Quote from: Titan Q on October 22, 2010, 09:54:46 AM
Per a Millikin alum friend of mine, MU QB Luke Hockaday is out this week with a concussion, and maybe for the year.

He is done for good, it is his 4th concussion.  1 at Eastern, and 3 at Millikin. 

Quote from: Son of Tailgater on October 07, 2010, 10:05:55 PM
Hockaday was a heck of a quarterback from Maroa-Forsyth which is just north of Millikin. I found a quote from an article when he transferred from EIU to Millikin in 2009:

"Hockaday quarterbacked Maroa to a Class 2A state title in 2006, throwing for 2,844 yards and 39 touchdowns. His 95 touchdown passes are the most in IHSA history, and his career total of 7,146 passing yards is sixth."

Pretty impressive in high school but I have some questions: did he peak? Was it because he was at a smaller 2A high school and out shined the competition? Does he have any support at the WR position? Has this been the case all season or just this past game? Does he have O-line support?

All questions I would be interested in hearing from oldnuthin and neondeon or anyone else that has been to a couple of Millikin games this year. I think that Carthage has the upper hand this week, especially being at home/ homecoming and I know the Red Men have always had the ability to learn, forget and move on.

In high school Hockaday had the freedom and time to change a play at the line of scrimmage.  He also played for a pretty successful high school coach that designed the offense to get the ball in the hands of his play makers in open space.  Millikin has a pretty good offensive line this year, as you can see they run the ball pretty darn well.  Obviously Millikin game plans to get Wilson the ball 30 times a game.  But, Millikin has four pretty darn good receivers.  #4 is a transfer from Western Michigan, #19 has deep threat speed, and #10 catches everything that is thrown to him, but he is hardly on the field anymore. #21 is a great possession receiver, but got injured in the 1st half of the Auge game.  I just think that game vs. Auge came down to coaching, and Auge won that battle.  We had a chance to show confidence in our kids, and we decided to play not to lose instead of to win.  Worst part is, the players realized it.

Hockaday's 2009 stats
125-222 1515 yards 15 td's and 6 int's

Not exactly Dan Marino, but not bad.

Quote from: oldnuthin on October 04, 2010, 05:25:57 PM

Quote from: NeonDeion2 on October 04, 2010, 10:42:30 AM

Quote from: Son of Tailgater on October 04, 2010, 10:16:59 AM

Quote from: NeonDeion2 on October 04, 2010, 09:58:39 AM
Was at the Millikin game, and much like the last 10 years, Millikin was out coached.  They never threw the ball down field, ran the ball on 1st down 90% of the time, and played not to lose, instead of to win.  Never seen safeties play 20 yards off the ball, especially when the other team is in the red zone about to win the game.  

Scenario:

Millikin is up 3 with 3 minutes to go.  They just recovered a fumble on Auge's 35 yard line.  They of course pound the ball up the middle against 8 in the box and soft coverage 3 times in a row.  It is 4th and 3 on Auge's 30 yard line with about 2 minutes to go.  Do we go for it and win the game if we get it?  Nope, we get a delay of game, and elect to punt.  The punt ends up at the 21 yard line, so we net 9 total yards!!!  What kind of message are you sending to your kids?  Auge then drives the ball against soft coverage (see:  20 yards deep) and scores with 1 minute to go.  Millikin of course does not have any TO's cause we burned 3 earlier in the half.  Millikin is wasting a lot of talent, and unfortunately, the players realize it.

I have to ask the question: Is this poor coaching or lack of execution? I haven't seen Millikin this year and do not fully understand their talent but if you win the game by getting a first down the OLINE should make that happen, not the coaches. Going for it for 4th and 3 and giving Augie a short field to work with?? I don't know that I would have made that call either. In hindsight, knowing that it would have been a 9 yard punt would have made a difference but during that moment you can't plan for that. Not trying to argue here, just another POV.

When safeties are at 20 yards, it is up to the coaches to correct that.  Also, the coaches usually get the plays to the offense with about 8-10 seconds left on the play clock, so no checks can be made, and they have to rush to the line or burn TO's in the middle of a quarter.  Running the ball every time on 1st and 2nd down and leaving 3rd and long, doesn't give the quarterback much of a chance (ask Jay Cutler).  

If they choose not to punt and go for the W and they get stopped, Auge still would of had to march 65+ yards with 2 minutes go to (into 15 mph winds), so it wasn't like it was at midfield.

