It's true that "quick strick" offense doesn't give the defense time to rest. We can be quite successful with a steady, ball hogging offense. To win a NC, one must handily win the time of possession battle.
I'll admit that the State mistakes helped - a lot. But I also remember and old line - "You make your breaks". It was not simply a case of State being bad - our defense took whatever game they had in the first half and shut it down. Our offense finally came alive and our special team play was a very good. Oh, you can say what you want about State's QB play, but what they really need is a punter. Good 1st season game, on the road against an SEC West team. The first brick on the road to New Orleans. :geauxtige ldskule:
Very true. I was actually at times a bit concerned about the Russell offense in being able to score so fast and subjected the defense to more time on the field last season.
I enjoyed reading comments and breakdown of last nights game. Sounds like everyone understands where we are. To me it was a perfect scrimmage game where just about everyone got some playing time. It was great seeing so many new players getting in the game and making plays. We played a tough defense in heavy rain at times. This game allowed the defense to flex its muscle and the offense to work within a new system with a new QB and OC. I was pleased to hear MF say there is a lot of work that needs to be done. What better way to start, 1-0 in the SEC with more then a week to prepare for VT. Can't wait for Saturday night under the lights at home. :thumb:
One note on Flynn, he almost threw an interception into the flats, which is a play he appears to have problems with because he's had a couple interceptions like that before. I hope Crowton works with him to correct that. On the young guns, several true freshmen played last night including: Toliver, Chad Jones, Barksdale, Jarvis Jones, and the 2 kickers, + redshirt freshman Richard Murphy. I read that JUCO transfer Demetrius Byrd played as well, but didn't see him. Toliver is going to be spectacular once he learns the offense & bulks up some. We'll see some flashes from him this year, and hopefully becomes a force by the end of the season. Chad Jones didn't play much, but showed his athleticism in his sole tackle. I really can't recall noticing a drop off with Barksdale & Jones in the game. Did anyone else pay close attention to them? Richard Murphy looked very good, and both the kickers looked pretty good. Al Woods had a forced fumble recovery & played well. We didn't see much of Chris or Jared Mitchell, any one notice how they were doing with beating jams and blocking? It seems they weren't getting open.
Flynn has to find another receiver besides Doucet or he'll be double-teamed the rest of the year. I expect we'll see the tight ends and the other wide receivers more next week . . . especially if Doucet is double-covered. That middle screen to Scott was beautifully done.
I admit I was getting a little frustrated in the beginning but I had to tell myself, MSU was pumped big time for this game. This was a huge game for them hosting the #2 team in the country so I think it was pure adrenaline and emotion that made them play well in the beginning. Things I think we should fix: STOP WITH THE STUPID PENALTIES! That killed a couple of drives early on. We have a really dynamic offense this but the O-Line needs to step it up so we can get out of jams if we get pinned back inside our 10 yard line. Things I like: I like the defense. They look sharp all game and the 7 turnovers wasn't to shabby either. And I like the new look of our offense. It isn't the show stopper type offense we had last year but, i like how we don't have to rely on one or two guys to get the ball rolling. We can spread it out and keep defenses on their feet. Once the offense really starts to click, we'll be hard to beat not to mention that we didn't give VT anything to look at for next week.
