Offense:
OL: Fair, at best. Our OTs were abused. Kendrick had his worse game of the year IMO. Richmond was abused early but seemed to improve, a bit. The interior had a few busts but provided negative push on interior runs (best blocking for interior runs by TEs). In pass blocking inconsistent as hell. Started very bad and maybe improved to fair. Several of Dobbs' runs were scrambles due to poor pass protection.
RB: Kelly was very good, like to see him used more as a receiver. He runs with violence. Kamara was poor as a runner, didn't seem to have his typical burst. As a receiver ok, dropped a sure TD. We are in good hands with Kelly as the lead RB but need a FR or Fils-Aami to step up as a #2. Kelly has the power of the quitter but with far better speed.
WR: Malone has developed into a good receiver. Jennings dropped two TDs but otherwise played well. Smith was ok, nothing to write home about. Byrd played his most snaps of the year but needs to develop better consistency. George got more snaps than usual but did nothing if note with them. Dobbs could have thrown for 450+ yards on their secondary if needed and minus the three dropped TD passes.
TE: best game of the year, both in receiving, line and downfield blocking. IMO Croom played better than Wolf down the stretch and last night. Scott has done a good job with the group. Wish we had another year with Croom at TE.
QB: Ho hum, just another day at the office for Dobbs. Nothing special to discuss ... All that aside it was not his best game but his most consistent IMO. His command of the offense was on display. Nebraska went zero coverage on two plays in the 1st. On the first I don't know if the slant to Jennings was called but Dobbs recognized the coverage and moved Jennings himself. If the slant had been called he moved Jennings to provide proper spacing but I believe he changed the route as well. On both passes he put the ball where he needed to, Jennings and Kamara flat dropped them.
Dobbs had some poor passes but only once did he put the ball close to danger but that was due to pressure that resulted in a short throw as Jennings had (barely) got behind the defender. Later, essentially the same play Jennings dropped the ball.
Running? Out freaking standing.
Grade: A+ We will miss him next year. Was he an elite passer? No, but he really improved his passing this year, much more a complete QB and IMO a much better QB than a recent croc QB that Peyton replaced in Denver.
Defense:
DL: Best game of the year, even with only one true DT. The ends abused their OTs all freaking night. The tackles played much better against the run and were a presence in the pass rush. Kongbo had, by far, his best game of the year and for sure played his most snaps. He also chased plays down the field. His improvement from the last game was phenomenal. The only long run was given up by the 2nd string DL & LBs. DB9 wasn't just a spass rusher. He defended the run well and at least twice dropped into coverage, the 2nd of which he covered a TE to the sideline for a minimal gain. He should be a top 5 pick.
LB: Kirtland played much closer to his ability. Easily his best game coming back from the injury. His burst was back. A couple of breakdowns but it was good to see him healthier. Jumper was as Jumper is
CMac played, for the most part, pretty good. Bynum played a lot in the first half in our 4-3. Berry played a few series. A lot of our run D success was due to improved LB play. Need to improve pass coverage.
DB: Cam had a quiet night, mostly because they avoided him. When given the opportunity he played well, though I'd like to have seen him come off his man to help out the safety on one of their TDs. The other corners were poor, at best. Gaulden played the best I'd anyone not named Cam. He covered the slants very, very well. He was also our chief blitzed from the secondary.
Safeties need to improve. Period. Dot. TK played ok, though in the first half he was essentially playing LB except in true passing situations. Most early down plays he was within 10 yards of the LOS at the snap. Almost all the first half we played one deep safety but unlike earlier in the year we didn't rotate the safeties in and back.
One thing was consistent was poor DB skills displayed throughout the game (my in game post might have expressed my frustration).
ST: Grade B
Two KO out of bounds but after a 45+ made FG Medleynstarted kicking the ball into the end zone, wierd.
Punting was inconsistent except that twice we downed the ball inside the 5, one at the 1 foot line.
Byrd fumbled a return but we were aggressive in returns last night, something we we really hadn't been since Berry's injury.
Coaching: The team was prepared to played and the game plans were pretty good, especially on defense. In the 4th quarter we effectively changed how we were covering their best receiver.
IMO Jones needs to make two changes. It is clear to me the secondary is not performing well and showed little to no improvement through the season, with really poor skills development displayed to the point I think we regressed. The OL regressed though I might give Mahoney another shot due to the injuries, though with a month of preparation this lineup didn't perform well IMO.
Go VOLS!
