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- Aug 24, 2011
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Well, the result was incredibly impressive. I thought that would be a tough matchup which, if everything broke our way, maybe we could steal. I did not expect that we would simply dominate them for the bulk of the game and win fairly easily. On offense, we produced. And produced. And produced. Interestingly, we did it with less total yardage than we've been getting but we finished EVERY DRIVE inside the 20 with 6, not 3. And what a difference that made. Specials played fine (but for the Vitale muffed punt which Mariner luckily bailed him out of). And the D was simply great. Pitched a shutout until we had opened up a 3 score lead. And the result was, maybe, our best win of the Diaco era (on paper last year against UCF was better, but that strikes me as largely a fluke where the weather caused them to give up for half a game). But yet, it was far from a perfect night. Two turnovers, each of which was in the head rather than the body. Shirreffs looked at the target way too long on the pick 6 and Myers was inexplicably stretching the ball out to get a first down long after he had it. Not to mention Vitale, who you can let off the hook for muffing the original punt but less so for trying to scoop up and run with the ball the second time. We didn't run the clock down between plays when they cut the lead to 12 in the 4th quarter, but no one cares about the mistake because we got into the end zone. And the size of the crowd sucked. Yes, it doesn't change the fact that attendance for the year is better than we feared, and I know it was a cold, Halloween weekend night after we lost 5 of 6, but still disappointing. But it was a really good win, and just as importantly a good win where I still don't think we reached our maximum potential yet. Maybe, just maybe, the game where we do everything we can is still coming this year. And, if it's against Houston or Temple, maybe, just maybe ....
So offense, credit the coaches for a lot. We didn't struggle to get plays off on time, we found a creative way to use Rutherford (I couldn't figure out in the stadium why they had moved John Green back to offense) and there were other nice touches (like putting Marriner in at FB and using him on a quick hitter). But, of course, if the players didn't get things done the coaches don't look like they've accomplished anything. Very, very, conservative and quiet game from Shirreffs. Hopefully he can get through Tulane also being quiet and then benefits from a week off. Arkeel, obviously, was great. And as great as the 90 yard run was, the fact that he carried it 25 times and the way he ran inside was more impressive. Also, fairly obviously, it was the OL's best game of the year. Probably by a lot. If they can sustain at that level -- a big if -- and if it really was improvement and not just poor effort by ECU -- again, we can be better by the end of this year than I would have expected. I am not in love with the amount of play Hergy Mayala has been getting, but credit to the young man -- after getting hit in the head with a crossing patter, that catch he made setting up the ejection and our first TD was probably the play of the game (yes, I remember Arkeel's run but we were already up 11 at that point). Bottom line -- we got plays off easily and were able to run the ball. If Shirreffs can use the off week to get back to where he was, maybe we have one offensive Big XII like explosion in us. It won't be against Temple -- they play D too well. But against Houston?
On defense, I didn't think the schemes were very different than what we've been seeing. But against an offense that didn't execute as well, keeping everything in front of you worked great. We shut down both total yards and points. We got a little more pressure on them, but I'm guessing that had more to do with their OL being banged up than us. Obi was great. Maybe his best game as a Husky (and certainly showed the athleticism that 3 head coaches have raved about not that he seemed to be in the right place all the time). Summers was great. Our corners next year are going to be a great weapon and may be a big part in helping us overcome the loss of 5 defensive starters. I thought it was Vann's best game of the year, and maybe the best game of the year for our LBs as a group. And we really, really benefitted from Adeyami being back. THere is a player I never thought would be an important player when he came to us or when he started on the field, but he's now become a really, really good player for us (and may be the hardest to replace of the defensive starters we're losing). Great total team effort on this side of the ball.
On specials, how were we worried about Bobby Puyol earlier in the year? And how did Tarbutt start the year taking kickoffs. Everything else was fine, but while I like Nick Vitales aggressiveness and desire to both get to punts and if possible return them, he can be dialed back a bit. Just a bit. Before it bites us.
