Good Win Kids! Good season… Trick Daddy needs some off season training… playcalling, game management, coaching QBs. See ya next year!
***MBB Game Thread***
- Thread starter BleedsGreen33
- Start date
Almost came back to bite you Keep. Thank goodness it didn't.
Fancher had a bad day, no doubt about that... But to say he hasn't made progress isn't being objective in your assessment.
When he was out there early in the season, even in limited reps, he looked awful. Like he was totally lost.
Over the past 5-6 games since he has been taking full time starter reps, he at least looks more comfortable in the offense. Like he knows the play we are running, why we are running that play and what play is likely to follow.
A few things he definitely needs to work on...
1. Understanding the route progressions -- He very often looks at the first option, then immediately to the back for a check down. Doesn't see the whole field.
2. When to keep the ball -- He did not do a good job in the read option game yesterday after several weeks of running those plays fairly efficiently. Maybe just an off day, or maybe UConn's Defensive Ends played it well and forced bad reads.
3. Overall throwing mechanics -- He's a good athlete, but his mechanics are way too erratic. Throw a beautiful TD to Gammage in a tight window, then the next three passes are a screen thrown in the dirt, a little out route that was airmailed almost into the bleachers and then another missed WR screen. Those are high school throws designed to get 5 yards, no one is asking for Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, just make the easy pass.
With an offseason of starter reps he should be able to work on those things. Hopefully Pennington/Harrison continue to develop as well and create a QB competition in the spring.
When he was out there early in the season, even in limited reps, he looked awful. Like he was totally lost.
Over the past 5-6 games since he has been taking full time starter reps, he at least looks more comfortable in the offense. Like he knows the play we are running, why we are running that play and what play is likely to follow.
A few things he definitely needs to work on...
1. Understanding the route progressions -- He very often looks at the first option, then immediately to the back for a check down. Doesn't see the whole field.
2. When to keep the ball -- He did not do a good job in the read option game yesterday after several weeks of running those plays fairly efficiently. Maybe just an off day, or maybe UConn's Defensive Ends played it well and forced bad reads.
3. Overall throwing mechanics -- He's a good athlete, but his mechanics are way too erratic. Throw a beautiful TD to Gammage in a tight window, then the next three passes are a screen thrown in the dirt, a little out route that was airmailed almost into the bleachers and then another missed WR screen. Those are high school throws designed to get 5 yards, no one is asking for Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, just make the easy pass.
With an offseason of starter reps he should be able to work on those things. Hopefully Pennington/Harrison continue to develop as well and create a QB competition in the spring.
IMHO,
- We deserved a better opponent. ESPN, which is who really runs the minor bowl system, put us against a 6-6 team that has no business being in I-A.
- Announced attendance was 12K.
- CH really looked like he was actually enjoying it all. If he would show that side of himself more often, he might win over more of the fanbase.
- If you cannot even be bothered to repaint the end zones, don’t host a bowl game. MU was repainting the field for the I-AA championships 30 years ago.
- There is little to learn from this game about the QB or anyone else. We should have won by more. UConn just isn’t any good.
- Nice B- end to a nice B- kind of year.
- We deserved a better opponent. ESPN, which is who really runs the minor bowl system, put us against a 6-6 team that has no business being in I-A.
- Announced attendance was 12K.
- CH really looked like he was actually enjoying it all. If he would show that side of himself more often, he might win over more of the fanbase.
- If you cannot even be bothered to repaint the end zones, don’t host a bowl game. MU was repainting the field for the I-AA championships 30 years ago.
- There is little to learn from this game about the QB or anyone else. We should have won by more. UConn just isn’t any good.
- Nice B- end to a nice B- kind of year.
Men’s Beach Bowling. New sport we picked up this year.
Overall, my group really enjoyed the whole bowl weekend in MB... Hotels were cheap, no crowds anywhere, easy to get around go wherever you wanted, great weather for late December.
Agree about finding a better opponent - There were obvious reasons why we didn't get ECU, but if our game was MU/ECU it would have been packed out.
12K doesn't sound like a lot, but it was the best attendance that game has ever drawn. And the gameday atmosphere was good. It felt like a game that "mattered," as much as a minor bowl game can matter, during the tailgate people on both sides were into it.
Forget repainting the end zones, CCU had some major logistical issues... The parking was a nightmare, unmarked pass lots, people being turned around into four lanes of traffic, ornery old ladies from New York/New Jersey screaming at drivers that they were in the "wrong lot" even though said lot was half empty and unmarked. They only had two gates open, so it took more than half an hour to get through the line (at kickoff there were still a ton of people outside). Not enough concession stands or pissers, lines were long the whole game, I can't imagine how that place would operate with 20k people and not 12k.
This was my 4th MU bowl game and I found it to be the most enjoyable all around. A little better caliber opponent/game day staffing and it would have been great.
Curious, what other bowls games have you attended? Always love hearing opinions on our games throughout the years.
I've been to Detroit, Annapolis and Tampa previously... Detroit is generally awful and the weather sucked. Tampa is a congested Florida outpost for displaced Yankees (I say that as a PA native that now lives in the south, lol) and the game seemed like no one really gave a damn who won/lost. Like we spent a bunch of money to go watch an exhibition game in an NFL town. Annapolis was the best game and a close second for me in terms of the whole weekend experience.
He's just flat out awful and he looks the same now as he looked when he took over. His "progression" has been aided by play opponents that were missing players and couldn't put pressure on him to make plays. His biggest pass plays have come on a DB falling down, some horrible busted coverages, and a yesterday's offsides free play heave.
