Thankfully I got all the obscenities out verbally during the course of the game after a half hour of deep breathing here are my immediate thoughts:
- If there were ever a game to jump on the #FireDesko wagon, this felt like it. I'm not there but I think even the most optimistic Desko apologist would have trouble justifying how a team this talented could drop a game like that. Can’t remember a more embarrassing, one-sided outcome in recent memory (Sure, Colgate ‘19 and ND in the Dome 5-6 years ago were up there). We all knew this was a tough opener for a million reasons and I would not have been at all surprised with a close loss, but wow just totally unprepared and out-executed in all phases. Great teams come out and take care of business, what we saw was the furthest thing from it.
- Turnovers - Official stats show 12, did it feel like they had more than that in the first quarter or so even when the offense was clicking during that stretch? Offense just felt really tight from the beginning, and that combined with some strong ball pressure from Army D was a recipe for disaster.
- Groundballs - Again felt like they were dominated but the official stats show SU 33-26 edge. However, I'm guessing a lot of those were from putting the ball on the turf. Every 50/50 ball or urgent GB seemed like it went to Army.
- Clearing/Riding - Alberici must've had them practicing the clears from the minute they got off the bus last weekend from CVille. They looked crisp, and SU was over-aggressive there and clearly did not get the hint to switch things up. On the flip side, I was impressed by the Army ride as it seemed like even without getting a ton of TOs they made it difficult for SU all day.
- Offensive Finishing - Had to be at least 4-5 pipes and at least a half-dozen almost guaranteed goals on the doorstep that were either poorly placed, hit a foot, or the keeper made an absurd save. I'm really rooting for Cook but I can't take many more of these whiffs at the doorstep.
- Offense in General - 2nd year of Attack disappearing against Army. Iso-heavy, uninspired for long stretches. Outside of that odd first goal by Scanlan he had a terrible game all around. Rehfuss was active but minimal impact. Cook as mentioned above may not be long for that starting group, unfortunately. Outside of Dordevic, it was clear that the first mids didn't contribute as needed. 2nd mids had that 4 man rotation going, but I think at this point I've seen enough of Quinn getting significant minutes. Buttermore had a nice rip. Little else.
- Defense - Welp. Not much to say here. Traditionally it seems like SU defense starts out the year sloppy and builds up over time, but there's clearly more going on here. Porter wasn't great but Army was just sniping. Off-ball a mess, and what I noticed repeatedly was very early 1st slides that didn't look necessary, and often got us in trouble with slide matchups (like Oladunmoye on Nichtern multiple times) that ended...poorly.
Going forward, major, major issues to address. Sometimes you need this sort of game. I'm optimistic they can turn things around given the amount of talent on this squad but it's put up or shut up time. You don't fix that D quick and the Hoos could put up 50 next week.
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