At this point in the season we really don't know what we have after playing Wofford and App State. However the defense has looked good and I am cautiously optimistic.
How good is Louisville? Were they looking ahead till this Thursday? After They lost to Auburn last week in a close one I thought they were pretty good. However Auburn SHOULD have lost to Jacksonville State today. Tied it with less than a minute to play and won it in over time. If we take out Louisville this Thursday they will be 0-3 and I guarantee we get their best shot. We will see this Thursday. God do I hate playing on a short week.
Notre Dame will lose to Ga Tech and take some luster off our match up. As for how we match up: They gave up yards numerous times on fly sweeps which we should be able to exploit with Artavis. Also they were susceptible to the pass game - particularly over the middle and down the seam. We are going to miss Mike Williams in this one. They looked stout against the run for the most part.
We have a very talented team but lack depth on the O-line and Linebacker. Though I love this teams potential numerous things worry me:
Run blocking -- when we line up and have to push a defensive line off the ball we still have not shown the ability to do that (and this was against Wofford and and App State). As Chris has stated the line is a work in progress and may well be good in time. As long as we don't trip up before they get better this should be a special year.
Number 4 looked human today. He got into a rhythm after a while but this was the first time I saw him look less than stellar.
The kicking game may come back to bite us. If you count the 2 Mulligans to start the game our field goal kicker was 2 for 5 today. Doesn't instill confidence if we absolutely have to have one for a win. Also on kickoffs it frequently came down at the 10yd line and compounding this the coverage was poor. Don't know if the length of the kicks can be corrected but we need to fix the coverage.
The defensive line has looked stout so far and this is without one of our starters. We will know more in the next few weeks. Every one we play for the next few weeks will have a significantly better O-line than what we have faced. We will see.
Linebacker play has been good so far. Not sure how they are going to hold up when we have some stiff competition. None of our linebackers have the speed of Anthony or Stewart last year. Also will they have the discipline to maintain their lanes/gaps against the likes of Ga Tech (who has looked formidable thus far)? Lastly we are paper thin and after our starters there is a steep drop off.
Should be a fun ride.
Go Tigers!!!!!!!!!!!!
How good is Louisville? Were they looking ahead till this Thursday? After They lost to Auburn last week in a close one I thought they were pretty good. However Auburn SHOULD have lost to Jacksonville State today. Tied it with less than a minute to play and won it in over time. If we take out Louisville this Thursday they will be 0-3 and I guarantee we get their best shot. We will see this Thursday. God do I hate playing on a short week.
Notre Dame will lose to Ga Tech and take some luster off our match up. As for how we match up: They gave up yards numerous times on fly sweeps which we should be able to exploit with Artavis. Also they were susceptible to the pass game - particularly over the middle and down the seam. We are going to miss Mike Williams in this one. They looked stout against the run for the most part.
We have a very talented team but lack depth on the O-line and Linebacker. Though I love this teams potential numerous things worry me:
Run blocking -- when we line up and have to push a defensive line off the ball we still have not shown the ability to do that (and this was against Wofford and and App State). As Chris has stated the line is a work in progress and may well be good in time. As long as we don't trip up before they get better this should be a special year.
Number 4 looked human today. He got into a rhythm after a while but this was the first time I saw him look less than stellar.
The kicking game may come back to bite us. If you count the 2 Mulligans to start the game our field goal kicker was 2 for 5 today. Doesn't instill confidence if we absolutely have to have one for a win. Also on kickoffs it frequently came down at the 10yd line and compounding this the coverage was poor. Don't know if the length of the kicks can be corrected but we need to fix the coverage.
The defensive line has looked stout so far and this is without one of our starters. We will know more in the next few weeks. Every one we play for the next few weeks will have a significantly better O-line than what we have faced. We will see.
Linebacker play has been good so far. Not sure how they are going to hold up when we have some stiff competition. None of our linebackers have the speed of Anthony or Stewart last year. Also will they have the discipline to maintain their lanes/gaps against the likes of Ga Tech (who has looked formidable thus far)? Lastly we are paper thin and after our starters there is a steep drop off.
Should be a fun ride.
Go Tigers!!!!!!!!!!!!
