Did the team improve against Hampton?

[Maxell]

Yes and No.

- Miller getting more comfortable under center
- Less stupid penalties, half the penalty yds
- Run defense equally as bad against better competition
- Punting got waaaay worse
- Still missing tackles and getting dragged for extra yards

[Aggie Monster]

I ditto that. Saw the offense improve, but defense still needs a lot of work.

[dj98]

You build a program with Defense, You have to stop the other team from scoring first. If we can't stop the other team, it does not matter how much we throw on the scoreboard. Defense gave up 48 points, 250 yards rushing!!!!!!!! When is the last time someone rushed for that many yards on a Aggie Defense.

[dj98]

Defense can give you a better chance to win the Game.

[DECKS]

When is the last time someone rushed for that many yards on a Aggie Defense.

Last season.


Damn, I see Hampton only punted once!!

[Blackfoot]

Oh well...on to Lewseanna next week. They're 0-2, but those are a la Tx A&M and LSU. I didn't get a chance to listen to the game today. Improvement will come....

[Bornthrilla]

Considering the hand Fobbs was dealt before this season, I feel pretty good about the overall direction of the team and program right now. Our offense already appears to be as good as it has been since 2003 and the sky is only the limit. Today Miller showed true heart and will emerge as a legitimate playmaker before it is all said and done. Our running backs seem to be nearly non-existent at this point, but if you don't have Sweeny or Fuerguson or even a in-shape Quante Speight in the lineup, what do you expect? Truesdale is not now, nor will he ever be a number one, every down back. Neither is that McNair kid.

Ferguson is the only guy in the backfield who has the ability to take it to the house and once he gets back healthy in a few weeks our offense will be that much more dynamic.

Like I said before, the offense is probably ahead of schedule and the defense is about as bad as we figured it would be. Sorry folks, but there are just no quick fixes or band-aid sollutions to the problems we have in stopping the run. The sad thing is that we probably don't have the right personel on this roster to become a good run-stopping team by season's end. Our linebackers are just too small and wimpy.

However, I think we can continue to be a very good offensive team, and if we face some teams with below average rushing attacks we should be able to steal a couple of wins.

I still believe we will beat Morgan, Howard and Elon. Norfolk is a toss-up. Our offense is that good.

[hawkeye]

We will continue to see a heavy dose of running from our opponents until we're
able to slow it down or stop it. I wish our coaches could find a way to do something
about it because getting pounded every week by the run is not healthy for the team.
I rather our opponents do it by the air than demoralizing us with the run.

[DOOMS]

What I saw (which wasn't much 'cause I came late and left early):

Defensively guys were getting to the ball and gang-tackling. But any misdirection type play and they were scorched. Any one-on-one tackling and they were run over. Hampton only got 250 yards rushing because of stupid play-calling on their part. Had they run off-tackle and up the gut 50 times they'd have had well over 400 yards rushing.

Offensively I don't see what all the excitement is. We barely hit 200 yards. Mo Hicks wouldn't be able to run behind that sieve of a line. The play-calling is going to have to change. The line cannot block for the qbs to pass. Herb Miller was getting pummeled. He is not going to remain healthy. Campbell just threw short routes, I mean really short routes. It was as if he was saying "y'all ain't getting me killed, the hell with down and distance."

Improvement? Yes, but not enough to warrant me picking a win. Every team on our schedule statistically showed more improvement than we did. The bright side is that they played lesser teams than we did.

Ultimately we're either going to have to throw quick pro-style passes, attempt to run all day long, or set up almost exclusivelyin the shotgun and run option out of it to protect our qbs. Either that or we'll be finding out who the fourth string guy is before midseason.

[Bornthrilla]

From Greensboro News-Record:

Hampton beats N.C. A&T

By Rob Daniels
Staff Writer

HAMPTON, Va. -- Hampton University honored tailback Alonzo Coleman before the game for his record-setting achievements the previous week.

It was his only appearance on the field Saturday, and it was all the Pirates needed out of him.

Proving his team's frightening depth, backup Kevin Beverly ran for 204 yards and four touchdowns on 29 carries and the two-time defending champions of the MEAC defeated N.C. A&T 48-14 before nearly as many Aggies fans as their own supporters.

"We scouted them pretty well," Aggies cornerback Wilfred Billingsley said. "We knew what they were going to do, but we just couldn't stop it."

Still, A&T considered the afternoon a slight improvement over its opener, a 41-14 home loss to Division I-A neophyte Winston-Salem State that was decided by the end of the first quarter.

At least this time, the Aggies played with the vastly superior Pirates for about 20 minutes before the inevitable result took shape.