He still just takes the snap and slings it. He doesn't pass. He throws. Maybe he can improve in the off season, but this "progression" people refer to is nonexistent.
The bottom line is if our Defense wasn't one of the best in the country we wouldn't have won a single game with him as starter. That defense and our RBs kept above .500. We won in spite of Fancher/Colombi.
He should have been fired this season. Though knowing he will still be patrolling the sideline in morgen town makes me smile.
I've been to various bowl games over the years, however the only one involving Marshall was the GMAC Bowl in 2002 a Herd win against Louisville. At 40,646 it still ranks as the largest crowd in that bowls history. I believe it is currently the LendingTree Bowl. Even though it was 20 years ago, I remember the atmosphere having that "big time" feel to it, as both Marshall - Louisville fans traveled well to that game.
He's a strong runner although they don't ever get him on the edge...as a passer, I'd say it's 50-50 whether he could bit a barn from 25 yards!
To add onto the Fancher talk, we need yet another portal QB or for one of these freshmen to explode.
He’s not even close to a good enough runner to make up for how terrible of a passer he is. I mean hell, he got out stat’d by UConn’s true freshman who got benched for a quarter.
I mean, you got as consistent of a running game as we’ve had in a LONG time, two RBs both nearly 100 yards, and you still only manage 103 total yards as a QB? I’m sorry, we have to be way better than that.
And I don’t see how a year of “practicing as the starter” will keep him from sailing every, single, pass. He’s had 2 years to work on throwing mechanics now.
And as I’m bitching about in every thread it feels like, In this current environment you can’t afford to wait 2-3 years for someone to develop.
He’s not even close to a good enough runner to make up for how terrible of a passer he is. I mean hell, he got out stat’d by UConn’s true freshman who got benched for a quarter.
I mean, you got as consistent of a running game as we’ve had in a LONG time, two RBs both nearly 100 yards, and you still only manage 103 total yards as a QB? I’m sorry, we have to be way better than that.
And I don’t see how a year of “practicing as the starter” will keep him from sailing every, single, pass. He’s had 2 years to work on throwing mechanics now.
And as I’m bitching about in every thread it feels like, In this current environment you can’t afford to wait 2-3 years for someone to develop.
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...he hit some poor schmuck in the first row just trying to enjoy a hot dog and a coke! He does sail a bunch of passes high as you mentioned!
So just to be clear... You guys want a portal QB to come in and take the job from a kid that is only a sophomore and went 6-1 as a starter?
If you do that (and I don't think Huff will)... Not only does Fancher transfer, but probably at least one of Pennington/Harrison. Not to mention any future high school recruits being skeptical given that we'd be inserting a portal QB over guys we recruited two seasons in a row.
I know everyone loves the portal this time of year, its a sexy proposition to think "Hey we will go steal some other team's starting QB and next year we'll be unstoppable." -- But that's fools gold.
No QB worth a damn is going to come here unless they are assured they will be the starter next year (IE Columbi) and the rest of the guys in the portal are there for a reason (they washed out, never saw the field, etc at their previous school)... Unless you have $5 million to offer Drake May (allegedly) the portal is an island of misfit toys at the QB position and the last thing we need is another one-year stopgap to play ahead of our own guys.
I can't only speak for myself but I'd settle for a QB that can hit wide open receivers. Maybe with improvement this Spring Cam can be that guy but don't care if it's Cam, Cole or a yet TBD player.
Yes. Fancher is not good and next year the QB is going to have play a lot better than this year. Also if you're a halfway decent QB with any self confidence in your game you wouldn't need a promise from Huff after watching film on Fancher.
Some of you act like this kid is so good no one can take the job from him unless the staff gave it to them. Fancher is not good. He hasn't been good all year. He hits a random good throw every once and a while like a broken clock is right two times a day. He's not going to have a senior laden defense and the best RB duo in the nation to protect him next season.
He "MAY" get better and we still don't even know how much better he can be. However we see what he is right now and he's worse than Isaiah Green. If anything we need someone that is going to push him to get better. Competition breeds greatness and right now we aren't even close to average in that QB room.
Also as I keep point out we have only 3 scholarship QBs (4 if Cunningham is on scholarship). What's going to happen when we come out of camp and say Harrison isn't even in the running and he bolts. Now we're down to two. We've seen just about every starter go down at some point during the season since Cato left. What happens when Fancher takes off and takes a nasty hit or plants his foot wrong like Kyler Murray last weekend.
Don't be naive, that's not how this works... Any kid worth a rats rear end is in the portal looking for NIL dollars (which Im guessing we dont have much of) or assurances of playing time. The rest are in there because they couldn't hack it where they were.
I don't think anyone is saying Fancher is so good that he can't be replaced... Huff/Trickett should tell all three of Fancher/Pennington/Harrison that the best player as of Sept. 1 will be the starter next year. Have an actual competition through the spring, and into next fall if need be.
If we are in a position where all three of our top 3 spring QBs go out via transfer or injury, we aren't winning 5 games next year anyway. You don't make promises to portal QBs, because three guys you already have might get hurt.
Next year's team has serious questions pretty much everywhere... QB, offensive line, TE, defensive line, linebacker, corner... The thinking that we are a random portal QB away from being some juggernaut next year is silly. A one-year rental at that position does us more harm than good in the long run (assuming we don't get a top 3 portal kid, and we won't)... I think Huff probably brings in a depth arm from the portal, probably some kid from FCS or lower division football with some level of experience, and goes from there.
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