VTTW Board Index

Offense:
OL: Starters did well.  Once Cooper was hurt our efficiency went to hell.  Essentially, except for the last series in each half we had Carvin at Center.  In the 2nd quarter we moved Cade into RG and brought Davis in.  Was not successful.  In the 2nd half we moved Cade back to RT, Spraggins to RG and put Lane in at LG and we starting running the ball.  Pass Pro was not bad, Milton needs to go through his progressions better.

WR:  Really weren’t consistent at all.  Tillman was the most consistent all night (BTW, great that Tillman got the TD over their #7, who was an absolute ASS all night!).  Hyatt with a BIG drop, seemed to get gassed at times.  Jones and Payton were non factors.  TEs were not a factor, though often Waren was in one of the slots.

RB:  Both Small and Evans ran well and Evans had a really nice blitz pick up (stoned the guy cold) but Milton wasted it.  Wright played like a true FR and Peirce look good in limited mop up duty

QB:  I’d give Milton a generous C-.  His decision making was SLOW.  Passes were a bit erratic though at least an order of magnitude better than our previous starter!  I look for a significant improvement next week with the game and film under his belt


Defense:
DL:  I though overall played very well.  Rotated a lot of people though.  Stopped the run flat cold (though their poor OL had something to do with that, doubt they got more than 50 yards.  Impressed with the improvement under an actual coach!

OLB:  I think Barron is poised to have a big year.  He is playing with confidence.  Other OLBs none really stood out to me.

LB:  Banks is much improved.  Played far more inside himself tonight.  Mitchell wasn’t really afactor and the 2nd (Beasley and Harrison) unit got more PT, especially in the 2nd half though they were up and down in play making.

CB:  Taylor played very, very well.  Seemed more consistent tonight as well.  Burrell had his moments but he or a safety (judging by his reaction after the play he seemed to have expected the safety to rotate over (play was a longish pass up the East boundary).  George was the 3rd corner and IMO was a drop off from the starters.  Both Burrell and Taylor got away with some PI – Burrell flat hooked his guy once.

Safeties/Star:  Seemed some confusion at times, but got better as the game wore on.  Jackson defitnetly improved as the game went on.  BGSU were running pick plays a LOT and we seemed to have a difficult time with it in the 1st half but were much improved in the 2nd – the corners, especially Taylor, got a lot more aggressive rolling off their man to the other receiver in the 2nd half. 


Special teams:  Hardly noticed, a good thing.  Brooks was kicking shorter tonight than last year on Kos, don’t know why.  But coverage was very good – ST overall were much improved over the debacle last year.  BTW, the ST suffered a significant injury even before the game kicked off.  Ekler’s chili was flaming hot as he had blood streaming down his face from his forehead, probably from a head but.


Coaching:  Overall I thought it was good.  Clearly they were in it, coaching the players and making adjustments.  Make no mistake, Heupel is calling the plays.  The play calling was interesting.  For both offense and defense they had three black screens with colored hats on the field side calling plays.  And it was FAST.  When Cooper was first injured we slowed down, by maybe 2-3 seconds.  Most of the time if you blinked your eye you missed the play.  To show you how the ball is moved to facilitate that Hyatt caught a pass on the West sideline and went to about the 5, then SPRINTED 30 yards to hand the ball to the umpire and then sprinted to his position, (only to have the play reviewed).  The guy behind me whined the entre 2nd half about all the run plays but hell, we were running effectively so why not run the ball?

Overall, a good first game, with a heck of a lot improvement required to compete in the SEC

Good report, Pirate. Thanks.

Excellent report as always. I thought our DBs were playing too soft much of the game, and getting hung up on "picks."

Not complaining about picks (everyone does it), just  noting it.

Ann addendum:
Our pregame is significantly different
Before pads:
Often in the past the skill players would come out and get loos, throwing, running, etc.  No organization at all
Last night the early players (Hooker  was the fist QB on the field) did just that
Then it got organized into skill and big linemen types
Formal stretching, etc - never seen that b any team before

Then the formal pregame
Special teams first out and did their thing but seemed to do it less, but kicked both ways (under the last 2 staffs only kicked to the end we warmed up on)
The Lines, LB and DB drills were pretty similar to the past, but with deltas per the associated coaches desires
The QBs come out without the shoulder pads and helmet and spent a long time stretching (Bands, weighted balls, etc.)
Not sure I saw any direct snap drills
The receivers had an agility drill with poles and such
Routes on air took the entire width of the field, very impressive
Very little organized team drills (I feel more wasted time in any case)

Seems we spend a lot of time on stretching, far more than in the past
More time on individual drills, far less on team level drills

 

Thanks Pirate! Always enjoy your perspective on the games.

The staff made some great adjustments atvthe half. Been a long time since we have consistently done that.