2023 LUFKIN PANTHER FOOTBALL TOPIC DISCUSSIONS

[PurpleNation]

6 minutes ago, PackAttack said:

Drinking my coffee this morning, can't do a thing about last night, or next week or the next for that matter.  I probably should keep up with my phone better. 

My buddy reminded me on the way home last night, it is what it is here and things will not get better until the people or those in charge want a change for the better. 

Whatever it takes, cause  he said Lufkin football getting blanked like that, with the supposed talent we have this year points only one way.

That Lufkin has been decimated by Longview 41-5, 56-7 and now 42-0 consecutively indicates a deeper issue than player talent. 

Well crap, we have 6 more games to go here, where is this thing going again? What are we fans suppose to do or expect?

This is not just getting old, it's over ripe and getting seedy. Maybe the talent isn't what we believed, I don't believe that at all. Then why the huge separation between the Lufkin football program and Longview?

If it's not the kids or the talent, what's the issue? You guys will need to figure out that 139 to 12 points gap the last three years. It will come to you.

I think the offense needs to figure something out. If they can't eat up clock and sustain drives the defense can only do so much. Longview had 350 yards rushing in 2022. Last night I think they finished with 186 on 38 carries or something close to that. That's a drastic improvement where we couldn't stop the run at all against them a year ago. Longview had 330 yards of total offense last night. I think Lufkin finished with 220 yards(That's the problem) 100 yards difference shouldn't be a 42 point gap. That tells me we have up short fields and turned the ball over. They had 3 scoring drives that went 27,17 and 7 yards. Defense can't do anything about that against a team like Longview. Offensively we just didn't look prepared. We had some plays where the WRs got open and we just couldn't get them the ball. Like I said who else in 5A has a defense that dominant? Absolutely no one. I don't think Forney is remotely as good as Longview on defense. Offensively they're going to cause some problems in the passing game that we will have to be ready for.

[Packfan49]

18 minutes ago, PackAttack said:

Drinking my coffee this morning, can't do a thing about last night, or next week or the next for that matter.  I probably should keep up with my phone better. 

My buddy reminded me on the way home last night, it is what it is here and things will not get better until the people or those in charge want a change for the better. 

Whatever it takes, cause  he said Lufkin football getting blanked like that, with the supposed talent we have this year points only one way.

That Lufkin has been decimated by Longview 41-5, 56-7 and now 42-0 consecutively indicates a deeper issue than player talent. 

Well crap, we have 6 more games to go this season, where is this thing going again? What are we fans suppose to do or expect?

This is not just getting old, it's over ripe and getting seedy. Maybe the talent isn't what we believed, I don't believe that at all. Not one bit. Then why the huge separation between the Lufkin football program and Longview?

If it's not the kids or the talent, what's the issue? You guys will need to figure out that 139 to 12 points gap the last three years. It will come to you. 

PA this is the same drum I been beating for the six or seven years, and almost everyone was defending the problem. Hoping with the change in administration maybe some other changes will happen in the future.

[PackAttack]

7 minutes ago, Packfan49 said:

 Just want to say that I never thought in my wildest dream I would see us shutout. This team was supposed to have  been a play-off group. We are going to face more teams that are good, maybe not as good as LV in district, so I'm not as excited about the season. Man that was a gut punch last night, because it shows how one dimensional we are on offense.  T J stares down his receivers ,linemen can't block etc. Do we have a qb coach and if so what is he during too help? As I said early good teams will stack the line and dare us too  throw. Young is a good back, but you just can't run the ball in 5A and expect too win every week. I,m so glad I decided not to go last night. I watched the streaming feed , until halftime. That was  embarrassing to the Lufkin Panther program. 

Your QB coach is the same guy calling plays. Let me tell you something, our QBs, whoever they are are not allowed to come off the primary WR, even if they are triple covered. They will get in trouble for doing so. Run the play as called, he is not staring down WRs, he is throwing to the only WR he is allowed to throw.

[pimpthepen]

I wonder why Galvin didn’t make the trip , But the Qb play is horrible it hasn’t been consistent in that position since for awhile now SMH 

[Pack13]

Last night was the tale of two programs. One ran a varied offense, one ran the same two plays to start every drive. One put its studs in positions to affect the game, one did not. One had developed athletes, one did not. Did any of our four teams score a point?

[Favpack]

Scores for the past three years against LV have been a combined 140+ to 12.  Lobos were best in class last year - this year?  Will they win district?  Probably - but I don't see a deep run with this group.  Regardless - we are a mediocre program that is not the same zip code as LV of late.  If we are not in the same district next alignment - let's drop the Lobos for Kilgore, or someone else where we don't embarrass ourselves.   

