Cooper again gave a great pass rush. Should finish with double digit sacks on the season.
Batton is a BAD ASS of the first order!!! The guy has tremendous instincts for the ball and plays with extreme aggression!
Carlos Allen stuffed run play after run play at the line. Definitely emerging as a d-line force.
I know a lot of people won’t want to hear this, but Donovan Smith completed 86% of his passes for 260 yards. If he keeps improving at that rate….WATCH OUT!!!
The Bad
Our offensive play calling robbed us of some critical opportunities. Especially at the end. Clock management is on the head coach and offensive play calling is on the OC. Both need work.
Our running game only netted 58 yards. Our Oline certainly improved its pass protection (hence Smith’s improved passing stats), but still needs to work on opening holes for the running game.
The Ugly
I fully believe that Mews is going to break a big one before too long.
But he definitely misjudged several punts.
That said, based on the replays, I do NOT think he touched the turnover punt.
That was a hometown call all the way.
All in all though, there WAS improvement.
I expected a blowout loss, and we could just as easily have won this one as lost it.
Show the same amount of improvement next week, and we’ll beat Rice.
Hate to be a NN, but I’m thinking we get bounced next Saturday. From watching the game, TSU must be really bad, or Rice has a pretty good team. Both teams flipped the results of last week.
I would also add the offsides on 4th and 1 was crushing. That eliminated our chances to have solid field position for a go ahead score which in turn led to that safety.
10 Likes
theant
(College of Technology Grad 1981, Bring back REAL Shasta!!!)
7
I dont think either team pulled its best and put in the bench.
That says we played ball 4 quarters and they had to as well.
TSU was missing its starting QB (got hurt late in their win at Prairie View). Without him, their offense was horrendous. Rice has a good defense, but not much of an offense. Kurt Warner’s kid isn’t as good as a healthy JT Daniels. And they don’t have Luke McCaffrey anymore.
Thank you! Let’s give players credit when they improve like that from the following week. I don’t understand how people watched smith and didn’t think he looked tremendously better. OU has a really good defense. This is an SEC team that’s top 15 in the nation. He showed again that he can play at this level, as he often does against better comp. He just needs to stay consistent and keep improving. I trust Fritz’s!
Did see the hometown strategy. Make the initial call for oklahoma, then you keep the door open to claim there was not sufficient evidence to overturn the call. After every review the call “stands” but was not “confirmed”.
When the offensive line plays great, the glory boys get all the credit. But when they play bad, everyone is on their case. Makes you remember that the offense can be no better than the offensive line lets them.
I do wish they would not play Sneed. He can’t seem to get more than 2 or 3 yards.
There was one angle where I can confidently say Mews did not touch it. Also, I think the defense is good enough to keep them in a lot of games. The offense is still a work in progress.
Yeah, TSU is just bad. For context, SWAC teams have been outscored in games against FBS teams something like 482-46 against FBS competition over 9 games so far this year, which averages out to a score of like 53-5, and a couple of those games (UAPB at Arkansas, Alabama A&M at Auburn) were played with a shortened quarters in the second half.
This is where the DC dropped the ball. The only message sent out should have been to stay where you were. And we’re gonna kill Rice in a metaphorical kind of way.
UH got screwed on that punt call. At the correct angle there is daylight between the ball and Mews hand. No doubt. Why the refs couldn’t see it is a mystery.