Post-Game - Delaware 28, West Chester 17

Update: Game articles and my analysis have been added/completed.

Wow.  Where do we even start?  This is what Auburn must have felt like last week when they barely escaped Utah State (they needed to recover an onside-kick to do it, but still, this one is vs. West Chester).  So many flaws with how the Hens played defensively.  The offensive side of the ball had it's own issues too, but that defense is a disaster.  Thankfully, Delaware State is next on the slate, not a CAA game.  Here's the game rundown followed by the review of my predictions (so-so):

• Shaky Start - West Chester came out slinging the ball as they managed to rack up 46 yards on their first drive.  Then once the Hens got the ball back, they couldn't gain a thing after a first down, getting knocked backwards and netting zero yards on the drive.
• Pick Six - Auburn transfer Jessel Curry helped calm down any worrying fans by intercepting a pass from Sean McCartney and running it back for six, putting Delaware up 7-0 early.
• Another Turnover - West Chester could not pull off the option on a 4th-and-1 near midfield and the Hens took over, leading to a score by Andrew Pierce off of a pitch from Tim Donnelly.  Blue Hens lead 14-0.
• One More... - Fumble recovery by Irv Titre gave Delaware great field position in WCU territory and the first play after the takeover was a 28 yard pass from Donnelly to a wide open Schenauer to put the Blue Hens up 21-0.
• Secondary Problems - The next drive for the Golden Rams exposed the Delaware secondary as badly as they did in the first drives.  West Chester drove 79 yards in just 5 plays and scored their first points against the Hens since 2008 off a touchdown by Rondell White.  Delaware still led 21-7 as the 1st quarter came to an end.  After a Blue Hens punt, West Chester came back and continued to cause problems for the home side, eating up 5:39 in the 2nd quarter and going 71 yards to tack on a field goal and cut the deficit to 11.
• End of the Half - Delaware did come back and drive down the field as time wound down in the 2nd quarter.  With 8.7 left on the clock, 3rd-and-4 on the WCU 17 yard line, Donnelly was sacked and set up a long field goal attempt for Sean Baner. After two "freeze the kicker" TO's by West Chester, Baner gave it plenty of distance but sent it a good 10 yards wide left.  Delaware heads to the locker room with a 21-10 lead over West Chester.
• Storm's a Brewin' - During those WCU timeouts, the scoreboard started giving warning to the fans that they might want to evacuate now as a storm was beginning to approach the stadium even though the game has not been delayed as of yet.  They then proceeded to parade the bands out on the field (this is where a the thunder would have been most welcomed).
• Band Day - I'm against it.  I get why they do it.  I get what it does for Delaware's Marching Band and all that, but it just extends the half and deters the student section from sticking it out.  I'm also against the whole "let's play our horns from every aisle of the stadium."  Why can't they just stay in the section like a normal band and play in support of the team.  It is a clear example of the band seeing itself as more important than the team it supports or the game on the field.  The point of the band is for support, not to be "the" show.  If that was the case, this would be a MEAC or SWAC game, but it's not.  We're Delaware.  A football school.  Act like it.
• Back to the Game - Big stat for the Hens coming back in the 2nd half is only 38 rushing yards.  It is not like this is an elite CAA run defense.  Unacceptable here by the Hens.  As for the storm, sideline reports have the black clouds straight overhead, but UD facilities guys feel like it should miss the area.  Delaware's first drive of the half brings up a problem the WDSD guys have noticed all game: snap issues.  There have been a few errant snaps and one here leads to Delaware having to punt.  A fair amount of the snaps have been high to Donnelly, but luckily the only ones that have been bobbled or too far for Donnelly were recovered.  The punt was downed at the WCU 4 yard line and lead to a 3-and-out for the Rams.
• Wide Left - ...is becoming a theme here for Sean Baner.  Another long field goal attempt from the left hash is sent wide left with enough distance.  I bet Mike Perry wishes he stuck around just to start a kicker battle.  The first one was from 50, and this one from 44.  I'm not going to say he should have made both of them because of the distance, but if he has the leg to get it there, it should not be hard to put some accuracy on them too.  The score remains 21-10 Blue Hens with 7:50 left in the 3rd quarter.
• Another Long Drive - ...by the Rams here in the 3rd.  With Matt Carroll under center (WCU has been switching between the two most of the game), West Chester goes 49 yards and attempts a long field goal of their own, and miss it wide left.  The bigger issue here is that a Division TWO school is chipping away at the defense.  Not a good sign with CAA games coming up on the horizon.
• Who are these guys? - Now the Rams running game starts to take the Hens to town, slowly chipping away at the defense and after a pass interference, the Rams had 1st-and-goal at the 4.  After a holding on the offense, a gorgeous pass from Carroll to LaRonn Lee to the corner puts another 7 on the board for the Rams, 21-17.
• Panic Mode - 10:56 left vs. WEST CHESTER and it's a FOUR-POINT GAME??? WAKE UP DELAWARE!!!
• ANDREW FREAKING PIERCE!!! - Thank you AP!  A 12-yard run to kick off the drive, followed by a 44-yard touchdown run to get the lead back to 11.  That's exactly what the team and the crowd needed.  10:10 left in the 4th.
• Oh by the way... - The West Chester game is normally the one where the second team gets some reps in the 4th quarter.  Not tonight.  Starters are in it because they need to earn the rest (they haven't).
• Making it Interesting - 4th-and-4 from the WCU 31 and the Hens go for it.  The WDSD crew felt it was to just run out the clock even further.  In my opinion, this was a lack of confidence in Baner.  The pass was incomplete and West Chester, with no timeouts left, take over looking to close the gap with 4:05 remaining.
• Closer to the End - Leon Jackson, playing in every facet of the game for the Hens tonight, intercepts a pass from Carroll and the following drive was suppose to run out the cloc, but the Hens could not convert on 4th-and-inches.
• Last Ditch Effort - The Rams tried to get down the field and get a quick score, but open field passes let too much time run off the clock, unable to get one final score on the board.
• FINAL SCORE:  Delaware 28, West Chester 17

