Sunday Morning QB With SVS-Sweet Sweet Victory Edition
Another great day of football that was made even greater by actually being able to enjoy the evening slate since we won. I will hop right into things on our front because there is a good bit to cover:
1. A win is a win. Does not matter how you get it and we have not had an SEC one in 2 years. It felt good to get that monkey off our back.
2. Say what you want about Blake Shapen, and plenty have and will continue to do so, but he made throws when it mattered yesterday. He was missing some early and was a little high on the INT, even though Evans should have caught it. I thought he missed a chance to run it in on the GW drive if he just follows Fluff outside but he kept it inside. However I thought he made two winning plays in the last 4 plays scrambling to avoid the sack and keeping the play alive on 2nd down and then making sure to keep the ball catchable but out in front of Evans on 4th down.
3. You can question a lot about Blake Shapen from a physical abilities standpoint and some of the decision making but you cannot question his guts and heart. That kid stood in and took some absolute free runner shots from the Arky defense yesterday and kept getting back up. In the words of Norman Dale, ?That deserves and demands your repect.? So to the people openly saying they want him to get injured, 17 you. Actually M17 you. That is a POS move. And I have not seen anyone on this board say that, but I have seen plenty in our fan base say it.
4. On to Kamario, kid gave us a spark yesterday. There is no denying that. We were really scuffling offensively and he gave us a spark. He is nowhere near ready, his accuracy needs a lot of work and you could tell we were struggling to figure out which plays he could execute, but the physical tools are there and I am glad we all got to see it and he played well for us.
5. There is still not going to be a QB controversy. We are rolling with Shapen barring injury because he gives us the best chance. Saying that, we need to get Kamario a tad more involved. I loved the shot play yesterday that Lebby dialed up. Arky had 8 in the box and that backed them off considerably.
6. Booth is still RB1 and needs to be for the remainder of the year. Fluff is not fully healthy and Booth still gives you the best chance. I did not think we ran the ball well AT ALL yesterday. Part of that may have been not having Reese but it seemed like we were calling runs straight into the teeth instead of letting Booth get to the corner. Kamario was the best part of the run game. I actually thought our backs were better in the pass game than run game.
7. Ant and BT were worth EVERY. DAMN. PENNY. They were massive yesterday. I thought Ayden was ok. Kamario missed him on 4th down or I think he turns it up the sideline for a big gain. Blake also placed the ball a little low on 3rd down before the game winner. It is good to see he has supplanted Moseley
8. The OL was actually ok yesterday. They were not great in run blocking but they held up pretty well in pass pro.
9. The DL was not incredible, and probably was not even good, but they were incredible on the last drive. I thought Bledsoe had a nice game and Sylla had a great game once again.
10. The LBs were kind of a mixed bag. Nic Mitchell has continued to be impressive with his play and that has been a welcome sight. Jalen Smith still needs some improvement. Lockhart still makes young mistakes but they are both going to be great for us.
11. Our secondary was not great. Hunter Washington needs to be replaced. He is costing us out there. He had a costly penalty that prevented us from getting the ball back and then dropped a pick 6. I thought Kelley was really good as usual and I thought Issac Smith played his best game.
12. Kyle Ferrie came through. His kick was massive. Yes they gave us a second chance at it, but you still have to make it and he did his job. I also think that was roughing the kicker and not running into the kicker but I digress on that.
13. Arkansas was really undisciplined yesterday. 18 penalties for 193 yds. They made a ton of costly mistakes that kept us in the game. But you still have to take it. And we did.
14. Lebby probably bet his career on Shapen yesterday and it paid off. Such is coaching in the SEC. He gambled that Shapen would win it for him and it paid off. We are having a different conversation if it backfired.
15. 8-4 is not out of the question after yesterday. That is how big yesterday was. A loss a 4-8 was the most likely outcome. You had to win to get belief. UGA is a completely different team on the road vs at home. Mizzou is down to their 3rd string QB, and OM just does not impress me. USCe should have beaten them last night. They had receivers running WIDE ASS OPEN.
A little better saying it today: Keep the Fight, Keep the Faith and HailState.
