Disclaimer, it never sucks to be 4-0, and there will be quite a few negatives discussed in the following content, but it is all under the umbrella of sheer jubilation about us being undefeated. I will do position by position, then some general thoughts on personnel, scheme, remaining schedule.
QB - [B-] I honestly havent seen anything new out of Russell so far this year. That said, I thought Tyler was a very capable QB last year. He had stretches of amazing accuracy last year as well. More than adequate arm, very good accuracy, just a little off on his internal clock. This is not all his fault, of course. Our offensive inconsistency without a true punishing run game makes us susceptible to some ugly stretches. What we have now that we never had before is a QB that has the ability to lead a quick-fire comeback if we do fall behind.
RB - [B+] Perkins is looking every-bit the SEC back, but I still dont think he is the back that Ballard or Dixon were. If we were still read-option, he would be even more dangerous. That said, he is certainly not a weak point for the team. Milton and Robinson show tons of potential and a bright future. I still believe the negativity re: Griffin is premature.
TE - [C+] Need Malcolm back. Not for Kentucky either. Let him get that extra week of rest and unleash him on Tennessee. Then rest him again for MTSU to be ready for the stretch run. If we ever have Brandon Hill, Johnson and Green all healthy, that will be a formidable rotation.
WR - [C+] mixed bag here. I attribute some of our problems to the scheme, which I will get to later. The good: Bumphis seems to have it all coming together. I hope he continues what he started against Auburn in SEC play. I still have a lot of hope for Robert Johnson, Tubby and Morrow becoming impact players. We still dont appear to have an elite talent, but I think RoJo is going to emerge and Tubby will be a star if we can get him the ball more efficiently. Morrow is just a freshman, let him develop. The bad: consistent inconsistency. drops, route-errors, etc. Hopefully Brewster will start getting this on track. If the route options are as elaborate as someone alluded to the other day, we need to start over.
OL - [B-] I love that we have been able to rest Smith and get Malone quality snaps in the process. This line is more rubber band than brick wall, but it has done a good enough job of slowing the other team. Still looking for someone to snap a DL's head back on a running play. Tobias Smith is the only guy that I have seen do it so far. I think we are very strong on technique, which will only improve going forward. The line will take on a different personality with T. Smith in there, we just have to hope he can make it through the rest of the season.
DL - [C] Really my whole conversation here goest to personnel decisions. I still dont like the full-line subs. We have never been a team to get pressure in the run or pass game consistently since Wilson has been here, and that concerns me. We were 95th in TFL going into the USA game. Having watched the line a little closer, one of the things I am concerned about his how we teach our players to use their hands. It seems to be more about strength and less about quickness with the hands, and I think that is backwards. That said, Quay is going to be a star. He should really be 1st team opposite Boyd right now. PJ Jones should make a big impact when he returns, hopefully in time for UT. More of the same so far from Boyd and Autry seems to be getting into gear - you really cant expect too much from Autry against these teams that let it go so quickly.
LB - [B-] Hopefully it has just been our simplified schemes that has made this unit look fairly pedestrian. Individually, we have seen a lot of good things out of Wells and Skinner. Cam is still invaluable for his leadership out there and hopefully become more of a factor as the season continues. Still a lot of potential in McKinney.
CB - [A+] One of the best combos we have seen.
S - Nickoe appears to be rounding into form. Broomfield is a little feast or famine, but he is getting the job done. This group and the LBs has to get the intermediate middle nailed down going forward.
Offensive Scheme and Personnel - So far, offensive statistics are less than stellar, especially considering the teams we faced. Looks like they truly tailored it to Tyler, which is good. Need to see more pistol, more of the "soul-crushing counter" play in the run game. Need to get the ball to Tubby in space and let him do his thing. So far it has been deep-middle and deep sideline routes with him, which doesnt make a lot of sense. More bubble screens for Bumphis and RoJo. The quick throw to RoJo is one of our more consistent plays - he almost always gets 4+ yards out of it. I hope that M. Johnson truly opens this offense up. Stay on schedule, run some quick slants and crossing routes with the RB as a safety valve. Keep using Dak just like we are.
Defensive Scheme and Personnel - dont have much to add here. Covered most of it in the DL bit above. It just 17ing seems like we 17ing sub our entire defense on some set schedule regardless of the situation. Like I have said before, it seems like our D could go out, get a 3 and out, go rest while our offense runs a 10 minute drive, then still see the 2nd team D run out the next drive just because it is their turn - doesnt matter if the game is close or they have good field position or whatever. I am glad we got some experience for our backups, but I hope this wholesale substitution pattern ends soon.
ROS Outlook -
Kentucky and MTSU are still no doubters, guaranteeing us bowl eligibility before the end of October, which is just awesome.
Tennessee, Arkansas and Ole Miss are "should wins" - Our team matches up beautifully with UT. Arkansas is a dumpster fire, but you all know why I cant put this as a guarantee (very close though). Ole Miss should be a guarantee, but the law of averages and home field advantage has me not wanting to wake the indians with a guarantee.
A&M is a "can win" - their offensive scheme worries me - my hope is that the home field tips it in our favor.
