Lots of griping about their OC Beck. Not sure what he was supposed to do. Their WRs stink…I mean…stink.
I thought their game plan made sense.
Sitting in the end zone it was obvious their WRs could not get any separation from Duce and Garrett. They don’t use their TE so they resorted to QB draws, screens and middle routes designed to take advantage of our aggressiveness- especially our LBs.
I just don’t think the executed very well. Once we went into more of a soft coverage scheme and Duce /Williams got hurt, their WR’s got free.
They should have had three picks. They dropped that sure one in the Shrader overthrow.
I also expected them to control more of the LOS on both sides of the ball. Our DL held up pretty well against the run and got decent pressure and Tucker had more room than he had against Purdue and UVA.
Their KOs were killer. Giving us a short field made life so much easier and got the crowd fired up.
I also think the crowd noise kept audibles to a minimum. They had to stick with the original play call -,especially with the backup QB.
I do agree with one thing though. We would have been in trouble playing them from behind. Giving us the ball and us getting points first was huuuuuuuuge.
We have been very efficient on game opening drives. Somebody better start noticing that and stop deferring. We’ve been able to score. Get a KO touchback and get our defense out and crowd immediately into the game. Great formula.
Also shout out to our freshman Kicker. His touchbacks are crucial. Keep ‘em coming.