First, Want to take my hat off to all the kids who kept fighting yesterday. That was truly impressively.
Now to the nitty-gritty.
On Offense:
1. Tommy is the captain and he showed it. That was an epic performance on his part and feel bad that effort ended the way it did. He earned the game ball and no one else was even close.
2. As good as our QB was, our guards were bad. Both of them. If they're the best we have, that is a real indictment of the previous staff's recruiting. I'm sure Utter and Kondolo are good kids, but they are getting whupped out there amd something needs to change. Until these positions do improve, it is going to be very hard for Langsdorf to call anything as they are so essential to almost every successful play.
3. Newby does some things very well, but my instinct is that given the failures of our interior line, Wilbon with his better lateral movement needs more snaps. That being said, was glad to see Cross in I-formation on that 3rd and short. He is a load and with any small gap, he'll get the yards.
4. I can't explain how snakebit our receivers were in the first half, but damn that put us in a serious hole. Thank goodness they pulled it together in the 2nd.
In Defense:
1. I think it's safe to say that the pre-season hype about our DL was wrong. At least in the passrush, they've been effectively stood up and stopped. That being said I think the blitz has been totally ineffective and at this point would rather see the extra defender in coverage than rushing.
2. As disappointing as our DL has been, our CB's are struggling just a badly. Against BYU it was a size mismatch. Against Miami it was a speed mismatch. Davie in particular needs to show better positioning and technique. Jones seemed to look better. And to his credit, no one appears to be even trying to pass at Jonathon Rose.
3. Our LB's look young. They take a lot of key missteps which cost us regularly. This is an area you hope improves over the season, but realistically it may take until next year for this unit to become "average".
My bottom line takeaway: Other than maybe Tommy, I don't think there was one unit where we had better talent than Miami. RB, WR, OL, DL, LB, DB and even at Special Teams, I think they had better athletes than we did. The fact that Tommy willed us back into the game was a testament to him. But candidly thinking the cupboard was much more bare than we had been led to believe. After watching the first three games, anything over .500 is going to be a "good season", and thinking we might have to accept we need at least one JuCo-heavy recruiting class to reach B1G-average in terms of raw roster talent. Until then, I think our coordinators may have a significant challenge in each and every game.
Good luck to all the coaches and players. Keep fighting guys! You guys showed a ton of heart and I for one was feally proud of you. And for the fans, please stop tweeting the players. They feel bad enough as it is. You guys piling on and antogonizing them directly is only going to make things worse.
Go Big Red! Matthew.
Now to the nitty-gritty.
On Offense:
1. Tommy is the captain and he showed it. That was an epic performance on his part and feel bad that effort ended the way it did. He earned the game ball and no one else was even close.
2. As good as our QB was, our guards were bad. Both of them. If they're the best we have, that is a real indictment of the previous staff's recruiting. I'm sure Utter and Kondolo are good kids, but they are getting whupped out there amd something needs to change. Until these positions do improve, it is going to be very hard for Langsdorf to call anything as they are so essential to almost every successful play.
3. Newby does some things very well, but my instinct is that given the failures of our interior line, Wilbon with his better lateral movement needs more snaps. That being said, was glad to see Cross in I-formation on that 3rd and short. He is a load and with any small gap, he'll get the yards.
4. I can't explain how snakebit our receivers were in the first half, but damn that put us in a serious hole. Thank goodness they pulled it together in the 2nd.
In Defense:
1. I think it's safe to say that the pre-season hype about our DL was wrong. At least in the passrush, they've been effectively stood up and stopped. That being said I think the blitz has been totally ineffective and at this point would rather see the extra defender in coverage than rushing.
2. As disappointing as our DL has been, our CB's are struggling just a badly. Against BYU it was a size mismatch. Against Miami it was a speed mismatch. Davie in particular needs to show better positioning and technique. Jones seemed to look better. And to his credit, no one appears to be even trying to pass at Jonathon Rose.
3. Our LB's look young. They take a lot of key missteps which cost us regularly. This is an area you hope improves over the season, but realistically it may take until next year for this unit to become "average".
My bottom line takeaway: Other than maybe Tommy, I don't think there was one unit where we had better talent than Miami. RB, WR, OL, DL, LB, DB and even at Special Teams, I think they had better athletes than we did. The fact that Tommy willed us back into the game was a testament to him. But candidly thinking the cupboard was much more bare than we had been led to believe. After watching the first three games, anything over .500 is going to be a "good season", and thinking we might have to accept we need at least one JuCo-heavy recruiting class to reach B1G-average in terms of raw roster talent. Until then, I think our coordinators may have a significant challenge in each and every game.
Good luck to all the coaches and players. Keep fighting guys! You guys showed a ton of heart and I for one was feally proud of you. And for the fans, please stop tweeting the players. They feel bad enough as it is. You guys piling on and antogonizing them directly is only going to make things worse.
Go Big Red! Matthew.
