Up next: Point

[i77cat]

12-42 final.

[stevelee]

I can’t get the stats to come up. It sounded like my guy Mari had a good game, and his brother A.J. got a couple carries in the fourth quarter.

[stevelee]

207 yards and 2 touchdowns for Mari. 19 yards for AJ.

[MLC67]

My ESPN+ telecast was horrible, blurry 90% of the time with clarity of focus mostly between plays. Did everyone experience this dreadful presentation or was this just me?

[i77cat]

I saw the game in person, but I'm watching the ESPN+ production now.

I want to see what Durkin's injury looks like on film. Looked bad live. And just a day after JP's excellent feature about him. Maybe we should have sent that out a day earlier and avoided Friday the 13th.
https://davidsonwildcats.com/news/2024/ ... in-reserve

[i77cat]

The play he came out on was at just under the 5 minute mark of the first quarter. Non-contact. It was a weak, inaccurate throw to the tight end. What I missed live was the play about a minute earlier. Durkin got a first down on 2nd and 4 with a nice run. He got tackled on the right shoulder and a defensive lineman landed on him pretty hard. He came up rubbing his right shoulder. I hope it is short term.

[i77cat]

Yes, that ESPN+ production is weak. Poor work on the cameras and the microphones. Really sloppy, especially with having replayed audio looping back into the live audio. The coverage at the beginning of the third quarter was particularly bad. Room for improvement.

Game day experience was good. Mooresville's band was excellent, even though they were performing against a smaller, quieter crowd than what they are used to. Concessions were free of the long lines that we had for Catawba. But they don't take cash? Fortunately the folks at the tent I visited accepted cash. Good to see Coach Fagg, as always. Seems like the historical problems with the referee's microphone is fixed. We have a lot of people dedicated to keeping fans out of the black seats. Wrong approach. Especially when we have a tiny crowd, we should concentrate our fans towards the middle of the stands. The grass hill is awesome. I sat there for the Catawba game. Last night, a buddy gave a premium ticket so I sat near midfield.

[i77cat]

Official attendance was 2288. Catawba attendance was 4477.

[DC69Wildcat]

Yes, that ESPN+ production is weak. Poor work on the cameras and the microphones. Really sloppy, especially with having replayed audio looping back into the live audio. The coverage at the beginning of the third quarter was particularly bad. Room for improvement.

Game day experience was good. Mooresville's band was excellent, even though they were performing against a smaller, quieter crowd than what they are used to. Concessions were free of the long lines that we had for Catawba. But they don't take cash? Fortunately the folks at the tent I visited accepted cash. Good to see Coach Fagg, as always. Seems like the historical problems with the referee's microphone is fixed. We have a lot of people dedicated to keeping fans out of the black seats. Wrong approach. Especially when we have a tiny crowd, we should concentrate our fans towards the middle of the stands. The grass hill is awesome. I sat there for the Catawba game. Last night, a buddy gave a premium ticket so I sat near midfield.

I hope the ESPN+ announcers weren't Davidson students. The play-by-play guy kept saying "undoubtably," and the color guy once said, "They should of went for it."

[85Wildcatsky]

Official attendance was 2288. Catawba attendance was 4477.

We need to find a way to play two FCS OOC games per year and have at least one of them at home. Opponents like Point do little for our program or attendance. It is a shame having a great new stadium with 2288 fans.

They should move the player's parents into the black seats and recruits into the black seats. Someone over estimated demand.

Music coming through the speakers is too loud. I love hard rock music but the current setting is too amped up.

It is odd that a 42 - 12 Wildcat win would leave a bad taste in your mouth.

I am reminded of the quote in Gladiator. "Win the Crowd" .....the Wildcats did not win the crowd last night.

I am curious what happen to the Grid Iron Club tailgate? We had great showings last year in the end zone and this year on the new terrace location there has been no one. I know some fans have moved upstairs but what happened to everyone else and why no food?

[wildforthecats]

I believe the Cats are playing Elon, VMI and Georgetown at home in the coming years.

[stevelee]

I liked the view from the 40 yard line. I saw several people I knew in the stands. I didn't think the game was consistently awful, just enough and early enough in the game to sour the mood. Giving the 3rd string QB a good bit of experience is a mixed blessing that could pay dividends.

I think the end zone tailgate has been replaced by the VIP thing in the skybox. I ate before I went to the stadium, but I missed getting to meet former players from different eras and various other folks, like the previous academic VP and Austin Buntz, whom I first met at that gathering. I enjoyed the commentary and analysis from people who know much, much more about football than I. (OK, so not so high a bar.) At one point I even knew 85Wildcatsky's real last name. My half-time discussion was with a former basketball player about experiences singing in church choirs. (That came up because of my reason for missing the previous game, while on a choir retreat.) It was great to talk with him, but not the same thing.

The painful volume level was not so much in the stadium as, oddly, on the way in. I think they did cut back some. Derek's volume was just right, I thought. The band was good, but too far away to enjoy as much. I gather there were cheerleaders off in the periphery.

The evening was lovely.

[i77cat]

... Giving the 3rd string QB a good bit of experience is a mixed blessing that could pay dividends...

We are deep at QB. Cleland and Durkin were the starter and backup, but the 3 and 4 are excellent options. Phillips is a senior. He runs the offense well. Casey Bullock is a freshman who had a superb high school career. Even if our top 2 don't return for a while, we're in good shape. I worry more about defense than I do about offense.

[85Wildcatsky]

QB 3 & 4 missed a lot of passes that are necessary for this offense to excel once the Pioneer opponents load the box.

As a player I never liked bye weeks but this one may be well timed.

On a positive note, Presby will play FCS Gardner Webb the week before us. No extra prep time.