If tonight's personnel mixups were an isolated thing, it wouldn't bother me. But this seems to happen with regularity.
I don't expect too much out of this team because we are without our best player on D and our two best players on O. But we're regressing instead of progressing right now. I wouldn't be a bit shocked to see MTSU come in here and win next week.
- The OL is absolutely horrid. There is no excuse for their play. None. When you have a first and goal at the three and you have to put your freshman QB in a position to make the bad decision that Worley made in the third quarter, you've got issues. Harry Hiestand has GOT to go.
- The secondary has been a major disappointment.
- Receiver was supposed to be our strongest and deepest position. When Hunter went down, this group became completely ineffective. Rogers is proving that he is a great position when he's playing second fiddle but is apparently having problems as the No. 1 guy. He's dropping passes every week...the dropped touchdown tonight was very crucial. Arnett had a good game tonight, but overall that bunch cannot get any separation on their pass routes, they routinely drop balls...just a big disappointment.
I also am becoming increasingly concerned with how often our staff is getting schooled by opposing coaches. It's old hat for Spurrier to have his QB play fake and throw downfield on 4th-and-short. Our D was totally unprepared for it. Everybody in the stadium knew Shaw was going to run a draw on 3rd and goal from the five. Our D was totally unprepared for it.
A couple of points:
1) the first two TOs were the direct result of having a FR QB - we were in the wrong formation. Another TO was the result of the FR QB being too excited with a longish pass to Arnett and not getting the play in time.
2) Receiver - I think Dallas was over hyped, he has been a real disappointment to me so far. Zack we knew about. Arnett has improved greatly since Hunter went down and as I pointed out last night has the potential to be an outstanding receiver. Milton to this point has been a bust. Neal is making progress and perhaps as soon as the next game may be a starter. Da'Rick seems to be pressing. Also remember he had drops the firt couple of games but has been our most consistent receiver getting open, until last night. Remember it took Hunter and Da'Rick a year to get to where they were at this year.
3) The secondary played,as a unit, much better last night. Moore played well as the 3rd DB and was liberaly used in passing situations for Sap. Our two corners played very well. Teague got several snaps in the 2nd half as a B/U. IMO the TD on 1st down was a flat bust due to the design of the play that catered to the tendancies of our safeties. I'm not sure (till I look at film when I get back to bubbaville) but I suspect who it was tht blew the coverage. BTW, the corner actually played his man well (it was a two man route).
We are playing a ton of freshmen and while most, if not all, have significantly improved as the year has progressed they are still prone to lapses in the heat of the game. To the credit of the staff those lapses have decreased but they are still occuring.
Dooley is becoming more inclined to gamble and is doing evrything he can to win. The defense played well enough to win last night.