#SWARM - The Reboot

[moose141]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Marshall actually looks REALLY good offensively. Their receiving core is super fast and with a high rated QB that could spell danger. Hopefully Cox and Walker can stay healthy in this one because it really looks like you might be in a shootout and Cox is by far your biggest weapon. Losing him in the last game so early was clearly a huge blow. Should be interesting to see how this one shakes out. Missing Louis is really a key for your secondary, it should be great to get him back at midseason.

[SilverBullet19]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

I forgot to check in after MTSU. Man that game was rough. Hopefully Walker can get to be a bit more consistent over the course of the year, because when he’s on, he’s really good.

I’ll echo Moose here, Marshall has a good amount of offensive talent. Don’t fall behind early, you may not be able to catch up


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[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Marshall actually looks REALLY good offensively. Their receiving core is super fast and with a high rated QB that could spell danger. Hopefully Cox and Walker can stay healthy in this one because it really looks like you might be in a shootout and Cox is by far your biggest weapon. Losing him in the last game so early was clearly a huge blow. Should be interesting to see how this one shakes out. Missing Louis is really a key for your secondary, it should be great to get him back at midseason.

Yeah, they are very very talented and have recruited really well too, seem to be a team on the rise. Johnson's speed scares me, and Townsend is a really good receiver too. If Morrell can find guys deep, it could get really ugly, especially with us missing Sean Louis. Very very glad he's back after the MSU game.

I forgot to check in after MTSU. Man that game was rough. Hopefully Walker can get to be a bit more consistent over the course of the year, because when he’s on, he’s really good.

I’ll echo Moose here, Marshall has a good amount of offensive talent. Don’t fall behind early, you may not be able to catch up


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Walker is so annoying man, one game he's going crazy, next game he's underthrowing balls (with like a 92 arm strength, makes no sense), missing easy throws, fumbling. Hope he can iron out the kinks over the course of the year, so we can make some serious noise in his junior campaign.

Thanks for checking in, both of y'all. I actually played this game a while ago, but I've been off the boards for a little bit with school starting back up, so I haven't written it up. I'm gonna do the recap today, catch up on what I've missed, and then get the next preview up. I'm gonna try to get 5 games up every 2 weeks, I think I can manage that. So seasons won't move as fast as they did over the summer, but I should get a season done about every 6 weeks or so, barring any breaks I may take.

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[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Y4, G2 - vs Marshall

September 11th, 2016

Swarm lucky to escape with win as Marshall crumbles following strong start

Herd go up 17-0, but don't score for nearly 3 whole quarters as K LeFevre struggles, QB Morrell plays a strange game -- Walker puts up nearly 400 total yards despite shaky first half

De'Aaron Walker fires a pass to Calvin Foster. Foster would catch the ball and outrun everyone for a key TD.

Westlake, OH -- It wasn't pretty, and it barely feels like a win, but Westlake State did beat Marshall 24-23 to move to 2-1 on the season. De'Aaron Walker rebounded from a bad game at Middle Tennessee State and a bad start to post 250 yards passing, another 140 rushing, and 3 total scores. For the Thundering Herd, QB Garet Morrell played a perplexing game. He went 24/33 for 200 yards and 2 scores, but up until the final drive, played like he cared more about his completion percentage then moving the ball.

Marshall scored first, as a punt on the opening drive pinned Westlake State back at their own 6. De'Aaron Walker was sacked, fumbled, and Marshall DE Jamare Edwards scooped up the loose ball for an easy score. To add insult to injury, the Swarm were called for clipping on the ensuing kickoff, and started at their own 11. Walker ran for 27 yards on the drive's first play, but it came to nothing.

Walker fumbles from his own 5.

The Herd scored again, as tailback Marcus Burton ripped off gains of 28 and 16 yards before Morrell found Monterio Hunt for 21 yards, setting up a short kick from Ricky LeFevre. Westlake State would be stopped on a 4th and 3 from the Marshall 35, and Burton gained big chunks on the ground en route to another Marshall TD, a 7 yard score from Morrell to wideout Xavier Gaines. At this point, the score is Marshall 17, Westlake State 0, and we're a couple minutes into the 2nd quarter. Marcus Burton has 83 rushing yards, and the Herd are rolling.

