I swore before the season I would not make another negative posts on TF. I remain ashamed of a very negative (though quite clever) post I made early last year. As a 50+ year Tiger fan in Tar Heel country, I have been smack talking this game since the day it was announced. I truly thought we would win BIG. I teach 8th grade and I have been working LSU - Carolina math problems for a couple of weeks now. I have about 30 kids really fired up. It has been fun. I never dreamed, well maybe a little, that this would be anything short of a blow out. And that is before the suspensions at Carolina. IMHO the tone was set on I think our first series of downs. As I recall, 4 easy yds with a run, then again, 4 easy yards with a run. 3d and 2. How about that run again? Nope, some screwed up pass and we have to kick. That brief, 45 second scenario sums it up. With a 2nd team defense in the game, how could we not have "attacked" right out of the gate? Then, after getting 2 easy gains of 4 or so yards, why not do it again for the 1st down? I tell you, the opening series depressed the heck out of me, and again sums it up. We had some great plays, we did some great things, but did we have a great game? No. Please remember, our offense was playing against 2nd stringers from a second tier program tonite. I expect the LSU Spring game had a better "team". Please remember, Carolina was playing 3d and 4th string running backs. Please remember Yates is considered by many up here to not be all that "sxxx hot." The game of his life against us?? Not something I am proud about. I won't state the obvious, plenty of threads already do, but I am astounded, Sunday morning with the trepidation with which I face the rest of the season. I hope I am wrong. But I was not after the first 3 and out. Damn! Geaux Tigers
Why include the 3rd and 4th string running backs with UNC had like 24 yrds rushing.. What are you trying to say? Not trying to play the what if, but the 75+ and 95+ that UNC had was simply playing off BAD LSU mistakes in an otherwise DOMINATE game by our D. UNC's First score came from LSU penalties. Look, we had some broken plays on D, mostly the young guys and TAYLOR, OMG NEVER SEEN SUCH A BAD GAME. We will get better...
I saw a sloppy opening win against a quality opponent. There is a LOT to improve on, but a win is a win. This win came on 3 big plays, TD run by Shepard (thank god for him), punt return by Peterson (thank god for him) and JJ to Randle (thank god for him). Plus side, our running game was better, still needs to improve. Ridley did well, Murphy not so much. JJ is better, but has a long way to go improving his progression reads. OL is better, but there were some disturbing breakdowns and NC swarming our runners. PP is faster than I ever knew! Minus side: JJ read progression. Secondary knowing where to go. They picked on Claiborne, but he's young and experience will help him. Need to show some depth at RB, Ridley can't do it alone.
One good thing about scott, he NEVER dropped the ball like that.... After last night, Ford needs PT until Ridley shows hes not gonna give the ball away for us.
especially not at such a critical time in the game. even if Ridley wouldn't have fumbled, I'm still disappointed Ford didn't get any snaps.
Not to bag on Ridley, but I very much agree. We were in the position we were in because of him alone and his inability to protect the football. Was glad to see him take ownership. ”
With the first game, this win was ok. I am always positive and I look at things like this... No pens, no fumbles and Ridley prob breaks 100 yrds rushing and a TD. If shepard and TT made some of those missed cathces, JJ would have looked even better. Also, the Pen's on D really hurt us too. UNC can have those 2 big pass plays b/c it is more than acceptable and I would much rather have those in the first game than in Bama....
Agree with this, and with Pride123's last post. Eliminate sloppy play late in the game and we win by a blowout. Having said that, play calling was horrible as always - actually not as bad as normal, but not genius level for sure. Hopefully, Gonzalez will get more input as the season progresses in the offensive gameplan, MF some touches in the backfield, and we eliminate mistakes (esp. late in the game when our foot should be on the pedal to close strong!).
