Alright, it's game week. What do you need to see against ODU to feel ok about our team?

[18IsTheMan]

ODU is an interesting first game. Yeah, it's a game we should win and the oddsmakers have us as a 20.5 point favorite. However, they aren't a trash team and did go bowling last year. So it's not the usual cream puff opener where a 55-10 win doesn't tell you much about your team. Also, it's not a game we can just expect to sleepwalk through.

I guess for me, I'm just looking for a clean game. I'd like us to look crisp and prepared, like we've practiced football recently. Of course, I'd love to see us assert ourselves. Though a blowout win may not tell us much, a close win would tell us a whole lot in a bad way. Ideally, it'll be a game that's never really in doubt, in our favor.

In a perfectly ideal world, we'd have the game in hand at halftime and get the backups in in the 2nd half, but that doesn't seem to be our M.O. Should certainly have the backups in for the 4th at least. If our starters our still out there for the 4th, it's either poor player management or it means it's going to be a very a disappointing season.

And I'll just get this out there now...if we win on the order of 19-10 or something like that, NO, we are not just holding back to keep UK guessing.

 

[Lurker123]

ODU is an interesting first game. Yeah, it's a game we should win and the oddsmakers have us as a 20.5 point favorite. However, they aren't a trash team and did go bowling last year. So it's not the usual cream puff opener where a 55-10 win doesn't tell you much about your team. Also, it's not a game we can just expect to sleepwalk through.

I guess for me, I'm just looking for a clean game. I'd like us to look crisp and prepared, like we've practiced football recently. Of course, I'd love to see us assert ourselves. Though a blowout win may not tell us much, a close win would tell us a whole lot in a bad way. Ideally, it'll be a game that's never really in doubt, in our favor.

In a perfectly ideal world, we'd have the game in hand at halftime and get the backups in in the 2nd half, but that doesn't seem to be our M.O. Should certainly have the backups in for the 4th at least. If our starters our still out there for the 4th, it's either poor player management or it means it's going to be a very a disappointing season.

And I'll just get this out there now...if we win on the order of 19-10 or something like that, NO, we are not just holding back to keep UK guessing.

Agree. This pretty accurately sums up my thoughts.

I'm surprised we're favored by that much. But it's a game where we should be playing backups.

Also agree it's really a no win situation. Win by a lot and we "should have won by that much". Lose obviously is bad. But win close and you start making sideways glances at the guys next to you with concern.

I vote we win easily but don't play enough backups.

Oh, the other really important thing. No injuries.

 

[Atlanta Cock]

ODU is an interesting first game. Yeah, it's a game we should win and the oddsmakers have us as a 20.5 point favorite. However, they aren't a trash team and did go bowling last year. So it's not the usual cream puff opener where a 55-10 win doesn't tell you much about your team. Also, it's not a game we can just expect to sleepwalk through.

I guess for me, I'm just looking for a clean game. I'd like us to look crisp and prepared, like we've practiced football recently. Of course, I'd love to see us assert ourselves. Though a blowout win may not tell us much, a close win would tell us a whole lot in a bad way. Ideally, it'll be a game that's never really in doubt, in our favor.

In a perfectly ideal world, we'd have the game in hand at halftime and get the backups in in the 2nd half, but that doesn't seem to be our M.O. Should certainly have the backups in for the 4th at least. If our starters our still out there for the 4th, it's either poor player management or it means it's going to be a very a disappointing season.

And I'll just get this out there now...if we win on the order of 19-10 or something like that, NO, we are not just holding back to keep UK guessing.

If we can keep the motion penalties down to single digits in the first half.

 

[92Pony]

I want to see us win easily.

In an opener against an opponent we should easily handle, I’m actually okay with keeping the starters in for 4/5th of the game. They need reps and to develop cohesiveness.

I want to see our D - which is supposed to be a strong suit - hold ODU to 13 or less.

I want to see us rush for over 200 as a team.

I want to see Sellers with over 250 passing yds.

If all of that comes to fruition, I think it’ll have been a good day.

(Oh yeah, and 50Pts or better would be icing.)

 

[18IsTheMan]

I want to see us win easily.

In an opener against an opponent we should easily handle, I’m actually okay with keeping the starters in for 4/5th of the game. They need reps and to develop cohesiveness.

I want to see our D - which is supposed to be a strong suit - hold ODU to 13 or less.

I want to see us rush for over 200 as a team.

I want to see Sellers with over 250 passing yds.

If all of that comes to fruition, I think it’ll have been a good day.

(Oh yeah, and 50Pts or better would be icing.)

I had the same though on the starters. I mean, ideally, you'd like to be so comfortably ahead that you have no choice but to pull them. But I can see leaving them in to get reps together since there are so many new pieces.

 

[PrestonyteParrot]

I would like to see a long opening drive for a TD with a good mix of run and pass followed by an afternoon of good, consistent pass protection and run blocking leading to scoring at least 30 points. Defensively, I would like to see good hole plugging in the middle of the DLine and a pass rush which takes pressure off the DB's and some of that LB speed touted by our coaches.
I would be pleased as punch if all this came true and we won 35 - 3.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I would like to see a long opening drive for a TD with a good mix of run and pass followed by an afternoon of good, consistent pass protection and run blocking leading to scoring at least 30 points. Defensively, I would like to see good hole plugging in the middle of the DLine and a pass rush which takes pressure off the DB's and some of that LB speed touted by our coaches.
I would be pleased as punch if all this came true and we won 35 - 3.

