Got to take my wife and 9 and 11 year old girls to their first game at the Big House. Great seats, great weather (albeit pretty warm), super cool flyover, 25 point win(although a little disappointing and I'll get to that) and dinner after at Zingerman's Roadhouse (never disappoints). Here are those thoughts:
- It was the most lifeless crowd I've been around at a game. Don't know if the crowd fed off of the team or vice versa, just a general overall lack of interest from all parties. Even in the SMU 3rd and 4th down situations, it just wasn't very loud. Hopefully this was just a hangover from the home opener the week before and playing a really bad opponent.
- I can say we really didn't show much on offense at all. We opened it up a little late in the 2nd quarter and into the 2nd half but it wasn't like we were reinventing the wheel. For those that want to nash their teeth over it, go ahead, I'm leaning towards he's saving lots of the big guns for the bigger games.
- Shea is the man. Best throw of the day was the dime to Gentry when he was staring down the gun barrel of a blitzing lb. Just outstanding. We can go far with this kid but...
- While the O line was much better in pass protection, we still have huge hole. On one play, can't remember if it was the sack or the play when Shea turned a sack into a 3 yard gain, Onwenu just got blown by and proceeded to sit and watch as the d linemen went after Shea. Just awful. Don't understand how Spanellis can't get a look.
- Tackles were both better but Jim will regret not getting Hudson and Mayfield time in this one. Even when the score was close this game was never in doubt. You need to get these guys some playing time when the game is still close.
- Tru Wilson can play. Kid is a nice complement to the other two and battles his ass off. Very impressed with him. We definitely have our #3 RB.
- If we can just get this O line to be a little better than average, we can have one of the best offenses in the B1G. Our skill talent is absolutely loaded, even without Black and we have the best QB since Henne.
- On the D, while I was very disappointed overall, I will say that was as vanilla as Don Brown has called a game since he's been here. There did not seem to be any tricky blitzes, mostly just straight up stuff. No reason to waste anything good on such a crappy opponent.
- For all of the talk about the speed on D, I think we look slow. Winovich and Bush can move and Long and Watson can run, but really we looked slow everywhere else. Maybe it was just a lack of interest against a clearly outmatched opponent. We'll see.
- For all those who blast Kineel, he doesn't blow the coverage that Hawkins did and therefore this game is more of a blowout. Hawkins is our best athlete at S but you cannot make that mistake. That was not that hard of a read for him to make. Just terrible.
- Devin Bush is a beast. Best LB we've had since David Harris.
- I love Rashan but as others have said, he really looks like a great athlete playing football. He has questionable technique and his motor comes and goes. This shows up in a lack of big time plays. I hate to say it but go watch Nick Bosa. Just as good of an athlete, much better technically and with a bigger motor=game changing plays every week. There is a lot of hype that comes with being the #1 overall player in the country and while he's been very good, he hasn't met the hype. I hope he really turns it on for the rest of the year.
- Chase Winovich will go down as one of my favorite all time players. This guy is everywhere all of the time. He may have the best motor I have ever seen. He never stops,ever, and just makes play after play. I don't understand, just on this aspect alone, how he wasn't a captain. Enjoy watching him this season, he will be missed greatly next year.
- We did not look at all prepared for when they switched QB's. I think this can be a very good thing as we will some great film to review. This will help starting with Martinez this week and moving forward.
- Our special teams are really good. Hart is just killing the ball. That will be huge once we get into the meat of the schedule. I still have faith that Nordin will be a big weapon for us as the season goes on. Our coverage teams have been lights out. Special shout out to Joe Hewlett who absolutely crushed the returner on a kick return.
- For whoever was trying to blame the cramping on Herbert, just fing stop. Cramping happens all the time in these early season games, all over college and the pros. S&C has nothing to do with it. As I mentioned above, it was pretty damn hot on Saturday, and I was sitting in the shade the whole game.
- That was the worst officiated game I've ever seen. The drive where we had 2-3 PI calls and Hudson got tossed was one of the most painful things I've ever had to watch. Those idiots shouldn't get a paycheck for that debacle. I'm still having nightmares of all of the damn media timeouts, talk about destroying game flow, Jesus...
- While I left disappointed with the overall performance, we still beat up on a bad team. This game was never, ever in doubt. I could not say the same in games against Cincinnati and Air Force last year. We are definitely better but have to improve a lot more before the big games come knocking. I think team sleepwalked (especially the D) and we were about as vanilla as you can be in playcalling on both sides. I expect a much better showing next week.
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