After watching the game at the stadium and then re-watching it this morning on DVR, I came away with a lot of impressions, some positive, some negative. One positive that really stands out is how good Dorian Miller is playing for us at left guard right now.
A whole lot of yardage and at least one TD can be credited to his run blocking. I didn't see him called for any penalties and I didn't see any obvious mistakes in his play. He's been consistently good through all the games and he seems like he keeps getting better and better. Not sure how much his lack of height will hurt his NFL chances, but he's a hell of a good football player.
There were other positives. Our receivers do a good job of catching what's thrown to them. Even with some of our guys in the NFL now, that wasn't always the case. Also, our running backs really are pretty good and if we can find ways to get them at least a little bit of run-blocking, i.e. if they aren't hit behind the LOS, then I think they can put up decent numbers even against an OSU or MSU.
Another positive, one that I didn't pick up on at first watch, is that the defense showed improvement in some areas that are opponent-independant. The players did a much better job of hiding and mixing schemes than the prior 3 games, the blitzes were better masked, we were hitting a lot harder than we have been in the prior three games. Those are improvements that will help against any opponent (schemes and blitz masking occur before the play starts so the opponent is irrelevant and hitting hard is hitting hard no matter who you're hitting).
Will those positives be enough to get more than four wins this year? I'm still skeptical. But I saw signs of life when watching a second time that I didn't pick up on during the game. I could dwell on all the negatives and for sure there are many of those too (seniors making too many penalties for example). On balance, I came away from the re-watching of the game slightly more optimistic than I was before re-watching the game.
A whole lot of yardage and at least one TD can be credited to his run blocking. I didn't see him called for any penalties and I didn't see any obvious mistakes in his play. He's been consistently good through all the games and he seems like he keeps getting better and better. Not sure how much his lack of height will hurt his NFL chances, but he's a hell of a good football player.
There were other positives. Our receivers do a good job of catching what's thrown to them. Even with some of our guys in the NFL now, that wasn't always the case. Also, our running backs really are pretty good and if we can find ways to get them at least a little bit of run-blocking, i.e. if they aren't hit behind the LOS, then I think they can put up decent numbers even against an OSU or MSU.
Another positive, one that I didn't pick up on at first watch, is that the defense showed improvement in some areas that are opponent-independant. The players did a much better job of hiding and mixing schemes than the prior 3 games, the blitzes were better masked, we were hitting a lot harder than we have been in the prior three games. Those are improvements that will help against any opponent (schemes and blitz masking occur before the play starts so the opponent is irrelevant and hitting hard is hitting hard no matter who you're hitting).
Will those positives be enough to get more than four wins this year? I'm still skeptical. But I saw signs of life when watching a second time that I didn't pick up on during the game. I could dwell on all the negatives and for sure there are many of those too (seniors making too many penalties for example). On balance, I came away from the re-watching of the game slightly more optimistic than I was before re-watching the game.
