Post by heathwaldrop on Sept 16, 2006 16:01:33 GMT -6
The good and the bad.
GOOD: Mustain is going to be fantastic and the freshman receivers continue to impress. Chris Houston had a good game at corner and both D-ends looked good. Kudos to Jeremy Davis at kicker for doing what should be automatic for kickers. Michael Smith had some good minutes late.
BAD: Defense looked like it did about mid-season last year, not late-season. Some of that had to do with the continued issue with depth at linebacker, but some of that was just plain bad defensive play...poor tackling. Run blocking at times was bad on the offensive side, in both base formations. McFadden seemed to be unsure on his feet today, stumbled a bit, didn't cut well. Maybe he's still not up to top form. THEY SUCKED ON THIRD DOWN. In my opinion they called too many passes on third and less than 6. I haven't looked at it on paper but I think they called pass plays on third and short probably 80 percent of the time. And it failed around 75 percent of the time. PENALTIES killed them, and they were stupid penalties. Sideline managment was awful in my opinion...came close to blowing the whole game, possibly, on an illegal participation penalty but luckily caught it and called time out. The officiating was awful, by the way...mostly against Arkansas, but there were bad calls on both sides.
Where was Peyton Hillis? I think he's done well as a punt returner, not because he's a good punt returner but because he makes good decisions. But is that all he's going to contribute? He had one pass thrown at him that wasn't caught and he had no carries. Tough to figure out how to use him in this offense I guess.
Also...I just heard Marcus Elliott say on the radio that the third-quarter ruled drop swing pass to McFadden was a lateral. Well, when I saw it live I thought too that they'd dodged a bullet and that it was a lateral. Had the whole stadium booing for 15 minutes or more. IT WAS NOT A LATERAL. Saw plainly on the replay that while Mustain's shoulders were pointed with an angle backwards away from the line of scrimmage, the path of the football DID follow a forward trajectory.
Folks if we're struggling like this against the likes of Vanderbilt or Utah State, it's way premature to be talking about eight- or nine-win seasons. In my opinion the Hogs looked better on both sides of the football against USC in a 50-14 loss than in either of the wins. Much better opponent, fewer penalties, better defense and an offense that moved the football but simply didn't hang onto it enough to score.
I just have very little confidence in this team right now.
GOOD: Mustain is going to be fantastic and the freshman receivers continue to impress. Chris Houston had a good game at corner and both D-ends looked good. Kudos to Jeremy Davis at kicker for doing what should be automatic for kickers. Michael Smith had some good minutes late.
BAD: Defense looked like it did about mid-season last year, not late-season. Some of that had to do with the continued issue with depth at linebacker, but some of that was just plain bad defensive play...poor tackling. Run blocking at times was bad on the offensive side, in both base formations. McFadden seemed to be unsure on his feet today, stumbled a bit, didn't cut well. Maybe he's still not up to top form. THEY SUCKED ON THIRD DOWN. In my opinion they called too many passes on third and less than 6. I haven't looked at it on paper but I think they called pass plays on third and short probably 80 percent of the time. And it failed around 75 percent of the time. PENALTIES killed them, and they were stupid penalties. Sideline managment was awful in my opinion...came close to blowing the whole game, possibly, on an illegal participation penalty but luckily caught it and called time out. The officiating was awful, by the way...mostly against Arkansas, but there were bad calls on both sides.
Where was Peyton Hillis? I think he's done well as a punt returner, not because he's a good punt returner but because he makes good decisions. But is that all he's going to contribute? He had one pass thrown at him that wasn't caught and he had no carries. Tough to figure out how to use him in this offense I guess.
Also...I just heard Marcus Elliott say on the radio that the third-quarter ruled drop swing pass to McFadden was a lateral. Well, when I saw it live I thought too that they'd dodged a bullet and that it was a lateral. Had the whole stadium booing for 15 minutes or more. IT WAS NOT A LATERAL. Saw plainly on the replay that while Mustain's shoulders were pointed with an angle backwards away from the line of scrimmage, the path of the football DID follow a forward trajectory.
Folks if we're struggling like this against the likes of Vanderbilt or Utah State, it's way premature to be talking about eight- or nine-win seasons. In my opinion the Hogs looked better on both sides of the football against USC in a 50-14 loss than in either of the wins. Much better opponent, fewer penalties, better defense and an offense that moved the football but simply didn't hang onto it enough to score.
I just have very little confidence in this team right now.
