Football vs. SIU: In Game Thread

[KilrpengWin]

Penguins luck out. Monty saves his job not sure if that's a good thing

[ytownchief22]

Playoffs?!? (Jim Mora voice)

[Buddy]

Not sure what to think.  Defense stated to look shaky.   Offence is still out of sync. We really need Kennedy to get healthy.   Should win next week.   WTF.  8-3 is ok.   We lost to teams everyone on the board thought we would.  We are not playing good but still winning....   

[Buddy]

Still too many penalty's but no turn overs

[IAA Fan]

LOL...the defense just got lit up for almost 500-yards...any other club would have scored at least 5 TD's ... so the new plan is just not say anything but keep blaming Montgomery ...are you guys noit ashamed of yourselves yet?. Look we had 2 TD, 3 missed FGs and a dropped pass in the end-zone ...just in the first-half. Wells was good over all, quite clean at times; clearly progressing each game, as we were hoping. Play calling on both sides good. We finally had solid balance on D ...people are seeing what we will look like next year. SIU's OC knew exactly how to beat us ...watch the WVU game. They had, twins and trips out wide ...ran all plays at Moss and Rivers ...completely taking them out of the game.

We went up-tempo and scored in a couple of minutes ...but it worked. At the end SIU could have beaten anyone. Pelini was right in the post-game, we let SIU in this game. Some really shaky calls by the officials. Did you guys see that one-double foul and a no-call on a face-mask that the official had clearly seen and thrown the flag on. He was acting like he saw the other infractions, when he clearly was looking at the face-mask against Webb. That is really bad, someone needs to send a letter and footage to the conference. Special teams bad. Clearly Kennedy's ability to knock it out of the end-zone has been saving us all year. I kind of suspected, but it was validated today. Just a bad all-around effort on D, special teams ...and an O that cannot make-up for it by producing points. Best game Webb has had all year ... game ball. Nice punting today as well.

[HappyPenguin]

I don't think any of us saw it playing out like this.

Rivers is clearly not healthy, as was mentioned before. Without consistent pressure from only the front 4 we can be had. If he's hurt we aren't doing much post season.

A win at the end of the day, no matter how ugly, is all that matters.

I'm a bit disappointed how sloppy we looked at times. We should be peaking at this point of the season and clearly we are not.

1 more week to clean some things up. Man do we miss a healthy Kennedy.

[FOOTBALLFEVER]

Teams are starting to respect our passing game and in turn it's opening up the run game for Ruiz and Webb, plus we are keeping our quarterback healthy in the process. If only we could get some separation with our receivers and they wouldn't stop on their routes and catch the ball. Overall a good game plan by coach Montgomery

[DavedS]

We did let SIU back in a game that we shouldve put them away--I will take the win though and I do consider any win in the conference a good win.I think our expert prognosticator predicted a 6-5 season with no playoffs--lets sit back and eat our popcorn and see what transpires.

[guinpen]

Not sure what to think.  Defense stated to look shaky.   Offence is still out of sync. We really need Kennedy to get healthy.   Should win next week.   WTF.  8-3 is ok.   We lost to teams everyone on the board thought we would.  We are not playing good but still winning....

Pretty much sums it up!

[penguinpower]

LOL...the defense just got lit up for almost 500-yards...any other club would have scored at least 5 TD's ... so the new plan is just not say anything but keep blaming Montgomery ...are you guys noit ashamed of yourselves yet?. Look we had 2 TD, 3 missed FGs and a dropped pass in the end-zone ...just in the first-half. Wells was good over all, quite clean at times; clearly progressing each game, as we were hoping. Play calling on both sides good. We finally had solid balance on D ...people are seeing what we will look like next year. SIU's OC knew exactly how to beat us ...watch the WVU game. They had, twins and trips out wide ...ran all plays at Moss and Rivers ...completely taking them out of the game.

We went up-tempo and scored in a couple of minutes ...but it worked. At the end SIU could have beaten anyone. Pelini was right in the post-game, we let SIU in this game. Some really shaky calls by the officials. Did you guys see that one-double foul and a no-call on a face-mask that the official had clearly seen and thrown the flag on. He was acting like he saw the other infractions, when he clearly was looking at the face-mask against Webb. That is really bad, someone needs to send a letter and footage to the conference. Special teams bad. Clearly Kennedy's ability to knock it out of the end-zone has been saving us all year. I kind of suspected, but it was validated today. Just a bad all-around effort on D, special teams ...and an O that cannot make-up for it by producing points. Best game Webb has had all year ... game ball. Nice punting today as well.

