From where we sat last night, which was the very top row of the stadium, I could see each play unfold in it's entirety
My impression in the first half was that we came ready to stop the run, period dot. Recall we gave up 282 to Uga and ~355 to UF on the ground. The worst run D since 1988, and maybe worse.
MSU was not as good as either of those teams at running the ball, but we held them below their season average in the game, and their run game was not that effective in the first half.
Obviously the problem in the first half was that they were throwing the ball at will. The really interesting thing to me, from my seat, was that I could see obvious adjustments we made in the second half.
We gave their WRs far less cushion. That was the most obvious change, and it worked like a charm. We forced four straight punts to start the second half, after forcing ZERO the first half, and for the half, their QB was only 8-14 for 97 yards after going 17-23 for 194 in the first half. Even better, on the first four drives, which we stopped, he was 3-8 for 25 yards.
Too bad we couldn't keep him there for one more drive at the end.
Now for the really interesting part. After the Devron Young fumble, we came out in the same look we played in the first half (ie, 7-8 yard cushion on their WRs), and Tyler Russell (MSU QB) promptly threw a 23 yard strike over the middle. The team simply was not in the formation it had been the entire second half. Once again, they were giving the WRs way too much cushion.
The difference between the two formations in terms of performance on the D side of the ball was like night/day. We made some really good adjustments at the half.
Having said that, should we have been caught so off guard in the first half by their passing D?
Long story short...we simply were unprepared to cover their passing game in the first half, probably because they have showed a tendency to be a run-first team earlier this season and because we spent most of the last two weeks focusing on the run D. We made some great adjustments at half time, but did not stick with them on the drive after the fumble, probably due to carelessness by the team and the failure of the coaches to call a TO to fix it.
Let me also say that in their last drive, I mean not the fumble but the one to end the game, we did go back to the better formation. We really were only away from it one drive, but they did just enough on that last drive to win the game, unfortunately.
Here's how I see it...first half 27 points by the 7:46 mark of the second quarter (
). Second half, 14 total points, 7 of them on a short field from a fumble, and really only one true drive the entire half.
Holding them to one legit drive per half, would have worked, had we played it that way the whole game. Holding them on that last drive might also have worked, provided we score after getting the ball.
But FWIW, we did make some good adjustments on D at the half, from where I sat in the stadium, which was pretty much the Good Year blimp view.
