Well, looky here!
What exactly did the football Blazers do yesterday?
They forced 5 turnovers, and scored a TD after every single one (3 directly).
They went 4/4 in the red zone, with 4 TDs.
They were flagged twice for 15 yards.
They completed 77% of their passes to 10 different receivers.
They sacked the quarterback 5 times and hit him at least that many more.
They held the ball for 12 minutes in the 4th quarter. Second week in a row. Twelve long, soul-crushing minutes.
They followed up a wild road win with a well-executed performance at home. That has happened so depressingly seldom in the past that it bears pointing out.
That was a thorough dismantling of a team that probably had us penciled in as a cupcake in August.
So, anywho, on to the observations.
The Good
This is going to ramble enough without renumerating all that was awesome yesterday, so I'll just go with a few things that jumped out at me.
1. There is something surreal and improbably pleasing about a 310 lb man on a breakaway touchdown run. Find the pic on al.com. The look on Morris' face will warm your heart.
2. Cody Clements is a scrapper, and his arm's a lot more lively than I gave him credit for in August.
3. Anybody besides me enjoy watching Jimmy Jean cover punts?
4. The alumni band. Bringing in the original director and first drum major was cool. Very, very cool.
5. The ticket upgrade to the Champions' Club for which I am indebted to Attalla and Frenchy. To you good sirs, I say thank you, buddy, and
merci mon frere. It's nice to see how the other half lives, but it's not really conducive to yelling, and I'm a yeller at football games.
6. blazerwkr's chicken bites. Lord, those things ought to be illegal. Speaking of illegal, somebody jacked them during the game.
The Bad
I got nothin'. Really.
The Ugly
1. UNT. They could not get out of their own way. Their poor QB was a deer in the headlights. Tough little running back, though. As hard as it is to believe, they outgained us by 3 yards. Are they as bad as they looked yesterday? I don't know. I'm pretty sure we're not as bad as we looked against FIU.
Best Smack of the Day
From yours truly, "We'll see who's green is meaner."
So, what does this mean, Barbara?
Will we win next week? I don't know. Will we get to 6 wins? I don't know. Will we get that coveted bowl invite? I don't know.
What I do know is I'm watching a team learning to execute on every play and finish games. I expect to get after 'em in Murfreesboro next week.
I know it's the middle of October and I'm as excited about football as I was on August 30.
That's all I've got. For now. I think.