I am trying to start a civil war here, but to say the plays are consistently sent in with only 8-10 seconds is false. If you look at the passing stats for the day, 5-19 and 1-12 in the second half and compare that to Don Wilsons' 164 yds, running the ball was the only option. As i mentioned yesterday, this is a young defense with 2 sophomores and starting and 1 freshman getting significant playing time. As i have stated all year long, the O has to be more consistent, and finish. there were other opportunities to put the game away when augie turned the ball over, that were not taken advantage of. in reponse to the question if it was poor execution, i am not going to put that on an O line that has a runner averaging over 200 yds per game. Yes the box was stacked but at that point the augie D had no reason to respect the pass. I would have liked to have seen different pass coverage, but that is water under the bridge.

With the caliber of the young players that we have, the arrow is definetly pointing up. they are a young team that is learning how to win after a long dry spell. Negative posts such as these serve no good purpose in my mind. A team is made up of many components starting with the players and going all the way to the parents. A team works together and does not put its business out for others to see and speculate on. If you have a problem with a coach or his decision, in my opinion this is not the forum for that. Take it up with him directly, or go put in the 60 to 70 hours a week any coach puts in and maybe you will have a better understanding of the time and committment that coaches give to this great sport, and not at a very high rate of pay as far as i know.

(modified by GS for formatting)

Here let me break down when we pass.  It is really simple.  Of the 20 passes we threw, one pass was a 3 and 6, the rest were all 7 or greater to get the 1st.  So per attempt (20) we had an average of 9.3 yards to get a 1st down.  6 were on 1st down, where we completed 3 for a total of 10 yards per catch.  Can you imagine dropping back 14 times, mostly on 3rd and long, and the other team bringing the house while you know you have to have 9 yards to get a 1st down?  Yeah, pretty rough. 

Quote from: Son of Tailgater on October 04, 2010, 10:16:59 AM

Quote from: NeonDeion2 on October 04, 2010, 09:58:39 AM
Was at the Millikin game, and much like the last 10 years, Millikin was out coached.  They never threw the ball down field, ran the ball on 1st down 90% of the time, and played not to lose, instead of to win.  Never seen safeties play 20 yards off the ball, especially when the other team is in the red zone about to win the game. 

Scenario:

Millikin is up 3 with 3 minutes to go.  They just recovered a fumble on Auge's 35 yard line.  They of course pound the ball up the middle against 8 in the box and soft coverage 3 times in a row.  It is 4th and 3 on Auge's 30 yard line with about 2 minutes to go.  Do we go for it and win the game if we get it?  Nope, we get a delay of game, and elect to punt.  The punt ends up at the 21 yard line, so we net 9 total yards!!!  What kind of message are you sending to your kids?  Auge then drives the ball against soft coverage (see:  20 yards deep) and scores with 1 minute to go.  Millikin of course does not have any TO's cause we burned 3 earlier in the half.  Millikin is wasting a lot of talent, and unfortunately, the players realize it.

I have to ask the question: Is this poor coaching or lack of execution? I haven't seen Millikin this year and do not fully understand their talent but if you win the game by getting a first down the OLINE should make that happen, not the coaches. Going for it for 4th and 3 and giving Augie a short field to work with?? I don't know that I would have made that call either. In hindsight, knowing that it would have been a 9 yard punt would have made a difference but during that moment you can't plan for that. Not trying to argue here, just another POV.

When safeties are at 20 yards, it is up to the coaches to correct that.  Also, the coaches usually get the plays to the offense with about 8-10 seconds left on the play clock, so no checks can be made, and they have to rush to the line or burn TO's in the middle of a quarter.  Running the ball every time on 1st and 2nd down and leaving 3rd and long, doesn't give the quarterback much of a chance (ask Jay Cutler). 

If they choose not to punt and go for the W and they get stopped, Auge still would of had to march 65+ yards with 2 minutes go to (into 15 mph winds), so it wasn't like it was at midfield.

Was at the Millikin game, and much like the last 10 years, Millikin was out coached.  They never threw the ball down field, ran the ball on 1st down 90% of the time, and played not to lose, instead of to win.  Never seen safeties play 20 yards off the ball, especially when the other team is in the red zone about to win the game. 

Scenario:

Millikin is up 3 with 3 minutes to go.  They just recovered a fumble on Auge's 35 yard line.  They of course pound the ball up the middle against 8 in the box and soft coverage 3 times in a row.  It is 4th and 3 on Auge's 30 yard line with about 2 minutes to go.  Do we go for it and win the game if we get it?  Nope, we get a delay of game, and elect to punt.  The punt ends up at the 21 yard line, so we net 9 total yards!!!  What kind of message are you sending to your kids?  Auge then drives the ball against soft coverage (see:  20 yards deep) and scores with 1 minute to go.  Millikin of course does not have any TO's cause we burned 3 earlier in the half.  Millikin is wasting a lot of talent, and unfortunately, the players realize it.