So let me preface this by saying I haven't rewatched the game yet so these are just initial thoughts, might provide some more if others strike me after rewatching:
1. What can't you say about the defense? The #2/3 CB spots still worry me some, but regardless those guys are atleast willing to come-up and challenge any receiver they see. Mac prob needs to go back to his non-talking ways, but he's still extremely good.
The front seven is awesome, and it's crazy to think that they can't even compare to the savages we have at safety. Those two are just freakazoid heat-seeking missiles. They were constantly turning plays inside and just wrecking entire plays. Screw setting the edge, those guys destroyed it multiple times. And when the edge was set they did a great job of filling the hole and making the play. Two really awesome players there.
I was also incredibly impressed by O'Daniel. He played with great leverage throughout. He had a TFL at one point in the game where he played a stretch play absolutely perfectly, maintained outside leverage and wrapped-up the RB perfectly. It was absolutely clinical. Boulware was also a stud after starting the season somewhat underwhelming. He strikes me as someone who might play up/down depending on competition. He needs that intense fire to get him going.
2. On the opposite hand, I'm gonna try to go easy on Elliott/Scott, but it's very difficult. Not only was that offense as rudimentary as anything I've seen since Spence, it also had no flow or sequencing. When things worked well we went away from them. When we were moving the ball we pressed instead of continuing what was rolling. I know the OL wasn't great in pass protection, but damn we didn't do them any favors in gameplanning and playcalling.
3. Speaking of the OL, I was moderately impressed with those guys. With the terrible playballing and (to be nice) awful play by Watson, they actually played pretty well, especially considering the injuries. I really hope Norton got Wally Pipped last night. I know it won't happen as the coaching staff has some odd affinity with that dude whereas I think he's as useful as sandpaper in shithouse, but I really want to see us move forward with Guillermo. The young guys are also a lot better than the scrubs we used to throw in when injuries happened. We're actually starting to build some sort of depth on the OL.
4. There's no need to pile on Watson as he knows his mistakes more than any of us, but he was hard-to-describe bad last night. Not only was he forcing balls constantly into traffic and missing wide open guys (3rd and 11 to Leggett was absurd), but he wasn't doing the management things that he did so effortlessly as a freshman.
Watson's arm and athletic ability are easy to see, but those aren't the things that really astonished me his first year. The incredible things were his ability to understand protections, distribute the ball quickly and move within the pocket. It's like he completely forgot all of that. The line wasn't perfect, but there were multiple times where Louisville simply brought more than we had. They brought 7, we protected with 6. That extra defender is on the QB, it's simple math. He has to recognize that and get the ball to his hot routes. His first sack (I think) early in the game he had a slot receiver on a slant for an easy first down when they brought and extra guy. Those are the things he was casually doing on the road against FSU that were so impressive.
I also think someone needs to tell him to maybe put the Mariotta tape away for his senior/junior year and maybe (as absurd as this sounds) pickup some Connor Shaw tape for this year. So many times in last nights game he had checkdowns or he had a lane to get 5-10 yards and he never took it. On the second interception he threw he rolled left and there wasn't a defender within 10 yards of him. Those short backbreaking runs are what can open so much of the defense up. Designed draws are one thing, but cheap yards on scrambles are drive savers.
5. Kick coverage is an unmitigated disaster. No lane discipline. No hang time or depth (always one or the other). This is such a simple concept and how we can't figure it out is beyond me. Sidenote: Seeing Kearse walk that dude down like a valociraptor taking down some kitten was incredible.
6. One unspoken takeaway I had from this game was the timing of everything. I think it's fairly obvious Watson has had fun reading the clippings over the offseason, and there's nothing wrong with that. We love the kid cause he's humble and quiet, but that doesn't mean he's a robot. He's read all offseason how he's gonna win the Heisman. It's impossible for that not to go to his head.
If we came in and blew this team out you've got a young team looking at 16 days to sit around and hear how awesome they are. We would have come out flat as hell against ND. I don't know if the offensive playcalling or the kick coverage will improve, but I have no doubt this team will come out with a chip on their shoulder against ND. They're gonna have their arses chewed out for 16 straight days and be begging to takeout that frustration on someone else.