[PurpleNation]

14 minutes ago, PackAttack said:

Your QB coach is the same guy calling plays. Let me tell you something, our QBs, whoever they are are not allowed to come off the primary WR, even if they are triple covered. They will get in trouble for doing so. Run the play as called, he is not staring down WRs, he is throwing to the only WR he is allowed to throw.

We definitely need some fresh ideas on offense. We need a faster tempo with way more pre snap motion. 

[Packfan49]

41 minutes ago, PackAttack said:

Your QB coach is the same guy calling plays. Let me tell you something, our QBs, whoever they are are not allowed to come off the primary WR, even if they are triple covered. They will get in trouble for doing so. Run the play as called, he is not staring down WRs, he is throwing to the only WR he is allowed to throw.

Well that explains it, that I didn't know,

[Packfan49]

23 minutes ago, Favpack said:

Scores for the past three years against LV have been a combined 140+ to 12.  Lobos were best in class last year - this year?  Will they win district?  Probably - but I don't see a deep run with this group.  Regardless - we are a mediocre program that is not the same zip code as LV of late.  If we are not in the same district next alignment - let's drop the Lobos for Kilgore, or someone else where we don't embarrass ourselves.   

I kind of with you on this one, I don't see  LV as strong as a few years ago.

[Packfan49]

43 minutes ago, pimpthepen said:

I wonder why Galvin didn’t make the trip , But the Qb play is horrible it hasn’t been consistent in that position since for awhile now SMH 

You are 100% right on that 

[Packfan49]

44 minutes ago, pimpthepen said:

I wonder why Galvin didn’t make the trip , But the Qb play is horrible it hasn’t been consistent in that position since for awhile now SMH 

Gavin had some trouble at school ,from what I heard

[PackAttack]

10 hours ago, PurpleNation said:

We definitely need some fresh ideas on offense. We need a faster tempo with way more pre snap motion. 

There was a reason I didn't make a prediction on this game. I'm hearing that Zion is going to be okay, may miss a game or so.  The main thing, it doesn't sound like a season ending injury.  Someone might confirm that news.

Longview is the real deal, they did to the Lufkin offense just what they did to it in 2022 and 2020, that's because there are no fresh ideas coming from that side of the ball. Same old stuff.  Then again, when the passing game is not working, I guess your only option is your Norte dame bound RB. What else do you do?

Offense put the defense defending short fields, same as last two meetings, that's the Lobo way of doing business. Longview is a much better program than us,  we are also just snake bit playing them. If anything can go wrong against them, it really goes wrong. It's become phycological block IMO.

[PurpleNation]

55 minutes ago, Packfan49 said:

I kind of with you on this one, I don't see  LV as strong as a few years ago.

I thought that but apparently they ain't far off and we didn't help ourselves last night. 

[PurpleNation]

52 minutes ago, PackAttack said:

There was a reason I didn't make a prediction on this game. I'm hearing that Zion is going to be okay, may miss a game or so.  The main thing, it doesn't sound like a season ending injury.  Someone might confirm that news.

Longview is the real deal, they did to the Lufkin offense just what they did to it in 2022 and 2020, that's because there are no fresh ideas coming from that side of the ball. Same old stuff.  Then again, when the passing game is not working, I guess your only option is your Norte dame bound RB. What else do you do?

Offense put the defense defending short fields, same as last two meetings, that's the Lobo way f doing business. Longview is a much better program than us,  we are also just snake bit playing them. If anything can go wrong against them, it really goes wrong. It's become phycological block IMO.

I also heard Zion will be ok. Nothing serious. My buddy said it looks like they have mind control over us 😂

[mr. b]

1 hour ago, PurpleNation said:

I think the offense needs to figure something out. If they can't eat up clock and sustain drives the defense can only do so much. Longview had 350 yards rushing in 2022. Last night I think they finished with 186 on 38 carries or something close to that. That's a drastic improvement where we couldn't stop the run at all against them a year ago. Longview had 330 yards of total offense last night. I think Lufkin finished with 220 yards(That's the problem) 100 yards difference shouldn't be a 42 point gap. That tells me we have up short fields and turned the ball over. They had 3 scoring drives that went 27,17 and 7 yards. Defense can't do anything about that against a team like Longview. Offensively we just didn't look prepared. We had some plays where the WRs got open and we just couldn't get them the ball. Like I said who else in 5A has a defense that dominant? Absolutely no one. I don't think Forney is remotely as good as Longview on defense. Offensively they're going to cause some problems in the passing game that we will have to be ready for.

King could have easily scored 70 last night.   If Forney has the chance to run up the score, I would expect 70 there too   

 

[Packfan49]

I made a comment that LV may not be as good this as some of their teams in the past. Well the defense looked awesome last night, but look at who they were playing. In the play offs teams will be a lot tougher than us and will slow Tatum down and have better offenses than us. I don't think the passing as good also but you have to admit,Lufkin made them look invincible last night.😟

[timeout!]