Burton was on fire... then the Herd stopped using him

That's why the rest of this game made no sense. Westlake State came back, with Walker capping off a good drive by taking it himself for 11 yards, but the Herd were still firmly in command. Then Charlie Strong and his staff decided to trust Morrell over the red-hot Burton, and Morrell, in his first college start after winning the job in camp this year, played it way too safe. The Swarm adjusted to the run, and Morrell couldn't make anything happen through the air despite all the weapons he had.

Westlake State actually scored 24 unanswered points after that Gaines TD, all the way to a Willie Johnson score with 55 seconds left that should have tied the game. (More on that in a minute)

Walker led another good drive, sparked by Tristan Cox finding a crease on a drag route for a 14 yard pickup, that ended in a Tony Brown TD grab, the senior's second of 2016. The Swarm looked unimpressive after the break, and should really have only scored 3 points. But, Calvin Foster beat the slow Marshall safeties on a blitz beating cross route, and he sprinted 65 yards for a score. That score bailed out a team that could barely move the ball, with their only other points coming on a Justin Ward FG on their next drive.

Hanging on for dear life, Westlake State forced the Herd into a 2 minute drill. And Morrell finally started making plays. The Herd stormed down the field, with Morrell finding Monterio Hunt for a pair of big gains, then Willie Johnson for 35 yards to get his team to the 7. 2 plays later, Johnson would catch a goalline TD that should have tied it. But, Ricky LeFevre had a very Grant Marquardt-esque performance. LeFevre, who had previously missed a 40 yard FG after Jaylen McClain-Sapp picked off De'Aaron Walker, and a 41 yarder after a Walker fumble, missed the PAT, and the Swarm recovered the onside kick to walk out victorious.

Johnson catches the would-be tying score

The Swarm suffered a pretty serious blow in this one: FS Isaac Robinson broke his toe, and will miss next week's game. Luckily he should return for the Swarm's Week 6 matchup with Central Michigan.

Westlake State play their final non-conference game next week, traveling to East Lansing for a matchup with #13 Michigan State (1-0). This is the "money game" for the Swarm this year, as the Spartans expect a win, and they will be pay Westlake State 750 thousand dollars for the trip.

Coach Barkley's Take

We'll take it. We will always take a win, but I'm not happy with how it went. We played like s--t, plain and simple. We lose that game if Morrell isn't Checkdown Charlie, if their kicker doesn't choke, if Calvin doesn't have the speed to outrun their whole team on that big score. De'Aaron looked like himself again around the 2nd quarter, but our run game outside of him was mediocre and didn't help much. We will get blasted by 70 next week if we play the same way. We have it in us to be an absolute juggernaut offensively, we have talent. Just a question of showing up. Defense was OK, I though, this isn't gonna be a great defense, period. Keep them under 30 points and we're good.

Coach Barkley's Take

We'll take it. We will always take a win. But we were garbage today. Mediocre, inconsistent offense, defense phoned it in, barring a few guys, uninspired performance. De'Aaron had like 400 empty a-- yards, fumbled twice, threw a pick. Dude is super talented but has that Jameis Winston syndrome. We play a top 25 team next week, and if we play like we played today, they'll win by 70. Missing Isaac Robinson next week will be tough too, he really holds the secondary together.

Photo Gallery

Jamare Edwards stumbles in for a score



Justin Townsend pulls in a nice one handed grab



Calvin Foster breaks a tackle on his 65 yard score



De'Aaron Walker fires to Tony Brown in the end zone



Malik Price showed out, with 5 tackles for a loss, including this sack on a 4th down from around midfield



McClain-Sapp picks off Walker

[SilverBullet19]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

What a nail biter. It’s the close ones that are the hardest, and it’s nice to know you’ve got a squad that is willing to claw their way back into a game. Walker really rebounded nicely too, shows he can recoup after a bad start.

