- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
- Messages
- 22,661
- Reaction Score
- 8,668
First, for the first time probably since the win over undefeated Houston, that was a fun way to spend an afternoon. It was good, entertaining football on a beautiful day with a crowd that was way too small (and didn't come close to 22k people in the building) but was into the game and not just either not paying attention or whining the whole game. It was a flashback to actually wanting to be at the football games. Yes, I want to win, but first you have to be competitive and yesterday was a start. Having said, that, however, it was a start and was one game. I didn't even bother posting after Wagner because I just didn't have the energy to point out what went right and that you couldn't read too much into one game. I now will make the same caution the other way. That effort doesn't mean we've turned much of a corner the other way either. A lot of good for sure, but one game against an o.k. Team who we lost to at home. Hope is good. I like hope (a lot). But more patience is required.
Obviously the big story is Jack Z. The kid showed an arm, with some accuracy and zip, and a heck of a lot of moxey. There is every reason to be hopeful that he can have a good career here and be the first good QB we've homegrown in forever. Having said that, he's not just a true frosh but one that never played a game in the U.S. Until yesterday. He turned it over 3 times yesterday, and clearly has a lot to learn about when to tuck and run, when to throw it away, etc. It's his show now, but expect the year to be a long one with more learning on the job than would be ideal. Plus, when he starts making mistakes against lesser teams than Illinois, we have Palatine calling for Krajewski to look forward to.
The defense played great for 3 quarters, and for the second straight game had about a 15 minute span where things went really poorly. Obviously, that's light years better than last year, but if we want to win a bunch of games we need a solid sixty. Herring Wilson is giving his all but we need someone better. Morgan is clearly our best LB, but for the first time ever I thought Gilmartin looked like a good player. Obvously the DL, which is too young, is going to struggle at times against bigger and stronger players, but they played hard and made plays most of yesterday. And kudos to Coyle for being the veteran making plays kickstarting a team.
Matt Peart was missed badly, whatever HCRE said about his replacement. But the OL as a whole has to be better. I'm not a Kevin Mensah fan -- he finds the right hole and gets there quickly enough, but he doesn't have big play speed and goes down way too easily -- although full credit for his TD run that he had no business scoring on. This may be the first time ever under Edsall where TB is a weakness. With Brown and Ross playing, and everyone else having less responsibility, while not perfect the receivers played really well overall. And the TEs. We came in with a conservative game plan which made perfect sense with a QB and two WRs playing their first game, and then opened it up more as passing was much easier than running. Unfortunately, that was after two red zone trips where we settled for FGs. By the way -- on one of them we should have scored running wide left but Thompkins totally whiffed on a block.
So I'm looking forward to the game in Bloomington in 2 weeks. That in and of itself is an unusual feeling. And then let's see how this team improves. But hope is always a good thing, and now we have the right to have some.
Obviously the big story is Jack Z. The kid showed an arm, with some accuracy and zip, and a heck of a lot of moxey. There is every reason to be hopeful that he can have a good career here and be the first good QB we've homegrown in forever. Having said that, he's not just a true frosh but one that never played a game in the U.S. Until yesterday. He turned it over 3 times yesterday, and clearly has a lot to learn about when to tuck and run, when to throw it away, etc. It's his show now, but expect the year to be a long one with more learning on the job than would be ideal. Plus, when he starts making mistakes against lesser teams than Illinois, we have Palatine calling for Krajewski to look forward to.
The defense played great for 3 quarters, and for the second straight game had about a 15 minute span where things went really poorly. Obviously, that's light years better than last year, but if we want to win a bunch of games we need a solid sixty. Herring Wilson is giving his all but we need someone better. Morgan is clearly our best LB, but for the first time ever I thought Gilmartin looked like a good player. Obvously the DL, which is too young, is going to struggle at times against bigger and stronger players, but they played hard and made plays most of yesterday. And kudos to Coyle for being the veteran making plays kickstarting a team.
Matt Peart was missed badly, whatever HCRE said about his replacement. But the OL as a whole has to be better. I'm not a Kevin Mensah fan -- he finds the right hole and gets there quickly enough, but he doesn't have big play speed and goes down way too easily -- although full credit for his TD run that he had no business scoring on. This may be the first time ever under Edsall where TB is a weakness. With Brown and Ross playing, and everyone else having less responsibility, while not perfect the receivers played really well overall. And the TEs. We came in with a conservative game plan which made perfect sense with a QB and two WRs playing their first game, and then opened it up more as passing was much easier than running. Unfortunately, that was after two red zone trips where we settled for FGs. By the way -- on one of them we should have scored running wide left but Thompkins totally whiffed on a block.
So I'm looking forward to the game in Bloomington in 2 weeks. That in and of itself is an unusual feeling. And then let's see how this team improves. But hope is always a good thing, and now we have the right to have some.
