My Take

[wfschrec]

It was an excellent pass but don't you think there was too much separation? I didn't think Reddish made a particularly good play. I should look at it again I suppose.

Reddish wasn't that far off the receiver ... Montana put it in a really good spot.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

So calling the secondary piss poor is being optimistic? ... OK color me skeptical ... there are some basic facts to note here ...

Longest sustained drive for Tulane in the second half was 34 yards ...
They didn't score in the second half either ...

The secondary was fine and Montana is a solid D1 QB ... is he as good as his father? No ... but he is a decent QB that will average about 230 ypg in the air this year as a junior transfer ... he is on pace to throw for 24 scores against 9 picks ... with a rating of around 130 ... that is average for a D1 QB ... and he is doing this behind an OL that will get him killed at some point ... his numbers would be better if he had better talent around him ... they have a little talent at the skill positions but until they shore up that OL he is going to have it rough ... he throws the ball well medium to short range with good touch and placement. Your criticism of Montana is off-base ...

The last thing I thought I'd be doing, especially on this board, is justifying why I have a less rosy view than anyone else on this board about anything. Its bringing me down and I can't do it any more.

I love this SU team. I'm excited for this year. I hope they win 8 games and I actually think that is possible and that 6 wins and a bowl are very likely. The fact that this team demolished Wagner and Tulane and put up tons of points is awesome. We haven't done that to teams we were supposed to beat in a long time. I'm ecstatic Hunt showed he could do very well against better competition in Tulane than what he faced in the Wagner game. He did better than I thought he would and I have absolutely no complaints. The offensive play calling was great and most important to me, calls got in much faster and smoother with Hunt than they had with Allen, which tells me the fault wasn't with the play calls or organization but instead with Allen not grasping the calls and not able to run the plays. The LB I love. The DLine did very well against Tulane.

While I love this team and how we did in the last two games, I have some concerns based on what I saw as continuing issues in the Tulane game. Doesn't make me a pessimist. In my opinion, it makes me a realist. The secondary has problems, as it has for several years now. Eskridge has, as sutomcat said in his last post, a penchant for having those once in a career embarrassing moments where he is woefully out of position or flat out falls down and he did it again in the Tulane game. The secondary gave up more yards than our team got passing. I do measure that fear a bit knowing that Tulane was playing from behind all day and had to throw the ball. The trouble is that those plays, having to throw the ball, worked out to the tune of 209 passing yards. When you know the pass is coming because you are so far ahead, they shouldn't be able to complete a 45 yard pass where the receiver is double covered and is not very good to begin with. Shackleford isn't a "solid WR" as sutomcat called him. Prior to this game, in three contests he had 2 catches for minimal yards. He pulled in 7 passes for over 100 yards. We made him look good. Grant is actually a solid WR and we held him to a respectable total over 7 catches.

The secondary, which is not influenced by the change to Hunt from Allen, has gotten beaten badly all year. Robinson in the PSU game killed us, but he is a very, very good WR. He treated Eastern Michigan and UCF's secondaries the same way. Northwestern's Tony Jones killed us like Robinson would have if he had played all game to the tune of 185 yards on 9 catches and a TD. He was held much more in check in games against Cal and CUSA/MAC teams. The Tulane game was a continuation of a bad pattern. When I saw sutomcat's post and your post quoted above that the secondary was fine, I can't help but point out that is utterly and completely wrong. Its the type of issue that will just become more apparent when we play Tahj Boyd and Sammy Watkins and then the rest of the ACC slate. The DLine has difficulty getting pressure without blitzes and when you blitz, you get beat. Our secondary can't cover well enough to deal with the DLine's lack of pressure. It is why we are talking about a 6 win season versus 8.

Whether Montana is a solid D1 QB as you say and whether he's gonna put up some good numbers this year and next as sutomcat said are generally objective statements that will be resolved for us by the end of the year. I obviously disagree with you both. The reason for my opinion is that he has a history of not playing very well when given the opportunity and I saw some truly awful mechanics in the SU game, which others on here have echoed. If not for Eskridge literally falling down on the long pass, he'd have thrown for 165 yards on 21 completions. He played first at Washington and left because he wasn't good enough to play there. He then went to a community college, Mt. San Antonio in California, where he put up decent numbers against inferior talent. He was offered then by Tulane, Akron and Western Kentucky. Those aren't powerhouses. That is in sharp contrast to his recruitment coming out of high school, when he was offered by powerhouses including Alabama, Georgia, Florida, ND, Ohio State, and Stanford. That shows me that he was felt to have potential in HS a big part of which was likely his name, but ultimately didn't perform up to that potential once he got to college. He will have his chance now against subpar competition in the subpar Conference USA. We will see.

I can't possibly do another post pointing out the flaws in this SU team. Dwelling on the things that need to be shored up and that I hope get shored up and make this a very good team isn't healthy and I don't want to do it anymore.