Positives:
1.) The play of the O-line. They looked shaky early, but got consistently better as the game progressed. Bowling Green's defense is only slightly better than the proverbial wet paper bag, but last year this unit would've had trouble fighting through the paper bag. I view this as the biggest question mark with this team. Although I'm not going to declare a complete turn-around until I see how this group performs against a legit defense, clearly they're improved.
2.) The play of Josh Dobbs. Another big question mark for me. I thought he looked even better than against Iowa. He made a couple of decisions he won't get by with against Oklahoma or an SEC opponent, but he was very sharp overall.
3.) The return game.
4.) Punting! I thought this might be a weak spot for this team, but maybe not. Vols averaged 47 yards per punt tonight.
5.) The running game, obviously. Hurd and Kamara speak for themselves, but John Kelly may provide better depth than anyone expected.
Concerns:
1.) The secondary. Duh.
2.) The D got pressure on the QB when Jancek dialed up blitzes, but the D-line struggled to do it alone.
3.) The receivers struggled to get open down the field, missed crucial blocks at the point of attack in run support, and had two penalties that took 14 points off the board. In other words, they underwhelmed just like last season.
4.) What in the world is going on with Medley? Does he have an injury that has been kept quiet? Kicking should be a strong point, not a cause for concern.
the receivers were inconsistent. One series Malone just didn't run a good route, led to an incompletion. The very next play he runs a crisp deep in, side open and a nice gain.
Jennings is making plays with his athleticism. When he figures out what he is doing, look out.
North was a waste of plays tonight, as was Smith.
The FR blocked ok in mop up duty. Didn't set the eorld on fire but no real bad busts.
BTW, Coleman should be the center, period. Dot. He played very well today
On defense, it seemed to me that Berry was late a lot. The pass to the receiver over Jumper, right before their fumble was a good example. Kelly played ok in relief of Randolf.
After the non weather delay we changed the defense, a lot. It was far more effective overall. The DBs were much more "handsy" on the receivers after the break.
Difficult to get pressure agains some of those passes but the changes we made after the break seemed to increase pressure, even if he got the pass off it was under duress. BTW, Burnett with good coverage on the zone blitz
IMO Kirtland played better at Mike than Jumper did. Both from a pure defense perspective and in making the calls. I saw R-M correcting Jumper a lot.