4 minutes ago, Packfan49 said:

I made a comment that LV may not be as good this as some of their teams in the past. Well the defense looked awesome last night, but look at who they were playing. In the play offs teams will be a lot tougher than us and will slow Tatum down and have better offenses than us. I don't think the passing as good also but you have to admit,Lufkin made them look invincible last night.😟

Only time will tell how far Longview will go. I know their team has been consistent and will not fold like a deck of cards. King will have his team prepared and will be hard out for anyone they face. A large portion of their fans don't really consider us a marque game anymore. They didn't bring a big crowd to ABE last year. And I saw a lot empty seats on their side last night. They look at us the same way they do Marshall or kinda how we see NAC. 

[LPanther]

Lufkin is not on Longview's level by any means, but they didn't catch any breaks last night either. Would not have affected the outcome much, but would've at least been nice to see them put their best foot forward. A few new wrinkles on offense would be nice. Longview knows the Panthers plays as well as they do; nothing seems to change game-to-game, year-to-year.

That being said; it's ONE district game. The Panthers are still capable of making the playoffs if they play to their talent level. Even though Forney hasn't played anyone this year, I do believe they are for real. Chalk that game up as a probable loss. Assuming they beat the bottom dwelling teams, their playoff chances will be determined by how they fair against Lancaster/McKinney North/Tyler. They're capable of beating all three, but also capable of losing to all three. They probably have more athletic ability and talent than all three of those teams, but we all know there is more to it. I do believe if they can improve their passing game and limit the penalties at CRITICAL times, they can have a successful season. One game at a time.

Lancaster's early struggles are outlined in the Dallas Morning News article below: 

Lancaster down two stars in loss

Lancaster was expected to be one of the best teams in Texas, and it started the season ranked No. 4 in the state in Class 5A Division I. This was a program that was 40-9 over the last four years, including 9-3 last season, and it returned four-star cornerback Corian Gipson (committed to Clemson) and three-star running back Kewan Lacy (committed to Nebraska).

 

But four weeks into the season, Lancaster has already matched its loss total from last season, falling to 1-3 with a 28-21 loss to McKinney North in its district opener Thursday. This was a team that Lancaster beat 74-7 last season.

Lancaster played the fourth quarter without Lacy, who was having an extraordinary game before he rolled his ankle late in the third quarter and was held out the rest of the game as a precaution. Lacy ran for 179 yards on 20 carries, had a 70-yard touchdown catch and returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown to help Lancaster rally from a 21-0 deficit to tie the score 21-21.

 

Lancaster coach Leon Paul said Friday that Lacy will be able to play next week when his team hosts Longview, ranked No. 2 in the state. Whether Lancaster will have Gipson in that game remains to be seen.

Gipson didn’t play Thursday, and Paul said it wasn’t the first game he has missed this season. Paul declined to say why Gipson is out and said he is questionable for next week’s game.

[timeout!]

2 hours ago, PackAttack said:

There was a reason I didn't make a prediction on this game. I'm hearing that Zion is going to be okay, may miss a game or so.  The main thing, it doesn't sound like a season ending injury.  Someone might confirm that news.

Longview is the real deal, they did to the Lufkin offense just what they did to it in 2022 and 2020, that's because there are no fresh ideas coming from that side of the ball. Same old stuff.  Then again, when the passing game is not working, I guess your only option is your Norte dame bound RB. What else do you do?

Offense put the defense defending short fields, same as last two meetings, that's the Lobo way f doing business. Longview is a much better program than us,  we are also just snake bit playing them. If anything can go wrong against them, it really goes wrong. It's become phycological block IMO.

Longview has a better program than Lufkin, from top to bottom. I mentioned how well their sub varsities team play a couple of weeks ago. You get the same effort and style of play at all levels. They expect to win and represent Longview brand of ball. It may not be varsity, but carries over when they get there. It's rinse and repeat in a good way. Not the rinse and repeat we have here. 

Many of us knew this game would be a test for Lufkin. Longview was gonna put that mirror in our face and show us who we are. We were punched in the face and didn't respond. So many things we can talk about. 

Our offense is easy to defend for a program like Longview. Those guys tackle well and not gonna just let you run all over the field on them. You can get away with that stuff against Nac and Legacy. That AMC game should've been warning sign for Lufkin. Our offense takes a big dip against better coached team. We can only expect Kedren to do so much. The passing window become a lot smaller and the Qb is forced to make decisions a lot faster. All of those things lead to mistakes and turnovers. It's been my opinion for many years, that Lufkin should scrap that watered down version of the spread and start over. 

