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First of, I just want to say thanks to the players and their parents. Staying at the team hotel at these bowl games is always an awesome experience, and while in NM I got to spend time with several parents, and that are just awesome.

- I can tell you one thing - the players love the coaching staff. Hopefully we can keep these coaches together.
- It was way colder than the temperature. Pep rally was a warning. I picked up a ton of gear at the mall earlier today, and that saved me. But it was really cold.
- Everyone was really banged up. Lavine spent time in the tent early. Maryland had something going on, but fought through it to play the whole game. Bryant picked up an injury early but still played until it finally gave in. Osborne got hurt and tried to play through it but finally had to exit.
- Wheaton is clearly on some type of snap count, and with Lavine hurt, the reason we threw the ball on 4th and 2 is because Rhett didn't want to run a WR into short yardage, and I don't blame him. But if the OL had held up, Dixon had gone in motion behind the QB on the play and was all by himself on the right. It was a missed opportunity when TM stumbled and took the sack.
- Dixon and Kerley really made some big plays late in the game when TM was forced to trust them, but it is unfortunate that TM didn't trust them a little earlier in the game to make some plays.
- On the INT, the TE missed the block and that allowed the corner to jump the pass. That isn't on TM.
- A little unfortunate that we didn't adjust earlier defensively to the running game. In the 4th quarter, we moved to 98 at the 1 tech, 40 at the 3, and 9 on the edge and we stopped the run. It is a preview of next year. 40 needs to play that 3 tech, and we have to bring in true NT. 98 can play there, and the Miami transfer is a good start. I suspect depth was the reason we didn't make that shift earlier in the game, but once we did it, we really shut them down.
- As far as the last play is concern, I 100% support going for 2. We were down 3 OL and had another playing who was really beat up. Also, Tyler couldn't put a lot of pressure on his ankle.
There was no way that was going to work in OT. You definitely go for two. Just came up a yard short. I guess you could say we could have put a different QB in to run it, but had to give it a shot. Plus, nobody wants extra time in that cold.

All in all, it sucks we lost, but the players really fought to the end. For those of you who couldn't make it, I definitely recommend travelling out next year, it's a lot of fun...

How is everyone banged up when we had ~20 days off?

I agree with going for two in that situation. Sucks it didn't work out but it was the right call.

mtrout wrote:How is everyone banged up when we had ~20 days off?

My guess would be you have never broken a bone or had surgery.


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mtrout wrote:How is everyone banged up when we had ~20 days off?

I had a rotator cuff go out that has been plaguing me since early October and I still can't hit the gym like I want to. I have to stick to stretchy bands and embarrassing weights because anything heavier would re-trigger pain, swelling, and dislike for life.

Now imagine hitting someone head on 30 times in 2 hours while dealing with worse.

mrydel wrote:

mtrout wrote:How is everyone banged up when we had ~20 days off?

My guess would be you have never broken a bone or had surgery.


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Or never played... stupid question.

From my view on the sideline, guys who looked like they were banged up (either coming into the game or during the game) included Marcus Bryant, Owen Condon, Jahari Rogers, Jordan Kerley, Tyler Lavine, Roderick Daniels, Justin Osborne.

To be fair, BYU was banged up, too. Every team in the country is banged up. But yes, several Mustangs were definitely playing through various issues.

Yeah, really huge kudos to all the guys fighting through their injuries to try and come back in the game. It was super cold, it was a "meaningless" bowl game - lots of reasons to just check out of the game. The fact that they players kept fighting through everything to try and come back says a lot about the character of the team.

malonish wrote:

mtrout wrote:How is everyone banged up when we had ~20 days off?

I had a rotator cuff go out that has been plaguing me since early October and I still can't hit the gym like I want to. I have to stick to stretchy bands and embarrassing weights because anything heavier would re-trigger pain, swelling, and dislike for life.

Now imagine hitting someone head on 30 times in 2 hours while dealing with worse.

Not to mention that they were at 5000 ft. I would think that would hit the OL pretty hard.

JasonB wrote:For those of you who couldn't make it, I definitely recommend travelling out next year, it's a lot of fun...

We made the decision to go on Monday. So glad we were able to experience it, even in that cold.

You could see it in the parents that were in the stands (and around town) and you could see it with the players on the field that you wouldn't of been able to from the TV just how much it meant to everyone in the program.

Completely second this. Try and find a way to get to these bowl games when you can.

Obviously we all wanted the result to be different, but hard not to applaud and appreciate all of our boys after the effort they put in.

Thanks again Jason for all your write ups this season. Been a lot of fun to read them.

I had my tickets and everything for last year's Fenway Bowl. And then UVA got COVID.

Mustangs35SMU wrote:

JasonB wrote:For those of you who couldn't make it, I definitely recommend travelling out next year, it's a lot of fun...

We made the decision to go on Monday. So glad we were able to experience it, even in that cold.

You could see it in the parents that were in the stands (and around town) and you could see it with the players on the field that you wouldn't of been able to from the TV just how much it meant to everyone in the program.

Completely second this. Try and find a way to get to these bowl games when you can.

Obviously we all wanted the result to be different, but hard not to applaud and appreciate all of our boys after the effort they put in.

Thanks again Jason for all your write ups this season. Been a lot of fun to read them.

Thanks! Anyone can ping me on twitter (the message system doesn't work great on this board) if you ever want to meet up at a game or at a bowl.