The Hounds continue to work their way thru training camp. But, we make a slight detour to scrimmage with Fairleigh Dickinson University (also known by the nickname Fairly Ridiculous University).
They were 2-8 last year, but they play in the difficult Middle Atlantic Conference. We are coming off a 5-5 season that saw us pretty much give away at least one game.
I won’t blame the refs for the Susquehanna loss. But, I wouldn’t let those guys referee when I was playing for the the N.A.A. in 120 pound football in the old days.
It’s always nice to have a scrimmage for a variety of reasons. First, the guys on your team are tired of practicing against their own teammates day in and day out.
Since it is a practice game it lets you (as a coach) figure out what you have forgotten to prepare for (anything from having your special teams depth charts correct to making sure you have 11 men on the field.) It is amazing how many times early in the year you find yourself counting only ten or even worse 12 men on the field! Yikes Batman, having 12 will get you a penalty you know!
Once thing you are always concerned about is keeping your team healthy. You need to stay away from injuries…..we know it is impossible, but it is important to protect your team the best you can.
The scrimmage was a good test for us today. We found out a lot about the troops – the most important is that the guys will play hard. In practice you train the players to learn plays and schemes – but one thing you hope that you don’t have to worry about is team hustle and effort.
If you have to coach those things you are going to have trouble. After watching the scrimmage and how we “flew” around I think our guys will really give us some great effort on the field.
Naturally you always have one or two guys who will coast on a play here and there. We certainly will try and push these guys during practice. But some guys are just lazy…..honestly I don’t get it. Why play the game if you don’t work as hard as you can and hustle all over the place?
We made our share of mistakes during the scrimmage. However, it is nice to get the kinks out and see if you have any glaring holes you need to repair. We had some procedure issues on offense, a few misalignments on defense, a few missed tackles etc. But, these are things that we can fix and get done with some more practice time.
One thing we have to address however is the fact that we had two illegal hits. One was called a penalty and the refs missed the other one we committed. You simply cannot allow these things to happen because it will cost your team in the long run.
These are selfish penalties like late hits, hits out of bounds, pushing and shoving after a play. All things that can be prevented simply by keeping your poise. Football is obviously a rough game but you need too control your emotions.
Giving away 15 yards with potentially having a player suspended for the game and perhaps the next game. Not too smart.
But, the beauty of coaching is trying to play a solid game on a field where all kinds of things can (and will) go against your planning. That’s what makes it fun!