*Unofficial Good, Bad, Ugly Thread: Ark. St.*

For everybody saying the running game was bad:

Team: 28 attempts 136 yards 4.9 ypc 7 first downs

Helu: 14 for 60 with 4.3 ypc

Burkhead: 3 for 18 with 6.0 ypc

That's not a bad outing, especially considering that ASU's strength was the run defense. And they were loading the box all game.

 
The Good: The good was the bad. Meaning, this was the kind of game that can be wonderful in terms of getting the players' attention and getting them to focus during this week. Had it been a real blow-out, I would be a little worried about them not bearing down (no matter what the coaches did) with VT coming up.

 
Offense:

The Good: The unknown QB is #7 in passing efficiency for a reason. However, he made some questionable throws that a better defense would have capitalized on. Great day for Zac, though, and really spread the ball around in the process. No turnovers for the offense this week is a great thing!

The Bad: They came out flat in the second half, no killer instinct at all. When you have your foot on the throat of the opponent, put them away. Helu didn't seem Helu-like at all.

The Ugly: The penalty that wiped out the touch down.

Defense:

The Good: Once again allowed very few points, and finally got some sacks.

The Bad: Too many rushing yards allowed. When ASU did complete a pass, it was nearly 12 yards per completion. Coincidentally, Nebraska's avg yards per completion were exactly the same. Inexperience shows in the linebackers, but this will come with time. I hope.

The Ugly: The size of the holes that were opened. This is supposed to be a dominant D-line, but is very pedestrian so far. The supposed weakness of stAte was supposed to be their O-line, but you could have fooled me on who got the better of who on many plays.

Special Teams:

Nothing to add - nothing stood out to tag with any label. Yes, Martin got flagged for 15 yards, but why wasn't ASU flagged long before things got to that point? So, no one can hit a ball carrier anymore without getting a PF, but they can mob a guy and take some cheap shots to his head/throat? geeeeod!

 
The Good: Zac Lee. He's answered a lot of questions, in my opinion.

The Bad:Offensive line. Lee was under pressure more often than I'd like, and the running game was subpar.

The Ugly: Me on Saturday.

 
The Good: Tight ends. Seriously, how many tight ends did we line up with for some of the formations used last week? I think this adds an advantage, because when you think of a heavy set like that, you think run. We can run and pass effectively out of those sets.

The Bad: The fact that Lee audibled a play because he saw something he liked, executed the huge toss to Paul for a TD, and it got called back by a holding penalty.

Ouch!

The Ugly: Run defense. For the supposed "strength" of the defense, the d-line has really disappointed me up to this point. If ASU can create holes like that to run through, I think we are in some serious trouble against the VT front-line and Ryan Williams.

Bonus:

Ugliest: Colorado

 
I know that its a really apples to oranges type of observation, but I think we need to keep in mind that Ark St. did win 61-0 last week. I don't care who you are, when you put up 61 points and hold another team scoreless, you're doing something right. I think that we're going to see, as we did with Ball State the other year, that Ark St. is a little bit better than we had previously thought.

On a seperate note. It looks like our game against La-Lafayette is going to take on a bigger meaning than previously anticipated. They seem to be our main competiton for the Sun Belt title after their big upset of K-State on Saturday.

 
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