What We Learned: South Alabama Edition

[Ratt Mhule]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.

The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Color me shocked...

The truth is a very bitter pill to swallow.

So, is AS now some dark horse for the playoff?

No, we were expected to beat them and beat them bad and that is exactly what we did. We did what we were supposed to. What else did you want to see other than Pelini on the sidelines?

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

I learned that the odd guy standing next to Riley without a headset is Bruce Read and he makes $450k.

He's got a great gig. I wish I could make that bank with that performance.

I have no clue what you're talking about.

1) Drew Brown was 2/2 in kicking tonight.

2) Didn't really have a chance to return punts or kicks.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.

The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Explain.

 

[JJkinz]

Offense:

-Tommy has become a better passer already. Still saw some throws off the back foot, definitely some misreads, but no INTs and some solid short/mid game passes. And 2 key blocks in 2 games so far.

-Newby ran hard. He needs to keep moving when he makes cuts rather than stop. Keep the legs churning.

-Receivers may be the most consistent unit on the team. No real "big play" threat, but a bunch of guys who have good hands. Would love to see some YAC stats between this year so far and last year.

-O Line was...better. I didn't notice a false start from Lewis..first time ever?

-Tight ends were non existent.

Defense:

-Davie sucks.

-MRI is a BEAST. Cannot wait until he, bando, and young play together.

-First half we had NO pass rush. That improved in the second half. Freedom had a REALLY good game. Collins and Valentine might be the biggest disappointment for me thus far just because of how hyped they were. Though, can't scoff at holding SA to 19 rushing yards.

-Gerry with 2 INTs in 2 games. Some big tackles. This dude's a certified stud.

-Davie sucks please bench.

Special Teams:

-Brown 2/2 FG. I still don't think he's good.

-Kick return coverage was sub par. Overall - not impressed with Bruce Read coaching special teams.

-Tyson serviceable as Foltz replacement so far. He's sure not Foltz but he's sure not SA's punter.

 

[Decked]

Collins is getting double teamed every time because everyone else can't do squat against the rush. Also, McMullen is still too heavy. Dude is a natural DT, not DE. Doesn't have the speed either. And Valentine is pretty useless in an obvious passing situation since he's more of a run stopper.

 

[CheeseHusker]

Big plays.

We need more. The opposition needs less.

 

[74Hunter]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.

The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Color me shocked...

The truth is a very bitter pill to swallow.

So, is AS now some dark horse for the playoff?

No, we were expected to beat them and beat them bad and that is exactly what we did. We did what we were supposed to. What else did you want to see other than Pelini on the sidelines?

Sorry, I didn't see a whoop a$$ performance tonight.

And since you obviously don't pay attention I don't care if Bo is on the sideline.

I guess I remember what the 80's and 90's were. This was no whoop a$$. We gave up a lot of yards and big plays. The offense was mostly pedestrian against a sub par opponent. I'm not ready to crown this team as playoff ready.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.

The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Color me shocked...

The truth is a very bitter pill to swallow.

So, is AS now some dark horse for the playoff?

No, we were expected to beat them and beat them bad and that is exactly what we did. We did what we were supposed to. What else did you want to see other than Pelini on the sidelines?

Sorry, I didn't see a whoop a$$ performance tonight.

And since you obviously don't pay attention I don't care if Bo is on the sideline.

I guess I remember what the 80's and 90's were. This was no whoop a$$. We gave up a lot of yards and big plays. The offense was mostly pedestrian against a sub par opponent. I'm not ready to crown this team as playoff ready.

Stand in line, then, because nobody said our goal is to make the CFP this year.

 

[Ratt Mhule]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.

The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Color me shocked...

The truth is a very bitter pill to swallow.

So, is AS now some dark horse for the playoff?

No, we were expected to beat them and beat them bad and that is exactly what we did. We did what we were supposed to. What else did you want to see other than Pelini on the sidelines?

Sorry, I didn't see a whoop a$$ performance tonight.

And since you obviously don't pay attention I don't care if Bo is on the sideline.

I guess I remember what the 80's and 90's were. This was no whoop a$$. We gave up a lot of yards and big plays. The offense was mostly pedestrian against a sub par opponent. I'm not ready to crown this team as playoff ready.

Congrats you're older than me! Who is ready to crown this team a playoff team? Nobody. The team is average, which most people already knew. I guess I just don't b!^@h about every game, especially when we win.

