The Good the Bad and the Ugly

[The PonyGrad]

The Good - Special teams. Hey, the punt team actually had a decent average and the KOR team intimidated SJSU into kicking out of bounds or short. The third quarter - both SMU offense and defense awakened. The defense made some monster hits and the offense actually started passing and completed two long TDs. Blitz - with no pressure on the QB SMU turned to the blitz and distrupted SJSU's passing game, of course a max blitz in the 4th resulted in a TD but we were not stopping them without the blitz and that was the only score in the 2nd half.

The Bad - Offense and defense for the remaining quarters. SJSU made several LONG drives that SMU could not stop and the offense had no answers for SJSU's low rated defense.

The Ugly - Offensive game plan/play calling (except in the 3rd.) The moribund running game was called on again and again in order to prove that no matter how bad the other teams rushing defense is, they can stop our predictable offense. The idea that if we just execute our vanilla plays a little better we will be OK is nuts. The attitude of the team - while it was good to see the team come out after the half and play with fire the question arises, why were we so flat the rest of the game? If we started the game like we did after the half who knows what might have happened.

[Corso]

I think I'm turning into a BUS desciple: we need heavy doses of linemen -- offensive and defensive -- in this year's recruiting class. Not that we don't have some talented guys coming back (Adami, Ieremia-Stansbury, Kieschnick, Johnson, etc.), but we need more of them. We need increased depth, to compensate for fatigue and to protect against injury, and we need more linemen with serious talent to compete for jobs. Pushing each other for time will make them all better.

[The PonyGrad]

I have to specifically add Bartel to the Good category. For the game he had a 151.16 efficiency rating. That is something we have not seen anywhere close to this season. We need to build on that strength. If that means freshmen receivers, so be it.

We have shown that we can be stopped by the worst rushing defense we have faced. It is time to move ahead and that means working on the passing game.

[Corso]

You're right, Bartel does have to be added to the GOOD category. Especially when you consider what a trainwreck the first half was offensively, he rebounded really nicely in the second. He showed a lot more moxie than we've seen all season, and his adjustment on the roll-out to throw across his body and hit Derron Brown downfield on the first TD showed quick thinking and good arm strength.

[The PonyGrad]

Corso I appreciate your adding the specific details that are the substance behind the statistics.