Numb...

[msuwx03]

This one is painful, but for whatever reason, it has made me more numb than it does hurt. I still think State could very well have the better team overall, but for much of the game today, we simply weren't. Some thoughts......

- when we actually play man, we are pretty good in pass coverage. Please take the soft zone and bury it forever.

- our interior defense looked pretty decent against the run. We got gashed around the edge, but up the gut we seemed OK.

- I don't know why we seem to forget we have Vick Ballard for long stretches of the game.

- I was pleased with how Clausell and the RS fresh center looked. I thought they played pretty well considering the situation.

- I don't have a problem with the playcall on the last play of the game. If you freeze it right as Relf turns the corner and ask me the outcome, I say he scores everytime. Heck, I still thought he was going to score after he got hit....guy made a great play.

I hate the injuries we sustained, but call me crazy... I think we might come back and play well Thursday night.

 

[vandaldawg]

Describes how I think and feel precisely.

 

[Uncle Ruckus]

nm

 

[DamnitDog]

I think a big weakness we had early in the first quarter was our inability to control the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage. Our Defensive Line has TONS of work to do to get better. It seems Cox and Boyd were shows, I don't remember their names being called any or maybe a little at best. Have we ever been a good sacking defense under Mullen, even with Diaz?

- Is Mullen and Wilson's philosophy on defense to have speed versus beef in our trenches? This explains the lack of sacks across the board and not too much power at the interior line.

- Early in the game, we looked slow on defense. On offense, Relf seemed a little rattled by the crowd noise or something. Later he recovered and looked normal.

- Is it just me or does it seems we always play great when we are behind against a ranked team under Mullen? Yet, as soon as we tie or take a lead our offense goes into sort of a shell and our defense collapses, even last year when we did had Diaz it did the same thing.

- The Auburn crowd was hyped early and maybe the noise affected our offense? I don't know but something was off because we sorta looked intimidated for the first time under Mullen or the first time in a while under Mullen. At 21-14 we looked great and started to fly around and play but then Auburn kept busting runs just before halftime and you could feel the momentum swing against us, mostly due to our defense being gashed.

- Hell of a tough loss just inches away. We've got to somehow put this one behind us and get ready for the damn cajuns on thursday night. I still think we're good but not elite like I had hoped for. Hail State always and no matter what!

 

[shsdawg]

release the guy who made the tackle. Make that block and Relf strolls in untouched. I agree, it's the edge, ends and linebackers. Till we stop that that's about all we are going to see.

 

[msuwx03]

I agree with what you are saying as well. I made the comment, after we came back to tie it at 14, that it says a great deal about our team, and our coaching staff for that matter, that we had about as bad a start as possible, but regained composure and settled down. Honestly, when we went up 21-14, I thought we might be about to lay the hammer down. But same thing to Auburn....credit to them for not laying down.

Beginning of the game was a disaster, and I think most of that can be attributed to the first real away game in a very hostile environment. But then we settled in. Then for whatever reason later in the 2nd, we seemed to really get out of rythym with our play calling. But I thought the offense looked very good overall through the second half. That throw to Carr needs to be a touchdown, but it was hard to see on TV what the deal was....never saw a good angle on the coverage.

If I can stomach it, I will try and watch through some of it again. My general impression was on the few occasions where Trotter took a straight, 'normal' drop for a pass, we got pretty good pressure with the D line. But it is hard to get a ton of pass rush against that offense of misdirection and quick-hitters. No doubt we need more from our DEs though.

The folks that are on here ploclaiming 6 wins is the best we can do.... maybe, but I don't buy it. There were a lot of folks down in the dumps last season when we were 1-2....and that season perked up nicely. Like I said, I think we will put up a good fight against LSU....and dangit, we are sure due for one against them. Maybe we can get 'em.

 

[Griffdawg]

we had huge plays thatwere negated by our inability to throw the key block. The throwback pass from Bumphis was just one example. We make that block and we're probably in the end zone. I'm not sure how we could have been flat for our first SEC game, but itcertainly looked that way to me. Auburn played harder than we did. I still don't think they're better than we are, but they clearly played harder and tackled better than we did. And Jesus Christ, can we hold tryouts for a kicker that canput it in the end zone?

 

[shsdawg]

Auburn WAS sky high for sure. We looked like a rebuilding team. In a sense we are in several key areas. Problem is AU was in EVERY area.