I was at the game and other than the loss we had a great time. What a great entertaining game, which I tend to forget because we lost. I was nervous and on the edge of my seat the whole time! Stadiumwise .... Easy in and easy out. Great weather, fans were good, and you guys had a pretty good crowd ... didn't hear an announcement on the official number though. As I thought on our last visit the complex is impressive and was surprised to see the new Nexturf installed this year. Are we the last team to not have this???
Jerry Seymour is as good as advertised. Quick and slippery. I just kept waiting for him to disappear into the line and come popping out the other side. For most of the game we did a good job stopping him. But on screens, outside plays, and one big run in particular I can remember he hurt us. He is so small and your QB is tall and lanky, strange combo ... but it works.
The defense was impressive up the middle. We could not run up the gut if our life depended on it. We were able to get some plays on the edge and passing down the middle a bit. Our running game consisted of WR screens and Cribbs running for his life. Not sure how it ranks to other defenses. Overall probably better than Akron and equal to Rutgers?
I do not even want to think anymore about our special teams right now. I was disgusted at the game. 3 missed field goals, 1 blocked punt, and a muffed/fumbled punt? That has got to be about as bad as can be. One thing Coach Pees did right was special teams, we never had multiple games like this decided by special teams.
Now that Mayle has been missing and the snapper has been sucking, it is all mental. The miss was a miss, the first blocked kick was a combo of bad snap, penetration, and low kick, and the last one was a low snap but mostly a very low kick.
Not sure what is going on with the punt teams. Brazen has always been slow handling, often bobbling the ball. And now with the new snapper it is showing. During the game they did change long snappers to Stolowski who has snapped in the past when people have been hurt or struggling, after that -- no problem. In fielding the punts, we missed a couple opportunities to catch it and at least fair catch it. And the one where it hit our guy in the back is just bad communication from Dowery to GET AWAY FROM THE BALL.
Now it wasn't just special teams. The WRs dropped 2-3 big balls, 2 which would have been TDs, one a game winner. Antwan in the first half on a reverse pass had a wide open TD and throws a duck. The receivers did play well and were open alot. They made some very pretty catches.
I don't know about you guys but Cribbs does not look the same. He is trying too hard or something. He threw a couple balls away that could have been picks. His passes are not as sharp as they could be and it looks like he is thinking too much whether to run/pass/throw it away. Towards the end of the game its like Martin said, if you see a hole ... just run it. Thats what got us into position for the win or OT. When he did loosen up and sling it in to an open guy, run for few extra seconds, or run for a 1st down he looked great. Just not very consistent. Just a thought, don't know if there is much to it.
We cannot pass or run block with any success. It really hurts not having Jason Andrews. He started but came out after two series and was on the sidelines with pads on and a towel on his head. He looks very slim after his surgery in preseason and has not recovered. There must be something else going on with that. The O-line had a few good plays and protections, but no consistency. Alston had a few good runs and he was slippery as usual, just could not break it. He also did very well on KOR. It seems like Cribbs needed just 1 more second to find the receiver or make a decision.
I thought our defense played fairly well. I think CMU only had one long drive for a TD towards the end of the game. Got an interception and overall played strong up front. They only gave up just over 300 yds ... not too bad, a definite improvement. They were not able to come up big though on CMUs 4th and 2 where the QB ran for a TD.
For once we had fewer penalty yds. than our opponent. Fewer holding, interference, false starts, personal fouls at times when we couldn't have them. Even had the luck on our side a few times.
Not sure if this is Fritz Jacques' first significant playing time but the freshman can play. He made a huge hit blowing up a blocker on a KOR tha had me going nuts. On defense he had a couple impressive stops but did make some freshman mistakes.
On a somber note right before the last drive there was a very scary injury to #41 Luke Busson. I have no idea what it was. Right after the kickoff he was motionless on the field for about 5 seconds then started writhing about. Finally got the team doctor out there had they had 4-5 people holding him down so he would stop moving. Brought out the backboard and everything. I really hope it was just precautionary and that he will be OK. All of a sudden the second the stretcher is off the field, the band plays, the crowd cheers, and the ball is snapped. OK lets play football. Always a strange thing to see a stretcher leave and then we go back to trying to kill each other.
Well on to next week, if we don't regroup we can end up being 1-7 real quick. Miami, Marshall, and OU is playing well (beat Kentucky!) Get the special teams together, run the ball more consistently, stop turnovers, play tough D and it will give us a chance. Not wins .... a chance.
|
