Mississippi State
First of all whose idea was it to have this game at noon? I was, stuck right behind the band with no cover (not a great angle to see the game either) and broiled. Nor was I alone, we were an anemic crowd today. There were also five fatalities in the band.
QB: When Leak got knocked out early on and Portis came in and reminded everyone why you don’t play true freshmen, I found myself missing Leak. Then he came back in a promptly overthrew open receivers half a dozen times before giving up attempting to throw deep at all. At least he showed he will play in pain.
GRADE: C
RB: Word is Meyer doesn’t like Wynn who he feels in not a hard worker. That’s nice, the truth remains he is the only one of the four halfbacks we have who has done anything all year. He’s not the perfect answer, but he is the best we have (as well as the best receiver out of the back field). That said even he didn’t do all the much today.
GRADE: C+
WR: Dallas Baker made a few plays on the sideline. Both he and Jackson made some plays with the ball in his hands. Of course there was also the boneheaded fumble while going for the TD. You have to know the situation you are in; there was no reason at that point. That was their only breakdown; I’m not blaming them for not Leak not being able to get them the ball. Also remember the name Nyan Boateng (number 80). He’s a freshman who has shown some ability, enough that they might want to think about using him more often. Especially since now Cornelius is hurt too (he did not play).
GRADE: B+
TE: Yeah, right, whatever.
OL: Mississippi State’s DL is hardly first class, but the line did okay. They did not dominate and there was some pressure on Leak, but they made a few holes too.
GRADE: B-
DL: Cohen was either benched or hurt so 94 (Jarvis Moss who was once a hot prospect before he had medical issues) started in McDonald’s place. Similar to Cohen this improves the run defense but we continue to have no pass rush with McDonald down. Mincey generated a little and did not shoot too far upfield on runs as he had been. The line as a whole is doing better at avoiding being fooled by screens. I also now have a name for defensive tackle 44 (the best runstopper we have): Jarvis Moss. Not a name you really need to know, he’s just the best of an undersized bunch. Good teams can run on us.
GRADE: B-
LB: Probably their best game as a group. Siler made several big plays, helped out on the pass rush, and blew up a screen.
GRADE:B+
DB: Admittedly it was the backup quarterback on a bad team, but they did not complete a pass in the second half until 11:08 in the fourth quarter. It was great coverage that gave us what pass rush we did have, when we got sacks (and safeties) it was because the QB had nowhere to go with the ball. Still I was not impressed by the helping push one of our guys gave their WR on that bomb at the end of the first half.
GRADE: A-
Special Teams: Probably the most improved aspect of the team since the start of the year. We pinned them deep several times on punts. The one that set up the safety was huge: those 2 points put life into what had been a sleep walking team and dead crowd. We appeared to kinda, sorta, maybe, think about blocking on punt returns, which is nice. The punt block was nice too. I still don’t like the punt blocking scheme or kickoff coverage.
GRADE: B+
Coaching: We still have too many sloppy penalties. We run way to many shovel passes (one as almost picked late) and cutesy misdirection plays. Those work occasionally when the defense is not ready for them, but that will never be the case if we do them twenty times a game. The crowd half booed a few times after those plays got stuffed. The sheen is clearly off Meyer now thanks to the Crimson Tide. I did not see any shirts and there were no Ur-Ban Mey-Er chants. Good. He did start using Wynn a little more as the game went on and it was clear no one else was doing anything.
GRADE: B-
Bottom Line: It took us a while to put away a bad team; the offense looked especially subpar. Not only am I pretty sure we are losing next week in Baton Rouge (I don’t care how numb their coach is), I’m now getting worried we are going to drop a third game somewhere and not end up with the Eastern crown. The offense isn’t working; it is time to modify it some to better match the talents we have right now and try it again next year with Meyer’s recruits. The defense has to carry us and the run defense is not good enough for them to be able to do that all year.
