1. For those of you that thought we wouldn't miss Dixon, how ya feeling now? We may get the running game going yet, but we win that game going away with 24. Like many of you, I am not sure why we abandoned the read option. Hanrahan is talented and deserves the touches he is getting. We aren't trying hard enough to get Perkins in space. He made one run last night - a one-cut against the grain off-tackle, that was brilliant. He has it in him.
2. For those of you that thought Mullen was beyond reproach, how ya feeling now? This is only a slight indictment of Mullen, as I don't think he lost us the game, but I think he could have made better decisions. So many things went wrong that it is impossible to just put this on Mullen. He didn't drop passes or fumble the football. Some of his substitutions/personnel decisions were questionable. The thing I keep coming back to re: Mullen is that he is an offensive guru...that is his calling card....and we had MULTIPLE chances against a questionable defense to win this game outright. That is what he gets paid to do. Score points. He just couldn't get it done - part of it was the failed execution of the players, no doubt, but I still feel that he should have found a way to get us in the endzone.
3. For those of you that thought Relf's accuracy would be greatly improved, how ya feeling now? Again, this is only a slight indictment of Relf, as our use of Relf was very questionable. I almost felt like I was having flashbacks of Croom or Jackie trying to make Omarr a pocket passer. Why weren't we rolling the pocket? Relf shows a lot better accuracy on the move. That said, he probably made enough plays to win the game last night, but also go lucky on some other plays. Intermediate to deep crossing routes or posts? Just close your eyes, because that is what Relf is doing. Even some of the completions he made were horrible. That long pass to Vick Ballard should have been a touchdown all day. How lucky did we get on the 4th down completion to Arceto Clark?
4. For those of you that thought Russell would only play in garbage time, how ya feeling now? Unlike many, including my good friend 8dog, I don't think it was wrong to play Russell last night. He made his freshman gaffe giving the ball to the Auburn DE, but other than that I thought he looked pretty good. His passes were still crisp and on the money. He had some drops that would have extended drives and who know what would have happened. Now, don't get me wrong, I would have been just as happy to see triple option and read option all night to see where that took us, but I also recognize that Russell brings something to this offense. It is pretty clear that Mullen does not have full faith in Relf. I think Relf scares Mullen a little. There is no other explanation for the overuse of Lee last year. I believe he should have been in there for the 2 min. drill at the end. I would much rather have Russell taking 4 chances with the ball in the air than Relf. Unfortunately, our receivers are so suspect that we probably can't rely on Russell as much as we need to this year.
5. Receivers. Gah. I do feel bad for Berry, but it is time for him to sit for Chris Smith, who played a nice game. We have nobody that can beat deep coverage. "My boy" C Bump had a nightmare of a game, but I still hope he can be our guy in the slot. That still doesnt answer the question on the outside though. We need to get Michael Carr up to speed fast. Where was Marcus Green last night?
6. O-Line and offense as a whole. Not a great showing by our O-Line. That pretty much sums it up. They need to get better. No push in the middle. I think our offensive ineptitude was a combination of turnovers, POOR POOR execution and some strategic mishaps by the staff. We probably could have overcome one of those 3 problems, but all 3 doomed us. We need to find an inside running game. We should be able to run the ball even with Russell in there. My biggest concern after this game is that we failed to take advantage of what is supposed to be a very suspect defense. Ark. St. outgained us, no? That is ridiculous. The problem to me is that it does not appear that we have a big play threat in us when it comes to playing decent competition. Couple that with the fact that we are not consistent enough to reliably sustain drives and you have a big problem.
DEFENSE
1. I am not ready to call the d-line overrated, because who was really rating them besides our wooly fans? Can we get pressure with our 4 down linemen? Apparently not. However, there was a lot of scheming by Auburn to get the ball out quick and avoid that. Auburn has a pretty good O-line, but really it was Newton that made our d-line look bad. This is still a very solid group. There is still no answer at DE opposite McPhee and I although we do a pretty good job clogging the middle we have a hard time getting pressure up the middle.
2. LB - when Diaz dials up the blitz with the LBs or safeties, it is fun to watch. White is an animal between the hashes and I think still getting his feel for the sideline to sideline game. It is almost like it takes him a few series to get warmed up. Wright is feast or famine - I really think he has been consistently overrated his entire career. He made a few of good plays in the run game but also disappeared at times. Our OLBs and corners were killing us against their bubble screens. Still havent found an answer at OLB but I think Lawrence is better than Gatling. Big play by Michael Hunt last night was good to see.
3. Secondary - a few mistakes but I still think this is going to be a really good unit by the end of the year. Whitley is only going to get better. Broomfield! Dammit boy! I thought you were going to take another one to the house.
4. Defense as a whole - no complaints. That was a tough offense to face and we held them to 17 points. 10 of which came off a turnover/short field.
I haven't re-watched the game yet, so some of this could change with a second viewing. All in all, I still think we are a good football team, it is just going to be a fight to get to the postseason. I just hope our players can get up for these next two games.
My concerns I listed at the beginning of the year are pretty much spot on:
http://sixpackspeak.yuku....all-team-this-year-.html
1A. QB Play. It stays here until proven otherwise. 1B. Turnovers, which are directly related to 1A.
