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Well, that was disappointing.

Every year I stress the importance of the offensive line. The specific line I use is, "Nothing good ever happens that doesn't start with these guys."

When you can't run the ball, and you can't protect the quarterback, you get what we got yesterday. Two starters out and one ejected early.

We rushed for 47 yards (minus the 48 we lost on 7 sacks, we finished with -1 in the box score).

We completed 9 of 24 passes (38%) for 90 yards and an interception.

Not to belabor the point further, here are our offensive possessions yesterday:

Field goal
Punt
Punt
Punt
Punt
End of half
Interception
Punt
Punt
Punt
Punt
Punt
End of game.

Hard to win games that way.

Funny thing is, our defense played well enough to win yesterday. That last TD was junk points against a gassed D. They held the ball over 9 minutes longer than we did yesterday.

I had a personal streak broken yesterday. Until yesterday, I had not personally witnessed this football team lose since November 8, 2014.

Anywho, on to the observations

The Good

It was fun road tripping with a good bunch of guys. If you go expecting to win, you are sometimes disappointed. If you go expecting to have a good time, you never are.

This concludes this portion of the observations.

The Bad

I've already laid out our offensive woes. But something that really struck me was the sparse crowd. I'm not one generally to harp on attendance, because it's a sore spot for UAB fans and we live in a conference full of glass houses, but wow. Red Floyd Stadium's capacity is 31K. Announced attendance was 14K and change. The claim that that stadium was 47% full is, to put it as charitably as I can, hallucinatory.

I get it. Holiday weekend. Students are out. Still, they were playing for their post-season lives.

Oh, and Bar B Cuties. We took over the place. It was easy, because there were no locals there. Should have been a clue. Thumbs down. Half the fun of traveling is trying new places, though admittedly, it's pretty hit-or-miss. Yesterday it missed, which could have been an omen, I suppose.

The Ugly

The beating poor AJ Erdely took. Yikes.

Telling Stat of the Day

S. Brown. 1 carry. 0 yards.

Smack of the Day

Making small talk with a Middle fan at lunch (okay, there was one), he asked, "You guys placing your order for next week?"

Well played, ya bastard.

So, what does this mean, Barbara?

It means we gotta go back to Murfreesboro next week. It means the city of Birmingham has a little egg on its face. They bet on us and lost. All that said, we are playing for a conference championship next week and that is no small thing in year two post-apocalypse. If we get some people healthy, we'll likely see a different ball game. If we don't, we might not.

Either way, I plan to be there, and you should, too.

That's all I got. For now. I think.

The name Bar B Cuties should have been a clue. Legit bbq joints don’t use the name cuties

There was one woman there. Seemed be the only person there. I think "cutie" might have been a slightly optimistic characterization.

The Slick Pig should be open next week however kind of hard to go there before the game & probably no incentive to go there after the game.

Was good seeing you before the game. We ended up moving to the 50 yard line. Hate that Bar-B-Cutie was not good, but we went to Sam's Sports Grill in Murfreesboro and it was pretty good. I won't be making the trip this week because I hate leaving my wife and one year old for two weeks in a row but will be going to the bowl game. Will be cheering from bham. Go blazers!

We may not go either. We will have to see.

Had we known some of the specifics of what was going on with injuries etc. we might not have been so involved in the game as we were.

I don't see how you can not start TJ3 and everyone else & lay it on the line here.

I will be there. I don't know what the hell's going to happen, but what I do know is if they win the conference championship and I wasn't there and could have been, I'd kick myself.

Hopefully we won’t have 7 starters out again.

Already had backup center in then lost two more then another one ejected (well deserved I might add)

If I can drive 1,600 miles round-trip to be there, you can be there.

What happened yesterday sucked, but it doesn’t mean we should abandon this team or what it has accomplished.


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(11-25-2018 05:07 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  Hopefully we won’t have 7 starters out again.

Already had backup center in then lost two more then another one ejected (well deserved I might add)

Yeah the ejection was well warranted. Still can’t understand why someone would want to punch someone that’s wearing a helmet?

Looked on the TV like he landed a clean uppercut, for what that's worth. At least he didn't do it during the second half, so he can start this week instead of sitting out a half.

Their #80 threw a punch in the game as well and one of their linemen kicked the hell out of AJ while he was down as well as a few other things. It was pretty chippy.

(11-25-2018 04:42 PM)Smaug Wrote:  I will be there. I don't know what the hell's going to happen, but what I do know is if they win the conference championship and I wasn't there and could have been, I'd kick myself.

THIS! And now that I have to rent a car at the airport, I’ll be sending Butch Davis the invoice.

(11-25-2018 07:39 PM)FNblazer Wrote:  

(11-25-2018 04:42 PM)Smaug Wrote:  I will be there. I don't know what the hell's going to happen, but what I do know is if they win the conference championship and I wasn't there and could have been, I'd kick myself.

THIS! And now that I have to rent a car at the airport, I’ll be sending Butch Davis the invoice.

Why? Had we won, we’d be the host. Send Bill Clark the invoice.


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