Here we go:
1. 8pm games are always more rowdy arent they? Wow. You could tell even from TV how great the atmosphere was in the stadium. Bravo State fans, great job. 8pm also led to a great atmosphere here at the house. As Sinbad once said, we had a “parrrrrrrr-tayyyyy”
2. There was no vanilla Saturday night. We went 31 flavors on their ass. Offensively, we used more motion than usual. In doing that, we motioned into quad WR sets, which overloaded the defense to that particular side- giving us an advantage numbers-wise. We added new passes off of our counter and slip screen. And we finally let Dak throw it out of the “Dak Package” for a TD to Marcus Green. Perfect timing for a perfect playcall.
3. Tyler couldn’t have played a better 1st half than he did Saturday. He was simply outstanding. He made some bigtime throws out there. He is showing some fire and great leadership. Tyler even moved out of the pocket to buy some time to convert a 3rd and 18 on the first TD drive. And Dr Evil say Tyler threw a “laser” to Marcus Green on that TD. Surprised Green caught it.
4. “My boy” Josh Robinson is looking better and better now that he is getting some carries and experience. 5 carries for 37 yards and a TD in the 1st half. So how do we reward him? Give him 1 carry in the 2nd half and hardly play him. That’s not a very good job of rotating your best players.
5. As I have been saying over and over in our podcast- get Perkins more involved in the passing game. We did. While it was only 2 catches for 25 yards, both were huge plays to beat the blitz. Perkins should get no fewer than 3-4 catches every week. He’s a weapon we have to use more.
6. I have missed you Malcolm Johnson. Saturday is always a better day when you are on the field. Malcolm gives us another big target in the middle of the field. He’s a tough cover for LB’s and he is too big and physical for safeties. The safeties also have to stay in the middle of the field more when he plays because he gets down the field. This helps make it easier for our outside WR’s to get open. He simply makes our offense better. Oh yeah, and that TD catch he had wasnt too shabby either. Big, tall TE in the red zone makes it a helluva lot easier on our QB.
7. Dak is accepting his role and playing his part perfectly as well. He is a tough runner that has a cannon for an arm. Both of his throws Saturday were right where they needed to be. Dak is developing right before our eyes, and is going to be the QB we all wished Relf could have been. All this while his mother is fighting cancer. You know she was smiling big on Saturday night. Great kid from a really good family. We couldn’t ask for anything more from our QB’s than what we are getting.
8. Our OL protected really well, Tyler got hit some, but that is going to happen. Day had a tough damn assignment against that mountain Tennessee played at NG. Day looked like one of those wrestlers trying to take down Andre the Giant back in the 1980’s.
9. I’m very concerned about the way we tackled Saturday night. Them running the ball like they did was surprising. They were getting yards after contact at an alarming rate. We will play Bammer and LSU differently than we played Tennessee, but even with loading on the box on those teams, we will still have to tackle. That is something to watch going forward.
10. Big play Banks does it again. That was an NFL-level strip to get that turnover. Your best players have to make plays when the game is on the line- and ours did. We held Bray to his lowest output in his career. We blitzed Bray to force him to make quick throws. This kept them from being able to throw the deep ball they have been so successful doing. That speaks volumes about the players and coaches we have.
11. How about Quay Evans playing the 4th quarter at DT? Our DT’s didn’t play worth a damn, and that’s as nicely as I can say that. I’ve wondered why Quay hasn’t played more before now, but it says alot that he played when the game was on the line. Our rotation at DT may be a little different come Saturday.
12. We will have some letdown this coming Saturday and also play alot of players next week vs MTSU with Bama looming a week from Saturday. Expect a closer game than you were hoping this Saturday.
13. 6-0. Halfway through the schedule and we are still undefeated. Enjoy this. Enjoy being in 1st place in the West.
In Mullen We Trust,
C34