Todd4State
09-01-2019, 03:43 PM
I think most of what we saw yesterday was due to first game jitters.
One of the key plays was when we didn't pick up the corner blitz and fumbled. Had we scored another TD there after getting our second turnover of the game it may have taken the wind out of their sails. Same with the mistake on ST where Taury Dixon got hit with the ball. Keeping them in it kept them alive. If we're up 42-49 instead of 21 ULL probably plays a lot differently in the fourth quarter.
There are definitely some concerns and I don't want to gloss over that. But at the same time I think it's good that we played a game away from Starkville that was winnable against a good Sun Belt team and won. We're more likely to get upset on the road or at a neutral site in game one and I think it's good that some areas needed for improvement were revealed.
So leaving the Dome yesterday I was kind of disappointed with some things that have been discussed here ad nauseum and it seems like pretty much everyone here is on the same page about what we are seeing. But having slept on it and watching some highlight videos I don't think things appear to be quite as bad as I first thought. However, for me to know that's the case I need to see those things cleaned up next week and then also over the next two weeks after that.
I wouldn't be surprised and I expect us to be better this upcoming weekend against USM. I don't think everything will be cleaned up and we'll have some issues with certain things all year long- but I'm at least hoping that we start to see some connection on some deep passes of 50+ yards, the tackling to be cleaned up, and fewer special teams mistakes. Oh- and maybe some blitzes would be nice.
One of the key plays was when we didn't pick up the corner blitz and fumbled. Had we scored another TD there after getting our second turnover of the game it may have taken the wind out of their sails. Same with the mistake on ST where Taury Dixon got hit with the ball. Keeping them in it kept them alive. If we're up 42-49 instead of 21 ULL probably plays a lot differently in the fourth quarter.
There are definitely some concerns and I don't want to gloss over that. But at the same time I think it's good that we played a game away from Starkville that was winnable against a good Sun Belt team and won. We're more likely to get upset on the road or at a neutral site in game one and I think it's good that some areas needed for improvement were revealed.
So leaving the Dome yesterday I was kind of disappointed with some things that have been discussed here ad nauseum and it seems like pretty much everyone here is on the same page about what we are seeing. But having slept on it and watching some highlight videos I don't think things appear to be quite as bad as I first thought. However, for me to know that's the case I need to see those things cleaned up next week and then also over the next two weeks after that.
I wouldn't be surprised and I expect us to be better this upcoming weekend against USM. I don't think everything will be cleaned up and we'll have some issues with certain things all year long- but I'm at least hoping that we start to see some connection on some deep passes of 50+ yards, the tackling to be cleaned up, and fewer special teams mistakes. Oh- and maybe some blitzes would be nice.