Bama and LSU - should not win....right?
I am going to stick with my 8 win prediction for now.
QB - [B-] I honestly havent seen anything new out of Russell so far this year. That said, I thought Tyler was a very capable QB last year. He had stretches of amazing accuracy last year as well. More than adequate arm, very good accuracy, just a little off on his internal clock. This is not all his fault, of course. Our offensive inconsistency without a true punishing run game makes us susceptible to some ugly stretches. What we have now that we never had before is a QB that has the ability to lead a quick-fire comeback if we do fall behind.
RB - [B+] Perkins is looking every-bit the SEC back, but I still dont think he is the back that Ballard or Dixon were. If we were still read-option, he would be even more dangerous. That said, he is certainly not a weak point for the team. Milton and Robinson show tons of potential and a bright future. I still believe the negativity re: Griffin is premature.
TE - [C+] Need Malcolm back. Not for Kentucky either. Let him get that extra week of rest and unleash him on Tennessee. Then rest him again for MTSU to be ready for the stretch run. If we ever have Brandon Hill, Johnson and Green all healthy, that will be a formidable rotation.
WR - [C+] mixed bag here. I attribute some of our problems to the scheme, which I will get to later. The good: Bumphis seems to have it all coming together. I hope he continues what he started against Auburn in SEC play. I still have a lot of hope for Robert Johnson, Tubby and Morrow becoming impact players. We still dont appear to have an elite talent, but I think RoJo is going to emerge and Tubby will be a star if we can get him the ball more efficiently. Morrow is just a freshman, let him develop. The bad: consistent inconsistency. drops, route-errors, etc. Hopefully Brewster will start getting this on track. If the route options are as elaborate as someone alluded to the other day, we need to start over.
OL - [B-] I love that we have been able to rest Smith and get Malone quality snaps in the process. This line is more rubber band than brick wall, but it has done a good enough job of slowing the other team. Still looking for someone to snap a DL's head back on a running play. Tobias Smith is the only guy that I have seen do it so far. I think we are very strong on technique, which will only improve going forward. The line will take on a different personality with T. Smith in there, we just have to hope he can make it through the rest of the season.
DL - [C] Really my whole conversation here goest to personnel decisions. I still dont like the full-line subs. We have never been a team to get pressure in the run or pass game consistently since Wilson has been here, and that concerns me. We were 95th in TFL going into the USA game. Having watched the line a little closer, one of the things I am concerned about his how we teach our players to use their hands. It seems to be more about strength and less about quickness with the hands, and I think that is backwards. That said, Quay is going to be a star. He should really be 1st team opposite Boyd right now. PJ Jones should make a big impact when he returns, hopefully in time for UT. More of the same so far from Boyd and Autry seems to be getting into gear - you really cant expect too much from Autry against these teams that let it go so quickly.
LB - [B-] Hopefully it has just been our simplified schemes that has made this unit look fairly pedestrian. Individually, we have seen a lot of good things out of Wells and Skinner. Cam is still invaluable for his leadership out there and hopefully become more of a factor as the season continues. Still a lot of potential in McKinney.
CB - [A+] One of the best combos we have seen.
S - Nickoe appears to be rounding into form. Broomfield is a little feast or famine, but he is getting the job done. This group and the LBs has to get the intermediate middle nailed down going forward.
Offensive Scheme and Personnel - So far, offensive statistics are less than stellar, especially considering the teams we faced. Looks like they truly tailored it to Tyler, which is good. Need to see more pistol, more of the "soul-crushing counter" play in the run game. Need to get the ball to Tubby in space and let him do his thing. So far it has been deep-middle and deep sideline routes with him, which doesnt make a lot of sense. More bubble screens for Bumphis and RoJo. The quick throw to RoJo is one of our more consistent plays - he almost always gets 4+ yards out of it. I hope that M. Johnson truly opens this offense up. Stay on schedule, run some quick slants and crossing routes with the RB as a safety valve. Keep using Dak just like we are.
Defensive Scheme and Personnel - dont have much to add here. Covered most of it in the DL bit above. It just 17ing seems like we 17ing sub our entire defense on some set schedule regardless of the situation. Like I have said before, it seems like our D could go out, get a 3 and out, go rest while our offense runs a 10 minute drive, then still see the 2nd team D run out the next drive just because it is their turn - doesnt matter if the game is close or they have good field position or whatever. I am glad we got some experience for our backups, but I hope this wholesale substitution pattern ends soon.
ROS Outlook -
Kentucky and MTSU are still no doubters, guaranteeing us bowl eligibility before the end of October, which is just awesome.
Tennessee, Arkansas and Ole Miss are "should wins" - Our team matches up beautifully with UT. Arkansas is a dumpster fire, but you all know why I cant put this as a guarantee (very close though). Ole Miss should be a guarantee, but the law of averages and home field advantage has me not wanting to wake the indians with a guarantee.
A&M is a "can win" - their offensive scheme worries me - my hope is that the home field tips it in our favor.
Bama and LSU - should not win....right?
I am going to stick with my 8 win prediction for now.