Sure it’s a win from a missed PAT, but sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good lol


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[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

What a nail biter. It’s the close ones that are the hardest, and it’s nice to know you’ve got a squad that is willing to claw their way back into a game. Walker really rebounded nicely too, shows he can recoup after a bad start.

Sure it’s a win from a missed PAT, but sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good lol


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I thought we were headed for a blowout loss when we were down 17-0. They were destroying us, and we looked shook offensively. Burton was doing whatever he wanted, but we figured him out. Did help that he had like 8 carries in the last 3 quarters. They have better QB play, they win it. But hey, a win's a win, and it's nice to benefit from poor kicking rather than us having the poor kicker lol.

Thanks for checking in bro.

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[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Top Scores

#7 Auburn 42, Mississippi State 3

J. Gatewood (Auburn) - 11/20, 213 yards, 12 rush, 32 yards, 2 total TD

FCS SE 27, UCF 23

Louisville 41, Kentucky 38 (OT)

D. Williams (UL) - 16 rush, 94 yards, 2 TD

#3 Florida State 38, Virginia Tech 31

J. Blackman (FSU) - 11/25, 218 yards, 3 TD

#6 Stanford 37, UCLA 34

D. Maddox, (Stan) - 22 rush, 120 yards, 2 TD, KR TD

#16 North Carolina 41, East Carolina 38

B. Corrales (UNC) - 14 rec, 340 yards, 4 TD

#20 Kansas State 42, Old Dominion 20

R. Nelson (K-State) - 24 rush, 141 yards, 3 TD

#1 Ohio State 24, Northwestern 7

J. Dobbins (OSU) - 26 rush, 193 yards, TD

#5 Georgia 27, South Carolina 10

Z. White (GU) - 14 rush, 117 yards, TD

#17 Notre Dame 35, #23 Clemson 31

A. Davis (ND) - 11/19, 181 yards, 21 rush yards, 2 total TD

#19 LSU 27, #15 TAMU 7

C. Roddy (LSU) - 2 rec, 87 yards, TD



CAC Results

BGSU OC Bryson Post (thesportsguru11): W (2-1, 0-0) 16-12 vs MTSU (1-1, 0-0)

R. Frye: 25 carries, 153 yards
R. Reese: 3/4 FG, long of 38

Next Week: @ Memphis (2-1)

CMU OC Paul Lees (SilverBullet19): L (1-2, 0-0) 37-42 vs FCS SE

T. Poljan: 21/28, 223 yards, 3 TD
K. Gwilly: 16 carries, 87 yards
K. Cossou: 9 rec, 93 yards

Next Week: BYE

Maryland DC Cedric Bishop (bdiddy): W (2-0, 1-0) 34-27 vs Purdue (0-3, 0-1)

C. Bryan: 6 TAK, 2 TFL, SACK
B. Brand: 6 TAK, 2 TFL, SACK, FF

Next Week: vs #17 Notre Dame (3-0)

[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Y4, G4 Preview

These teams have never met.

Coach Barkley's Take

No getting around it. We're expected to get blown out. That's the purpose of this game, we get paid, they pad their win column. But, we were in the same spot at K-State almost exactly 2 years ago. This time, we have a better team then we had back then, but this Michigan State squad is very, very solid. No real weak links we can point to. QB Rocky Lombardi is inexperienced, but he played very well in the team's season-opening win. Their backs aren't quite elite, but they're still excellent players. Not to mention, their offensive line's worst player is a freshman guard who was top 5 in the nation, and would easily start for us. 3 or 4 of those guys will go pro, if not all of them. Defensively, they have talent and athleticism at all 3 levels. Their starting backers all started last season, and Brandon Randle was an All-American. Josiah Scott is only a junior, but he's one of the best corners in the nation. Great speed in the secondary, we're probably not getting much deep.

Losing Isaac Robinson, and Sean Louis still being out really hurts. Their pass attack is lethal, and we're gonna be even more ill-equipped to defend it. Unless we get them on the ropes early, we're gonna get blown out. We go down by 2 scores, game is done.

