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Post by The Cats on Oct 22, 2024 18:38:36 GMT -5
Thanks for the update.
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Post by catman on Oct 22, 2024 20:34:23 GMT -5
I think it’s ridiculous that Mercer’s starting QB goes down and the broadcast team didn’t even mention or show him on the sideline. Guess I shouldn’t expect any quality analysis from ESPN+. BTW, It looked pretty bad. You’d think they’d at least say something for the kid’s family that may be watching. It was super weird.
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Post by FUBeAR on Oct 22, 2024 21:22:25 GMT -5
I think it’s ridiculous that Mercer’s starting QB goes down and the broadcast team didn’t even mention or show him on the sideline. Guess I shouldn’t expect any quality analysis from ESPN+. BTW, It looked pretty bad. You’d think they’d at least say something for the kid’s family that may be watching. It was super weird. To provide some info around what FUBeAR suspects may be your primary concern. Mercer’s QB1, #1 DJ Smith suffered a lower leg injury when he was sacked with about 6:28 to play in the 2nd quarter @ Wofford on 9/28. He did not return to that game. Mercer had a bye on 10/5. Smith was dressed and warmed up, but did not play at home against Princeton on 10/12. Smith started at Samford on 10/19 and did, obviously, have some sort of brace on his foot/ankle. While he did not seem to be favoring that leg or limping, he did not seem, to FUBeAR, to have (or did not use) quite the bursts of quickness or speed that he had shown are in his repertoire in earlier games. With about 11:43 to play in the Samford game, Smith was sacked, and a Samford player who was being blocked appeared to (without intent) ‘roll up’ on Smith’s injured leg. Smith left the game after this play and did not return. No questions were asked about Smith’s condition / status during Mercer Football’s press Conference on Monday afternoon and no update was provided. There was some discussion about how well, except for throwing a Pick6, Mercer’s QB2, 6-6/225 True Freshman, Whitt Newbauer, played during his ~20 plays of action. Newbauer had ascended from QB3 to QB2, after entering the Princeton game (replacing previous QB2, Hess Horne) the prior week for Mercer’s 2nd possession of the 2nd half, and leading Mercer’s previously scoreless Offense to 3 2nd half scores. FUBeAR’s doubts an “Official” update about DJ Smith’s status or Mercer’s expected Starter at QB will be provided prior to Saturday unless Smith is definitely OUT, and perhaps, not even in that case. This would (or will), of course, require WCU’s Defensive brain trust to prepare for both … and they have very different styles. Both have been variously effective and both have made critical mistakes. Both are ‘young’ in that Smith has never really had QB Coaching prior to arriving at Mercer from JUCO last Spring and Newbauer, as a T-FR, is just plain young. FUBeAR is certain WCU’s D will want to try to pressure and confuse either as much as possible. FWIW, Newbauer’s stats are below… Newbauer, Whitt Opponent Passing | Rushing CMP ATT INT % YDS TD Long | ATT YDS TD LongPrinceton 7 11 0 63.6% 125 0 37 | 2 7 1 6 @ Samford 7 11 1 63.6% 89 1 38 | 7 39 0 28 Totals 14 22 1 214 1 38 | 9 46 1 28
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Post by FLCATAMOUNT on Oct 23, 2024 5:42:50 GMT -5
I think it’s ridiculous that Mercer’s starting QB goes down and the broadcast team didn’t even mention or show him on the sideline. Guess I shouldn’t expect any quality analysis from ESPN+. BTW, It looked pretty bad. You’d think they’d at least say something for the kid’s family that may be watching. It was super weird. To provide some info around what FUBeAR suspects may be your primary concern. Mercer’s QB1, #1 DJ Smith suffered a lower leg injury when he was sacked with about 6:28 to play in the 2nd quarter @ Wofford on 9/28. He did not return to that game. Mercer had a bye on 10/5. Smith was dressed and warmed up, but did not play at home against Princeton on 10/12. Smith started at Samford on 10/19 and did, obviously, have some sort of brace on his foot/ankle. While he did not seem to be favoring that leg or limping, he did not seem, to FUBeAR, to have (or did not use) quite the bursts of quickness or speed that he had shown are in his repertoire in earlier games. With about 11:43 to play in the Samford game, Smith was sacked, and a Samford player who was being blocked appeared to (without intent) ‘roll up’ on Smith’s injured leg. Smith left the game after this play and did not return. No questions were asked about Smith’s condition / status during Mercer Football’s press Conference on Monday afternoon and no update was provided. There was some discussion about how well, except for throwing a Pick6, Mercer’s QB2, 6-6/225 True Freshman, Whitt Newbauer, played during his ~20 plays of action. Newbauer had ascended from QB3 to QB2, after entering the Princeton game (replacing previous QB2, Hess Horne) the prior week for Mercer’s 2nd possession of the 2nd half, and leading Mercer’s previously scoreless Offense to 3 2nd half scores. FUBeAR’s doubts an “Official” update about DJ Smith’s status or Mercer’s expected Starter at QB will be provided prior to Saturday unless Smith is definitely OUT, and perhaps, not even in that case. This would (or will), of course, require WCU’s Defensive brain trust to prepare for both … and they have very different styles. Both have been variously effective and both have made critical mistakes. Both are ‘young’ in that Smith has never really had QB Coaching prior to arriving at Mercer from JUCO last Spring and Newbauer, as a T-FR, is just plain young. FUBeAR is certain WCU’s D will want to try to pressure and confuse either as much as possible. FWIW, Newbauer’s stats are below… Newbauer, Whitt Opponent Passing | Rushing CMP ATT INT % YDS TD Long | ATT YDS TD LongPrinceton 7 11 0 63.6% 125 0 37 | 2 7 1 6 @ Samford 7 11 1 63.6% 89 1 38 | 7 39 0 28 Totals 14 22 1 214 1 38 | 9 46 1 28 Agree with your assessment. I expect Mercer to keep us guessing about who will be their starting QB for Saturday. In my opinion, this has all the makings of being a back and forth contest but realistically, we have not faired well in past games at Mercer and Mercer will want to prove that the Samford game was a fluke. Also, Mercer has owned us in the past 7 or 8 games. We need to start fast but I bet that Mercer also feels that they also need to start fast. If Western’s brings its A game on Saturday, we can beat Mercer, but I think that Mercer can also beat us just as easily. We have steadily improved throughout the year and I hope we are ready for this challenge. Here’s to no one getting hurt.
