These are some general Observations about past opponents, future opponents and my expectations and frustrations.
1st off this is very long, don’t read further if your going to wave it off with a TL, Dr…I didn’t post it for your opinions 😊
I’m not going to play tiddlywinks with those who are just mad. I’m posting for those who have hope..
The negatives…..
The run blocking inside truly was awful. It was a little better outside, but only marginally! We are seriously going to have to embrace hat on hat, and wham blocking on the inside in my personal opinion. And I am by no means an offensive line guru, but it’s what I’ve been told!
Cade has to look down field. I believe his next game, assuming he can play, will be much better, but history tells me we had people open down there! (Being in the stadium and seeing someone is always open)
We took some really poor, defensive angles, with some really seasoned players!
Number 10 has to get on the same page as the scheme or there will continue to be gaps in our secondary defense!
Our interior blocking on punt team was surprisingly Poor!
We had some significant drops from veteran pas catchers that would have been TDS.
Now things of note before the positives…
For those who think Iowa State played a much better game, and was more impressive than us. They had 250 yards, had 11 first downs and went 2-11 on third down plays. UNI has been the fourth, fifth and maybe six best team in their conference for 5 to 10 years, they are no juggernaut.
UNI lost last year to Air Force 48 to 17 and the same Utah team, we just played beat 10 win Air Force 34 to 27.
As a result of being told, this was our worst opening performance ever or one of the worst. I went back and did plenty of checking…..
We rarely play very good in September to be perfectly honest with you, especially versus overmatched foes.
I’m not going to do a complete re-breakdown of what I’ve done in other posts but against Colorado state a few years ago (we went 10-4) in our fourth game we had 278 yards and we’re losing at halftime 14 to 7 vs a team that went on to go three and nine!
In the third game that season versus Kent state who went 7–7. It was 16–7 at half and 23-7 at the start of the fourth quarter!
In 2019 we went 10-3 and beat Miami of Ohio (8-6) 38 to 14 and we did have 400 yards. But it was 10 seven at the half and 24-14 at the 12 minute mark of the fourth quarter!
In 2018 we went nine and four and beat northern Illinois 33–7. Stanley was like 11–23 for 108 yards. It was 3-0 at the half and 17-0 at the end of the third-quarter.
The positive….
From the five minute mark on that game honestly was really never in doubt. We had a double digit lead the whole entire game & a late garbage TD at the 130 Mark made it 24 to 14… Yes it’s gross, yes it frustrated the hell out of me!
But, maybe sadly, we have been here many, many times before! Unlike many of our fans, apparently remember!
As frustrated as I was about our interior run blocking, I was literally shocked how good our pass pro generally was!
Jackson started his first game with us ever and has only been here a month. He is an NFL Prospect, and will surely get better! Otherwise, he never should’ve came!
We got three of our portal transfers, 4 counting Rusty Feth significantly involved in the game.
We used three and four TE sets to our advantage multiple times.
Cooper DeJean didn’t play his best game…that deflection he dropped was a sure TD, he didn’t take any chances on punt returns, and the one time he did he honestly missed a seam and instead broke it outside, he won’t do that anymore!
Sebastian Castro had a very up-and-down game and Schulte was basically unnoticeable good, bad or indifferent.
Our D-line did disrupt things, and they had some really good moments, but they also had several coachable gap Integrity issues!
Jay Higgins was a man!! 16 tackles and he was everywhere!
Deshaun Lee missed a couple tkls where he had the guy in the grasp, but generally speaking, if he has to play significant snaps, we are in good hands. Once again, Phil Parker & the defensive staff, have unearthed a gem of a mid tier 3* D-back, who is only a red shirt freshman!
Koen Entriger had to play and seemed fine.
This isn’t necessarily a positive per se, but when we started subbing liberally in 4th quarter on defense we really gave up a lot of space on the field! That led to a garbage, bullshit TD, that took no time at all, and that was wildly frustrating to me… With that said it was utterly meaningless to the game!
When we put Deacon Hill in, again, not necessarily a positive, in the mid fourth quarter we did nothing to move the ball… Maybe he is just that bad and that is a concern, but we completely shut it down!
Honestly, pretty much everything is easily fixable with the exception, admittedly, of the interior line blocking. I will admit I don’t have a ton of confidence there, but surely they can be a little bit better, because they were piss poor!!
In conclusion, this was a pretty typical game for us, and it really wasn’t ever close after the first two TD’s, and we played like it!
The gross stuff truly was gross and I think it soured all of us even those that try to be positive if not pragmatic!
But in hindsight, I think it was probably a better opening game than we “felt”..
