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Ramblings
after the trek to Truman State
Lynn
Meredith
Teamkong
Last
Saturday at Truman State, the Gorillas had another solid
performance, crushing the Bulldogs 48-8.
It sets the stage for a “take care of business”
stretch for Pitt State. The
opponents will not be very powerfull, until November, and the
Gorillas will only be challenged if they have a let down.
Despite what many think….the Gorillas will not be
seriously challenged until their final three games of the
regular season. Yes…and that includes an easy victory over
Emporia State!
SBU on the road will be over early, as will Rolla, Missouri
Southern and Washburn. Only
the Emporia State game will be somewhat close early and be a
laugher by the end of the 3rd quarter. The Gorillas
are for real and seem to be developing a “purpose” to play
hard all the time. Their “purpose” is five-fold: 1) Be
undefeated, not 8-3; 2)
Win the MIAA; 3)
Beat Northwest; 4) Beat Central; 5) Beat Emporia. The only game that looms as a potential upset is our game
with Missouri Western…but that conversation is a month away.
Just suffice it to say that this year’s version of the
Gorillas will stay on task through these teams they should beat.
Okay….back to last week…
The Gorillas were impressive as they took the Bulldogs to task
and controlled the tendencies that good teams potentially have
by overlooking weaker opponents after emotional victories.
Pitt State came out early and controlled the line of
scrimmage, took advantage of some Truman turnovers and never
looked back.
Despite a drubbing from the Gorillas, Truman State has the
potential to be a good offensive team. Their system is a good
one and they have all the people to run it EXCEPT a quarterback.
He is not very good and continually “locked” on receivers
and telegraphed his passes. In addition, most of the time, he
locked on the wrong one! Had he been a solid player….the score
of the game would have been much closer. Truman controlled the
clock and the ball for most of the first half…21 minutes on
offense and had very little to show for it!!
If he improves, look for Truman to upset some people
later in the season.
The Gorillas were okay in about every category….(which is good
considering they were going through the motions much of the
game)….except for their kick off coverage. Last year, Truman
killed us with the “up the middle, break to the sideline”
return…and had decent success with it last week. But I look at
that as a good problem….lots of kickoff coverage means you are
scoring…and any coach would take that tradeoff anytime!
I digress to our trip to Kirksville….
I have to admit…I really do hate going there! It’s a long
trip…the game is usually dull…and the press box is terrible
(actually improved from the times you needed a tetanus shot
before the trip! At
least this time, paint dust didn’t end up on top of your food
and drink during the game…plus you can’t see daylight
through the walls…I could go on and on…)
But in Kirksville there are great people and I had an
opportunity to talk with some before the game. Everyone and I
mean everyone, fan and TSU person alike, gave the Bulldogs no
chance! None! Words
like “slaughter” “destroy” “murder” were used to
describe the upcoming game. Many were not going because it was
Pitt State and the outcome was dictated.
It really made me think how lucky we are in Pittsburg to go to
games where WE HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN!!!!
I know we bitch about the play calling or some
players….but we are really spoiled. So spoiled that we often
times may not remember how fortunate we are to have an
outstanding team and stadium to watch them play. How many of us come late to our seats or skip an easy victory
because we know it will be a blow-out?? Come on….admit it!!
Do you think they skip an easy opponent at Notre Dame, Michigan
or Texas? No way….and neither should we. I know I am preaching
to the choir on TeamKong, but we have a great deal here at PSU.
You must continually harass your friends that become complacent
towards winning! Winning
is NEVER boring! Winning is NEVER routine!
It should be savored anytime over any opponent….just
imagine if we were Kirksville or Rolla!!
Quit preaching Lynn and get back to next week….
This week will be a laugher and a continuation of our
“business-like approach” to victory…. Gorillas 56-10.
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