Got back from Auburn in the wee hours of the morning, but just now reading the board and posting. My thoughts:
1. We don't have a single SEC CB on the roster. Period. There was a lot of kool-aid serving all spring and summer here about how Marcus Washington was improving and Damien Anderson could be serviceable. Thank God I didn't buy it. Granted, I didn't think Anderson would be SWAC bad. But he is. Where the hell is Louis Coleman? I thought he was supposed to be a player. But if he can't beat out Anderson....*shudder, hurl* It might be time to consider putting Thames at CB and burning his RS. It's early enough in the season, and he can't be worse than Anderson. There should be open tryouts for all former HS CBs tomorrow on campus. They can't be worse than what we have.
As for our Safeties, Zach Smith is Josh Morgan reincarnate. Charles Mitchell is not only our best safety, but also our best CB. Maybe it's time to consider moving him to CB for the season and starting Cam Lawrence? Just an idea.
2. We did an "ok" job of containing the running game until Auburn figured out they could torch us in the air. That opened up the running game, combined with the misdirection plays.
3. Holding the option until the 3rd Quarter was genius. Malzahn is one hell of an OC.
4. We need a DL or 2, at least.
5. Where was the blitz?? Or the 4-3?? No adjustments made by Torbush whatsoever. You aren't going to stop a team that's running it down your throat with only 3 down linemen. Then aGAIN, see 1 & 2.
6. Special teams are SPECIAL aGAIN. After the punt prior to the punt we blocked, I turned to some of the guys sitting next to me and said I thought we could block one tonight if we came for it. I had been watching their P closely and thought he was taking too long to get the ball away. Sure enough, we dialed up the block the very next punt. Excellent call by Mullen. Major props to Heath Hutchins, too. Anyone still worried about Brauchle? Don't be. Leon Berry is going to break one, maybe next week. He seems right on the verge.
7. OL looked serviceable. Not great, certainly not worldbeaters, but serviceable. Major improvement from this group.
8. WRs are improved and faster. Disappointed we never got the ball to Bumphis. Where were Elliot and Green? Why was Tyson running the Wishbone on the GL? Relf ran the 'bone in HS, and he's a helluva lot harder to tackle in a GL situation. Guess it doesn't matter if all you're doing is handing off to AD, though.
9. RBs are the strength of the team. Shocker.
10. We don't have a single SEC QB on the roster. It's painfully obvious Lee can't see over the line and can't throw over the line. He has the arm strength of a wet noodle and can't complete a pass longer than 8 yards. He's as good as he's going to get. Relf....is inexperienced. But he's got upside. We're stuck with him 2 more years. My advice: take our lumps with Relf. He ran the 'bone in HS and hasn't ever really been asked to read pass coverage or throw much before now. He worked his butt off this summer. Doesn't look like the same QB. Granted, that wasn't hard. He still sucks, but as I said, he at least has upside. It'll be VERY ugly, but I'd rather play him, develop him, and hope for the best. As I said above, Lee is as good as he's going to get. At least there's some hope for Relf. And he gives us some options running the ball that Lee doesn't.
11. Major respect for Mullen. Unlike his predecessor, he refuses to throw the players under the bus and blame the talent. Like JWS, he deflects criticism and shoulders all of the blame on he & the staff. Refreshing.
Bottom line: You can't make chicken salad with chicken ****. We've got chicken **** at 2 of the most crucial positions on the field. I'm on the verge of revising my prediction of 4-8 to 1-11. I don't know who the hell we'll beat, because any team halfway capable of passing is going to shred this secondary. Torbush better get aggressive and creative, quickly. It's a damn shame we're so bad at CB & QB, because the rest of the team is competitive. Yeah, we could use a couple more OL, but from what I saw last night, we need CBs much, much, much more. I'd love to take a cat o' nine tails to Crxxms considerably large butt. He left Mullen precious little talent to work with. The only way out of this hole is to recruit our way out of it.
1. We don't have a single SEC CB on the roster. Period. There was a lot of kool-aid serving all spring and summer here about how Marcus Washington was improving and Damien Anderson could be serviceable. Thank God I didn't buy it. Granted, I didn't think Anderson would be SWAC bad. But he is. Where the hell is Louis Coleman? I thought he was supposed to be a player. But if he can't beat out Anderson....*shudder, hurl* It might be time to consider putting Thames at CB and burning his RS. It's early enough in the season, and he can't be worse than Anderson. There should be open tryouts for all former HS CBs tomorrow on campus. They can't be worse than what we have.
As for our Safeties, Zach Smith is Josh Morgan reincarnate. Charles Mitchell is not only our best safety, but also our best CB. Maybe it's time to consider moving him to CB for the season and starting Cam Lawrence? Just an idea.
2. We did an "ok" job of containing the running game until Auburn figured out they could torch us in the air. That opened up the running game, combined with the misdirection plays.
3. Holding the option until the 3rd Quarter was genius. Malzahn is one hell of an OC.
4. We need a DL or 2, at least.
5. Where was the blitz?? Or the 4-3?? No adjustments made by Torbush whatsoever. You aren't going to stop a team that's running it down your throat with only 3 down linemen. Then aGAIN, see 1 & 2.
6. Special teams are SPECIAL aGAIN. After the punt prior to the punt we blocked, I turned to some of the guys sitting next to me and said I thought we could block one tonight if we came for it. I had been watching their P closely and thought he was taking too long to get the ball away. Sure enough, we dialed up the block the very next punt. Excellent call by Mullen. Major props to Heath Hutchins, too. Anyone still worried about Brauchle? Don't be. Leon Berry is going to break one, maybe next week. He seems right on the verge.
7. OL looked serviceable. Not great, certainly not worldbeaters, but serviceable. Major improvement from this group.
8. WRs are improved and faster. Disappointed we never got the ball to Bumphis. Where were Elliot and Green? Why was Tyson running the Wishbone on the GL? Relf ran the 'bone in HS, and he's a helluva lot harder to tackle in a GL situation. Guess it doesn't matter if all you're doing is handing off to AD, though.
9. RBs are the strength of the team. Shocker.
10. We don't have a single SEC QB on the roster. It's painfully obvious Lee can't see over the line and can't throw over the line. He has the arm strength of a wet noodle and can't complete a pass longer than 8 yards. He's as good as he's going to get. Relf....is inexperienced. But he's got upside. We're stuck with him 2 more years. My advice: take our lumps with Relf. He ran the 'bone in HS and hasn't ever really been asked to read pass coverage or throw much before now. He worked his butt off this summer. Doesn't look like the same QB. Granted, that wasn't hard. He still sucks, but as I said, he at least has upside. It'll be VERY ugly, but I'd rather play him, develop him, and hope for the best. As I said above, Lee is as good as he's going to get. At least there's some hope for Relf. And he gives us some options running the ball that Lee doesn't.
11. Major respect for Mullen. Unlike his predecessor, he refuses to throw the players under the bus and blame the talent. Like JWS, he deflects criticism and shoulders all of the blame on he & the staff. Refreshing.
Bottom line: You can't make chicken salad with chicken ****. We've got chicken **** at 2 of the most crucial positions on the field. I'm on the verge of revising my prediction of 4-8 to 1-11. I don't know who the hell we'll beat, because any team halfway capable of passing is going to shred this secondary. Torbush better get aggressive and creative, quickly. It's a damn shame we're so bad at CB & QB, because the rest of the team is competitive. Yeah, we could use a couple more OL, but from what I saw last night, we need CBs much, much, much more. I'd love to take a cat o' nine tails to Crxxms considerably large butt. He left Mullen precious little talent to work with. The only way out of this hole is to recruit our way out of it.
