- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
- Messages
- 22,661
- Reaction Score
- 8,668
Why did it take me until Monday morning to write this? Frankly, because I've never been more disgusted with a game since starting to follow this team when it moved to the Rent, and I just couldn't make myself bother to write this. I'll try now. First of all, for the players to come out as flat and lethargic as they did for the start of that game was beyond inexcusable, This was a huge, winnable, late season game. With players that knew how to play harder as the season wore on. And we sleptwalked through the first quarter. Inexcusable for the players not to be ready from the opening kickoff. Then, on top of that, for a big, winnable, late season game, the crowd lethargy was unbelievable and depressing. Tons of empty seats (I am guessing we will set a record this year, on the low end, for average attendance) and no juice in the building at all. If we don't care more than this for a game in late November with BCS implications, wtf is the point of thinking we can generate the support to play big boy football.
Generally, we sleptwalked through the first ten or twelve minutes. We then totally outplayed them for the next 25 minutes or so, got back in the game and would have taken the lead if there was any execution whatsoever on throwing and catching the ball. Not making tough plays but just executing on easily makeable plays. And then Reyes commits a dumb penalty, the D gives up a long drive punctuated by Gary Wilburn unable to make a play on a fly route down the right sideline that he had covered all the way. And a loss we couldn't afford. And didn't need to have.
Offense, defense and special teams. The three kickers all did their jobs, Nick Williams had another solid day returning kicks, and yet nonetheless special teams play didn't win the game for it but lost it for us. You can't play the way we play this year and allow the opening kickoff to be returned for a TD, putting you in an immediate whole. And the lack of effort on that play by us was just palpable. Other than Dwayne Gratz, no one turned and chased once the returner went by them. hard to be shocked by this thought -- covering kickoffs has been an issue all year, and, as I've said all year, we don't seem to focus on getting big guys down to break up a wedge. And then the penalty on Reyes, where I thought he had a chance to make a play on the kick but .... AArgh.
On defense, Blidi didn't start, and didn't play every series, but he played most of them. Eventually, that lead Byron Jones moving back to Safety which, I think, left Tymeer Brown in at one Safety and pushed Jerome Junior to the bench in our base D (although he still played plenty). Incredibly, even with Blidi back, we still made room for Gary Wilburn to be on the field in extra DB packages, and he still failed to make what I think was the key play in the game (which would have ended the drive that put LV up 11 after the Reyes penalty). The D really played well at times, shutting the run down again, but gave up not 1 or 2 but 3 long drives, against the run of play. Were they hurt by the O not staying on the field? Yes, they were. Put this was not a potent LV offense and we needed to dominate them all game. We returned 9 defensive starters this year, nine, from a team that won a Big East championship with Defense and all we've turned those nine starters into is a below average Big East D. Disgusting. And by the way -- I was fine with blitzing less and trying to take advantage of the true frosh QB with more DBs, and that worked well at times, but our front four needed to do much more than they did for us to win that game.
On offense, the play was awful. JM started horribly, as has been his pattern, but played three quarters of a game that was more than good enough to win. He was failed by the OL's penalties and, more so, the drops by his receivers. Kash Moore. I. Moore. Nick Williams. Lyle McCombs. Just a pitiful display of attempting to catch relatively easy passes. The way I saw it, LV came out saying you can beat us any way you can except by giving McCombs the ball. After figuring that out, we determined we'd have to throw more, but that play action would have receivers running free. It did. And we just couldn't execute. Add in McCumming leaving 7 on the table by underthrowing a wide open Ryan Griffin, McCombs tripping on a great play call that sould have been a 7 yard TD run, and I find it hard to believe that Deleone didn't have his best play calling game by far. He put people in position to make easy plays for big gains. They didn't make them. Yes, John Delahunt was missed (and who he thought he was fooling by lining up Corey Manning wide, as if everyone in the building didn't know he was going in motion to the middle and throwing a block I don't know) but it as a well called game offensively. Just not a well executed one.
As for coaching, with P as with Edsall, players win and lose games. Coaches are responsible for everything, and after the season is over that can be discussed, but they can't make plays. They can only put players in position to make plays. While P doesn't say it like Edsall did, we lost Saturday simply because of a failure to execute. The clock management at the end of each half was beyond atrocious, again (frankly, the way we saved too much time by calling the time out immediately with a minute left in the first half was dumber than anything), and I wish my coach would know who gets the ball to start the second half when he gets interviewed at halftime, but that's quibbling. Saturday's loss was about the players. And I would guaranty you that they know that.
So what do we have for Saturday? Well, we still have a game with a great deal of meaning. It's Senior Day. It's Rutgers, who is playing for a share of the conference championship. And we can still extend our season, as beating Rugers will lead to an easily winnable game against a Zach Collaros-less Cincy for bowl eligibility. Will we play a bowl at 6-6? Frankly, I was unwilling to look at it coming off the loss Saturday. If we win this Saturday, I'll figure it out. But the bottom line is it's still a huge game. If for no other reason than this year's seniors have lost three maddening games to Rutgers, each worse than the one before it, and should be dead set on not ending their careers without having beaten the Knights. But will this team care? Will they come out focused? I have no confidence, I do know, however, that the crowd is unlikely to show up or give a damn. Because they didn't Satuday for a much more important game.