Don't get ahead of yourself.  Rivers is hurt.  We are a little banged up on defense from being on the field for too long over the last few games. 

How about the sissy two two yard sideways pass with the QB and RB running the same direction?  WTF was that?


We have no identity on offense.  The receivers run garbage routes.  Amd still struggling in the red zone.  The only thing that got better was Hunter.

Defensively we ran base man and only blitzed at the end when we needed some big plays.  Rivers didn't play 3rd downs today.

That team was no good and our players played to their level.

[ytownchief22]

SIU has a really good offense. Except for the 2 drives late, I thought they played decently. A lot of guys are banged up. A win is a win people. Relax.

[ValleyTalk]

GREAT DAY TO BE A PENGUIN!!!

Big wins for football over Randy Dunn's SIU and for basketball over the Akron Kangaroos.

[Wick250]

Against MVFC teams that are still in playoff contention, Southern Illinois scored 21 on UNI, 39 on SDSU, and 28 on Illinois State.  They do not play NDSU this year.  The 14 points that they scored against us were a season low, strangely tied with their 14 against Indiana State.  Cannot ask for much more from our defense, especially with the injury issues.

This game would have been a whole lot easier had the receiver caught the ball that passed right through his hands in the end zone on our first possession.  21-0 at the half and I wonder if SIU would have played with much enthusiasm after intermission.  At least it was encouraging to see the offense respond in the fourth quarter after we blew the lead.

Missouri State appears to have just gone through the motions on the road at Illinois State.  I wonder if we dare rest Rivers and any other walking wounded next Saturday.  I am not suggesting that we don't go all out to win that game, but perhaps we should travel with the injured but keep them off the field if things are going well.  It sure was bizarre to see Rivers come out of the game on every third down.  Has to be relatively serious.

[IAA Fan]

Yes on that pass Wick. I thought the same thing when he missed it. This could come back to haunt us. I had the same feeling on Wells' first pass that was a dropped INT. Somehow we are plying through these things. That #17 for SIU is the best all-around receiver that we have faced. On that end of the game jump ball it was no surprise he out-jumped everyone and caught it on the 1. Did anyone else see the wide-opened WR in the corner of the end-zone that the QB missed? He was just standing their & I was yelling. It was an exciting game.

You are 100% right on the offense's lack of ID. I have never seen so many different plays called in my life. It is clear that coach M is trying everything that he can to get this offense moving. Nice to see & would love to see something work.

Could I address the attendance? People if we manage to get into the post-season and we have a home game ...we have to do so much better that 5k-6k that we had yesterday. What is with all the tailgate left-overs, get in the d**n game! We have a good overall product on the field & the fans should no how important they are to this new team. We will have the national media in attendance and we are a reflection of NE Ohio ...especially the Mahoning and Shenango Valley. We need to get it done at all costs. I have both of my brother's families in town for Thanksgiving and it is great. We will need 11-tickets & there are 4 children & 2 grandchildren that have never seen a play-off atmosphere and I want them to remember this. Even my daughter is not really old enough to remember the 90's, even though she was alive. So it is up to us "old-timers" to let everyone know the responsibilities and rewards. It cannot be ticket sales; it must be "butts-in-the-seats".

[FOOTBALLFEVER]

Against MVFC teams that are still in playoff contention, Southern Illinois scored 21 on UNI, 39 on SDSU, and 28 on Illinois State.  They do not play NDSU this year.  The 14 points that they scored against us were a season low, strangely tied with their 14 against Indiana State.  Cannot ask for much more from our defense, especially with the injury issues.

This game would have been a whole lot easier had the receiver caught the ball that passed right through his hands in the end zone on our first possession.  21-0 at the half and I wonder if SIU would have played with much enthusiasm after intermission.  At least it was encouraging to see the offense respond in the fourth quarter after we blew the lead.

Good post Wick..I would like to add the 300 yards on the ground was very impressive. Know other Missouri conference foe could come close to that against the Salukis run defense