Joe Hoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
You're watching Sports Night on CSC, so stick around.
Posts: 1,236
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Post by Joe Hoya on Sept 11, 2004 21:01:19 GMT -5
Yeah, I forgot to mention that a back of his size really shouldn't make most of his runs straight up the middle. He had 16 carries in the first half alone, and I think that's too many.
Another note than I forgot to mention...isn't one of the fundamental tenets of special teams that when a punt is going to land inside the 10, you let it drop and take your chances that it rolls into the endzone? There was one play in the second quarter where the return man called a fair catch and caught the ball on the FIVE yard line. We were consistently starting drives in the shadow of our own goal posts, and that doesn't help you score points.
I'm sitting here watching Penn State (as I'm a Nits fan) start off the second half against Boston College by marching down the field and scoring a touchdown when they desperately need one. The one thing I notice is that despite Zack Mills being a (very) mobile quarterback, when he throws the ball, he can sit in the pocket and scan the field while receivers get open. He can do this because his offensive line is protecting him. Now, I think, since our line doesn't seem to excel in this department, just backing the quarterback up a few yards might buy him a couple extra seconds. To the best of my recollection, I only saw a couple shotgun plays this afternoon, and they were both handoffs up the gut. I may be wrong. In fact, I probably am.
As an aside, my sister is a member of the BC Screamin' Eagles Marching Band, and tonight is her first game up at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill. Knowing this, you'd think I might be conflicted as to my rooting interests...but I'm not. Not at all.
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Post by showcase on Sept 12, 2004 16:41:17 GMT -5
I took in the game too, and had the following thoughts:
Another football alum & I noted that the longsnapper was moving kind of slow and could be victimized if the Leopards brought a rush. Sure enough, next GU punt, the Leopards blocked the kick. If casual fans could note it, I think it behooves the coaching staff to note it and compensate for it before it becomes a problem. I'd expect Duquesne to bring the house almost every time on punts next week.
I was sitting on the North 40 yard line, underneath the Lafayette coaches. They were calling out "3 step drop! 3 step drop!" when GU lined up in a particular formation every time, and sure enough, GU delivered. Again, this kind of predictability is unacceptable, even if the team is still adjusting to the new playbook. Okay, call it once, but when it doesn't work and they're clearly all over it, why go back to the well?
I liked Sarin's running but as noted above, he is definitely not a short-yardage guy. Running him out of the endzone in the 4th quarter made about as much sense as handing the ball to him on a crucial 3d & 1 in the 3d quarter. There are beefier backs on the squad who should get the ball. I have two words for Coach Uze: "Thunder Dubin" (ask Coach Benson).
The special teams play on punt returns was atrocious, and was GU's real weakness (on the field, anyway). On Lafayette's first punt (I believe), the return man failed to call for the fair catch, got clobbered, and GU was lucky to get the ball back. Later, he called for a fair catch inside the 5 in the 3d (it was spotted AT THE ONE, I believe - and he may have done this in the 2d, too), and then let the ball bounce down to the one from the 15 (I believe) just before Lafayette's interception. I don't want to be too hard on the kid, but in games like Saturdays, it's plays like these that will absolutely kill you by turning the tide in the field position battle, and it seemed like the poor guy couldn't help but make the wrong choice Saturday.
I don't know what Keith was trying to do when he passed out of the endzone at the beginning of the 4th, but God bless him for trying. The play calling put him in a poor position and allowed Lafayette to pin its ears back. That was really the killer.
The Leopards' TD on 3d & 20 after a timeout really added salt to the wound, however.
I thought the D did an outstanding job: you create 5 turnovers, you've done your part to put the team in a position to win. Lafayette's switch to Davis in the 4th Q after GU went up 6-3 seemed to take some of the wind out of their sails, however. Duquesne will be a real test, since they'll bring a more complete offensive package than Lafayette (who's still working to find a steady passing game), and if the playcalling/brainfarts continue on special teams and O, the D is going to see ALOT of the Dooks.
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Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 18,432
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Sept 12, 2004 17:00:09 GMT -5
Speaking of attendance, I assume by DFW's comments it was less than 1000. My son's alma mater, the Univ. of Portland with an enrollement of about 2500-3000 students got 4070 people out for women's football (soccer) on Friday night. Of course, they were national champs the year before last.
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DFW HOYA
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,753
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Post by DFW HOYA on Sept 12, 2004 17:17:52 GMT -5
Attendance was 1,842. St. Peter's is drawing more than Georgetown right now.
I realize that no one is expecting 7,000 at Harbin Field given the constraints of the place. I do think that at a school with 6,000 underdgraduates and a local alumni population exceeding 35,000, consistent crowds of 2,200+ is not asking too much.
Watching the game Saturday, most of the visitor section was wide open and there were pockets of open seats on the home side as well. If there was a large student turnout (and e-mails on this suggest otherwise), you didn't see them on TV. Whoever brought out the inflatable buddog pointed it away from the field, so all you saw was the back of his head looming over the southwest corner of the end zone.
I'm also not comparing Georgetown students with Notre Dame filling the corner of their stadium green yesterday against Michigan. We're not ND. Yet, Villanova reported that 2,800 students showed up at their home opener. Were there 200 students for Lafayette, ostensibly on national satellite TV?
This is larger than a football problem.
Men's soccer is drawing 800 a game. Women's soccer draws 200 a game. Volleyball and field hockey are both less than 150 this season.
