So I want to preface this by saying the odds that Fran was going to be able to come in and turn around in an instant a program that has been largely floundering for going on 25 years now were always extremely small. He is going to need some time. The big portal wins and exciting commits aside, this is still a remarkably tough task. Competing -- truly competing in a meaningful way -- against the big boys of college football still feels, to me at least, like threading an incredibly small needle. But the excitement has certainly been a breath of fresh air.
Having said that -- Week 1 of the Fran era was a heavy dose of reality ... at least as I saw it. I'll start with the positives because I think there were plenty. But the negatives were super concerning and, unless we see a massive jump defensively in the next few weeks, the thoughts of this team being an 8-, 9-, or 10-win team and making the playoff seem really remote.
The positives:
Having said that -- Week 1 of the Fran era was a heavy dose of reality ... at least as I saw it. I'll start with the positives because I think there were plenty. But the negatives were super concerning and, unless we see a massive jump defensively in the next few weeks, the thoughts of this team being an 8-, 9-, or 10-win team and making the playoff seem really remote.
The positives:
- McCord was as advertised: McCord probably got a bit lucky with a couple bounces that could have been picks, but the kid made a bunch of throws we haven't seen here in a long time. He makes good decisions generally and appeared to have a nice grasp of what we were trying to accomplish. His back-shoulder throw to Pena was a thing of beauty. Best thing he did, IMO, was on the deep balls, his receivers had a chance to make plays. Haynes and Meeks both make big plays in large part because McCord kept the ball in field of play and put it where they at least had a chance. The pick on the throw to Hatcher wasn't ideal but Hatcher played that as if he didn't know the ball was even thrown in his direction. I won't say it was a poor effort, per se, but he made zero play on that ball. The worst thing other than his first throw, was that McCord was a little late and a little behind on some throws. That feels like something that will get better as he gets more comfortable with the scheme and the personnel. All in all, fun to watch.
- The offensive design was impressive: There were a few plays in that game where I raised an eyebrow at the design of the play. The back-shoulder throw to Pena was a beautiful design and there were plenty of others. Would love to see Villari get involved a bit, but for a transition to pro style offense, that was an impressive debut against a team that may have been a bit deficient in talent and size, but was well-coached and ready to play.
- OG is a stud and we have some weapons: OG is an NFL guy. I mean, that analysis doesn't make me a genius -- pretty sure everyone here sees that. But he is a monster physically and makes it look really easy. The RBs were good, the TEs were good (and probably can be even better) and the new blood at WR looks solid. Should be a fun group of skill guys.
- Specials were fine: Not sure there was anything super exciting here, though i thought Stonehouse was good punting the ball. But otherwise, it was an OK debut, not sloppy and hopefully our improved talent will show up in the return game eventually.
- OL was better as the game went on: Not sure I'm in love with this group, but for Week 1, it was fine. First quarter was rough but they were better in pass protection as the game went along and we started to see some holes for allen.
- A win is better than a loss: We've seen smaller schools take down bigger schools early in the season over and over again for a while now. Ohio was well-coached and ready to play and we won the game. That's better than losing ... and I'm not being snarky. It just is nice to get the win and hopefully we can build on the good things and fix the bad.
- The most impressive defensive player on the field was the 180-pound Ohio safety: I thought Diggs had a handful of really nice moments and Barnes made a couple nice plays on the ball. My issue is that was about as much positive as I could say about our defensive performance. That may be a bit of an exaggeration -- we got nice penetration up the middle on the ball that was tipped and picked late and we had a bunch of tackles for loss -- but watching that Ohio kid fly around, take perfect angles and blow up ball carrier after ball carrier was stunning compared to watching our guys on their heels, constantly taking terrible angles was painful.
- Wax's injury is really, really bad news: I feel for any kid -- our team or the other -- that suffers a bad injury. But in this case, from a football standpoint, we lost our best tackler and most dynamic physical player other than maybe Diggs. And we lose him from a defense that didn't look dynamic to begin with. I thought Sparrow got held on the option play that went for a touchdown (thought Chesnut took a brutal angle on that) but the Heard/Sparrow combo has huge shoes to fill.
- Tackling was bizarrely bad: I've seen a lot of posts about 'cleaning things up' and 'making adjustments' ... I don't know. We just did not look ready to play defensively (or offensively, in the first quarter). Navarro/Owen/Tyus got every single thing we wanted and we got beat in the trenches more often than we won. Many of the big plays were a result of awful angles and absolutely zero solid tackling. I'm sure there are things that will be cleaned up and adjustments that will be made -- but I'm not so sure this defense doesn't have a lot of work to do on the basic fundamentals of tackling. I also though they played really, really slow. A well-coached team can make players look a step or two faster. We looked soft and slow. I'd be lying if I wasn't concerned about what that says about Fran/Robinson thus far.
- Fran is a first-time head coach. He looked like it.: As I said, gotta give Fran time, but man, that Ohio coach ran circles around us. Got whatever they wanted offensively and battled defensively. The way they turned Diggs' aggressiveness and pressure against us -- and Diggs still made his fair share of plays -- was a thing of beauty. Fran will only get better but this was a rocky start.
- Allen is not great in open space: This is a nit pick and I love a physical runner who is looking to turn upfield. Allen is also great catching the ball, which should be a good weapon for us. But he's not quite the home run threat his physical attributes suggest he should be. He has nice moves to get to space at the line of scrimmage, but downfield, he tends to put his head down and seek out contact. Would love to see him bounce out side at times. Again, nit pick. He played well, but something to watch for.
