FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Wild Horse Rider]

I was looking forward to see where Methodist was against the Hornets but yet again another hurricane strikes the east coast.  Methodist's bye is 9/28 and Shenandoah's bye is 11/9.  I am sure that if both teams do not get invited to the playoffs or Shenandoah gets invited to the Bourbon Bowl against the Shipbuliders they could reschedule it November 23rd.  Methodist did that in 2016 but they lost two games with the hurricane that year.  I hope there is only one storm this year but I am not holding my breath on that.  I cannot blame the school officials at Methodist for what they did this week though because in 2016 during Matthew and 2018 during Florence the area experienced 500 year flooding.  Hope everyone stays safe and as dry as possible the next few days.

[y_jack_lok]

Season starts tonight with Johns Hopkins at R-MC.

[Jeremybozz]

#6 Johns Hopkins 17, #24 Randolph Macon 12 Final Score

[hasanova]

#6 Johns Hopkins 17, #24 Randolph Macon 12 Final Score

Looks like the rankings were in order.

[y_jack_lok]

After R-MC had to punt on its firat possession JHU went on a 17 play scoring drive, taking over 8 minutes, converting several 3rd and longs. Looked like it could be a long night for the Jackets. But then it settled into a more normal game. Penalties and turnovers hurt both teams, but the Jackets miscues (mostly on offense) were at more critical places on the field, pushing them out of the red zone or giving JHU the ball deep in R-MC territory. But the Jackets showed poise and character and had the ball twice late in the game when a TD would give them the lead. Sadly, it was not to be.

[Wild Horse Rider]

I was not able to watch the game but by reading the box score and the play by play it looked to have been a pretty competitive and relatively clean game until the 4th quarter.  Yes the QB threw 4 picks in the 4th but they are not all typically created the same way.  Without watching it is hard to say why or how they occurred but the first one was the back breaker.  It gave Hopkins 7 yards to pay dirt which they were able to capitalize on.  The next pick almost had no effect with the exception of lost time since Hopkins got it on the -1 and would up punting it back to RMC on the +27 yard line.  RMC then scored with 8 minutes left it was a 5 point ball game.  Yes the QB threw 2 more picks but the first was on 3rd & 19 (a 44yd pass) and the next on 4th & 20 (a 48yd pass) and those were likely just a kid trying to make a play.  Based on the distance they traveled he must have a strong arm.  I know 2019 is a different season from 2018 and the first games can be outliers at times but Hopkins averaged 46 points and 550 yards per game last season.  Last year they scored 63 and rolled up over 400 yards of offense against RMC.  This time out 17 points (again I believe 7 of those can be viewed as somewhat of a gift though there is credit deserved by the defense for the INT) and under 300 yards of offense.  I now am more of a believer in the Yellow Jackets season expectations.  Even if they drop out of the top 25 I would think if healthy this is a team that might not lose again until November unless Ferrum finds a way to trip them up again.

[waspers77]

RMC looked very uncharacteristic with several drive ending penalties. Interceptions won the game.

[Macon]

The bad news, a loss is a loss.  The good news, RMC played toe-to-toe with a top 10 team.  Yardage, first downs, etc were the same for both teams.  Yes, one less penalty or one less interception, RMC may have given themselves a chance to win.  Some things to fix, but lots of positives to build on.  RMC is very deep at all positions, only one freshman in 2-deep (the punter, who BTW averaged 40 yards/punt, a very good night for him.)  Much too early to tell, but comparing this game to the JHU game last year, RMC will do well going forward.

[y_jack_lok]

I was not able to watch the game but by reading the box score and the play by play it looked to have been a pretty competitive and relatively clean game until the 4th quarter.  Yes the QB threw 4 picks in the 4th but they are not all typically created the same way.  Without watching it is hard to say why or how they occurred but the first one was the back breaker.  It gave Hopkins 7 yards to pay dirt which they were able capitalize on. The next pick almost had no effect with the exception of lost time since Hopkins got it on the -1 and would up punting it back to RMC on the +27 yard line.  RMC then scored with 8 minutes left it was a 5 point ball game.  Yes the QB threw 2 more picks but the first was on 3rd & 19 (a 44yd pass) and the next on 4th & 20 (a 48yd pass) and those were likely just a kid trying to make a play.  Based on the distance they traveled he must have a strong arm.  I know 2019 is a different season from 2018 and the first games can be outliers at times but Hopkins averaged 46 points and 550 yards per game last season.  Last year they scored 63 and rolled up over 400 yards of offense against RMC.  This time out 17 points (again I believe 7 of those can be viewed as somewhat of a gift though there is credit deserved by the defense for the INT) and under 300 yards of offense.  I now am more of a believer in the Yellow Jackets season expectations.  Even if they drop out of the top 25 I would think if healthy this is a team that might not lose again until November unless Ferrum finds a way to trip them up again.

See bold above. It was hard to tell both live and on the replay,  but it appeared that a JHU lineman might have tipped the ball after it was released and another JHU defender got the INT. If not, it was just a bad throw -- and from what I could see maybe Estes should have thrown to the guy in the flat instead of downfield.

As for the relatively low score compared to last season, JHU was using the run game much more than last year. Also, Jacket pass defense (arter the first JHU drive) was much better than last year. Could be that the Blue Jays new head coach is taking a different approach and the players are still learning his system.

[Macon]

At this moment (3 PM), HSC, EHC, WLU, and GC are all losing.  Could be a bad day for ODAC football.

[thewaterboy]

At this moment (3 PM), HSC, EHC, WLU, and GC are all losing.  Could be a bad day for ODAC football.

So Va is leading Montclair 28-9.... so not all bad.

[Macon]

Looking strictly at the stat sheet, you'd think HSC wins easily.  HSC has 17 more first downs (29-12), 121 more total yards (430-309), 360 yards in the air, a 100 yard rusher, a WR with 169 yards, and controlled the ball for over 35 minutes.  A team would take those stats any day, but HSC still losses by 12.  And, it wasn't TOs, as each team had only 1.  For someone that attended or watched the game, maybe you can shed some light on how the game played out?

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ A look at the scoring plays shows AU scoring on a 99 yd TD return and three TD drives taking 2:49, 1:32, and 3:30. So that's four TDs in eight minutes of possession.

[Macon]

At this moment (3 PM), HSC, EHC, WLU, and GC are all losing.  Could be a bad day for ODAC football.

So Va is leading Montclair 28-9.... so not all bad.

Ironically, SVU helps the ODAC avoid the 0-fer.

[Macon]

^^^ A look at the scoring plays shows AU scoring on a 99 yd TD return and three TD drives taking 2:49, 1:32, and 3:30. So that's four TDs in eight minutes of possession.

Thanks, missed that, makes more sense.