First, I want to say despite Temple being a lowly opponent, it was awesome to see us excel in just about every single area of the game. We should have dominated and we did and that was great to see. Also, lost in the shuffle of all the great performances was Nate Fry. I loved seeing him make all of his extra points and he booted several kickoffs into the endzone for touchbacks! Great job Nate….I saw Coach Brandon running out onto the field to congratulate him several time too. The kicking game looked solid….keep it up. My first concern is still with our running game. Although we just torched Temple through the air, we still struggled on the ground. This shouldn’t be the case against a weak defense, especially when you are killing them through the air as it usually opens up holes for the running game. Our most effective running was from our QB and WRs. Our running backs had a lot of trouble getting yardage on the ground. I’m not sure if it’s our offensive line have trouble opening holes, if our backs aren’t finding holes, or if teams are just doing a great job filling gaps…..or all of the above? But we have got to have better production from our RBs in the running game, starting with the Ohio game.
Second, I was hoping to see more than one pass attempt from Turner yesterday (which was intercepted when he was hit on the throw). I know when he entered the game we were already up like 56-7 and we had him out there to run the ball and take time off the clock and avoid turnovers, etc. But in my opinions, it’s games like this that I would like to see Turner get at least a few pass attempts under his belt. If we run the ball on first and second down in a game like this, fine, I would too. But when we have third and long, let him throw a pass to try and get a first down, and then run the ball the next two downs again. Because if he isn’t able to get more than one pass attempt when we are up 56, 63 and 70-7, when will he? These are the kinds of games he could get some real game experience and (knock on wood) if we ever need him to go out there, he’d at least have some passing experience. There is certainly the case that next season, he might be our starter. No offense to him, but I hope Omar is back, but this could certainly be the case. Again, I’m not saying Turner should have been gunning away yesterday, but I would like to have seen him throw at least four or five passes out there.
Otherwise, I loved everything else I saw!
) and the announcers pointed out that Temple rarely went with nickel or dime packages, because they simply didn't have the personnel. Remember, they lost a dozen or so players before the season started. So instead of having a dime back covering a very good BG receiver, you had a linebacker. On several plays, even the defensive ends were sliding into coverage. Our running game, like our passing game, thrives on mismatches. Temple played their base defense almost the whole game and the mismatches were with the wideouts.
