Some random thoughts from Sunshine after watching the Vandy contest.
The Good
- Malzahn and the offense seemed in a better rhythm the whole game. Nice mixture, innovative plays (the tackle eligible pass to Cleveland). I see improvement.
- Mustain looked better. The first touchdown to Monk showed how poised he really is. Waited for his playmaker, and then stuck it on him.
- London Crawford has entered the building!!! LC made a nice catch and run piling up the YAC. Good to get him back and playing like we thought he could.
- Jeremy Davis…3-3 on extra points and a made field goal negated by penalty.
- The wind on that last Vandy FG attempt. Somebody up there likes Houston.
The Bad
- With the Hogs desperate for their first turnover, Matterral Richardson had one hit him in a bad spot…the hands. An interception that would have been a sure touchdown unless the Commodore mascot had run onto the field and tripped him. An easy score there might have made it a more comfortable win.
- Jonathan Luigs (right tackle on the placekicking team) on his two penalties for not lining up on the line of scrimmage. One cost us five yards on an extra point attempt; one negated a 44 yard FG.
The Ugly
- Run defense, or lack of it. Vandy came into the game averaging 60 yards on the ground. They ripped us for 240. Didn’t think that could happen. I shudder to think what could happen if we face somebody that can run the ball.
- Very disappointed in the tackling. Your LBs should lead your team in tackling, and minus the play of Olajubutu, the LBs were nonexistent. We have been exposed, and with Fairchild out and Powers hurt again, we’re in deep trouble at this spot. Desmond Sims couldn’t tackle me. Big disappointment.
Guess who's back…. back again… 10k's back, tell a friend….
That's right boys and girls 10k is OFFICIALLY on a 2 game road winning streak. After starting off 0-3 (Heartbreaking loss in 6 OT game in Knoxville, a royal thumping in the SECCG against Jawja, and then a horrific showing in Oxford) 10k has witnessed our piggies beat up on Miss St. and now the tea sippers from Nashville.
My thoughts from the game. Dudley (not named after Mr. Dawson) stadium is the best looking high school stadium in the SEC. The atmosphere was absolutely worse than almost any game I've ever attended. There were more hog fans there tailgating than Vandy fans and the stadium was 90% empty (hog fans only) until the National Anthem was sung. The fog horn or whatever it was was kind of cool.
On to the game – After the first drive I thought my curse for the hogs would live on. And then we scored and I thought both teams might score a hundred. But, our defense settled down and made some nice stops at some key times. I agree with everyone sentiments that LBer is THE hole (usually with a RB running right through it) that is going to bring us to our knees if it doesn't get plugged. But, I'm still not convinced our D-line is any better and I still can't understand why Chris Houston's guy seems to be wide open running across the middle. I hope Bama coaches aren't reading this cause I may have just given away the keys to victory. Lord knows they probably couldn't see it themselves. In my best Clay Henry impersonation (sorry to steal from Tipster) "It's turned out about the way I thought it would". While the press was drooling at the one-liners and smoke and mirrors Reggie was throwing them they forgot to notice that our defense is average at best. They're not horrible, but they're not the all-americans some of the media and fans made them out to be. If we get some things fixed and plug a few holes and can be at least a little above average I really think our offense will be able to outscore the other team (whoever it is).
Offense looked good, but you can still tell there are a bunch of freshman leading this team. They will get better and will eventually learn, but right now too many good drives of 40 or 50 yds are stalling at midfield or just over and I think it's just a sign of inexperience. Mustain is for real.
The coaches and players after the game walking to the bus were very excited as they should be. They were all saying how Vandy is a lot better than people give them credit for, of which I agree. They may not win many games this year, but that QB is a good one and if he gets a little bit of accuracy he will be deadly.
The kicking game is alright. I watched pregame kicks and Jeremy Davis is kicking it like I haven't ever seen him. I watched him in preseason practices and in pregame warmups in the first two games. He must've eaten his wheaties on Saturday cause he was booming them. That 44 yder was the same direction the Vandy kicker missed the 48 yder and Davis' cleared it by a good 6 or 7 yds. (I think we should've given him a chance at the 49 yder, but I was alright with going for it as Damien was wide open… MItch will learn to put some touch on that pass next time… the defender made a heck of a catch cause Mustain had some mustard on that and he snatched it out of the air like Grizzly fishin' for salmon.
The hog fans turned out in full force. I would say there were five or six thousand hog fans there. We were much louder than the 20 or so thousand tea sippers that were there. They sat on their hands for much of the game and they showed their football IQ when the only times they ever got loud was when Vandy was on offense late in the 4th quarter.
Here are some pics from the game.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/86535440@N00/sets/72…
Great stuff…10K…thanks. Always good to get perspective from fans who were actually at the game. And it looks like from the photos that "the posse" had a fun trip.
Great pics 10K. No matter the opponent, a win is precious in the SEC. I'm glad it looks like they were enjoying it for awhile.
Don't compliment 10K to much. It will go to his head.
OK, we've played 3 games now.
After the 1st game, one of the discussions centered around fumbles due to lack on practice tackling.
After the second game, the big discussion was about who was controlling the play calling and lack of turnovers for our defense. There was some talk about how the defense stayed on the field to much.
After the last game, discussion has been around how the defense can't tackle along with still not getting a turnover.
I'm not sure there is a theme to any of this. It appears our lack of contact in pre-season practice is still haunting us but there could be other reasons such a playing true freshmen.
It's funny how now the focus seems to have changed from the offense to the defense. An area we were told would be "strong". There were always statements about injuries at LB which have happened. I suspect our issues run deeper though.
If some of the rumers are true of RH making fun of and talking bad about GM, it would appear now the heat is shifting. I wonder what RH will do now.