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Post by retiredcat on Oct 23, 2024 6:59:12 GMT -5
I think a lot of our posters are not seeing how good Mercer's defense is DESPITE the points scored by Samford. Mercer's offense turned the ball over 5 times (4 leading to Samford TDs). Also, Samford's offense converted only 2 of 13 third down situations against Mercer's defense. Our offense will be facing a defense that is much better than we saw versus Campbell, Montana, Elon, Wofford, The Citadel and, obviously, at Furman. In my opinion, we will have to play our best game of the season to have have a chance in Macon.
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Post by wcugrad95 on Oct 23, 2024 8:19:57 GMT -5
Hopefully nobody thinks Mercer doesn’t have a very good D. Before the Samford game I had said seems like the only real option teams have had is to throw on them, and that is still only somewhat effective and has yielded lots of sacks and INTs.
Regardless of who they played or what they have given up passing, they have shut down multiple SOCON teams already (3 to Chattanooga is impressive and 3 to Wofford). Citadel’s only O came from chunking it deep and hoping for the best. And as mentioned, Samford benefited from turnovers and short fields.
Given our history with them, as mentioned a lot in this thread and by Coach Bell - we’ll need to play our best game this Saturday.
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Post by The Cats on Oct 23, 2024 8:36:09 GMT -5
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Post by wcugrad95 on Oct 23, 2024 10:37:50 GMT -5
Regarding the Mercer QB situation. Smith is the more athletic guy - the kind that has given us trouble when we are in man coverage, the QB gets on the outside or finds a seem to run, and our DBs have their backs turned in coverage (Citadel and Montana games come to mind). He has been efficient and accurate while also making at least 1 really bad mistake in pretty much every game (which is kind of expected given his experience). Raw and talented athletes at the QB position tend to scare me against WCU.
Both backup's have played, but seems like Newbauer is now clearly the #2 and likely starter if Smith is down. As mentioned, he seems like a pretty good passer, and while he is not as athletic as Smith he did have a couple of good runs vs Samford. Given we have some pretty good corners and our safety play has gotten better it seems each week, I think our preference is for Smith to be on the sideline. Both are capable, I just think we have a better chance at containing and either sacking or limiting the rushing yardage of the backup.
And speaking of safety play and making plays in the defensive back-end, does anybody know if Ed Jones IV will be back and at full strength? I also like seeing Micah getting better and stronger. I think we'll need to limit Mercer's points in this one, as we can't expect to score crazy numbers in my opinion.
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Post by FUBeAR on Oct 23, 2024 11:07:56 GMT -5
Regarding the Mercer QB situation. Smith is the more athletic guy - the kind that has given us trouble when we are in man coverage, the QB gets on the outside or finds a seem to run, and our DBs have their backs turned in coverage (Citadel and Montana games come to mind). He has been efficient and accurate while also making at least 1 really bad mistake in pretty much every game (which is kind of expected given his experience). Raw and talented athletes at the QB position tend to scare me against WCU. Both backup's have played, but seems like Newbauer is now clearly the #2 and likely starter if Smith is down. As mentioned, he seems like a pretty good passer, and while he is not as athletic as Smith he did have a couple of good runs vs Samford. Given we have some pretty good corners and our safety play has gotten better it seems each week, I think our preference is for Smith to be on the sideline. Both are capable, I just think we have a better chance at containing and either sacking or limiting the rushing yardage of the backup. And speaking of safety play and making plays in the defensive back-end, does anybody know if Ed Jones IV will be back and at full strength? I also like seeing Micah getting better and stronger. I think we'll need to limit Mercer's points in this one, as we can't expect to score crazy numbers in my opinion. All comments above about Mercer’s QB’s are 100% accurate. FUBeAR would add that on Newbauer’s runs vs. Princeton (ran for a TD) and Samford (ran for 2 1st Downs, both on 3rd & 3’s; 28 & 13 yard gains), while not appearing hugely “athletic” (with how we, generally, define that term, in a QB context, these days), he is not slow and he covers a lot of ground very quickly with those 6-6 legs a-stridin’ - Might even go so far as to call him “sneaky fast.”
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Post by FLCATAMOUNT on Oct 23, 2024 12:21:35 GMT -5
I am curious if anyone thinks Mercer takes us lightly and thinks they will roll over us. I mean they have a great record and they have defeated some of the teams we have played by a larger margin than us. I could see where they might think we are not in their league.
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