I was actually somewhat encourage in this game - yes even though we got thumped. The score was 7-3 and we'd just forced them to a 3 and out punt. Sean Riley promptly fumbles the punt giving LVille the ball right back at the 30 yard line and they score on their next snap. It's now 14-3 instead of us having the ball.
The next drive is killer #1 for us. We needed to respond and didn't. We have 2nd and 4 and end up punting. LVill scores again it's 21-3. We then score our own TD and at 21-10 it's still a game. Then we trade punts. Killer #2 for us now happens when LVille takes our punt and scores on a 90 yard pass play to go up 28-10. End 1st half.
I was encouraged by a few things. I liked that our offense moved the ball again coming off the 49 pt output at Duke as new OLine continued to gel. We had 510 yards of offense and only gave up 2 sacks. We came out in the 3rd Q and scored on our first 4 possessions of the 2nd half (24 points). That was really really positive. After intercepting a LVille pass on their 30 yard line we had a chance to make the game either 49-37 or 49-41 and instead we turned the ball over on downs. Not good, but still we were there. Mid 4th we still had a reasonable chance getting the ball back again at 49-34 and turn it over again on downs. I think we were more in the game at times than the 56-34 score indicates.
The other overlooked play was killer #3 when we open the 2nd half with a FG, kickoff and Hassan Hall returns it 70 yards. LVille scores one play later. Just 3 real crushing plays in that game change everything.
Anyhow, our defense got really beat up. Need to rectify that. Our offense started clicking in the last 3 games of the season. We get the offense on track everything changes.