Our defense was hit and miss. They started out well and got a key top on the first drive. But then fell apart as the game went on. Too many miscues in the secondary and they never figured out how to stop Longview long enough to get off the field. Tutt and crew always came up with a play when needed. Defense didn't get any favors from our offense either.

There was a discussion about Tutt vs Hammonds. Most of us agreed that Hammonds is a better Qb. I think that still stands. BUT..Tutt fits in a system that allows him to be much more successful in what he is asked to do vs what Hammonds is in ours. He plays within himself and executes that offense well. The run game and offensive line give him the chance for PA passes and bootlegs for easy reads. Their defense does the rest. He won't have to put up a ton of points against most teams. 

Next week will be another gut check for Lufkin. We will prob be without Zion and maybe a couple other key players. Lufkin better figure something out something out Quick..PUN intended..or this thing can start to unravel pretty fast. 

We have some talented players this year. But it's gonna take a lot more than that to get this right. Lets see if the coaches can rally the guys and get them ready for another big game. Forney will go after our throats next Friday.

[PurpleNation]

2 hours ago, mr. b said:

King could have easily scored 70 last night.   If Forney has the chance to run up the score, I would expect 70 there too   

 

I don't think he could have if we didn't help them as much as we did. When you have 3 Drives that start at the 27,17 and 5 you're asking to get blown out. I'm not saying they didn't have a lot to do with it but we had some opportunities to score and couldn't make the play. Next week will tell us even more because Forney isn't as good as Longview. Remember they beat those guys like a drum last season (46-7) too and will probably do it again. Longview is head and shoulders better then everyone in 5A outside of Aledo and honestly I think they're going to beat them and win state this year. Longview is beating the brakes off everyone not just us.

[timeout!]

56 minutes ago, PurpleNation said:

I don't think he could have if we didn't help them as much as we did. When you have 3 Drives that start at the 27,17 and 5 you're asking to get blown out. I'm not saying they didn't have a lot to do with it but we had some opportunities to score and couldn't make the play. Next week will tell us even more because Forney isn't as good as Longview. Remember they beat those guys like a drum last season (46-7) too and will probably do it again. Longview is head and shoulders better then everyone in 5A outside of Aledo and honestly I think they're going to beat them and win state this year. Longview is beating the brakes off everyone not just us.

I'm concerned about our guys confidence, injuries and the  X's/O's going into the Forney game. We came out flat and uninspired after taking a beat down from Longview last year. Will that be the same  this Friday? We will also probably be without Zion and maybe a few others. And can our coaches get our talented, but young secondary settled this year? Honestly, Forney didn't look all that on film when I watched them play. But I also thought we looked a lot better than what we showed last night. We prob won't see another defense like Longview again this year. But it won't matter if we can't execute any better than last night.

[PurpleNation]

2 minutes ago, timeout! said:

I'm concerned about our guys confidence, injuries and the  X's/O's going into the Forney game. We came out flat and uninspired after taking a beat down from Longview last year. Will that be the same  this Friday? We will also probably be without Zion and maybe a few others. And can our coaches get our talented, but young secondary settled this year? Honestly, Forney didn't look all that on film when I watched them play. But I also thought we looked a lot better than what we showed last night. We prob won't see another defense like Longview again this year. But it won't matter if we can't execute any better than last night.

The offense is my concern because Forney is going to score points. We should be able to slow them down but for how long if the offense can't generate anything.

[timeout!]

22 minutes ago, PurpleNation said:

The offense is my concern because Forney is going to score points. We should be able to slow them down but for how long if the offense can't generate anything.

 

We play much better with a lead and allow Kedren to help milk the clock. We will lose if we try to get into a shootout with Forney.

I still think we are in a better position these year at 0-1 than last year. But things will start to really tighten up next week. It's almost a must win game for Lufkin. I also think Tyler upsets somebody this year. Our playoff chances will prob go down to the last week of the season like last year. 

[PurpleNation]

12 minutes ago, timeout! said:

 

We play much better with a lead and allow Kedren to help milk the clock. We will lose if we try to get into a shootout with Forney.

I still think we are in a better position these year at 0-1 than last year. But things will start to really tighten up next week. It's almost a must win game for Lufkin. I also think Tyler upsets somebody this year. Our playoff chances will prob go down to the last week of the season like last year. 

I wouldn't go must win yet but after that we would need to for sure beat the Mesquite schools and Tyler. Pretty confident that will happen unless something goes horribly wrong. The McKinney North and Lancaster games will decide our fate. Neither one of those teams scare me. McKinney North can't play defense and Lancaster can't score. If Tyler beats McKinney North then we should win out minus Forney.

[timeout!]

Does anyone know the last time Lufkin scored 0 points in a game?