Georgetown's student turnout in basketball continues to decline. GU ranked 13th of 14 Big east schools in women's attendance, only 479 a game--this for a team with a first round WNBA player in Rebekkah Brunson!
I'd like to hear from students to exactly what is at work here and what it's going to take to change.
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GUHoya07
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 4,083
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Post by GUHoya07 on Sept 12, 2004 17:27:54 GMT -5
Yeah, something needs to be done immediately. I'm currently trying to get something new started to improve the situation specifically at basketball games, but a lot of work needs to be done at football games and all other sports as well.
I'm always mystified when I think about the fact that a student section hasn't been created at football games or any other non men's basketball sports. If you got 30 students in one section all wearing the same t-shirt it would make a world of difference. I want to take care of the simple but extremely important things that have been overlooked for way too long. People are trying to think up all sorts of complicated promotional tactics and failing to realize that the simplest things can prove to be extremely effective.
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Post by wolf10 on Sept 12, 2004 18:14:25 GMT -5
re comment on teaching Allan to throw the ball? no one needs to teach any of our qb"s to throw. What the hoyas need is offensive line blocking for up to 3 to 5 seconds.. six sacks no blocking on the the zone blitz"s. Play calling 27 times up the box with our lightest back that looked like a 300 # defensive line. no split receivers and not one long pass made it simple to stop our offence. We needed to spread out the defence and keep them honest. I watched a Lafayette player come from left end and hit our qb"s arm from the back that caused a TD. Hopefully after todays game films the coaches will straighten out the numerous missed assignments. I sat next to a former player who picked up line play. Defense again was great, One slip on our backs part that allowed a TD does not make for a bad day. You can not win without points. The offense needs to get it together and I think they will. The talent is there. go Hoyas Take the next game.
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CAHoya07
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,598
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Post by CAHoya07 on Sept 12, 2004 20:54:55 GMT -5
Attendance was 1,842. St. Peter's is drawing more than Georgetown right now. This is larger than a football problem. Men's soccer is drawing 800 a game. Women's soccer draws 200 a game. Volleyball and field hockey are both less than 150 this season. Georgetown's student turnout in basketball continues to decline. GU ranked 13th of 14 Big east schools in women's attendance, only 479 a game--this for a team with a first round WNBA player in Rebekkah Brunson! Totally agree. I think the key problem is that athletics just isn't really that much a part of the Georgetown student culture. A lot of people just aren't that interested, or they don't want to see our teams lose (which happens in a lot of our sports, unfortunately, hate to say it). They are quintessential fairweather fans. Add that to dilapidated facilities, and yeah, you're gonna get some poor turnouts. We need to do a lot more, and those numbers above clearly show that Hoya Blue is not cutting it. Like GUHoya2007 said, simple things that can be easily done like creating a student section at football games can do wonders. It's time for a new group to come up out of the fray and take these matters into our own hands. I, for one, am willing.
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Post by reformation on Sept 12, 2004 21:26:48 GMT -5
A few thoughts re attendance:
1)we should try to get the comparable attendance figures for comparable schools/programs, e.g., the ivy for sports other than mens bb-then we could probably set realistic expecttions. 2)the sports that you mention DFW all currrently are really not contending for league or national titles and some have very uninteresting schedules--e.g., field hockey(most games) and volleyball. 3)sports like track, which are nationally competitive, unfortunately do not compete on campus 4)maybe someone will wake up one day and allocate the resources from programs which have no chance of being competitive nationally like volleyball to those that are sort of on the cusp of being competitive like soccer, maybe football etc. and you will see more competitive programs and more fan interest.
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CAHoya07
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,598
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Post by CAHoya07 on Sept 12, 2004 21:45:04 GMT -5
Another item: the extreme lack of exposure that Georgetown athletics gets on its own campus television station and radio station. For example, Georgetown football games should be able to be viewed live on GUTV and heard live on WGTB radio streamed over the internet (since we were sold our station, which is another travesty). Both of these are not the case. These should be a given, but they're not true, which is nothing short of a travesty. All of our opponents have this set up, so it's pretty sad when we have to resort to THEIR internet streams and such to find out what's going on. Having football and other sports live or even, at the very least, on replay on GUTV would increase exposure of our superb student athletes and get more people thinking about our sports (i.e. more likely to go to games).
A LOT of problems need to be addressed in Georgetown athletics in regards to attendance and fan support. Of course I care most about basketball, but I'd be willing to do something like start a club that encompasses ALL Georgetown sports.
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DFW HOYA
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by DFW HOYA on Sept 12, 2004 22:17:23 GMT -5
FWIW, all home games are broadcast on WGTB online and most home games this year will be Internet-streamed on GUTV.
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CAHoya07
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,598
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Post by CAHoya07 on Sept 12, 2004 23:13:12 GMT -5
Well that's good, I saw the preview for next week's game Duquesne on the football page, and it said GUTV: none, and Radio: None. Maybe it was a typo, but it Editeded me off enough to make this rant on the board.
Most of the other stuff on my post is still true, though, and I still contend that increased exposure on GUTV and the radio MUST happen for things in the athletics program to improve.
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CAHoya07
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,598
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Post by CAHoya07 on Sept 12, 2004 23:16:04 GMT -5
Plus, we should be able to see road games on GUTV too. Those are the ones that really matter, since I'll be attending most home football games in person.
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Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 18,432
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Sept 13, 2004 14:57:35 GMT -5
Anybody know the attendance for the GU Invitational XC meet on Saturday at Great Meadows? LOL! Under or over 10?
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