Hampton, ranked 10th nationally, returns nearly all of the vital elements from its 2005 title team. A&T sustained more personnel losses than anybody in the MEAC.

"I thought the kids played hard," coach Lee Fobbs said after his first conference game as the boss. "I thought they did what I asked them to do. Yeah, we had mistakes here and there, but that's the game. We've got to go back and correct them, but we've got the nucleus to build it."

Coleman became the Pirates' career leader in rushing yards, touchdowns and scoring in last week's 46-7 victory over Howard, but he suffered a back injury late in the contest and sat it out against the Aggies.

Between two long runs by Beverly, two interceptions by former Miami Hurricane Travarous Bain and a 44-yard gain on a screen pass to the tight end, the Pirates were in firm control by halftime.

A&T has now allowed 536 rushing yards over its first two games and Beverly, a previously unknown junior, joined the party.

"Alonzo came up to me before the game and said, 'It's your show.' I was just trying to fill in for him," Beverly said.

That was actually to the dismay of at least half the 5,180 fans at Armstrong Stadium. The impressive A&T contingent included James C. Renick, the highly admired former chancellor who made the trip down from Washington, where he is an administrator of an educational think tank.

"We may lose the game, but we'll win the head count," one guy in Blue and Gold said.

A&T (0-1 MEAC, 0-2) put together a 71-yard scoring drive to tie it at 7 on quarterback Herb Miller's 7-yard scramble with 5:23 left in the first quarter.

The Aggies couldn't keep it going, however.

Beverly ended a 72-yard Pirate drive with a 2-yard touchdown run, and on the resulting possession, Miller threw a deep sideline pattern that Bain snagged at the A&T 48.

He returned the ball to the 28 and absorbed Miller's late hit out of bounds, a penalty that set the Pirates up even better.

Shortly thereafter, Princeton Shepherd hit Onrea Jones over the middle for a score and it was 21-7.

"I thought the cornerback did a great job of baiting a young quarterback," Fobbs said.

Miller finished as the Aggies' most productive runner, gaining 67 yards on 13 attempts in the absence of injured starter Michael Ferguson.

"He played a tough, physical game," Fobbs said of Miller. "That's what I wanted from all of them, and that's what we got. You take that and the bread starts to rise in the oven. I think we're on track. We lose a game to a very good football team. We're going to be OK."

MORNING QUARTERBACK

Why the Aggies lost: They were unable to contain the Hampton offense, which used the entire width of the field with an intermediate passing game and speed and efficient blocking along the line.

The play: Shortly after taking a 14-7 lead, the Pirates began to distance themselves from the Aggies when Travarous Bain intercepted a Herb Miller pass and returned the ball to the A&T 28. A late-hit penalty placed the ball at the 13, and the Pirates went up 21-7 shortly thereafter.

Beyond the stats: Randleman High School graduate Dion McNair saw his first college playing time. He ran for 15 yards on his first carry. ... Former Eastern Guilford running back Tony Leath, who began his college career at Marshall University, made his A&T debut with a kickoff return. He also caught a pass.

Worth repeating: "Their offensive line blocked well. I'm not sure how many yards he had, but they ran it pretty hard." -- Wilfred Billingsley, A&T defensive back, on Hampton RB Kevin Beverly

What's next: The Aggies play at 5 p.m. Saturday at Louisiana-Lafayette

[Bornthrilla]

"He played a tough, physical game," Fobbs said of Miller. "That's what I wanted from all of them, and that's what we got. You take that and the bread starts to rise in the oven. I think we're on track. We lose a game to a very good football team. We're going to be OK."

[aggiejazz]

I am happy to say the players played hard and they played with Aggie Pride.

The Aggies should be pride of how the players played with heart.

[AggieGroove]

I was at the game with AggieWJM...here is my assessment:

+'s
- Miller ran the offense with confidence and stepped up as the #1 QB.
- Our FG & PAT Kicker seem to be real deal...almost like automatic.
- Overall effort by the team seem greatly improved
- Fobbs clearly in control of team and gets into players faces as necessary.
- Offensive play calling great on 2nd drive for TD
- Hemphill played very good ball on defense.

-'s
- Rush Defense is awful.
- Offensive line played awful most of the night against speedy defense.
- None of the RBs distinguished themselves.
- Weakside screen (run or pass) killed the defense.
- Punting was terrible.
- Tackling was horrible and majority of HiU yards gained after broken tackles.

Overall, I give us a grade of D+ and would have raised it to a C- given we scored 20 points and HiU experience and team speed. We played one solid (not outstanding) quarter out of four best on we were pretty much tied after one quarter. My thoughts only.....