What I saw
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 9:42 am
~ First of all, let me get this out of the way. This game was won on the shoulders of our front 7. They dominated like I haven't seen a BG front 7 dominate in a VERY long time. From the get go Troy couldn't run the ball on us, and the only time they really moved the ball at all was when they were running no huddle and kept our front 7 on their heels. Our big adjustment was that we started bringing the blitz and allowed our front 7 to control the game, which they did with ease. I cannot remember ever saying that our front 7 won us a game before...nice to see!
~ Freddie freaking Barnes!? Wow. Big game from the senior...he was pretty much open all night and Tyler was clearly looking to him from the onset of most plays. It worked well...he could catch 100 balls this year if we're going to throw to him that often. He's clearly our #1 playmaker on offense right now.
~ Sheehan looked pretty good. It was nice to see him show the willingness to go downfield. We may have thrown more balls downfield last night than we did in the last half of last season. It was good to see. I still see him doing 2 things that worry me about the future, but last night it was not a problem: he sticks with his #1 option too long, which worked great last night as the #1 option was open all night. He also still doesn't seem to anticipate when a guy is coming open, instead throwing the ball after they're open. If our pass protection is going to hold up like it did last night, these things will probably not be a big deal, but they are definitely the reason why, even with his stats, he is not going to be looked at for the next level. Those little nits picked, the kid played a good game. Throws were strong and accurate. His arm strength is plenty to be throwing the ball downfield, and it should continue as the season goes on.
~ Speaking of the OL, major kudos on pass protection. I don't remember seeing Sheehan sacked once, and he really wasn't pressured often. And that is against a Troy front 4 that is very talented; perhaps the best we'll see all year? Boise is probably better, but Troy's front 4 is one of the best we'll see. On the other side of the coin they did not do a good job driving and opening rushing lanes. Again it was against a pretty good front 4 so maybe as the season goes one we'll see better jobs run blocking.
~ With the RBs Geter looked FAST. The few times he had a hole to run through he hit it and got some good yards. We need to get him open space to operate...be it as a receiver or with improved run blocking he can be another weapon for us.
~ I thought the CBs really struggled last night. The Troy QB carved us up in the first half. The pass defense improved when we started blitzing and putting so much pressure on their QB he couldn't go through his reads and make accurate throws. However, when the pressure came it was nice to see our guys make some good plays on the ball for big INTs (and a TD!). Good game to get their feet wet, but they'll need to play better...not sure we'll get that kind of pressure all year long (would be awesome if we did though).
All in all it was a great game. The biggest thing to me was that we got punched in the mouth right away, quickly down 7, and then 14 points. In year's past we've won a lot of games by coming out punching then stepping on the opponents' throats. We have not won many games where we've been the ones to get punched early and fight back. Last night was a different story. Things didn't go our way initially but the guys didn't give up, and they didn't start to question the new coaching staff. They kept doing what we wanted to do, the coaches made some GREAT adjustments, and we totally dominated the 2nd half. In all, 31 unanswered points, NICE.
I really hope this game was a sign for what to expect in the future. This was definitely one of the better coached games we've had in awhile. I'm liking what I saw last night quite a bit.
~ Freddie freaking Barnes!? Wow. Big game from the senior...he was pretty much open all night and Tyler was clearly looking to him from the onset of most plays. It worked well...he could catch 100 balls this year if we're going to throw to him that often. He's clearly our #1 playmaker on offense right now.
~ Sheehan looked pretty good. It was nice to see him show the willingness to go downfield. We may have thrown more balls downfield last night than we did in the last half of last season. It was good to see. I still see him doing 2 things that worry me about the future, but last night it was not a problem: he sticks with his #1 option too long, which worked great last night as the #1 option was open all night. He also still doesn't seem to anticipate when a guy is coming open, instead throwing the ball after they're open. If our pass protection is going to hold up like it did last night, these things will probably not be a big deal, but they are definitely the reason why, even with his stats, he is not going to be looked at for the next level. Those little nits picked, the kid played a good game. Throws were strong and accurate. His arm strength is plenty to be throwing the ball downfield, and it should continue as the season goes on.
~ Speaking of the OL, major kudos on pass protection. I don't remember seeing Sheehan sacked once, and he really wasn't pressured often. And that is against a Troy front 4 that is very talented; perhaps the best we'll see all year? Boise is probably better, but Troy's front 4 is one of the best we'll see. On the other side of the coin they did not do a good job driving and opening rushing lanes. Again it was against a pretty good front 4 so maybe as the season goes one we'll see better jobs run blocking.
~ With the RBs Geter looked FAST. The few times he had a hole to run through he hit it and got some good yards. We need to get him open space to operate...be it as a receiver or with improved run blocking he can be another weapon for us.
~ I thought the CBs really struggled last night. The Troy QB carved us up in the first half. The pass defense improved when we started blitzing and putting so much pressure on their QB he couldn't go through his reads and make accurate throws. However, when the pressure came it was nice to see our guys make some good plays on the ball for big INTs (and a TD!). Good game to get their feet wet, but they'll need to play better...not sure we'll get that kind of pressure all year long (would be awesome if we did though).
All in all it was a great game. The biggest thing to me was that we got punched in the mouth right away, quickly down 7, and then 14 points. In year's past we've won a lot of games by coming out punching then stepping on the opponents' throats. We have not won many games where we've been the ones to get punched early and fight back. Last night was a different story. Things didn't go our way initially but the guys didn't give up, and they didn't start to question the new coaching staff. They kept doing what we wanted to do, the coaches made some GREAT adjustments, and we totally dominated the 2nd half. In all, 31 unanswered points, NICE.
I really hope this game was a sign for what to expect in the future. This was definitely one of the better coached games we've had in awhile. I'm liking what I saw last night quite a bit.
