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While we were, badly and obviously, outcoached and outschemed yesterday, I also think we were out-efforted for the second straight week. So I want to say two things in defense of our coaching before I move on to the rest of my post, in which the criticism will come. First, criticism in the aftermath of a win -- any win, no matter how ugly and uninspired -- ought to be tempered. The coach accomplished his primary goal. Will we get our butts kicked by Rutgers if we play like this? Heck yes. But P's goal isn't to make us feel good about this week, and for all that went wrong Saturday none of us know that changing one thing wouldn't have made it worked. Second, because I wish that his National Guard troop would be immediately activated and GDL would be taken to Afghanistan to teach youth football to kids of terrorists, let me give credit where it is due. I killed him -- killed him (and rightfully so I may add) when he put Hyppolite in at FB for a 3rd and short, because you knew he was getting the ball because he wouldn't be in to block. So, on a 3rd and short yesterday, he again brings Hyppolite in for Frank and this times lines McCombs up as the FB in front of Hyppolite. Now, obviously McCombs in going to get the ball here because you didn't line him up at FB to block. Instead, with everyone looking for McCombs to get the ball, the pitch goes to Hyppolite and the 50 yard TD run follows. The same formation produced 1st downs on 3rds and short the next two times it was used. So credit to George for that.
Having taken care of being fair and balanced, now let me tell you what I thought of yesterday. What a dreary, dreary day. The weather was dreary throughtout (although I guess those there were at least thankful that we avoided rain for the day). That was maybe the emptiest I've seen the building for a middle of season game against a BCS foe (although, to be fair, it wasn't the worst by a lot and it wasn't nearly as empty as I feared). There was no fan juice in the building. None at all. Even when it became clear that this was (ugh) going to be a competitive game. We were badly, badly, badly, badly outcoached. An onsides kickoff recovered against us? A great middle screen on a 4th and 4 for a huge game, and the successful hook and lateral. While we ran into the middle on 1st down again and again and again. I'm not TDH, and I'm totally flexible as to a run and pass mix as long as you're not running the same play over and over regardless of its ineffectiveness. But that's what we did. When we threw on 1st down we had success, but we refused to do it more than once in a blue moon. And please let's not forgive a totally uninspired effort from the players either. There seems to be some feeling on the board that well, at least we are throwing decently so there is hope. Well, let me be clear on where I am. I do think there is hope with our passing game, and I congratulate Chandler for the %age of plays he made yesterday without a TO finally. But I would much, much rather go back to be incompetent passing and go back to the energy we played with the first three weeks of the season. I'd take my chances on overcoming a lack of a passing game with sixty kids playing their hearts out. But I didn't see that for the second straight week. And I have to tell you this folks -- that is not on the coaches.
Let's start on D. What the heck was that? I can't believe it is primarily being a DE short without Joseph and Jennings. But it was beyond flatly mediocre. Pruitt I thought played fine, he won't control the area between him and the boundary like a real DE would, but the coaches must have determined that he gives us more there than Willman or any DE off the two deep. We saw a lot of Norris, but I didn't see Norris make many plays. We saw very little of Willman, so that tells us something. I saw Ryan Donohue play one series for Johnson, but I think Jory Johnson may have had his best game as a Husky yesterday. I thought the secondary as a group had its worst game of the year yesterday. Not only did corners get beat deep too often, but the run support was often a joke. So where are we heading into the Big East season? Have we already lost the desire on D to fly around and make plays? Do they miss Joseph and Jennings at SSDE too much? Have teams now figured out that they can hit Brown's D for 2 or 3 well schemed plays a game that burn our D? Is Brown too much of a one trick pony? I don't know the answers to any of that. But I'm worried.
On special teams, both teams had some trouble kicking on the first really raw fall day of the season, but I saw a few things to concern me. First, for the second time in three weeks the KO coverage wasn't there and Chad Christen had to step up and make a tackle. If they don't get better, we will give up a KO TD in conference play. Second, too many bad mental plays, from no one paying any attention to the onside kick to our gunners too often not finding punts and not making plays to keep the ball out of the endzone. To Nick Williams calling off an up man and trying to catch a KO that he can't get to without going to the turf. Two shout outs before moving on. One to Geremy Davis, for recoverning the onside kick (not an easy play -- the ball was low and hard with people charging him). The other to walk-ons Allen and Parker, both of whom are playing regularly in the kicking game.
On offense, I don't even know what to say anymore. We are the worst running team that we've had since moving into the Rent. By far. We saw why Hyppolite is the #2 back, and he made some good aggressive runs, but to be fair he didn't seem like he had patience to wait for a hole -- he just got the ball and ran, and when nothing was there he got stuffed. Osiecki played just under half the game for Frank at FB, and the one individual effort he made after catching the one ball was outstanding. Again, our passing numbers are good, but we don't seem to have any confidence in our passing game. None. We did avoid turnovers, which is obviously good but it didn't go with enough tough D or consistent running to make the win easy.