Just my thoughts..,
1st off this is very long, don’t read further if your going to wave it off with a TL, Dr…I didn’t post it for your opinions 😊
I’m not going to play tiddlywinks with those who are just mad. I’m posting for those who have hope..
The negatives…..
The run blocking inside truly was awful. It was a little better outside, but only marginally! We are seriously going to have to embrace hat on hat, and wham blocking on the inside in my personal opinion. And I am by no means an offensive line guru, but it’s what I’ve been told!
Cade has to look down field. I believe his next game, assuming he can play, will be much better, but history tells me we had people open down there! (Being in the stadium and seeing someone is always open)
We took some really poor, defensive angles, with some really seasoned players!
Number 10 has to get on the same page as the scheme or there will continue to be gaps in our secondary defense!
Our interior blocking on punt team was surprisingly Poor!
We had some significant drops from veteran pas catchers that would have been TDS.
Now things of note before the positives…
For those who think Iowa State played a much better game, and was more impressive than us. They had 250 yards, had 11 first downs and went 2-11 on third down plays. UNI has been the fourth, fifth and maybe six best team in their conference for 5 to 10 years, they are no juggernaut.
UNI lost last year to Air Force 48 to 17 and the same Utah team, we just played beat 10 win Air Force 34 to 27.
As a result of being told, this was our worst opening performance ever or one of the worst. I went back and did plenty of checking…..
We rarely play very good in September to be perfectly honest with you, especially versus overmatched foes.
I’m not going to do a complete re-breakdown of what I’ve done in other posts but against Colorado state a few years ago (we went 10-4) in our fourth game we had 278 yards and we’re losing at halftime 14 to 7 vs a team that went on to go three and nine!
In the third game that season versus Kent state who went 7–7. It was 16–7 at half and 23-7 at the start of the fourth quarter!
In 2019 we went 10-3 and beat Miami of Ohio (8-6) 38 to 14 and we did have 400 yards. But it was 10 seven at the half and 24-14 at the 12 minute mark of the fourth quarter!
In 2018 we went nine and four and beat northern Illinois 33–7. Stanley was like 11–23 for 108 yards. It was 3-0 at the half and 17-0 at the end of the third-quarter.
The positive….
From the five minute mark on that game honestly was really never in doubt. We had a double digit lead the whole entire game & a late garbage TD at the 130 Mark made it 24 to 14… Yes it’s gross, yes it frustrated the hell out of me!
But, maybe sadly, we have been here many, many times before! Unlike many of our fans, apparently remember!
As frustrated as I was about our interior run blocking, I was literally shocked how good our pass pro generally was!
Jackson started his first game with us ever and has only been here a month. He is an NFL Prospect, and will surely get better! Otherwise, he never should’ve came!
We got three of our portal transfers, 4 counting Rusty Feth significantly involved in the game.
We used three and four TE sets to our advantage multiple times.
Cooper DeJean didn’t play his best game…that deflection he dropped was a sure TD, he didn’t take any chances on punt returns, and the one time he did he honestly missed a seam and instead broke it outside, he won’t do that anymore!
Sebastian Castro had a very up-and-down game and Schulte was basically unnoticeable good, bad or indifferent.
Our D-line did disrupt things, and they had some really good moments, but they also had several coachable gap Integrity issues!
Jay Higgins was a man!! 16 tackles and he was everywhere!
Deshaun Lee missed a couple tkls where he had the guy in the grasp, but generally speaking, if he has to play significant snaps, we are in good hands. Once again, Phil Parker & the defensive staff, have unearthed a gem of a mid tier 3* D-back, who is only a red shirt freshman!
Koen Entriger had to play and seemed fine.
This isn’t necessarily a positive per se, but when we started subbing liberally in 4th quarter on defense we really gave up a lot of space on the field! That led to a garbage, bullshit TD, that took no time at all, and that was wildly frustrating to me… With that said it was utterly meaningless to the game!
When we put Deacon Hill in, again, not necessarily a positive, in the mid fourth quarter we did nothing to move the ball… Maybe he is just that bad and that is a concern, but we completely shut it down!
Honestly, pretty much everything is easily fixable with the exception, admittedly, of the interior line blocking. I will admit I don’t have a ton of confidence there, but surely they can be a little bit better, because they were piss poor!!
In conclusion, this was a pretty typical game for us, and it really wasn’t ever close after the first two TD’s, and we played like it!
The gross stuff truly was gross and I think it soured all of us even those that try to be positive if not pragmatic!
But in hindsight, I think it was probably a better opening game than we “felt”..
Just my thoughts..,
