Sunday, September 29, 2013

774, 35, 1, 9, 9.6, 0-4



774 -   That is how many yards of offense the Huntingdon Hawks piled up on the Ferrum defense yesterday in the opening game of the USA South conference slate. Of those, 312 were on the ground, and 462 were through the air.

The Panthers lost 56-35, in a game that they only trailed by 7 at halftime.

35-The number of first downs that Huntingdon picked up in the game

1-  The number of times Huntingdon punted in the game.

9-  The number of times the Hawks kicked off in the game.
 
9.6-The average number of yards that Huntingdon gained per offensive play.

0-4   The Panthers record

Due to having to travel out of town, I only saw the second half of the game. When I was able to get to my computer, I was disappointed to see that Huntingdon had 35 first half points. The good news was that Ferrum had 28...only trailing by 7.

While it appeared that Huntingdon made some halftime adjustments on defense, Ferrum  just could not stop the Hawks. Ferrum's offense led by Tim Reynolds, had a strong performance, and delivered their best game of the season, but the defense seemed helpless to stop the Hawks. While I am seeing improvement in the offense, this week, the defense was completely ineffective. Something has to change, or Ferrum may be looking at setting several defensive records, none of which would be anything to brag about.

The saying is that defense wins championships, and if that is true, Ferrum will need to cast a critical eye on all aspects of the defensive scheme, and be willing to make major changes to insure their future ability to contend.

If there is a bright spot, it is that next week is homecoming, Greensboro has only one win, and the game should be an even match up. At this point, I am planning on attending.

5 comments:

  1. As stated for years. The defensive coach is the weak link. Ferrum brings in good players. Yet by the time the first game comes along they run them off. You may say they play only the best. Look at what they have done so far. I have been told by the coach if you complain you will not play. When will a system like this be run off. I will say it again. You build teams year after year. Ferrum builds yearly. They may by luck get a good year but nothing consistant. In years past when they have had a good lead they never gave back up players a chance. I have went out of my way to warn potential players thinking of going to ferrum to play ball not to, Ferrum has developed a bad reputation on how they treat players and grow teams, That is a key word you grow teams. Enough said fire the defensive coach for staters and work from there.

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  2. I think the Key is always retention and character! Ferrum is the only school I know of that consistently loses all-conference football players year after year due to grades, behavior, and ambitiousness Ferrum needs to stop recruiting everyone with talent, and get back to get hard working good character kids. Football players with good character are not going to show up to camp out of shape. People blame it on the coaches here, but I saw these kids in the spring, and they were fast, athletic, and ready to play. The kids I saw at the Emory game were not.

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  3. 170 kids in camp and a defense that is giving up close to 600 yards per game?

    Either Ferrum is recruiting any and all kids willing to fork over 35k per year regardless of football ability
    or the defensive coordinator should be coaching in high school. I tend to think it's a bit of both.

    Coach Harper don't let under-performing assistant coaches cost you the job you've prepared 25 years for.

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  4. This is not just a this year thing ,it is not a coaching problem ,coach Adams is doing the best he can with what he has. Ferrum is a school that only gets kids that cant play any where else . Some are better than others and some are just better than the ones left on the side lines .Lets face it ,even NFL teams go threw rebuilding time .The defence was much better last year .but so were the Ravens.

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  5. NORMAL teams and skilled coaches make ADJUSTMENTS, just like Hundington did. The Offense continued to run the same exact play eventhouhg Huntingdon was wise and adjusted.
    Ferrum kept the same players on the field and the same plays, reagrdless of how obvious it was.
    I have not seen coaching this bad since little league and high school.
    I don't blame players for running, especially when your shown smoke-n-mirrors during the recruuting process.
    If talented players knewe they would be sidelined for favoritism, I'm sure they would not have come to Ferrum. There are plenty of other schools, especially the teams they have played, that could actually coach them and utilize their skills instead of sacraficing the teams record. 49, 49, 51, 53...the losing scores in 4 games...What will it take to correct this problem????
    Shame on Harper for continuing to allow this travesty to continue based on FRIENDSHIP!
    Whe're the Alumni and why aren't they questioning just what is really going on????
    Let's see who's left after the season ends and what excuses the Coaches come up with.

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