I didn't think we played that bad. Not nearly as poor as last week.

[Sutterkane]

We were basically up 27-3 and let off the gas. No doubt we were very sloppy for the first 2-3 possessions but I thought we played "ok".

I know everybody wants us to put up 55-70 points but we're just not that kind of a team. It also wasn't like last week where we played a super soft zone and let the other team pick us apart.

 

[Palos verdes]

We played worse on offense and slightly worse on defense. Remember this team isn't as good as Troy. I'm afraid our offense has spun a rut that we will have to work out at Kentucky.

 

[RC3]

I didn't think we played that badly either

I thought the playcalling was the problem in the 1st quarter. Should have established the run first and we didn't really even attempt to do so on the 1st three possessions. Defensive line seemed to be getting a whole lot more pressure than last week. Special teams were much much better.

 

[Todd4State]

To me

This is the opposite of what happened last week. Last week, the offense looked good other than the plethora of dropped passes and the defense looked bad. Tonight, the offense looked really bad and the defense looked good.

This is what's frustrating to me/us State fans- we SHOULD play better against these teams. I don't know about 56 points, but certainly in the 40's. It sure shouldn't be what we saw tonight.

It's not a talent issue- it's a focus issue and an effort issue. The team simply is not playing the best that they can play, and while yeah- I do understand that's not going to happen every single time- it's a recurring theme for us. The other thing is- when something bad happens, it seems like entire units on our team have problems. It's not just one guy not catching the ball it's every single WR, it's not just one guy missing assignments on defense, it's all the linebackers, and etc.

 

[FlabLoser]

We played to the level of our competition. It's what mediocre to good teams do.

But we sucked. USA is not yet a Sun Belt team. Next year they get to be a Sun Belt team.

That sad, I'm not worried.

 

[Todd4State]

How do you figure we were worse on defense?

We played worse on offense and slightly worse on defense. Remember this team isn't as good as Troy. I'm afraid our offense has spun a rut that we will have to work out at Kentucky.

We held them to 104 yards in the first half, and most of their sustained drives were against our back-ups. We were much more aggressive and multiple and I can guarantee you that we didn't have nearly as many missed assignments.

 

[Sutterkane]

We played to the level of our competition and won by 3 TDs?

 

[Sutterkane]

We scored 30 points both weeks. Both USA and Troy's defenses are very suspect. Alabama won 40-7 also giving up a late TD; I guess their defense played worse this week too. Wonder if their fans are freaking out.

 

[futaba.79]

maybe it's just me...........

but i knew when we started experimenting with the lineup we weren't going to blow them out. It's a 20 pt win. Could've been 30 or 40 but Mullen choose not to go that route. I saw what was happening and I'm cool with it.

 

[Palos verdes]

Ok, first off, I watched the entire game and our d-line flat out got beat on many plays. They were 17ing anemic!! No pass rush to speak of and we played a team with zero play makers! On offense, our execution was worse than last week. Tyler looked confused and our recievers were covered up as if the corners were attached to them. Tyler also took several hard shots. My surmise is that we played better on both sides last week and Troy was a dangerous team. I know our hearts weren't in the game, but after last week, we should have had a much better showing tonight. I hope we can resolve some issues before Kentucky and Tenn. Mullen's face in the second half was very telling to me.

 

[Todd4State]

We had a pass rush

We didn't have very many sacks, but we certainly got pressure on them and we stuffed their running game. I think Denico had four QB hurries by himself. Now, we may not have put on a clinic, but we were a lot better on defense tonight than we were last week.

 

[TimberBeast]

but i knew when we started experimenting with the lineup we weren't going to blow them out. It's a 20 pt win. Could've been 30 or 40 but Mullen choose not to go that route. I saw what was happening and I'm cool with it.

Exactly, I don't understand how others aren't seeing this. It's not like this game was in doubt or anything. We are trying to get our depth real game experience. It is a good thing. The game was over at halftime.

 

[engie]

Exactly, I don't understand how others aren't seeing this. It's not like this game was in doubt or anything. We are trying to get our depth real game experience. It is a good thing. The game was over at halftime.

Bingo.

We are trading the style points for the ideal that we develop enough depth to be able to play smashmouth with LSU and Alabama for 4 quarters. Can we? Who knows? But that is the idea behind what we are doing in getting experience for SO many players...