What jumps out at me from Game 1

[Carl Spackler]

I think you guys are reading too much into this. We just beat down a team 35-3 and put up a whole lot of game film for defensive coaches to try to sort out when figuring us out.

The question is if WE really know our strenghts on offense yet. I'd bet the players and coaches have a real good idea of what the strenghts and weaknesses are, but are going to let this play itself out in public. We've gone from 5-3 in nine months on the position chart. I personally think tha McCummings is the hardest guy to prepare for right now. If you're not used to playing against a guy like that, it takes time to get it down. Then you throw in something else on offense and you'll get a defense out of position.

The longer it takes for this to play itself out, and the more success we can have doing it on the field, the more stuff there is for opposing defensive coaches to sort out to prepare for us. There aren't enough hours in the week to prepare for everything we can potentially do on the field at this point on offense after one game. Opposing coaches are going to have to make guesses on what to prepare for and how to do it, and I bet they were up all night on Saturday in Tennessee doing whatever they could to make those guesses good.

That's a good advantage to have, balanced out by the significant problems that can go along with having a QB rotation - which obviously is not desireable for any extended period of time.

.... and I think that the idea of keeping things in the playbook secret for league play or whatever, well... I never really agreed with that.

I'd rather keep an opposing defense guessing what we're going to do in game week preparation, rather than preparing for what we will do, and reacting to anything new on the fly.

 

[rich1122]

Agree with a lot of what was said. Watched the game on TV also. Agree McCummings looked better on TV.

If Ryan Griffin can catch like he did Saturday it will help us immensely. It was Fordham, but man he looked good.

McCombs looks like he needs seasoning. While he does not have the burst that Todman had he can get through the hole pretty well. The touchdown was nice - he saw the hole and he was gone. We will see with speedier defenses.

The balance of the QB's will be tough. Nebrich can motor. Gained 12 on 3rd and 12 by running. He is elusive but not as accurate as McCentee. Johnny really threw the ball well. Nebrich forced the ball long down the sideline without looking for another option, as his target was easily covered. Griffin saved him on a nearly acrobatic catch. So maybe it's threee of them for the season, but who knows.

The DLine looks like, well, it's going to save us. Gratz I thought still needs work and took a couple of bad angles on his tackles. Junior looks the part. Sio is Sio. Nice pass coverage for Sio blocking that pass down-field. Byron Jones has developed nicely.

We will see against Vandy.

 

[whaler11]

So you can compare what McEntee did against Fordham to what Frazer did against the Big East and Oklahoma.

This is the same McEntee who can't win the job outright from a true freshman and a kid who kept fumbling in camp.

I rewatched.

How did Edsall start Frazer ahead of Mac?

Nebrich went 3-8 but... one drop, one throw away and one INT caused by the TE. He also has a dimension of escapability the others don't. That could be key in BE play.

We look to be in pretty good shape.

 

[noeynox]

Thing I like the most, after one game all three QBs have as much game experience as what we were returning from last year.

Also Zach Frazer won a lot, but there were elements of offense that had to be eliminated like the swing pass, because he had trouble executing it. JMac threw two nice swing passes to McCombs. Couple that with what looks like an offense designed to keep defenses honest by throwing 25 yds downfield and there were some encouraging signs for sure in regards to the passing game.

 

[socttrojan]

sheesh,

take last week & toss it in the trash

not only is Fordham 1-AA, they only give limited scholarships, it means absolutley nothing

that was the ultimate "gimmie"-W of all-time, to make any observations based on that contest is foolhardy @ best

if you're a "real" football program, and lets face it, UConn played in a BCS bowl earlier this year, U roll in to Nashville & DOMINATE vandy.

no foolin' around: DJ Shoemate left, DJ Shoemate right, pound, pound, pound...

Kendall Reyes taking up residence in the Vandy backfield...

lets go!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mattp]

is shoemate going to be playing on saturday?
we really didn't learn anything from Fordham. it's nice that some guys got some experience and nobody looked awful, but if i recall Matt Bonislawski tore up Liberty for over 300 yards and several TDs in his first game

 

[ktuck911]

I remember DJ and the offense racking up over 500 yards of offense against URI. The offense was brutal that year against real opponents. Ever since then I have been really wary of drawing conclusions after game one.

In 2009 our offense looked pretty iffy against Ohio. But that year turned out be probably the best our offense ever was post-Orlovsky.

The fact that JMac throws catchable balls is pretty encouraging. With a good OLine and a QB that can throw a catchable pass, we should be serviceable.

+1 ... Jury's still out.. We'll see how things come together come Saturday night against an SEC opponent on the road... We still have a pretty disciplined football team it appears but our offense remains a question mark... Vandy has a defense filled with Jrs and Srs so this is definitely gonna be a huge early test...