UPA Coyotes Dynasty NCAA 04

[SalamiGrease]

Quote: Originally Posted by TylerHL

As far as the image stuff goes, I know I (and probably most others on here) upload the pictures/screenshots/whatever to an image hosting website like imgur. Then you can use the bbcode link it'll give you to copy paste into your post. That way you can place it where you want it etc.

Thank you! I had about given up screwing around with google drive and various methods of transferring images to my computer and decided to just write updates, but then I saw your dynasty and a couple others and was just blown away by the quality. After that I knew that I wanted to create something with a little more effort, and so the help is really appreciated.

[SalamiGrease]

WEEK 2 HEADLINES

SI Headline: Erasing All Doubts: Bulldogs start their 2003 campaign on a high note

O-VER-RA-TED! O-VER-A-TED! The cry was much louder than what one would expect the minority of Washington fans to produce in Ohio Stadium this past Saturday, as elated Washington fans celebrated their victory over the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes. The Huskies found themselves in a hole at halftime, but thanks to an overall strong performance by the team they capitalized on Buckeye offensive mistakes and rode a 20-0 third quarter to a 43-29 win. QB Cody Pickett, who only had to throw 13 times, gave the credit to the defense, saying that “those guys came out there with chips on their shoulders; people were saying they’d give up 40, 50 points today. They came to play and shut down some amazing players, and really made it easy for us guys on the offense.” The Huskies look to go undefeated throughout a schedule which only gets easier from here; they only play one ranked opponent in #15 USC for the rest of the year. The Buckeyes are certainly not out of the running for a national title, but as HB Maurice Clarett said after the game, “We’re going to have to play better than any football team that has ever stepped foot on a field if we’re going to win the National Championship.” The Buckeyes are going to have to play spotless football to get in the favor of the computer rankings. The Huskies face off against Indiana next week, while the Buckeyes play San Diego State before traveling to Raleigh to play Philip Rivers and the #11 NC State Wolfpack.

In other news, the Auburn Tigers beat the #9 USC Trojans to start the year, with stellar performances all across the board. Karlos Dansby, the Tigers’ outside linebacker turned in arguably the best performance of the week with 10 tackles, a sack, an interception, a forced fumble and fumble recovery to seal the 31-24 victory. “We couldn’t be happier.” Dansby said after the game. “We came out and played against a top-10 team, and we gave it our all and just outplayed them overall. That’s the type of game you want to have every week.”

Other games of note:

Virginia Tech 50, UCF 44
Are the Hokies fakers or are the Knights just really good?

Fresno State 45, Tennessee 10
Fresno State might be the best team west of Oklahoma. Do I hear BCS Buster?

Next Week:

Oklahoma vs Alabama is a potential upset game, with Tide HB Shaud Williams coming off a 177 yard rushing performance.

Battle for the Seminole War Canoe pits two Florida teams who performed well in their openers against each other. Miami seems the better team across the board, but Ingle Martin and the Gators are no joke.

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WEEK 2 TOP 25 POLL

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UPA (0-1) at Army (0-0) Game Preview

This week 3 matchup between two likely cellar dwellers should be more exciting than at face value. The Coyotes are coming off of a close loss to Penn, in which they far outplayed the final score save a couple of dumb interceptions. While Army is certainly a more difficult test, the defense is still porous, and the deep safeties which UPA exploited so well last game hover around 65 SPD. Look for Hector Morris to try and test them early. Coach Goss has emphasized the desire to establish a run game, and if the Army front seven does not create some pressure early look for some draw plays and option runs from the coyotes to get the defense off balance. If Morris can scramble and the line can protect him, the Coyotes should be pretty good offensively. Defensively, however, things aren’t going to look so pretty. If Penn ran the ball well against the Coyotes, then Army’s speedy QB-HB duo could easily surpass 200 yards on the day. The team is a run-first, triple option style team and their speed/strength is going to cause problems. If the Coyotes are to shut this team down, they’ll need to blitz heavily while relying on the secondary to shut down the pass game, even with minimal coverage.

Coyotes’ keys to victory: Get the deep ball going, and make Army fear the deep pass to open up the offensive playbook and get them on their heels. Defensively, stop the run and put as much pressure on the offense to make pass plays early as possible. Acquiring an early lead and sustaining it should put the Coyotes firmly in front in this game.

Black Knights’ keys to victory: Run over a subpar UPA defense and set the tone early. Putting the Coyotes in a hole and forcing their offense to make mistakes under pressure could lead to a blowout. When on defense, focus on soft zone coverage, and rely on the front seven to overpower a physically weak O-line.

Prediction: Army 24, UPA 21: A close game for sure, but in the end the Black Knights are the better team and profit off of consistent special teams play and ball control to narrowly avoid a bad loss to start off their season.

