Some of you may have missed when Hopkins got hurt. I too thought they ran Newsome up the middle a few too many times (crazy right???) but without Hopkins they had to. Mensah is not really a between the tackles back either. Most of his successful runs have been off tackle. I think Temple did a great job taking Newsome away in the passing game. They either spied him or blitzed off the edge opposite of where he lined up in the backfield disrupting the mesh point. But, his presence in the backfield keeps the defense honest. Neither Mensah (yet) nor Hopkins are a threat in the pass game. If you don’t run him (which he has the ability to pop one) you minimize his effectiveness as both a runner and a receiver. Mensah is going to be really good but he probably has a greater chance of fumbling because of his inexperience he’s going to fight for extra yardage. Newsome’s learned to get what you can and get down. Temple’s edge defenders blew a lot of plays up in the backfield today. They weren’t going to let the RBs get outside.
The defense still had lapses but they really played well against a bad Temple offense. I still hate the cushion in short yardage but they were more aggressive and the tackling was better. Baby steps.
I thought Lashlee got a little conservative at the end. Temple had something to do with that. They sent pressure in the second half. I would have liked to see us play for a TD or a clinching first down rather then a FG attempt. I don’t trust Tarbutt. I think if you want them to play aggressive, you have to coach aggressive. HCRE has been doing that up until today. Maybe Hopkins injury played into that decision.
It was good to see #1 back out there!!!