That's all. I'll be tailgating Saturday, and in my seats to see the seniors honored, and ready to get into the game because I want to beat RU that badly that the season to me would be saved by doing so whether we beat Cincy or not. And I'll see the other 138 of you that feel the same way in the stands before the seniors get honored. All the whining about the conference realignment, and we are failing miserably as a fan base in doing what we can do to influence it. Oh well -- easier just to complain I guess.
Generally, we sleptwalked through the first ten or twelve minutes. We then totally outplayed them for the next 25 minutes or so, got back in the game and would have taken the lead if there was any execution whatsoever on throwing and catching the ball. Not making tough plays but just executing on easily makeable plays. And then Reyes commits a dumb penalty, the D gives up a long drive punctuated by Gary Wilburn unable to make a play on a fly route down the right sideline that he had covered all the way. And a loss we couldn't afford. And didn't need to have.
Offense, defense and special teams. The three kickers all did their jobs, Nick Williams had another solid day returning kicks, and yet nonetheless special teams play didn't win the game for it but lost it for us. You can't play the way we play this year and allow the opening kickoff to be returned for a TD, putting you in an immediate whole. And the lack of effort on that play by us was just palpable. Other than Dwayne Gratz, no one turned and chased once the returner went by them. hard to be shocked by this thought -- covering kickoffs has been an issue all year, and, as I've said all year, we don't seem to focus on getting big guys down to break up a wedge. And then the penalty on Reyes, where I thought he had a chance to make a play on the kick but .... AArgh.
On defense, Blidi didn't start, and didn't play every series, but he played most of them. Eventually, that lead Byron Jones moving back to Safety which, I think, left Tymeer Brown in at one Safety and pushed Jerome Junior to the bench in our base D (although he still played plenty). Incredibly, even with Blidi back, we still made room for Gary Wilburn to be on the field in extra DB packages, and he still failed to make what I think was the key play in the game (which would have ended the drive that put LV up 11 after the Reyes penalty). The D really played well at times, shutting the run down again, but gave up not 1 or 2 but 3 long drives, against the run of play. Were they hurt by the O not staying on the field? Yes, they were. Put this was not a potent LV offense and we needed to dominate them all game. We returned 9 defensive starters this year, nine, from a team that won a Big East championship with Defense and all we've turned those nine starters into is a below average Big East D. Disgusting. And by the way -- I was fine with blitzing less and trying to take advantage of the true frosh QB with more DBs, and that worked well at times, but our front four needed to do much more than they did for us to win that game.
On offense, the play was awful. JM started horribly, as has been his pattern, but played three quarters of a game that was more than good enough to win. He was failed by the OL's penalties and, more so, the drops by his receivers. Kash Moore. I. Moore. Nick Williams. Lyle McCombs. Just a pitiful display of attempting to catch relatively easy passes. The way I saw it, LV came out saying you can beat us any way you can except by giving McCombs the ball. After figuring that out, we determined we'd have to throw more, but that play action would have receivers running free. It did. And we just couldn't execute. Add in McCumming leaving 7 on the table by underthrowing a wide open Ryan Griffin, McCombs tripping on a great play call that sould have been a 7 yard TD run, and I find it hard to believe that Deleone didn't have his best play calling game by far. He put people in position to make easy plays for big gains. They didn't make them. Yes, John Delahunt was missed (and who he thought he was fooling by lining up Corey Manning wide, as if everyone in the building didn't know he was going in motion to the middle and throwing a block I don't know) but it as a well called game offensively. Just not a well executed one.
As for coaching, with P as with Edsall, players win and lose games. Coaches are responsible for everything, and after the season is over that can be discussed, but they can't make plays. They can only put players in position to make plays. While P doesn't say it like Edsall did, we lost Saturday simply because of a failure to execute. The clock management at the end of each half was beyond atrocious, again (frankly, the way we saved too much time by calling the time out immediately with a minute left in the first half was dumber than anything), and I wish my coach would know who gets the ball to start the second half when he gets interviewed at halftime, but that's quibbling. Saturday's loss was about the players. And I would guaranty you that they know that.
So what do we have for Saturday? Well, we still have a game with a great deal of meaning. It's Senior Day. It's Rutgers, who is playing for a share of the conference championship. And we can still extend our season, as beating Rugers will lead to an easily winnable game against a Zach Collaros-less Cincy for bowl eligibility. Will we play a bowl at 6-6? Frankly, I was unwilling to look at it coming off the loss Saturday. If we win this Saturday, I'll figure it out. But the bottom line is it's still a huge game. If for no other reason than this year's seniors have lost three maddening games to Rutgers, each worse than the one before it, and should be dead set on not ending their careers without having beaten the Knights. But will this team care? Will they come out focused? I have no confidence, I do know, however, that the crowd is unlikely to show up or give a damn. Because they didn't Satuday for a much more important game.
That's all. I'll be tailgating Saturday, and in my seats to see the seniors honored, and ready to get into the game because I want to beat RU that badly that the season to me would be saved by doing so whether we beat Cincy or not. And I'll see the other 138 of you that feel the same way in the stands before the seniors get honored. All the whining about the conference realignment, and we are failing miserably as a fan base in doing what we can do to influence it. Oh well -- easier just to complain I guess.