 

[Blackshirtsguru]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.

The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Color me shocked...

The truth is a very bitter pill to swallow.

So, is AS now some dark horse for the playoff?

No, we were expected to beat them and beat them bad and that is exactly what we did. We did what we were supposed to. What else did you want to see other than Pelini on the sidelines?

Sorry, I didn't see a whoop a$$ performance tonight.

And since you obviously don't pay attention I don't care if Bo is on the sideline.

I guess I remember what the 80's and 90's were. This was no whoop a$$. We gave up a lot of yards and big plays. The offense was mostly pedestrian against a sub par opponent. I'm not ready to crown this team as playoff ready.

I do as well and I quit comparing the Husker teams of today to those teams... oh I'd say about 15 years ago?! I have no idea what you mean by a "mostly pedestrian offense"? We had almost 600 yards of total offense tonight. Not to mention 31 first downs. I guess some people are just never happy

 

[74Hunter]

I learned that the odd guy standing next to Riley without a headset is Bruce Read and he makes $450k.

He's got a great gig. I wish I could make that bank with that performance.

I have no clue what you're talking about.

1) Drew Brown was 2/2 in kicking tonight.

2) Didn't really have a chance to return punts or kicks.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Explain.

The coverage teams seem to be pretty good, as they were under the previous staff. The return game and the FG kicking has regressed.

The play calling lost the last game for us. It really wasn't much better tonight, but we played what apparently is a bad team. Throwing the ball all over the park is not going to win any meaningful games here.

Tommy played as well as I've seen him play. He missed a few easy passes, but he didn't turn the ball over like he normally does (2 last week). He threw the ball off of his back foot way too much tonight. Essentially, I didn't really notice him because he played well and did what he is supposed to do.

 

[JJkinz]

Collins is getting double teamed every time because everyone else can't do squat against the rush. Also, McMullen is still too heavy. Dude is a natural DT, not DE. Doesn't have the speed either. And Valentine is pretty useless in an obvious passing situation since he's more of a run stopper.

I mean, that's just not true. He's not getting double teamed every play. Sure sometimes it happens, but usually it's just one-on-one. It looks like he wins the majority of those matchups, but he'll usually win after the ball is out of the QB's hands already so it doesn't matter much.

 

[Mierin]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.

The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Color me shocked...

The truth is a very bitter pill to swallow.

So, is AS now some dark horse for the playoff?

No, we were expected to beat them and beat them bad and that is exactly what we did. We did what we were supposed to. What else did you want to see other than Pelini on the sidelines?

Sorry, I didn't see a whoop a$$ performance tonight.

And since you obviously don't pay attention I don't care if Bo is on the sideline.

I guess I remember what the 80's and 90's were. This was no whoop a$$. We gave up a lot of yards and big plays. The offense was mostly pedestrian against a sub par opponent. I'm not ready to crown this team as playoff ready.

No one really cares what you think, because regardless of what happens, you're negative. We could win the national championship and you'd find something to complain about it. You'd either cry about how we did it or you'd whine that we didn't win a national championship in both football and basketball.

 

[Kernal]

Offense:

-Tommy has become a better passer already. Still saw some throws off the back foot, definitely some misreads, but no INTs and some solid short/mid game passes. And 2 key blocks in 2 games so far.

-Newby ran hard. He needs to keep moving when he makes cuts rather than stop. Keep the legs churning.

-Receivers may be the most consistent unit on the team. No real "big play" threat, but a bunch of guys who have good hands. Would love to see some YAC stats between this year so far and last year.

-O Line was...better. I didn't notice a false start from Lewis..first time ever?

-Tight ends were non existent.

Defense:

-Davie sucks.

-MRI is a BEAST. Cannot wait until he, bando, and young play together.

-First half we had NO pass rush. That improved in the second half. Freedom had a REALLY good game. Collins and Valentine might be the biggest disappointment for me thus far just because of how hyped they were. Though, can't scoff at holding SA to 19 rushing yards.

-Gerry with 2 INTs in 2 games. Some big tackles. This dude's a certified stud.

-Davie sucks please bench.

Special Teams:

-Brown 2/2 FG. I still don't think he's good.

-Kick return coverage was sub par. Overall - not impressed with Bruce Read coaching special teams.