If anyone was curious (yeah right), I don’t do writeups on games I watch on TV because the TV shots are so tight I can’t see what is going on as well.
QB: When Leak got knocked out early on and Portis came in and reminded everyone why you don’t play true freshmen, I found myself missing Leak. Then he came back in a promptly overthrew open receivers half a dozen times before giving up attempting to throw deep at all. At least he showed he will play in pain.
GRADE: C
RB: Word is Meyer doesn’t like Wynn who he feels in not a hard worker. That’s nice, the truth remains he is the only one of the four halfbacks we have who has done anything all year. He’s not the perfect answer, but he is the best we have (as well as the best receiver out of the back field). That said even he didn’t do all the much today.
GRADE: C+
WR: Dallas Baker made a few plays on the sideline. Both he and Jackson made some plays with the ball in his hands. Of course there was also the boneheaded fumble while going for the TD. You have to know the situation you are in; there was no reason at that point. That was their only breakdown; I’m not blaming them for not Leak not being able to get them the ball. Also remember the name Nyan Boateng (number 80). He’s a freshman who has shown some ability, enough that they might want to think about using him more often. Especially since now Cornelius is hurt too (he did not play).
GRADE: B+
TE: Yeah, right, whatever.
OL: Mississippi State’s DL is hardly first class, but the line did okay. They did not dominate and there was some pressure on Leak, but they made a few holes too.
GRADE: B-
DL: Cohen was either benched or hurt so 94 (Jarvis Moss who was once a hot prospect before he had medical issues) started in McDonald’s place. Similar to Cohen this improves the run defense but we continue to have no pass rush with McDonald down. Mincey generated a little and did not shoot too far upfield on runs as he had been. The line as a whole is doing better at avoiding being fooled by screens. I also now have a name for defensive tackle 44 (the best runstopper we have): Jarvis Moss. Not a name you really need to know, he’s just the best of an undersized bunch. Good teams can run on us.
GRADE: B-
LB: Probably their best game as a group. Siler made several big plays, helped out on the pass rush, and blew up a screen.
GRADE:B+
DB: Admittedly it was the backup quarterback on a bad team, but they did not complete a pass in the second half until 11:08 in the fourth quarter. It was great coverage that gave us what pass rush we did have, when we got sacks (and safeties) it was because the QB had nowhere to go with the ball. Still I was not impressed by the helping push one of our guys gave their WR on that bomb at the end of the first half.
GRADE: A-
Special Teams: Probably the most improved aspect of the team since the start of the year. We pinned them deep several times on punts. The one that set up the safety was huge: those 2 points put life into what had been a sleep walking team and dead crowd. We appeared to kinda, sorta, maybe, think about blocking on punt returns, which is nice. The punt block was nice too. I still don’t like the punt blocking scheme or kickoff coverage.
GRADE: B+
Coaching: We still have too many sloppy penalties. We run way to many shovel passes (one as almost picked late) and cutesy misdirection plays. Those work occasionally when the defense is not ready for them, but that will never be the case if we do them twenty times a game. The crowd half booed a few times after those plays got stuffed. The sheen is clearly off Meyer now thanks to the Crimson Tide. I did not see any shirts and there were no Ur-Ban Mey-Er chants. Good. He did start using Wynn a little more as the game went on and it was clear no one else was doing anything.
GRADE: B-
Bottom Line: It took us a while to put away a bad team; the offense looked especially subpar. Not only am I pretty sure we are losing next week in Baton Rouge (I don’t care how numb their coach is), I’m now getting worried we are going to drop a third game somewhere and not end up with the Eastern crown. The offense isn’t working; it is time to modify it some to better match the talents we have right now and try it again next year with Meyer’s recruits. The defense has to carry us and the run defense is not good enough for them to be able to do that all year.
If anyone was curious (yeah right), I don’t do writeups on games I watch on TV because the TV shots are so tight I can’t see what is going on as well.
posted by El Breto @ 11:17 AM
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