Glutton for punishment... and observations
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 12:54 pmWhat did I do when I got back to Austin last night?
I watched the game again. My observations remained the same, only sharpened....
In the stands -
- our fans need two things, one to learn how to show up (as Sherrington pointed out, a win against Tech would have helped in the future), and secondly to learn how to get loud. As the Tech fans proved, the stadium does have the acoustics to get noisy (Raider... Power...... stuck in my head). Plus, it was embarrassing that we couldn't fill the house for ESPN and an old SWC rival.
- which leads into third down thunder. We wouldn't have to have this ridiculous, embarrassing announcement if the fans got to their feet (or stayed on their feet, as I would prefer, but baby steps here people) and got loud on third down because they were paying attention, into the game, and knew what to do.
On the field -
- my main comment is that nothing ever happened, we never had that one play, offense, defense or special teams that really changed momentum. Nothing that brought the faithful to their feet, and turned the slow drip, that was the tech attack, and the sputtering that was SMU all over, into a geyser. Just one thing... a turnover on defense, a blocked punt, a return down to inside the redzone, a long offensive play downfield... there was nothing to provide that spark. Interesting to learn on TV that Tech won the toss... missed the announcement in the stadium. They're choice to receive was the game right there. Their offense was no shots down field, it was little dinks and dunks, and Graham Harrell having the precision and zip on the ball that you usually only find in video games.
- dropped balls. We hear all the time about Sledge catching hundreds and hundreds of balls after practice. I just couldn't believe he had three-five critical (potential game changing) drops - especially that one in the red zone that was zipped in there when he had space (yes it wasn't right on the money, but he got his hands on it) - that would have given us a first down (and goal?) and we might have turned that into a touchdown for 1 14-10 score, rather than 14-6, inspiring the defense to get a stop before the half. Just a critical drop... And, why not more to Sanders? And of course he wasn't immune to drops, either.
- more DeMyron. Martin averaged 4.6 yards a carry, was only stopped for a loss on a run play once. Unfortunately, he only had 8 carries. LF68 want to see more up the gut runs, and I agree with him, but my comment is more DeMyron. He looked like the back of two years ago, squaring his pads, shooting the gaps, initiating contact, taking the 8 yards that he can with his bruising power and speed, rather than dancing trying to get all 60 in one play, or looking tentative and avoiding contact. He's back, and if we would have utilized him more it would have been a big help.
- Muse is a difference maker. I wish he could have started. That first drive that he was in the game, he almost singlehandedly got Tech off the field. This could have been a very different game with a healthy Muse. All the same, he was able to give us enough that if we could have had one break in the first half, or even as late as early in the third quarter, this could have been a very different game, again just one bounce in our favor, one big play.
- McCann got beat a few times, but he's a player... when he did get beat, it was on the short stuff when he - as was pointed out by the ESPN color commentator James Hasty - wasn't in position to begin with. However McCann, showed great ability (as he did last year) to break up passes, and has fantastic closing speed.
- Brandon Jones is rusty, but I have faith that he will be more than capable as the season progresses, though I was surprised to see him him out there as much as he was.
- I know that another thread stated that De'Von Bailey p0layed late in the game, I didn't notice it in person, nor on DVR - I was looking for him, but thankfully, I had my DVR set to stop recording at 6:30... I think the game lasted until 7, luckily I missed the final quater of pain/filler. But I was anxious to see him, and thought he should have been out there earlier and seen a lot of action. Speaking of true Freshman, did Robinson get a catch/a ball even thrown his way?
- Justin Willis.... needs to play like mid-season Justin Willis. He took off far to often, but - that may have been just as much predicated by the drops. If your receivers catch, you'll trust them to catch the balls on third down.
Anyhow, all is not lost, the sky is not falling.
I'm hacked, because I didn't wait 9 months for that, and certainly am disappointed, dejected, and disgusted.... but, walking into that game, though I predicted a W (that stems from the thought, that I still believe, that we will win one game of the three that we should, on paper, most definitely lose - this one, TCU, and Southern Miss - I just thought this one as the most likely with all that was falling into place), I was prepared, and I guess expecting a loss.
The sky truly falls if we lose to UNT. When we are sitting at 1-1, I'll start truly looking at the team, and where we are going.
At this point, I don't really fault PB for the game plan in the first half... would have liked to see a couple shots down field, more DeMyron... but honestly, a couple catches (as opposed to drops), and/or just one play, and the game would have been totally different. It wasn't like Tech was absolutely reaming us with bombs.... they were doing what they were supposed to do, and taking what the defense was giving them.
Of course 49-9 is ridiculous, and I am not trying to downplay that at all... I'm just trying to say, to myself as much as any of you, I don't think we are "done"... and we don't have to wait long to see whether or not that's true.
