It’s good we have “Arkansas” on the front of the jerseys now. Sort of completes the “directional school” feel to our football program that we have going on.
I’m close to writing off Reggie Herring. Yeah, blame the talent, blame the execution. There are issues there. I also see dumb stuff going on out there that looks to me like it’s been coached that just doesn’t work. And, obviously we are fairly easy to figure out.
We gambled on defense. We blitzed. We played man-to-man. We died an early death. Didn’t even make a game of it for five minutes. Probably would’ve worked if they had just ran simple running plays to start the game like a normal team.
Oh wait . . . they did. . . . .
76 yard run by Reggie Bush. Corner blitz on the off side of a simple zone blocking running play. Our play that everyone gripes about us running all of the time. Linebacker on the side of the blitz totally vacates his area and decides that the middle linebacker needs support. A simple cut back and Bush is pretty much gone.
Later, Arkansas runs the same play. McFadden makes the same cut in the backfield Bush made. Crosses the line of scrimmage and runs directly into the linebacker while the cornerback stands by and watches closely in case the linebacker needed help. He didn’t. Had the back not cut back into the linebacker I’m sure that linebacker would have gotten a “loaf” and a pink jersey in the mail from Reggie.
The next touchdown (or the second time Reggie Bush touched the ball, however you want to describe it) our scheme left the middle linebacker to cover the running back man-to-man after a simple play action fake to the fullback into the middle of the line (designed to “freeze” the linebacker — Ya Think?). They have an offense and a smart quarterback that uses the defensive schemes and tendencies back against the defense. As opposed to our, “here’s what we are going to do, no big secret, we don’t care what you do, just try and stop us” offensive philosophy. (Ok, we ran one screen pass and two draw plays. Surprise, surprise. Could’ve scouted those on the message boards since Houston Dale apparently listens to boards to some extent, ["Any freshmen running backs play this week? One started? Did he fumble?"] else those message board guys and Houston Dale are having the same brilliant ideas . . . doubt they want to claim that at this point!)
These DVR’s with the pause buttons are such fun. You can greatly compound your misery watching replays.
Simply knowing where to be is pretty important in playing defense in any sport. “Floor balance”, off-side rebounding position and the basic “stay between the man and the basket” in basketball. “Staying home” and “keeping containment” in football. Huge expanses of vacant or unaccounted for space are not good things. The people playing our defense either have no clue where they should be, or, they’ve been coached and encouraged to be in the wrong places. We are seeing a lot of people in the wrong places (where do those defensive ends go on every play?). And, they certainly are not loafing in getting to these places. Forget containment, you better be running to get somewhere or you run the risk of suffering unimaginative bombardment by the F-word tyrant.
At any rate, we punted well. Allowed zero return yardage. Did a bit of good on offense at times.
Our offensive line seemed to specialize in “look out” blocks. Our lines, both sides of the ball, simply couldn’t compete at this level. With their first or second, and possibly third string players.
For whatever reason, our coaching staff appears to boys among men in just about every aspect. Good coaches watch our films and then just kill us. They even ran a set play on the “sky-kick” kickoff.
USC didn’t need anywhere near that level of preparation to destroy us. They were that much better than us.
Take the “snake oil” wagon out of the barn and get ready to hitch up the horse. I’ve got a feeling the “salesman” may be on the look out for a new territory soon.