Random UW-Marshall Observations...

The title speaks for itself, so here goes---

- Josh Oglesby absolutely demolished his man on that first UW touchdown. He moved him at least five yards back and to the left. Impressive stuff. This makes me want to see more of the jumbo package.

- As others have noted (specifically Tappa at Badgercentric) Brady Ewing's touchdown in the fourth was not a touchdown. When his knee went down, the ball was at about the one, with his momentum afterwards carrying him into the red zone. I really don't know what the ref on that side was thinking (maybe he was cut up in the unadulterated joy of the back-ups) or what the Marshall coach was thinking. The Herd would have definitely won a challenge there. It was also odd that the commentators didn't mention it. Thus, it was only fitting that the following extra point attempt was blocked.

- Jefferson's 40 yard catch could have gone all the way had the throw been a little more aggressive. He had his man beat to the inside and there was no safety help ahead. Regardless, Kyle made an excellent adjustment to slow down, use his height and make the catch.

- Marshall was very very aware of the interior tight end screen play that Chryst loves so much. He's been running that play for at least three years now, usually with the team's less dynamic tight end (Crooks, then Graham the last two years). If the Herd coaches have caught on, I don't think it's going to catch anyone by surprise anymore.

- No sacks this game, which seemed a little odd given that UW was getting decent pressure. Part of that might have been due to the team getting burned with some screen-type plays early, and perhaps being overly cautious after that. One on play, Shaughnessy pulled up on what at least would have been a QB pressure becuase he wanted to cover the running back in the flat. However, part of it was the Marshall QBs seemed a little trigger happy. Nearly all of their three interceptions came off on pressured throws, where they apparently were just trying to get rid of the ball. Also, there were plenty of tackles for loss, though I've yet to find the actual stats on that for the game. Finally, did anyone else notice that Shaughnessy seemed to be the inside rusher in the 3-3-5 package several times? And he seemed pretty effective . . .

- The throws to Maurice Moore were interesting. All three were, I believe, wide receiver screens or quasi-laterals. I guess the coaches wanted to see what he could do with the ball in his hands in space. Sounds a lot like the principles of the spread offense, huh? Moore was a high school option QB.

- While Kendricks looks like a very fluid athlete, I'd like to see (and expected to see) a little more explosion out of him, as a former high level track guy, especially in his moves after the catch. But he has to be very encouraged after yesterday. Two years of waiting have paid off.

- Apparently Goins was bothered by a bruised heel that he suffered last week. Weird. Well, I hope he heals up this week, but it's encouraging that even with a nagging injury he didn't play that bad. He got beat by that hilariously named receiver-- Passmore-- but he wasn't totally out of position. He also made a nice tackle on that big tight end of Marshall's for no gain.