The good:
Well, the defense is the obvious strength of the team. Wow, just wow. I thought that this unit had a chance to be pretty good (as in top 25 good), but we could be a top 10 unit. Depth is a concern and I don't see us being able to get the 2nd team many snaps going forward because...
The offense certainly isn't as good as I'd thought it was. I'm not ready to call it a sophomore slump yet, but DW just isn't as sharp as I expected him to be. I don't know if it's him, the WRs, the play calling, or some combo of the 3... but what I expected to be one of the elite offensive units in the country simply isn't. My main concern is the lack of those intermediate passes... the 10-20 yard ones that move you down the field. We aren't even trying them.... everything is a dump off or a 25 yard plus pass. Those intermediate passes were our bread and butter last year and DW simply carved up defenses with them. We don't seem to have that this year.
The OL. The consensus (and I'm in that group) is that they aren't very good, but that may actually be changing. Neither ND or Clemson has been very tested so far, but all I've heard was how salty NDs front seven were supposed to be. While I'm not saying that we won the LOS all night, I think it's fair to say that our OL held their own for most of the night and even won a few battles. Now lets say that NDs front 7 is overrated and isn't really elite and is mearly good. That means our OL held their own against a GOOD front 7. That's actually where I hoped this group would be at the END of the season this year. That's a good thing.
Well, the defense is the obvious strength of the team. Wow, just wow. I thought that this unit had a chance to be pretty good (as in top 25 good), but we could be a top 10 unit. Depth is a concern and I don't see us being able to get the 2nd team many snaps going forward because...
The offense certainly isn't as good as I'd thought it was. I'm not ready to call it a sophomore slump yet, but DW just isn't as sharp as I expected him to be. I don't know if it's him, the WRs, the play calling, or some combo of the 3... but what I expected to be one of the elite offensive units in the country simply isn't. My main concern is the lack of those intermediate passes... the 10-20 yard ones that move you down the field. We aren't even trying them.... everything is a dump off or a 25 yard plus pass. Those intermediate passes were our bread and butter last year and DW simply carved up defenses with them. We don't seem to have that this year.
The OL. The consensus (and I'm in that group) is that they aren't very good, but that may actually be changing. Neither ND or Clemson has been very tested so far, but all I've heard was how salty NDs front seven were supposed to be. While I'm not saying that we won the LOS all night, I think it's fair to say that our OL held their own for most of the night and even won a few battles. Now lets say that NDs front 7 is overrated and isn't really elite and is mearly good. That means our OL held their own against a GOOD front 7. That's actually where I hoped this group would be at the END of the season this year. That's a good thing.