2. The Schedule.
3. WR Play. Although I feel a little better about this lately.
4. RB - I don't care what everyone says, we need someone to step up.
5. O-Line Depth.
6. Secondary - mostly due to some inevitable blown coverages as a result of adjusting to a different scheme.
2. For those of you that thought Mullen was beyond reproach, how ya feeling now? This is only a slight indictment of Mullen, as I don't think he lost us the game, but I think he could have made better decisions. So many things went wrong that it is impossible to just put this on Mullen. He didn't drop passes or fumble the football. Some of his substitutions/personnel decisions were questionable. The thing I keep coming back to re: Mullen is that he is an offensive guru...that is his calling card....and we had MULTIPLE chances against a questionable defense to win this game outright. That is what he gets paid to do. Score points. He just couldn't get it done - part of it was the failed execution of the players, no doubt, but I still feel that he should have found a way to get us in the endzone.
3. For those of you that thought Relf's accuracy would be greatly improved, how ya feeling now? Again, this is only a slight indictment of Relf, as our use of Relf was very questionable. I almost felt like I was having flashbacks of Croom or Jackie trying to make Omarr a pocket passer. Why weren't we rolling the pocket? Relf shows a lot better accuracy on the move. That said, he probably made enough plays to win the game last night, but also go lucky on some other plays. Intermediate to deep crossing routes or posts? Just close your eyes, because that is what Relf is doing. Even some of the completions he made were horrible. That long pass to Vick Ballard should have been a touchdown all day. How lucky did we get on the 4th down completion to Arceto Clark?
4. For those of you that thought Russell would only play in garbage time, how ya feeling now? Unlike many, including my good friend 8dog, I don't think it was wrong to play Russell last night. He made his freshman gaffe giving the ball to the Auburn DE, but other than that I thought he looked pretty good. His passes were still crisp and on the money. He had some drops that would have extended drives and who know what would have happened. Now, don't get me wrong, I would have been just as happy to see triple option and read option all night to see where that took us, but I also recognize that Russell brings something to this offense. It is pretty clear that Mullen does not have full faith in Relf. I think Relf scares Mullen a little. There is no other explanation for the overuse of Lee last year. I believe he should have been in there for the 2 min. drill at the end. I would much rather have Russell taking 4 chances with the ball in the air than Relf. Unfortunately, our receivers are so suspect that we probably can't rely on Russell as much as we need to this year.
5. Receivers. Gah. I do feel bad for Berry, but it is time for him to sit for Chris Smith, who played a nice game. We have nobody that can beat deep coverage. "My boy" C Bump had a nightmare of a game, but I still hope he can be our guy in the slot. That still doesnt answer the question on the outside though. We need to get Michael Carr up to speed fast. Where was Marcus Green last night?
6. O-Line and offense as a whole. Not a great showing by our O-Line. That pretty much sums it up. They need to get better. No push in the middle. I think our offensive ineptitude was a combination of turnovers, POOR POOR execution and some strategic mishaps by the staff. We probably could have overcome one of those 3 problems, but all 3 doomed us. We need to find an inside running game. We should be able to run the ball even with Russell in there. My biggest concern after this game is that we failed to take advantage of what is supposed to be a very suspect defense. Ark. St. outgained us, no? That is ridiculous. The problem to me is that it does not appear that we have a big play threat in us when it comes to playing decent competition. Couple that with the fact that we are not consistent enough to reliably sustain drives and you have a big problem.
DEFENSE
1. I am not ready to call the d-line overrated, because who was really rating them besides our wooly fans? Can we get pressure with our 4 down linemen? Apparently not. However, there was a lot of scheming by Auburn to get the ball out quick and avoid that. Auburn has a pretty good O-line, but really it was Newton that made our d-line look bad. This is still a very solid group. There is still no answer at DE opposite McPhee and I although we do a pretty good job clogging the middle we have a hard time getting pressure up the middle.
2. LB - when Diaz dials up the blitz with the LBs or safeties, it is fun to watch. White is an animal between the hashes and I think still getting his feel for the sideline to sideline game. It is almost like it takes him a few series to get warmed up. Wright is feast or famine - I really think he has been consistently overrated his entire career. He made a few of good plays in the run game but also disappeared at times. Our OLBs and corners were killing us against their bubble screens. Still havent found an answer at OLB but I think Lawrence is better than Gatling. Big play by Michael Hunt last night was good to see.
3. Secondary - a few mistakes but I still think this is going to be a really good unit by the end of the year. Whitley is only going to get better. Broomfield! Dammit boy! I thought you were going to take another one to the house.
4. Defense as a whole - no complaints. That was a tough offense to face and we held them to 17 points. 10 of which came off a turnover/short field.
I haven't re-watched the game yet, so some of this could change with a second viewing. All in all, I still think we are a good football team, it is just going to be a fight to get to the postseason. I just hope our players can get up for these next two games.
My concerns I listed at the beginning of the year are pretty much spot on:
http://sixpackspeak.yuku....all-team-this-year-.html
1A. QB Play. It stays here until proven otherwise. 1B. Turnovers, which are directly related to 1A.
2. The Schedule.
3. WR Play. Although I feel a little better about this lately.
4. RB - I don't care what everyone says, we need someone to step up.
5. O-Line Depth.
6. Secondary - mostly due to some inevitable blown coverages as a result of adjusting to a different scheme.