All in all, survive and advance when it comes to road Thursday night games.
1. What can't you say about the defense? The #2/3 CB spots still worry me some, but regardless those guys are atleast willing to come-up and challenge any receiver they see. Mac prob needs to go back to his non-talking ways, but he's still extremely good.
The front seven is awesome, and it's crazy to think that they can't even compare to the savages we have at safety. Those two are just freakazoid heat-seeking missiles. They were constantly turning plays inside and just wrecking entire plays. Screw setting the edge, those guys destroyed it multiple times. And when the edge was set they did a great job of filling the hole and making the play. Two really awesome players there.
I was also incredibly impressed by O'Daniel. He played with great leverage throughout. He had a TFL at one point in the game where he played a stretch play absolutely perfectly, maintained outside leverage and wrapped-up the RB perfectly. It was absolutely clinical. Boulware was also a stud after starting the season somewhat underwhelming. He strikes me as someone who might play up/down depending on competition. He needs that intense fire to get him going.
2. On the opposite hand, I'm gonna try to go easy on Elliott/Scott, but it's very difficult. Not only was that offense as rudimentary as anything I've seen since Spence, it also had no flow or sequencing. When things worked well we went away from them. When we were moving the ball we pressed instead of continuing what was rolling. I know the OL wasn't great in pass protection, but damn we didn't do them any favors in gameplanning and playcalling.
3. Speaking of the OL, I was moderately impressed with those guys. With the terrible playballing and (to be nice) awful play by Watson, they actually played pretty well, especially considering the injuries. I really hope Norton got Wally Pipped last night. I know it won't happen as the coaching staff has some odd affinity with that dude whereas I think he's as useful as sandpaper in shithouse, but I really want to see us move forward with Guillermo. The young guys are also a lot better than the scrubs we used to throw in when injuries happened. We're actually starting to build some sort of depth on the OL.
4. There's no need to pile on Watson as he knows his mistakes more than any of us, but he was hard-to-describe bad last night. Not only was he forcing balls constantly into traffic and missing wide open guys (3rd and 11 to Leggett was absurd), but he wasn't doing the management things that he did so effortlessly as a freshman.
Watson's arm and athletic ability are easy to see, but those aren't the things that really astonished me his first year. The incredible things were his ability to understand protections, distribute the ball quickly and move within the pocket. It's like he completely forgot all of that. The line wasn't perfect, but there were multiple times where Louisville simply brought more than we had. They brought 7, we protected with 6. That extra defender is on the QB, it's simple math. He has to recognize that and get the ball to his hot routes. His first sack (I think) early in the game he had a slot receiver on a slant for an easy first down when they brought and extra guy. Those are the things he was casually doing on the road against FSU that were so impressive.
I also think someone needs to tell him to maybe put the Mariotta tape away for his senior/junior year and maybe (as absurd as this sounds) pickup some Connor Shaw tape for this year. So many times in last nights game he had checkdowns or he had a lane to get 5-10 yards and he never took it. On the second interception he threw he rolled left and there wasn't a defender within 10 yards of him. Those short backbreaking runs are what can open so much of the defense up. Designed draws are one thing, but cheap yards on scrambles are drive savers.
5. Kick coverage is an unmitigated disaster. No lane discipline. No hang time or depth (always one or the other). This is such a simple concept and how we can't figure it out is beyond me. Sidenote: Seeing Kearse walk that dude down like a valociraptor taking down some kitten was incredible.
6. One unspoken takeaway I had from this game was the timing of everything. I think it's fairly obvious Watson has had fun reading the clippings over the offseason, and there's nothing wrong with that. We love the kid cause he's humble and quiet, but that doesn't mean he's a robot. He's read all offseason how he's gonna win the Heisman. It's impossible for that not to go to his head.
If we came in and blew this team out you've got a young team looking at 16 days to sit around and hear how awesome they are. We would have come out flat as hell against ND. I don't know if the offensive playcalling or the kick coverage will improve, but I have no doubt this team will come out with a chip on their shoulder against ND. They're gonna have their arses chewed out for 16 straight days and be begging to takeout that frustration on someone else.
All in all, survive and advance when it comes to road Thursday night games.