Anything less than a TD on our opening drive and I'll be sorely disappointed. Not surprised, but disappointed.

 

[Gamecock Jacque]

No stupid penalties.

 

[Fried Chicken]

We need to be able to run the ball and dominate the line of scrimmage.

Want to see Sellers play well early.

Want to see us protect the football.

No huge plays against our defense.

Run the football a lot in the 2nd half as we have a decent lead.

We do that, which is asking a lot, I’ll be thrilled. But for the record, I’ve learned to never be upset about a win, even if it’s really really ugly. Like Jax State last year…we probably should’ve lost that one. And I know it was not a great day. But playing like crap and winning was sure better than playing like crap and losing. So bottom line is we better win.

 

[18IsTheMan]

We need to be able to run the ball and dominate the line of scrimmage.

Excellent point. You’re not gonna win much if you cannot run in the SEC, and you’re not gonna run much in the SEC if you can’t run on Old Dominion..

 

[Bubba Fett]

We need to make OD look like a high school team.

Seriously, we need roll them in the first quarter and then start subbing.

 

[18IsTheMan]

dominate the line of scrimmage.

Yes, to this. An absolute must. Anything less than domination on the LOS will be abject failure.

 

[JoeMorrisonLives]

I need to see the ends of both lines dominate. Solid LB play and white DT play was completely erased by utterly inept EDGE play last year, and the lack of pass-rush left our DBs on their own. Turn around was immediate when we went 3-3-5 to get some pass-rush, but I think we're better when we can field food 4- man fronts from the types of players we traditionally pull. If you look at last year's defense, we were 46th in yards per rush allowed with 3.9 ypca. That was done with no production from EDGE, and EDGE usually getting pushed around and got setting the edge out getting TFLs. And a DT should never lead for sacks. That's like a free safety leading for tackles, at that point, someone else has seriously dropped the ball.

Same thing on OL, the IOL actually was great against UNC, but Fugar was on skates at the snap, swiping at air and generally getting manhandled to the point every play was disrupted by the EDGE in the backfield and the IOL's wins were erased. Similarly, the RT that went in for Lee was dominated. We had two turnstiles in either end of a brick wall. I want to see the OTs dominate against lesser opponents so I can feel like they're less likely to erase the IOLs wins.

Just average play from those positions last year would've easily given us 7 or 8 wins last year. We cannot have two positions completely ruin the rest of the team again.

 

[Lurker123]

Yes, to this. An absolute must. Anything less than domination on the LOS will be abject failure.

I wouldn't say abject failure. It's the first game of the year, expect a sloppy game.

We'll probably be in shooting distance at halftime and wear them out.

If we fail to wear them put and pull away, I would say that's a big concern.

 

[will110]

Minimal procedural and mental penalties.
Dominant offensive and defensive lines.
No special teams miscues.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I wouldn't say abject failure. It's the first game of the year, expect a sloppy game.

We'll probably be in shooting distance at halftime and wear them out.

If we fail to wear them put and pull away, I would say that's a big concern.

I don't know...if we can't absolutely dominate the LOS against a Sunbelt team, that does not bode well for our line play in conference games.

 

[Dreaus]

I'm looking for total control on the offensive and defensive line of scrimmage. If this occurs from an offensive perspective, we score on the run and pass. My score is 41-13.

 

[Blues man]

Five or more yards on first down 75% of the time.

 

[gamecock stock]

1. Cover the spread. After all, they did lose by 19 to a decent Virginia Tech team on the road last year:
2. Protect the QB( do not want to see sacks); and
3. Get turnovers on defense.

 

[Thunderstick]

No offensive line injuries.

 

[Forkcock]

OL & WR play.

 

[RevRuss]

Score reads XX - 0. (We're the XX BTW)

 

[kidrobinski]

The remote.

 

[Fried Chicken]

We need to be able to run the ball and dominate the line of scrimmage.

Want to see Sellers play well early.

Want to see us protect the football.

No huge plays against our defense.

Run the football a lot in the 2nd half as we have a decent lead.

We do that, which is asking a lot, I’ll be thrilled. But for the record, I’ve learned to never be upset about a win, even if it’s really really ugly. Like Jax State last year…we probably should’ve lost that one. And I know it was not a great day. But playing like crap and winning was sure better than playing like crap and losing. So bottom line is we better win.

Revisiting this:

Not dominating LOS

Sellers not playing well early

We haven’t protected the football

Defense gave up a huge play

So we haven’t done a damn thing I hoped for. I’m extremely disappointed. But not sure why I was foolish enough to expect any thing else. This is who we are and have been for a while now. Everything looks ridiculously difficult on offense. We can’t make anything look simple. We’re the same team we have been. We’ll win 4 or 5, but all of them will be painful to watch.

 

[PrestonyteParrot]

I would like to see a long opening drive for a TD with a good mix of run and pass followed by an afternoon of good, consistent pass protection and run blocking leading to scoring at least 30 points. Defensively, I would like to see good hole plugging in the middle of the DLine and a pass rush which takes pressure off the DB's and some of that LB speed touted by our coaches.
I would be pleased as punch if all this came true and we won 35 - 3.

The good fairy is laughing that I dared have such hope and threw the opposite result right in my face. And then rubbed it in!

 

[Uscg1984]

Is it safe to say nobody feels OK about our team?

 

[The Reel Ess]

I didn't see it

 

[18IsTheMan]

Literally not one thing in this thread came to fruition.