So we're not 4-5, 2-3 in league, with a winnable game in New Orleans off an extra day of rest (I would expect us to be roughly 5-7 point favorites) and then, finally and mecifully, an off week that we can use. I am going to refuse to talk about the last two weeks until the off week. We will have plenty of time to talk about that after Tulane. The bottom line is that we need to take care of business on the road against a team we are better than, but that beat us last year. And we need to see if we have a gear above even Friday night, where good OL play and D is paired with our QB looking like he did against USF (silly criticism of that game aside) and mistake free football. I think we just might. And we are way, way, WAY ahead of where I hoped to be three quarters of the way through this season with a team that starts only ONE senior on offense. This has already been a very successful year, but I want more. Starting with a win Saturday, and including a bounce back effort by our fanbase against Houston.
So offense, credit the coaches for a lot. We didn't struggle to get plays off on time, we found a creative way to use Rutherford (I couldn't figure out in the stadium why they had moved John Green back to offense) and there were other nice touches (like putting Marriner in at FB and using him on a quick hitter). But, of course, if the players didn't get things done the coaches don't look like they've accomplished anything. Very, very, conservative and quiet game from Shirreffs. Hopefully he can get through Tulane also being quiet and then benefits from a week off. Arkeel, obviously, was great. And as great as the 90 yard run was, the fact that he carried it 25 times and the way he ran inside was more impressive. Also, fairly obviously, it was the OL's best game of the year. Probably by a lot. If they can sustain at that level -- a big if -- and if it really was improvement and not just poor effort by ECU -- again, we can be better by the end of this year than I would have expected. I am not in love with the amount of play Hergy Mayala has been getting, but credit to the young man -- after getting hit in the head with a crossing patter, that catch he made setting up the ejection and our first TD was probably the play of the game (yes, I remember Arkeel's run but we were already up 11 at that point). Bottom line -- we got plays off easily and were able to run the ball. If Shirreffs can use the off week to get back to where he was, maybe we have one offensive Big XII like explosion in us. It won't be against Temple -- they play D too well. But against Houston?
On defense, I didn't think the schemes were very different than what we've been seeing. But against an offense that didn't execute as well, keeping everything in front of you worked great. We shut down both total yards and points. We got a little more pressure on them, but I'm guessing that had more to do with their OL being banged up than us. Obi was great. Maybe his best game as a Husky (and certainly showed the athleticism that 3 head coaches have raved about not that he seemed to be in the right place all the time). Summers was great. Our corners next year are going to be a great weapon and may be a big part in helping us overcome the loss of 5 defensive starters. I thought it was Vann's best game of the year, and maybe the best game of the year for our LBs as a group. And we really, really benefitted from Adeyami being back. THere is a player I never thought would be an important player when he came to us or when he started on the field, but he's now become a really, really good player for us (and may be the hardest to replace of the defensive starters we're losing). Great total team effort on this side of the ball.
On specials, how were we worried about Bobby Puyol earlier in the year? And how did Tarbutt start the year taking kickoffs. Everything else was fine, but while I like Nick Vitales aggressiveness and desire to both get to punts and if possible return them, he can be dialed back a bit. Just a bit. Before it bites us.
So we're not 4-5, 2-3 in league, with a winnable game in New Orleans off an extra day of rest (I would expect us to be roughly 5-7 point favorites) and then, finally and mecifully, an off week that we can use. I am going to refuse to talk about the last two weeks until the off week. We will have plenty of time to talk about that after Tulane. The bottom line is that we need to take care of business on the road against a team we are better than, but that beat us last year. And we need to see if we have a gear above even Friday night, where good OL play and D is paired with our QB looking like he did against USF (silly criticism of that game aside) and mistake free football. I think we just might. And we are way, way, WAY ahead of where I hoped to be three quarters of the way through this season with a team that starts only ONE senior on offense. This has already been a very successful year, but I want more. Starting with a win Saturday, and including a bounce back effort by our fanbase against Houston.
What was different on Friday were the coaching corrections. I disagree with your observation that the defensive schemes weren't very different. The defensive backfield actually played up and closer than before and were man to man on lots of throws. Plus the linebackers were more active and aggressive, rather than mere area protectors. It's not just my eyes that saw the change. Players told me that after the game. "Lots of coaching adjustments were made." Here's my advice for our offense. Our passes ought to be more to the right. Andreas is a much better pass blocker than run blocker. And (notwithstanding Arkeel's long TD) our runs should be more to the left. Levy is a much better run blocker than pass blocker. 
Just let it bounce!
