VTTW Board Index

OL:  very, very poor.  Thomas played bull fighter most of the night and when he didn't he held.  The right side was a disaster.  Wiseman made one good play when he hustled and recovered Hurd's fumble.  He cost us a TD by not being effective on 2nd and 1 in OT.  Kendrick beat Hall? :eek:  the left side was more effective, at least in run blocking
TE:  Wolf had a good game.  We really missed Ellis in the run game.  Our 2 TE look with the Wolf brothers was a disaster in the run game.
RB: Hurd played very well but had an uncharacteristic fumble and pass protection breakdown.  Kamara not many opportunities.
WR: Williams started strong and then seemed to fade from the scene, dropped TD (nice touch by Dobbs on the throw).  Malone had two plays in a row but otherwise was a non factor.  Smith runs a nice route only to have a wounded duck thrown to him.  Jennings was himself, as in aggressive.  Non of the FR/JC players saw the field.  To be fair I didn't spend a lot of time watching the receiver vs the line.
QB:  we saw a continuation of the single deminsion Dobbs, which includes poor decisions, poor passing and in general poor all around play.
Coaching:  Interesting would be a word.  Very close to the vest.  Really didn't use the read option (go back and look at the 4th quarter as an example). We made the decision we were going to run the ball come hell or high water, and given the inability of the OL to block three rushers most of the night probably a good call.

I still think any problem with the offense is the fault of the Head Coach selecting an Offensive Coordinator that he is comfortable with. Where is this offensive genius to work with OL to help us improve? What we saw last night was a Michigan run offense that does not know how to pass. We also saw how not letting your QB or best RBs not take hits all preseason plays out. All night long the OL watched the defense run by them because they moved pre-snap. I thought DeBord was an OL genius that had all the answers. DeBord looked like an old man stuck in the 1980s Big Ten football. Butch needs to get out of his comfort zone and hire an OC that can scheme something other than a run, run, throw it over-his-head or into the ground attack. No imagination. Center was the weak point last night so move the natural center back into position and plug in a guard that can block.

This game was just poor, poor coaching on the offense. Poor preparation and even worse adjustment (or lack of) during the game. You beat speed rush with speed running, not power. It was obvious the Kamara could have helped more, but it seemed DeBord/Butch were just being stubborn on running Hurd even when their were 2 or 3 defenders always on him. Hurd showed no speed of power last night and went down first contact. Was it the result of almost zero contact because they were saving him for whole season? Maybe. But if you overlook an opponent (I think Butch did by not changing until OT), all that saving hits is wasted because you outthink yourself. This poor game is on the coaching staff.

kamara had chances and looked pedestrian in doing so

Williams did well early because they backed off him and gave us the quick hitter for 5-7.   They adjusted in the last half the first quarter and we had no answer, unfortunately.   At least not until the Malone catch.  Of which...thank God! 

they essentially changed to a cover 2 concept most of the time.
Early on they were playing more a 3rds

When I saw the SECN replay the weak side safety had deep responsibility but bit hard on the run fake.
The, play side safety moved up to cover the wing motioning to play side
Nice play design

My take... My expectation is to give 14 points a game... a team that gives that many points is more likely than not to have a GREAT year. You just don't expect an offense that remained intact from what the team was last year to be so flat. Having the safeties making most of the tackles reminded me of the marme defenses of the late 80s was it? That can't be what we traded up from last year for... I hope it was that they were playing it close to the vest but more likely they listened to their press instead of appy states press. I gotta admit... I did absolutely no scouting against that team myself. Then again... that ain't my job.