[moose141]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Big win, though I definitely think you need to get the ball out of Walker's hands more often so he isn't running 25 times a game. He's shown a propensity to be injury prone and you don't have the QB depth to afford him getting hurt from just constant contact. That said, you could definitely pull the upset against Michigan State, they have plenty of playmakers on both sides of the ball but your team keeps improving and if you protect the football and can keep their offense off of the field, then you could definitely surprise them!

[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Big win, though I definitely think you need to get the ball out of Walker's hands more often so he isn't running 25 times a game. He's shown a propensity to be injury prone and you don't have the QB depth to afford him getting hurt from just constant contact. That said, you could definitely pull the upset against Michigan State, they have plenty of playmakers on both sides of the ball but your team keeps improving and if you protect the football and can keep their offense off of the field, then you could definitely surprise them!

Yeah I plan on getting the ball out of Walker's hands. Last game was just tough because our blocking was not holding up on the pass, so Walker probably scrambled 10-12 times. I can't force feed Cox either, he's kinda injury prone himself. Brantley was pretty bad last game, I think he left the game and I forgot to mention it, actually. Definitely gonna protect Walker, don't want McKinley in there.

I feel like we could win this game. We would have to do what we did to Iowa: come out on fire and then just hold on for dear life. We probably won't go toe to toe with them like we did with Kansas State a couple years ago, but could be a good one. Gonna play it tonight most likely.

Thanks for checking in bro.

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[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Just letting y'all know this is gonna be on hold for a bit. I am definitely not ditching this, it's gonna keep going, but right now I don't have a lot of free time. School's back, and it's still pretty warm where I'm at so I wanna enjoy the end of good weather while I still can. World Cup got me back into soccer, and I'm playing that and basketball at school this year so I've got practices and games for both of those. Not sure when the next game will be up, but the pace is probably gonna be slow until the winter months or whenever it starts to get real cold. I don't know if I'm gonna play ball over the winter (long story short I kinda lost my love for the game), so I'll have a ton of free time, ain't really much popping off during the winter cause don't nobody wanna go out in negative degree weather lol.

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[SilverBullet19]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Just letting y'all know this is gonna be on hold for a bit. I am definitely not ditching this, it's gonna keep going, but right now I don't have a lot of free time. School's back, and it's still pretty warm where I'm at so I wanna enjoy the end of good weather while I still can. World Cup got me back into soccer, and I'm playing that and basketball at school this year so I've got practices and games for both of those. Not sure when the next game will be up, but the pace is probably gonna be slow until the winter months or whenever it starts to get real cold. I don't know if I'm gonna play ball over the winter (long story short I kinda lost my love for the game), so I'll have a ton of free time, ain't really much popping off during the winter cause don't nobody wanna go out in negative degree weather lol.

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Best of luck this basketball season and in school man. What position do you play on the court? I gave it up after middle school to focus on football. I was always tall so I was stuck at center, but got to play guard my last season and loved it. Kinda wish I would have stuck with it through HS sometimes, but I probably would have been riding the bench lol. My football skills were way better than basketball


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[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Best of luck this basketball season and in school man. What position do you play on the court? I gave it up after middle school to focus on football. I was always tall so I was stuck at center, but got to play guard my last season and loved it. Kinda wish I would have stuck with it through HS sometimes, but I probably would have been riding the bench lol. My football skills were way better than basketball


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Thanks man. I play guard, I bounce between the 1 and the 2, but I'll probably play 1 for school cause I'm pretty easily the best player. Whatever tape I get, I'll send to schools but I haven't really been on my grind for ball lately.

Basketball isn't my best sport either, I'm much more gifted at soccer. Picked that back up and I'm better than guys that have been playing/training for years. Never got to play football competitively, but I'm pretty good when I play with my friends lol. I think I would have been a pretty good DB or wideout, I'm really fast. I was actually supposed to go train with the track coach at a university near me but I never hit him back up when the season came around.

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[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Haven't been here in forever, but I felt that itch again! Michigan State game will be up in the next week or so, and I'll be back at this! #SWARM

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[jpfine]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Oh dude, I'm so glad this is coming back. I've been a lurker for a little bit, catching up on all the content and I'm excited for where Westlake can go in the upcoming years