So we're now entering Big East play, and this team is largely a mystery to me. If I want to be an optimist, we have the potential -- we've shown things at times -- that makes me think we can play shutdown D and surprise teams with our passing game if they're overplaying the run. A recipe that could allow us to win out at home, win at the Carrier Dome and maybe -- just maybe -- steal one more. On the other hand, if we play D the way we've played it the last two weeks, and our O gets shut down (which could happen against anybody any day), we will struggle to beat anyone other than Temple and won't go bowling again. I really, really don't know what to expect. I expect very little of GDL at this point, to be frank, but hope to be surprised. But, as I've said, I'm more concerned about whether we see the D of the first 3 weeks as opposed to the D of the last two. But, as the end of OOC play is a good time to ask how we're doing, the answer is not as well as I thought. I thought we'd be 4-1 by now, and I thought we'd have a great D and now I'm worried we don't. The O I expected to be a struggle, but it's stange that it's as big a struggle as it is with our passing hitting the percentage of completions it is. We will see what we will see. But I'm cautiously pessimistic, rather than cautiously optimistic. And given that I'm an optimist ....
Having taken care of being fair and balanced, now let me tell you what I thought of yesterday. What a dreary, dreary day. The weather was dreary throughtout (although I guess those there were at least thankful that we avoided rain for the day). That was maybe the emptiest I've seen the building for a middle of season game against a BCS foe (although, to be fair, it wasn't the worst by a lot and it wasn't nearly as empty as I feared). There was no fan juice in the building. None at all. Even when it became clear that this was (ugh) going to be a competitive game. We were badly, badly, badly, badly outcoached. An onsides kickoff recovered against us? A great middle screen on a 4th and 4 for a huge game, and the successful hook and lateral. While we ran into the middle on 1st down again and again and again. I'm not TDH, and I'm totally flexible as to a run and pass mix as long as you're not running the same play over and over regardless of its ineffectiveness. But that's what we did. When we threw on 1st down we had success, but we refused to do it more than once in a blue moon. And please let's not forgive a totally uninspired effort from the players either. There seems to be some feeling on the board that well, at least we are throwing decently so there is hope. Well, let me be clear on where I am. I do think there is hope with our passing game, and I congratulate Chandler for the %age of plays he made yesterday without a TO finally. But I would much, much rather go back to be incompetent passing and go back to the energy we played with the first three weeks of the season. I'd take my chances on overcoming a lack of a passing game with sixty kids playing their hearts out. But I didn't see that for the second straight week. And I have to tell you this folks -- that is not on the coaches.
Let's start on D. What the heck was that? I can't believe it is primarily being a DE short without Joseph and Jennings. But it was beyond flatly mediocre. Pruitt I thought played fine, he won't control the area between him and the boundary like a real DE would, but the coaches must have determined that he gives us more there than Willman or any DE off the two deep. We saw a lot of Norris, but I didn't see Norris make many plays. We saw very little of Willman, so that tells us something. I saw Ryan Donohue play one series for Johnson, but I think Jory Johnson may have had his best game as a Husky yesterday. I thought the secondary as a group had its worst game of the year yesterday. Not only did corners get beat deep too often, but the run support was often a joke. So where are we heading into the Big East season? Have we already lost the desire on D to fly around and make plays? Do they miss Joseph and Jennings at SSDE too much? Have teams now figured out that they can hit Brown's D for 2 or 3 well schemed plays a game that burn our D? Is Brown too much of a one trick pony? I don't know the answers to any of that. But I'm worried.
On special teams, both teams had some trouble kicking on the first really raw fall day of the season, but I saw a few things to concern me. First, for the second time in three weeks the KO coverage wasn't there and Chad Christen had to step up and make a tackle. If they don't get better, we will give up a KO TD in conference play. Second, too many bad mental plays, from no one paying any attention to the onside kick to our gunners too often not finding punts and not making plays to keep the ball out of the endzone. To Nick Williams calling off an up man and trying to catch a KO that he can't get to without going to the turf. Two shout outs before moving on. One to Geremy Davis, for recoverning the onside kick (not an easy play -- the ball was low and hard with people charging him). The other to walk-ons Allen and Parker, both of whom are playing regularly in the kicking game.
On offense, I don't even know what to say anymore. We are the worst running team that we've had since moving into the Rent. By far. We saw why Hyppolite is the #2 back, and he made some good aggressive runs, but to be fair he didn't seem like he had patience to wait for a hole -- he just got the ball and ran, and when nothing was there he got stuffed. Osiecki played just under half the game for Frank at FB, and the one individual effort he made after catching the one ball was outstanding. Again, our passing numbers are good, but we don't seem to have any confidence in our passing game. None. We did avoid turnovers, which is obviously good but it didn't go with enough tough D or consistent running to make the win easy.
So we're now entering Big East play, and this team is largely a mystery to me. If I want to be an optimist, we have the potential -- we've shown things at times -- that makes me think we can play shutdown D and surprise teams with our passing game if they're overplaying the run. A recipe that could allow us to win out at home, win at the Carrier Dome and maybe -- just maybe -- steal one more. On the other hand, if we play D the way we've played it the last two weeks, and our O gets shut down (which could happen against anybody any day), we will struggle to beat anyone other than Temple and won't go bowling again. I really, really don't know what to expect. I expect very little of GDL at this point, to be frank, but hope to be surprised. But, as I've said, I'm more concerned about whether we see the D of the first 3 weeks as opposed to the D of the last two. But, as the end of OOC play is a good time to ask how we're doing, the answer is not as well as I thought. I thought we'd be 4-1 by now, and I thought we'd have a great D and now I'm worried we don't. The O I expected to be a struggle, but it's stange that it's as big a struggle as it is with our passing hitting the percentage of completions it is. We will see what we will see. But I'm cautiously pessimistic, rather than cautiously optimistic. And given that I'm an optimist ....