So that happened.  I feel like it was a loss.  Wouldn't be surprised to see the Hens drop out of the top-10 in the polls.  Clearly there is a lot that needs to be done on the defensive side of the ball.  Lots of missed tackles and blown coverages led to the passing attacks from West Chester throughout the game.  It's not even worth trying to break everything down individually because there were problems in every facet of the defense tonight.  There were a few good players (Jackson specifically) that did have good games, but the unit needs much more work or Delaware State will shock Newark next weekend.

Offensively, Tim Donnelly did well as the replacement for injured QB Trevor Sasek.  Donnelly operated efficiently in early on, going 7-for-7 through the air to start the game.  I questioned if his play would result in a renewed QB battle going forward, but it is going to be difficult to not put Sasek back under center after how he performed at Navy prior to his injury.  Andrew Pierce had a decent day overall, but the stats show that he gained 56 of his rushing yards on two plays in the 4th quarter to solidify the lead.  But the problem of the day was the center.  Rob McDowell seemed to have a case of the yips and couldn't get the ball to Donnelly cleanly.  Two errant snaps lead to a combined loss of 35 yards, and many of his other snaps seemed to cause the Hens' QB to reach high over his head just go reign them in.  Eventually, Gino Gradkowski was shifted into the middle of the O-line and it helped to shore things up at the end of the game.  Coach Keeler even went as far as to say they may start the game that way against the Hornets next week.  The fact that the run game struggled to get going in the first half did not help either.  There is tons of work to do here as well, but I will take solace in the fact that we did win, and there were no major injuries (that I have heard of so far).  I'll leave you with the quote of the night from Coach Keeler:

Jimmy Smith (BlueHens.com):  ...let's first get this out of the way; West Chester is a good Division II football team.
Coach Keeler:  Yeah, but they're Division II.

REVIEWING MY PREDICTIONS
My Over/Under for UD vs. WCU:

• Total Points:  39.5 points - Within a touchdown, I'll take the win when I can.
• Delaware Rushing Yards:  144.5 yards - With only 38 yards in the 1st half, I knew this was going down.  Not so fast, my friends!  A big TD-run by Pierce and a run-heavy offense trying to run out the clock made up for yards lost on the botched snaps and the Hens finished the day with 142 yards on the ground. (The "Team" yards lost = -35!!! Saved this O/U!!!)
• West Chester First Downs:  8.5 first downs - FAIL! WCU made some big gains early and racked up more than enough to crush my stat. (They had exactly 10 the previous 2 years)

Bold Prediction:  Delaware will not allow a point in the first half. - They allowed 10.  The secondary was way too susceptible in the 1st half and it led to both of their scores.

Projected Score:  Delaware 34, West Chester 6 - Another "Yes and No" week.  I did get the winner correct, but the score was way off.  No one could have seen WCU putting up 17 points.  This is a fail in my book.

GAME STORY ARTICLES:

• Delaware Online - Delaware dashes West Chester upset bid
• WDEL - UD edges West Chester in football home opener
• BlueHens.com - Early Three-Touchdown Lead Helps Hens Hold on...
• BlueHens.com - Video Recap/Post-game interviews (see below)