necessary adjustments?

RC: Yeah, I think that certainly played a factor in it. I think that they had scouted our operation a little bit better than we could do in a short time. I think they certainly had some tendencies on us and at least had a plan that was a little different than what they've shown against other people. They blitzed us so much more than other teams did, which eventually could open some things up, as it did in the second half. It also could cause you some problems if you haven't been necessarily prepping against that specific type of pressure throughout the week in practice. And trust me, we throw everything at the boys and they've seen everything from our defense over the course of time. But we have our game plan going in and you know, sometimes it gets thwarted a little bit early and we have to go back and regroup and see what exactly we're getting and how we combat it, and check it out on the iPads, and kind of go back to the drawing board a little bit and just make some adjustments. You guys ask me this all the time - you know, it seems like a slow start, and I think that was the second time out of six games that we might have been even down in the first half. But you know, we're statistically good on offense. And so we're going to get some things that people are going to be like, “Hey, let's try this against them. Let's see if we can slow them down with this.” And then we'll figure it out as the time goes on. We'll try to figure it out, at least, and try to make those adjustments as the game goes on and hopefully earlier than later. And then, obviously it's a concern for when we're playing against a team that might have a little bit better talent, either than the teams who we’ve played, or than us. We want to go out and get a jump start on some guys. Luckily, a lot of teams that have just as good a talent as you, and / or better talent than you, they usually just do what they do and they're not the guys that throw stuff off a wall. So, usually, you get what you see on tape against the teams that feel like they can stack up against you.

GH: And it sounds like from your comments about Richmond, that's kind of what you expect that they're just going to do what they do, because they do it well.

RC: It does seem like that's who they are, from playing against them in the past, and from playing against these coaches in the past, and from seeing how well they do what they do on defense. I don't know that I would change too much either. But I do know that, again, it's another week of preparation that we didn't have on them. So it's certainly an advantage to Richmond.

Gh; Thanks, coach.

Summary

Need to play our best game of the season vs Richmond.