[SalamiGrease]

Coyotes Spirits’ Crushed After Slaughtering By Army

53-7. That was the final score which was displayed on the scoreboard at West Point this Saturday. One would think that the Black Knights, one of the consistently worst programs in the FBS, would be on the receiving end of this shellacking. But today the roles were reversed. The UPA Coyotes, despite amassing over 300 yards passing on the day, were absolutely and utterly annihilated by every phase of the Army attack. The Cadets seemingly moved the ball at will, taking the opening drive to the house seemingly through sheer force of will; There were more pancakes than your grandmother could make, and the Black Knights’ ball carriers broke over 12 tackles on the opening drive alone. When the Coyotes took the field, they were able to move the ball fairly well, save a couple three and outs. The issues were turnovers. While both Nate and Domonique Morant accumulated over 100 yard receiving on the day, they also had several drops along with fellow receivers Kirk Caldwell and Brian Russell. Coach Goss’s voice could be clearly heard over the few fans that bothered to show up, screaming his head off at his team for sloppy play. The Coyotes threw 7 interceptions, the first 2 by injured starter Hector Morris, who was injured just before halftime and had been taking big hits all game, and the others by backup Jacob Caldwell. There were times when a big play was taken because a receiver didn’t come back to the ball, or a wide-open man was missed because a tackle didn’t even touch the end he was supposed to. The UPA passing game was actually able to decimate the Army secondary when all went well, but drops, missed assignments and dumb throws ended up costing them the game. In the second half, the Coyotes were only down by 13 but quickly fell behind after an instant pick 6 and a three-out, followed by a 2-play Army touchdown drive that saw no less than 5 broken tackles. The Coyotes could not even escape the crushing army attack at the end of the game, as Caldwell threw a pick with only 30 second left in the 4th quarter, despite his coach’s instructions to just run the clock out, and Army’s final 7 points came with 2 seconds on the clock.

If the Coyotes want to have anything remotely close to “success” this season, they need to eliminate mistakes and focus on fundamentals. The blocking and tackling in this game looked like something out of a U12 game rather than a competitive FBS matchup. And they are out of tune-up games, as two of their next three games come against ranked opponents Pittsburgh and Purdue.

The Penn game gave fans some hope, but now the team might be fighting to even land a single recruit. Or maybe just so that their names won’t be inscribed upon a roster that will live in infamy as the worst to ever take the gridiron. This team was the one we saw in camp, and if they don’t change, there’s no reason to expect this program to fetch a W for years to come.

Stay strong, Coyote faithful. You’re going to need to if you follow this team.

Image 1: Army HB#30 catches a touchdown pass off of a UPA defender’s tip in the 4th quarter.
Image 2: Nate Morant’s 2nd stellar performance, along with his brother Domonique’s, was not enough for the Coyotes to be competitive in this game.

[SalamiGrease]

WEEK 3 HEADLINES

SI Headline: Too Little Too Late: Wolfpack return home after a 34-29 nightmare to Wake Forest

The NCAA witnessed no turnover in the top 10 this weekend, but plenty of preseason favorites have been exposed. Ohio State turned in its second poor performance of the year, winning narrowly over San Diego State 24-21. The Buckeyes locker room was silent, even after the win, and the players declined to comment on the game. Whatever may be brewing in Columbus, this year’s performance has been directly opposed to last year’s magical championship run and sugar bowl victory over the Miami Hurricanes.

Speaking of the Hurricanes, many analysts are now placing them in the number one spot in the country after a 51-17 victory over the rival Florida Gators. Head Coach Larry Coker spoke highly of his team after the victory. “You know, every practice we talk about the difficulty of execution in game versus in practice, and these kids really took those messages to heart today. Everyone gave 100% on every play and we were able to show what we were capable of.” Quarterback Brock Berlin really shined in the win, with 348 yards and 5 TDs. When asked how he felt about his performance, Berlin replied: “Obviously I’m happy about the win, but really we’re just focusing on the next game. With a team like this and a program like we have we expect to put out this kind of performance week in and week out, and so the stat sheets and Heisman race don’t take priority over playing good football.” Miami has a tough schedule again, with games against #6 Virginia Tech and #11 Pittsburgh, among others.

Next week’s slate should provide some more excitement. The Game of the Week is in Ann Arbor, with an intense rivalry matchup between Notre Dame and Michigan. Both teams set out with considerable talent and their eyes on a championship. Other games of note include #22 Arkansas vs #3 Texas, #23 NC State vs #10 Ohio State, and Fresno State vs #1 Oklahoma.

Stay tuned.

[SalamiGrease]

WEEK 3 TOP 25 POLL

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UPA (0-2) vs #11 Pitt (1-0) Game Preview

The UPA Coyotes will take on in-state “rival” and juggernaut Pitt this weekend at Mansion Park. UPA, coming off an embarrassing loss to Army, is simply trying to not get embarrassed by the Panthers, who boast some national talents, especially WR Larry Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, who was not especially impressive last week, is liable to surpass 200 yards against the slow and inexperienced Coyote secondary. If the Panthers want to move the ball on the ground, however, they boast an impressive offensive line, and halfback Brandon Miree is likely to be the best the Coyotes face all season. Defensively. The Panthers have several dominant pass-rushers who are most definitely capable of shredding the UPA line, arguably the worst position group not just on the team but possibly the whole FBS. If Pitt wants to really secure the game, however, they need to be aware of the scrambling ability of Hector Morris and the underrated Coyote receivers, especially the Morant brothers who seem to be capable of lighting up defenses. Don’t get the wrong idea, though, this game should not be close.

UPA’s keys to victory: Ball control. If they want to have a prayer, they need to keep the ball in their hands and take advantage of turnovers so that Pitt has no time at all to correct their mistakes offensively.

Pitt’s keys to victory: Play their game and don’t underestimate the opponent. They have plenty enough talent to hang 100 points on the coyotes, and if they stay cool and collected and play to the best of their ability there is no excuse to drop this game.

Prediction: Pitt 70, UPA 7