Coming into the 2013 season the team knew we had the most challenging season in Monmouth football history ahead of us.  Leaving the NEC and joining the Big South Conference presents great challenges and opportunity for the program.  Our first game of the year was against the Montana State Bobcats, the second-ranked team in the country.

We flew out to Montana, and for me, it was my first time ever flying so it was a cool experience.  We were also able to take some time to go on a hike the day we got there.  The team had a good time with that before it was interrupted by some rain.  As for the game, it didn't go the way we wanted it to as we got off to a very slow start.  They had a 12th Man advantage with over 20,000 fans dressed in yellow screaming all game long.  The outcome of the game was very disappointing for us however I do think we learned a lot from that game.

Things weren't going to get any easier as we had to begin preparing for another great team in Liberty the following week.  We had to prepare for another talented team and also another packed house.  Liberty had a very impressive student section, and even though they had less fans they were much louder than Montana was.  We had to make a few adjustments during the game due to the noise.  As an offense we got off to another slow start which didn't help out our defense, which was playing lights out.  I was able to find the end zone to give us our first score of the game which made the score 9-6.  Scoring in front of that crowd was a great feeling especially since it quieted them momentarily.  We didn't make enough plays however the rest of the night to keep them quiet as they had an explosive second quarter.  We battled in the second half, but the lead they built themselves was too big to come back from.

Looking back on both games from an offensive point of view, we realize we can't get off to these slow starts anymore.  We have been putting too much pressure on or defense and are digging ourselves too deep of a hole.

I appreciate you checking out this blog, and I look forward to bringing you some insight to the Monmouth Football program this year. We are really looking forward to playing at Holy Cross this weekend and for the opportunity to play what should be another great game against a very good team.

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