Just got back from the game; sorry to post all so late....I would have put some thoughts up sooner but there has to be some sort of irony in my blackberry getting absolutely no signal in a stadium sponsored by verizon :blink:
First off the defense I felt played very well today. They weren't put in many ideal situations, but they held their ground well. They really only had one bad play...left that guy wide open on the UCLA touchdown. Some work perhaps on getting the fumbles the other team drops, maybe. Also I'm curious about Berry so far these first two games, because he's really been barely involved at all. Either teams are possibly avoiding his side or kiffin's cover two doesn't allow for him to be in very much on alot of plays :dunno:
Special teams: the kicker Lincoln played well and I like how the punter cunningham (sp?) has improved. I'm still not too keen on Nuke returning punts. He's a freshman and some of his decisions show that (and end up bad....his hand was really close to making that a safety). I know that the potential is there for him to be a good returner, but for now he's still learning. And when you've got someone like Rogan who was great at returning kicks a year or two ago, you should go with him for now and when Nukeese starts showing playing well, then go with him. Also issues with the punt coverage: several missed tackles on returns. That's got to improve.
Now for the offense: ran the ball well I felt - as far as the RBs go. Nothing I really heavily put on either Hardesty or Bryce Brown...both some big plays and some not so big plays, but you have to expect that when you can pretty much only run the ball. Unfortunately, that means next week Florida's defense is just going to stuff the run and say "ok pass the ball. We know you can't do that well at all"
Which brings me to my final point: the passing game. Start off with the WRs. there wasn't much to view them on...hancock bobbled a ball a bit once and unfortunately dropped that third down pass there near that last fg. The oline had some troubles too. The push wasn't there to overpower the dline on the most important run of the game, yet they did get enough push on 2-3 fourth down runs. Pass blocking was questionable b/c when UCLA knew it had to be a pass, they just pinned their ears and blitzed
But the elephant in the room: obviously crompton.
That was absolutely horrendous game play. 4 straight drives ending in a fumble and three straight picks. I watched him passing and he doesn't look around the field at his WRs; he stares at the one WR the play calls for him to throw to and doesn't take his eyes off him: one of the UCLA CBs read that one the last pick and talks about it in the AP write up. He overthrew a wide open receiver when he had time (too high) and straight to a defensive back. And then that almost pick in the endzone where he had two wide open guys or could have run it in but stared at just one guy and the defender picked up on it. It was all off that and after the fumble and first 2 picks, you could tell it was all in his head and he couldn't get over it; he was indecisive and the stress made him become even more so (The same things people complain about Vince Young in the pros)....sometimes he'd start to run and then stop to look around again.
But he stares down his WRs entirely and then makes bad passes simply....and defenses get in his head and read him easily. Unfortunately, he's just as bad at this point as he was last year. Now apparently, Kiffin has stated that he pledged not to switch QBs in game, which makes me think he's not changing to stephens before the UF game. But let's all be honest, if Stephens was really that much better than crompton, then the coaches wouldn't have him still second on the depth chart. Truth is, he's about the same sadly.
So this team's not going to win games on offense unless they already just overpower their opponents. Unfortunately, they have a glaring hole at QB - and that's the most important position on the field. I picked this team as an around 6 to 8 wins (8 at best) this season. This is a rebuilding season. Unfortunately, they just lost one of their more winnable games, so they really are going to need to make that up somewhere and that's going to be hard.
The important things for this team are twofold: make a bowl game (any bowl game) and more importantly get/keep all their good recruits. There's a big lack of talent on this team on offense. More than anything, this team needs to get alot of talent and make sure it all ends up here again - and that takes a young team a while to develop so it might still be a while. But if the season starts to go horribly and people really start decommitting...this hole could just get deeper.
