Post by goyotes24 on Nov 19, 2018 13:57:22 GMT -6
This is going to be a different/unique take on the season, but hear me out first.
Disclaimer: This entire post requires a ton of 'what-ifs' as well (but the current season is loaded with 'what-ifs' anyway haha).
I argue that, without factoring in W/L record, maybe we actually improved from last season.
I say this because it shows just how special Streveler was last year. So, to do a quick recap of last season, assuming we don't have Streveler:
WIU: I argue would be a loss
YSU: I argue would be a loss
Bowling Green: I argue would be a loss
Again, I am merely making the argument that Streveler is the main reason for those three wins. Without him, we lose those games, and we end last season at 4-7 (same as this season).
Now, on top of that, our only (assumed) would-be wins would have been against Drake, UND (although ranked 10 at the time, was without many starters, and thus, I still argue would be a win without Streveler, albeit maybe a little closer), ISUb, and SIU (Simmons basically started against SIU and shut them out). UND would have been considered the only quality win last season.
Although the OL was not terrible last season, again, a lot of it had to do with Streveler's dual threat ability requiring defenses to prepare for him. Thus, it lessened the load on the OL overall. With that said, Streveler's abilities were so good, that even if a drive stalled, the opposing offense was getting the ball at relatively bad field position. Bad field position makes it more difficult to score (we had a VERY "bend don't break" type of defense before integral players got kicked off the team, in which case, our defense really crumbled toward the end of the season). Our defense was not good when opposing offenses got the ball with good field position.
Now to this season:
Again, assuming we played last season and end up losing those other three games, we have more quality wins this season than last season. WIU was a relatively quality win this year, and Missouri State was ranked at the time we beat them. Plus, we had a quality loss against K-State.
OL: We returned the same OL from last season, but because the offense used Simmons as more of a pocket passer and not a dual threat, opposing defenses were able to expose our OL more (Weber State was really the first team to expose that weakness). This made third downs all but a lost cause, and usually resulted in a punt for better field position for opposing offenses.
RB: Our running game (not counting QB runs) overall, improved from last season. Of course, this is because Streveler was basically our leading runner last year.
DB: When Mark Collins is in the mix, our secondary was not near as bad as it was toward the end of last season.
DL: The loss of Schultz was huge. Teams were able to key in on Greenfield much easier this season as a result. Thus, I would say DL probably was worse than last year's. Schultz coming back next season is big.
QB: Simmons seriously had a really good statistical year for a first year starter (60% completion percentage with the type of schedule we had is insanely good). We saw that, toward the end of the season, the coaches realized that Simmons can be more of a dual threat QB as well. I really believe that, because he was compared so heavily with Streveler, there was this assumption that we just needed to utilize his biggest strength the most (his cannon of an arm). This meant that defenses just didn't really key in on him much as it concerned running the ball, so they just focused on collapsing the pocket as much as possible (successfully, too).
This is an incredibly optimistic approach to looking at how this season went, but again, just think how bad of a position we are in without Streveler last year. I think that, overall, even though the W-L doesn't show it, this team actually did improve and we will see more improvement next season. Add to that, more veteran transfers for next season to add depth.
I am sure it is very easy to argue against me because, as we know, none of what I 'assume' in this post actually did happen last season. Again, as it concerns next season, it sounds like we truly will finally have a more 'veteran' team and that this will be the last year we have to say "we just need some birthdays."
Disclaimer: This entire post requires a ton of 'what-ifs' as well (but the current season is loaded with 'what-ifs' anyway haha).
I argue that, without factoring in W/L record, maybe we actually improved from last season.
I say this because it shows just how special Streveler was last year. So, to do a quick recap of last season, assuming we don't have Streveler:
WIU: I argue would be a loss
YSU: I argue would be a loss
Bowling Green: I argue would be a loss
Again, I am merely making the argument that Streveler is the main reason for those three wins. Without him, we lose those games, and we end last season at 4-7 (same as this season).
Now, on top of that, our only (assumed) would-be wins would have been against Drake, UND (although ranked 10 at the time, was without many starters, and thus, I still argue would be a win without Streveler, albeit maybe a little closer), ISUb, and SIU (Simmons basically started against SIU and shut them out). UND would have been considered the only quality win last season.
Although the OL was not terrible last season, again, a lot of it had to do with Streveler's dual threat ability requiring defenses to prepare for him. Thus, it lessened the load on the OL overall. With that said, Streveler's abilities were so good, that even if a drive stalled, the opposing offense was getting the ball at relatively bad field position. Bad field position makes it more difficult to score (we had a VERY "bend don't break" type of defense before integral players got kicked off the team, in which case, our defense really crumbled toward the end of the season). Our defense was not good when opposing offenses got the ball with good field position.
Now to this season:
Again, assuming we played last season and end up losing those other three games, we have more quality wins this season than last season. WIU was a relatively quality win this year, and Missouri State was ranked at the time we beat them. Plus, we had a quality loss against K-State.
OL: We returned the same OL from last season, but because the offense used Simmons as more of a pocket passer and not a dual threat, opposing defenses were able to expose our OL more (Weber State was really the first team to expose that weakness). This made third downs all but a lost cause, and usually resulted in a punt for better field position for opposing offenses.
RB: Our running game (not counting QB runs) overall, improved from last season. Of course, this is because Streveler was basically our leading runner last year.
DB: When Mark Collins is in the mix, our secondary was not near as bad as it was toward the end of last season.
DL: The loss of Schultz was huge. Teams were able to key in on Greenfield much easier this season as a result. Thus, I would say DL probably was worse than last year's. Schultz coming back next season is big.
QB: Simmons seriously had a really good statistical year for a first year starter (60% completion percentage with the type of schedule we had is insanely good). We saw that, toward the end of the season, the coaches realized that Simmons can be more of a dual threat QB as well. I really believe that, because he was compared so heavily with Streveler, there was this assumption that we just needed to utilize his biggest strength the most (his cannon of an arm). This meant that defenses just didn't really key in on him much as it concerned running the ball, so they just focused on collapsing the pocket as much as possible (successfully, too).
This is an incredibly optimistic approach to looking at how this season went, but again, just think how bad of a position we are in without Streveler last year. I think that, overall, even though the W-L doesn't show it, this team actually did improve and we will see more improvement next season. Add to that, more veteran transfers for next season to add depth.
I am sure it is very easy to argue against me because, as we know, none of what I 'assume' in this post actually did happen last season. Again, as it concerns next season, it sounds like we truly will finally have a more 'veteran' team and that this will be the last year we have to say "we just need some birthdays."
