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Message: [QUOTE="Archbold44, post: 5487575, member: 10528"] My take: QB: Better than I expected, not as good as I irrationally hoped. But look at Texas and ND. We did not have a road game like them, but it was pretty close to it. And I do not think Angeli played any worse than Manning or Carr. If they get the benefit of the doubt for lack of experience, he does too. The turnovers were the killers. RB: Better than expected. OL: Better than expected within running game, some bad moments in pass protection though. WR: Not as good as expected. I thought we would have more separation, even against a good Tennessee DB crew. Offense in general--too much motion early in the game. It seemed to take us out of our rhythym. Like we we were not sure what to call because we cared too much about their defense. Tennessee seemed to just call plays quickly and execute. It was almost like we were conceding that we needed to confuse them or find the mismatch to move the ball. Later, when we settled down and just ran plays, it seemed like we did better. I do not know what to say about defense. I thought there were some good tackles at times. If the goal is to bend but not break, it needs to be modified such that we do not break. Too many repeated big plays. Bending and not breaking should be like our last drive against Tennessee. We march down the field with short plays that have no chance of being touchdowns. And then defend the red zone. I do not like bend but don't break... but bend AND break is all the worse. Not sure whether players, scheme, or both. But we need to confuse offenses more than we do. Again, credit to Tennessee for a great OL, but our DL did not get pressure, only had one tackle for a loss that I remember. We were down to 3rd string guys late, with all the injuries. But they seemed to do just as well (or not well) as the first team. Is there a 4th string? If injuries are significant, this could be a weak spot getting weaker. LB: Cannot tell, really. I thought the LBs generally made tackles in space. But there was minimal pushback when they got into the red zone. Seemed like a matter of when they would score--unless Aguilar overthrew players, etc. DBs: Too many big plays allowed, too much cushion. Not sure whether players or scheme. Special teams: I think improved. We'll see. My over/under was 5.5. WIth the loss, we now need to run the table at home to get a bowl (or pull an upset in a road game). This is why I thought Tennessee game was key. If we cannot pull the upset at full strength, not sure how we will do it late in the season when we are all farther down the depth chart. So I never quite saw 8-4. At the same time, of those 5 road games we have left, only Miami looked better than expected. On to the 2nd most important game of the season... UConn. They only get a few chances to play P4 teams, so they will be gunning for us. We are their Super Bowl. We better be ready to play or the season could derail pretty quickly. [/QUOTE]

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