One of the two picks was a serious fluke: bounced off the foot of the receiver up into the hands of the linebacker.
9 Likes
I was there for the third quarter. Tulsa did stop our run, but when we passed, King didn’t go for any long passes, they were mostly horizontal. We had players getting open in one on one coverage else where.
In the first half, you were talking about the series where we took 2 or 3 shots for the endzone in a row. However we did not appear to going with the same tenacity as we did when in our first 3 games. That is my opinion and I could be wrong …
3 Likes
It was a fluke, but it was deserved, because the throw was terrible. It looked like he was trying to hit him squarely in the ankles.
The second one was a bad read and good anticipation by the defense.
I think we could utilize Brooker more - he’s looked solid.
4 Likes
King made several throws behind receivers in the first half. One resulted in an INT. It was a fluke INT, but a terrible throw. The other INT, it looked like he threw it directly at the defender. I haven’t seen a replay yet to confirm.
I think King and the coaches knew things weren’t clicking for King so they went more run heavy in the 2nd half. Tulsa has been terrible at stopping the run all year and they were terrible again last night. I’m truly hoping the offense was just rusty last night coming off of TSU and an open week. As weird as it feels to say this, ECU is going to be a much tougher opponent next week and we can’t afford the sloppy mistakes we made this week. ECU is only giving up 308 ypg (213 passing and 94.8 rushing) and 25.5 ppg. Granted, they haven’t played much of a schedule, but last night’s performance has me sufficiently concerned.
3 Likes
2nd pick, King didn’t see the shadowing LB over the middle which is why it looked like he threw it to him. Bad read by King.
4 Likes
Largest margin of victory by any team over Tulsa this year, 8 more points margin than top 25 UT. If we didn’t have the turnovers early, this could easily have been a 50+ to 20 game.
2 Likes
No they weren’t the first and I like how Johnson, Myers, and Anderson broke up passes with authority. That is progress. I thought the coverage was good last night. Tulsa’s first TD had to have been a coverage bust or maybe someone fell. To me, that mistake is different from “bad coverage”
The pressure CMD called seemed well timed in most cases to me. I hope it is a sign of things to come.
4 Likes
I do think this was the first game we weren’t called for pass interference though. That was impressive.
2 Likes
Yeah, kind of a pointless endeavor to even try. If we don’t hold the opponent to a 0% completion rate and shut them out, obviously there’s been a complete coaching failure. 
5 Likes
In the middle of the 3rd quarter debacle it looked like Big Ed and CMA were having words on the sideline. What was that about? I am guessing the soft defense.
First, the offense can’t afford to start off slow like that again. We just played the worst offense in the AAC; there’s no one left on the schedule that will permit us to get back in the game. Briles needs to slow it down about 5 seconds per play, and get into something we can convert on early downs. 3rd downs have been too inconsistent.
Second, the defense made little strides. Yes, Tulsa had freshman QB but it isn’t about who they have as much as it’s about what we do. If we can mix it up on defense with pressure packages, and get home, we can cause any team to make mistakes. However, there are still some plays where the running back was able to get outside and run for big gains. We have to set the edge because the running backs we play are only going to be a lot better(West, Henderson,Cronkrite, Killins). We also have to play Navy. The communication on the back end has to get better; how many times have players got behind our safeties? Lastly, the seams need some attention as well. LBs need to drop deeper in their zones or the safeties need to come down a bit. WRs and and TE’s should not be splitting the seams. I like how we attacked the line of scrimmage, the D-Line was slanting and stunting to make Tulsa’s fat boys play with technique( they were bigger than us up front). The linebackers need to work on tackling but when we wanted to bring heat we got pressure.
All in all, the defense made strides, but have a long ways to go.
Agree, Sam. The defense WON the game for us. We were down 26-17 early in the 4th quarter and Tulsa, who’s bench is right in front of my seats, was openly celebrating on the sideline. They thought they had the game won. Our defense HAD to stop them in the 4th and give us a chance to regain momentum. They absolutely did that. Stopped Tulsa for a loss on 4th down, ball turned over. Sack and fumble on 3rd down, turnover leading to Coog TD…Interception after big pressure put on QB, another coog TD, thanks to great field position given by the D…Pretty much thanks to our defense, we hammered Tulsa in the 4th and won the game. D’onfrio and the defense deserve the credit for getting it done when game was on the line.
6 Likes
Is it a coincidence that our defense looked a lot better in the last 11 minutes after Tulsa RB Corey Taylor got hurt?
He ran for 150 yards on us in essentially 3 quarters.
If you have watched Coog Football for a long time you have seen this game many times before, and have seen our Coogs lose this type of game many times.
We scored 24 in the 4th. quarter while shutting out Tulsa.
Take it and move on.
I attended The Cotton Bowl Game against Notre Dame.
Take the win and move on.
7 Likes
Joell Williams bust.
1 Like
I am pretty sure I have watched more Cougar games than almost anyone else - and for a longer time (season tickets for 69 years now), and watched a few games even before that. I have never - ever - left a game early, but I almost did last night - at the end of the 3rd quarter. I mean, the team looked TERRIBLE up to that time - both the offense and the defense!
I did not leave, and I am glad I stayed. We certainly turned things around in that 4th quarter. But - why did it take so long?
Just askin’!
3 Likes
He got hurt because he was hit like 50 times by our D!! He had 33 carries in 3 quarters, you think he would have been dominating at carry 45 in the 4th? We kept hitting him and he broke. Win for our D.
We dropped a couple of interceptions that hit defensive players in their hands. And the call on the sidelines regarding the fumble was questionable because the person who fumbles no longer had control when he went out of bounds so unless I don’t understand the rule it shouldn’t have mattered.
As ugly as it was we won by 14+ points. We played like crap and found a way to win. We just need to keep stacking wins together. 1-0
1 Like
It is comforting to know when our backs are against the wall we definitely don’t give up but my expectations at the beginning of the year are like many others and when we’re not steamrolling seemingly very easy teams to beat (on paper), it gets frustrating quickly and seems like everyone has our playbook and number at times.
I see improvements but come crunch time later in the season, these drops have got to stop. Right now half our battle is against ourselves.