-Tyson serviceable as Foltz replacement so far. He's sure not Foltz but he's sure not SA's punter.

That might have been Alex Lewis's first false-start free game. He's almost always good for a Holding call too. Didn't have either tonight. Great job, Alex!

----------------------------

The tackling is my favorite improvement. Our tackling has been outstanding overall. I'd love to see a comparison of yards-after-contact from last year to this. If we continue like we are, I wouldn't be surprised if that is our most improved defensive stat at the end of the year.

Suddenly our WRs are catching almost everything thrown their way. What a refreshing change from the past few years. Our passing game is actually looking legitimate, and it's nice to see our very good recievers finally able to use their athleticism to help the offense.

O-line seemed to play much better tonight. I think there's something to the idea of keeping all the same guys in so that they can gel.

It was great seeing the backups get in the game in the fourth quarter. We need that so much to not only develop depth but also to keep those non-starters productively preparing during the week and hungry for more game action.

Our corners are being asked to do a lot, especially with our D-line not producing a ton of pressure. Going into the year that was supposed to be a position of strength for us, but now it's looking like maybe removing their safety help has exposed them a little bit. Hopefully, it's something the DBs can improve on and hopefully Banker can figure out how to get some more pressure on QBs, with blitzes or whatever.

Overall, this game was pretty boring after about the first half, which is exactly how it should be. It would have been nice to have this game first so the guys would have been a little looser for BYU.

On to Miami.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

I learned that the odd guy standing next to Riley without a headset is Bruce Read and he makes $450k.

He's got a great gig. I wish I could make that bank with that performance.

I have no clue what you're talking about.

1) Drew Brown was 2/2 in kicking tonight.

2) Didn't really have a chance to return punts or kicks.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Explain.

The coverage teams seem to be pretty good, as they were under the previous staff. The return game and the FG kicking has regressed.

The play calling lost the last game for us. It really wasn't much better tonight, but we played what apparently is a bad team. Throwing the ball all over the park is not going to win any meaningful games here.

Tommy played as well as I've seen him play. He missed a few easy passes, but he didn't turn the ball over like he normally does (2 last week). He threw the ball off of his back foot way too much tonight. Essentially, I didn't really notice him because he played well and did what he is supposed to do.

I don't know how this apparent regression in the return game is the fault of Bruce Read. Drew Brown was a 67% kicker last year and in 2 games so far he's below that mark, but every kicker is capable of having a bad game--and we have a small sample size--regardless of who their special teams coach is. OU's kicker went 1/4 against us in 2009. Our return game is also missing our biggest return threat which is again not the fault of Bruce Read.

It's complete hindsight bias to say that the playcalling lost the game for us last week. There's absolutely no guaranteed incompletion on the Hail Mary pass if we rushed 1, 2, or 8 more defenders. There's also no guarantee that a different 3rd & short playcall would've produced a better result. I also don't know how you can adequately assess playcalling and then somehow determine it = bad when we won by THIRTY-NINE points. No coach will ever call a perfect game because a result is not the sole product of playcalling, the perfect playcall doesn't look so perfect if it's not executed or if the defense does their part.

Tommy was 21/30 (70%) passing tonight and is 45/70 (64.2%) passing for the year. Aside from one bad quarter against BYU (11 of is 25 incompletions come from that quarter), Tommy is having a phenomenal start to this year under a new coaching staff and his improvement so far is exceeding all but the most unrealistic fans' expectations.

 

[74Hunter]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.

The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Color me shocked...

The truth is a very bitter pill to swallow.

So, is AS now some dark horse for the playoff?

No, we were expected to beat them and beat them bad and that is exactly what we did. We did what we were supposed to. What else did you want to see other than Pelini on the sidelines?

Sorry, I didn't see a whoop a$$ performance tonight.

And since you obviously don't pay attention I don't care if Bo is on the sideline.

I guess I remember what the 80's and 90's were. This was no whoop a$$. We gave up a lot of yards and big plays. The offense was mostly pedestrian against a sub par opponent. I'm not ready to crown this team as playoff ready.

No one really cares what you think, because regardless of what happens, you're negative. We could win the national championship and you'd find something to complain about it. You'd either cry about how we did it or you'd whine that we didn't win a national championship in both football and basketball.

I'd appreciate you not personally attacking me, but I hope that we win both of those national championships.