Watched the game again this morning, which I never do, and it made me look at things from a different perspective knowing we lost.... When you look at the game and take out the emotion, several things pop up.
1. This team has been playing and winning on pure talent and desire, not good coaching... our staff is okay, but not good, and with all the injuries and trying to come from behind without the talent, it shows just how average they are.
2. Speaking of injuries, it is still evident and obvious that we are a different team from the first of the season without key players on offense and defense, which stinks. When we had our slow starts and revved up, we had the talent and depth to close the gap and come through with the win-- we do not have the horses to make any sort of comeback when down by at least 10 points.
3. I don't agree with a lot of folks on here that say the kids have given up. I saw a lot of heart out there at times, especially on D.
4. Overall, considering injuries and lack of snaps, our D played pretty well. I do not know what we are going to do against our remaining opponents if we are down Tuttle... Hopefully we will only be out for TT and Alexis will return as well.
5. Our offense needs a new OC and scheme period.
6. The majority of the loss is unfortunately on Dobbs. This kid is a true VFL and has left it all out on the field, but I think we have asked too much and expected too much out of this kid, he is really just not that good and without surrounding talent, he is exposed as average. He has gotten us some huge wins and led us to many victories, but last night and during other games, he has been our achilles and has stalled our drives for points. Next season I have a feeling things will look different at that position and I am cautiously optimistic about JG running our offense.
7. Anyone who thinks Kelly isn't a beast and can't carry the load is a straight up idiot. So proud of that kid last night.
8. Hurd has checked out for the season, do not expect any fire out of him down the stretch. He is one of the few kids who has given up. Sorry.
9. Butch is about to earn all his money from here on out. How this team performs for the rest of the season is a true testament to just how good a coach he really is.
10. Lastly, the most unfortunate thing about last night is just how bad this hurt recruiting. We were poised to finish out 10-2, go to the conference championship, and show kids we are truly headed in the right direction. I know there are several big name recruits who are on the fence and considering us a long with one or more schools, but wanted to see how we finish. This performance probably shot our chances with several kids and it will be another year before we can grab a few elite kids. I fear we are going to drop back into mediocracy because we can't pull elite kids to come to the program.