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I watched a lot of the 1st quarter on DVR just now.. some random thoughts:

1. The crowd looked bad on tv. No matter how you spin it, the crowd looked bad, and this reflects poorly on us.

2. We came out hot on offense and defense. Even though the defense looked good to start, they still couldn't tackle Willis when they had him dead to rights. On their first drive sanders had two hands on him and most of his body, and still somehow blew the tackle. We were in position to make plays on D a lot of the night, we just couldn't tackle.

3. That penalty on brown on the TD was an awful, bonehead decision, that had no bearing on the final outcome of the play. He hit the defender with the illegal block 5-10 yards behind the play right as RJS was going into the endzone. Awful, awful, awful. IMO, this just reflects poorly on the team and coaching overall, and fits into the bigger picture of our endless parade of bad penalties. That penalty changed the complexion of the game entirely.

4. They completely shut us down after about the first quarter. We were completely outcoached after we came out hot to start the game.

5. They are a really good team, and they are clearly better than us right now. However, I think we are much closer than the final score indicates. The game would've been completely different IMO if Brown didn't cost us that touchdown. After watching the first quarter again, I feel a little more encouraged than I did after leaving Protective on Saturday.