As per the saying the Tigers made significant improvement from week 1 to this game. It almost didn't look like the same team out there Saturday. They improved in all phases and all the different groups improved as well. With that said here is what I saw. Offense B+ Can't give them an A with the drops and stalls in the red zone. However we dominated from the get go. I thought the line played much better and give them a solid B. Josh D filled in well at LT and an additional week recovery helped the RT. I will give the receivers a solid B as well because in spite of ODBjr & Sheps drops the others caught well and all blocked well (including Shep as Red noted). As they get used to having the ball come when & where it is supposed to be they shouldn't do as poorly. I think the RBs got a B++ no A as we didn't break a long one. Met deserves an A his passes were pinpoint and his command & leadership excellent. It seemed he was allowed to audible to apass when faced with 8 in the box. He could really be special. Game pla/coachingn B+ as well. We showed more and looks and passed downfield and a few slants. In fact we used the bubble screens called last week to set up slants. It was nice to see. Defense B++++ Again against a supposedly stronger opponent the D imposed it's will and stuff them. They were sooo close to an A. The DL dominated stuffing the run and pressuring the passer. They do get an A. The LBs are still jelling but I love the speed and hitting Minter, Barrow et all show. The DBs are also improving and will be special. However one can see some rough edges. They get a B as well. Coaching A I liked the plan and the way Chief is molding this group. They will be scary in a few games. Special Teams B+ Again sooo close but ODBjr's fumble and kills it as that play could have set the tone for the game. Wing is spectacular. Overall B+ It would be hard to give an A as I don't know what UW really is. Are they good or really weak. I liked just about everything we did and if this continues this may be better than last year's team and our best ever. It looks like Les's best coaching job so far.
Can't argue with those grades, but if you grade the WR's by themselves they get a D. Seems like everyone but Boone had trouble holding on to the ball. Mett gets an A. He will see much stronger competition, but you couldn't ask any more from him last night.
Only one I disagree with is the D. Gave up only 3 points on a possession starting in the red zone. That's a shutout in my book. A.
the sports editor for the Nicholls State newspaper gave these grades: QB Mett: A RB Blue: A FB Copeland: A+ WR OBJ: D WR Landry: B+ LT Dworaczyk: A+ LG Collins B+ C Lonergan A RG Williford A RT Hurst A TE Clement A ("his blocking was superb all night...may have been his best game yet as a Tiger") DE Mingo A DT Downs B DT Logan A DE Montgomery A OLB Muncie B+ MLB Minter A+ OLB Barrow A- CB Mills A S Loston A S Reid B+ CB Simon A
Evidently this wasn't written by the guy who called into the postgame show, supposedly the father of the 3rd string FB with no sour grapes whatsoever, who said Copeland missed a ton of blocks.
Actually one of the things I noticed when I rewatched the game was that Copeland did miss a few blocks. Fortunately the ones he did miss didn't really impact the play negatively, hence why they didn't really jump out at you. It didnt really matter as the running backs seemed to find a hole anyway, and it shouldn't take away from the fact that he did have some great blocks that sprung some big gains.
Sorry but there is no way Loston should have gotten an A. I think the more the season progresses the more you will see Eric Reid and Micah Eugene out there. Loston was out of place a number of times I saw, and he almost gave up the touchdown on UW's first posession had the receiver actually caught the ball. No way I can give Loston an A.
I thought the linebackers as a whole did an excellent job of crowding up the middle of the field in pass protection, something we lacked last year (see: BCSNCG). Very good work all around by that unit. What's really encouraging is that there was no drop-off when the freshmen came in.