I watched the game again. My observations remained the same, only sharpened....
In the stands -
- our fans need two things, one to learn how to show up (as Sherrington pointed out, a win against Tech would have helped in the future), and secondly to learn how to get loud. As the Tech fans proved, the stadium does have the acoustics to get noisy (Raider... Power...... stuck in my head). Plus, it was embarrassing that we couldn't fill the house for ESPN and an old SWC rival.
- which leads into third down thunder. We wouldn't have to have this ridiculous, embarrassing announcement if the fans got to their feet (or stayed on their feet, as I would prefer, but baby steps here people) and got loud on third down because they were paying attention, into the game, and knew what to do.
On the field -
- my main comment is that nothing ever happened, we never had that one play, offense, defense or special teams that really changed momentum. Nothing that brought the faithful to their feet, and turned the slow drip, that was the tech attack, and the sputtering that was SMU all over, into a geyser. Just one thing... a turnover on defense, a blocked punt, a return down to inside the redzone, a long offensive play downfield... there was nothing to provide that spark. Interesting to learn on TV that Tech won the toss... missed the announcement in the stadium. They're choice to receive was the game right there. Their offense was no shots down field, it was little dinks and dunks, and Graham Harrell having the precision and zip on the ball that you usually only find in video games.
- dropped balls. We hear all the time about Sledge catching hundreds and hundreds of balls after practice. I just couldn't believe he had three-five critical (potential game changing) drops - especially that one in the red zone that was zipped in there when he had space (yes it wasn't right on the money, but he got his hands on it) - that would have given us a first down (and goal?) and we might have turned that into a touchdown for 1 14-10 score, rather than 14-6, inspiring the defense to get a stop before the half. Just a critical drop... And, why not more to Sanders? And of course he wasn't immune to drops, either.
- more DeMyron. Martin averaged 4.6 yards a carry, was only stopped for a loss on a run play once. Unfortunately, he only had 8 carries. LF68 want to see more up the gut runs, and I agree with him, but my comment is more DeMyron. He looked like the back of two years ago, squaring his pads, shooting the gaps, initiating contact, taking the 8 yards that he can with his bruising power and speed, rather than dancing trying to get all 60 in one play, or looking tentative and avoiding contact. He's back, and if we would have utilized him more it would have been a big help.
- Muse is a difference maker. I wish he could have started. That first drive that he was in the game, he almost singlehandedly got Tech off the field. This could have been a very different game with a healthy Muse. All the same, he was able to give us enough that if we could have had one break in the first half, or even as late as early in the third quarter, this could have been a very different game, again just one bounce in our favor, one big play.
- McCann got beat a few times, but he's a player... when he did get beat, it was on the short stuff when he - as was pointed out by the ESPN color commentator James Hasty - wasn't in position to begin with. However McCann, showed great ability (as he did last year) to break up passes, and has fantastic closing speed.
- Brandon Jones is rusty, but I have faith that he will be more than capable as the season progresses, though I was surprised to see him him out there as much as he was.
- I know that another thread stated that De'Von Bailey p0layed late in the game, I didn't notice it in person, nor on DVR - I was looking for him, but thankfully, I had my DVR set to stop recording at 6:30... I think the game lasted until 7, luckily I missed the final quater of pain/filler. But I was anxious to see him, and thought he should have been out there earlier and seen a lot of action. Speaking of true Freshman, did Robinson get a catch/a ball even thrown his way?
- Justin Willis.... needs to play like mid-season Justin Willis. He took off far to often, but - that may have been just as much predicated by the drops. If your receivers catch, you'll trust them to catch the balls on third down.
Anyhow, all is not lost, the sky is not falling.
I'm hacked, because I didn't wait 9 months for that, and certainly am disappointed, dejected, and disgusted.... but, walking into that game, though I predicted a W (that stems from the thought, that I still believe, that we will win one game of the three that we should, on paper, most definitely lose - this one, TCU, and Southern Miss - I just thought this one as the most likely with all that was falling into place), I was prepared, and I guess expecting a loss.
The sky truly falls if we lose to UNT. When we are sitting at 1-1, I'll start truly looking at the team, and where we are going.
At this point, I don't really fault PB for the game plan in the first half... would have liked to see a couple shots down field, more DeMyron... but honestly, a couple catches (as opposed to drops), and/or just one play, and the game would have been totally different. It wasn't like Tech was absolutely reaming us with bombs.... they were doing what they were supposed to do, and taking what the defense was giving them.
Of course 49-9 is ridiculous, and I am not trying to downplay that at all... I'm just trying to say, to myself as much as any of you, I don't think we are "done"... and we don't have to wait long to see whether or not that's true.