Eastern Ill

[stinger]

The big question for most of us at this point is if the defense has caught up to what is needed of them. Fork Em Demons.

[McJoanDarbonne]

Let’s hear it for your Demons!

[Nanner Puddin]

We better pack a good ol' lunch if we're gonna win this'un. We can do it, but it will take our best game this year to pull it off. Good luck, boys.

[seat16demon]

They’re gouging us with the running attack. Big line and lots of deception. They are all about smash mouth football. It’s nice and cool, but our defense looks a little too cool.

[jneal318]

250 yards rushing for Eastern Illinois. We can't stop the QBs who are killing us due to our discipline. The defensive ends need to learn to stay at home on the outside so that we can force them to put it in the air.

Outside of that, the two turnovers and lack of consistency on offense is the reason why we are down 35-7 at half.

[seat16demon]

We looked better in the third quarter. Don’t know if we finally quit puking in the trash cans yet. But at least we started playing better.

[purplestorm]

Three stats to describe our season:

We are dead last in turnover margin in the country in FCS.
We are 10 spots from last in total defense in FCS.
We are 8 spots from last in penalties committed in FCS.

I think we have a potential dynamo QB developing and several really good WRs/TEs on the team, but we have a massive problem if we can't hang on to the ball, we can't stop our opponents often enough, and we're averaging too many penalties, even though today was better. Coaches have their work cut out for them. Good luck.

[Nanner Puddin]

I sure am glad I don't hunt like we play defense in the first-half. I'd perish to death from starvation. I like our second-half defense much better. I reckon it ain't too hard to see that we have talent on the field. We just need these coaches to get'em ready to play all four quarters. Then we might see greener pastures. I'm pulling for all of'em to succeed.

[seat16demon]

It was so strange being in O’Brien Field. Two completely different teams from Louisiana played in this game. We were such a Jekyll & Hyde team. I honestly think that in the first half we were struggling in several ways. These may sound like pitiful excuses to some, but the end result is real. We had a player with seizures on our way to the stadium who had to be taken to the hospital and had several puking in trash cans. I know that adversity like this has to be overcome, but I know it does have a real mental and emotional impact on you in a physical way. We were flat in the first half and EIU was hungry. Had we been locked in, we would have played better and would have won the game. We have great potential and real talent. We are put steps away from putting it all together.

[Reality Check]

I have heard "we are almost there" or "we're close" for almost a decade. Someone please let me know when we finally get there. Until then, I will believe it when I see it. Always hopeful and will be happy to see it, but I am not holding my breath.