Southern Miss
Last year I watch the first couple of games against the dogs and said the team had some real issues. Several (Maury and Billy just leap to mind for some reason) suggested I was reading too much into a game we won by 20 – but the season bore out my worries. Southern Miss is not your typical opening game dog, but their QB, RB and three defensive linemen were getting their first starts, and we took our time putting us away. In plain English: I got worries.
You may notice I am giving individual credit on plays less often than normal; this is because I had great seats. Front row in fact. However I was on the five yard line (near the band endzone) so while I was right on top of some of the action I was pretty far away from other plays and could not always see exactly who was making the play. And the cheerleaders were right in front of me blocking the view occasionally. What? you ask, the cheerleaders weren’t cognizant of letting the fans see the game? Nope, not at all. And they tried to pump up the fans when we had the ball (so annoying) – I know they are trying to make a living out there and may not care much about football, but get your act together and know what is happening on the field. Try to remember what we came to see.
QB: Leak had a game (that’s not a typo). He is a still pretty smart quarterback (doesn’t throw into coverage and knows when to throw it away) who, while not fast, can get out of some sacks. Alas he also still struggles with accuracy, and especially needs to work on his timing with Andre Caldwell (5) (not good when you can’t hit your best WR when he is open deep – twice). To be fair his interception early looked to be a quick drop pass to a spot and the WR ran to the wrong place. Tebow came in a couple of times to run. He looks smaller than he did in the Orange N’ Blue game. He’s 6-4 and could lift to add some bulk.
GRADE: B+
RB: What the hell happened? Wynn (21) looked okay, especially going outside, before he was dinged, but our leading rusher was a freshman receiver (not good, all the more so since he only had 58 yards). Moore (33) looked alarming average and was occasionally telegraphing when he was going to get the ball by running in place the way a five year old does when he has to pee. Take away his 27 yard run against the backups in the last minute of the game and he averaged 2.2 yards a carry. His touchdown catch was nice, but he was wide open underneath a clearing route (*see Football 101 for an explanation). And once again Meyer seems to have no interest in using our quality blocking fullback Latsko (42)
GRADE: D+
WR: Last year each week a different receiver stepped up to be the guy, so I’m not willing to declare Dallas Baker (81) all-SEC. As I mentioned Caldwell got open for big passes a couple of times, Leak just did not get it there. Of course the big news of the game was true freshman Percy Harvin (8) who is as fast as advertised – but do try to remember his big plays were runs, he only caught a few balls.
GRADE: B+ (this is a unit grade – Cornelius’s one catch, for 26 yards and a TD, is included)
TE: Did not see much of Tater Salad (Number 84 in your program, number 1 in your heart). The only time he was involved in anything other than blocking was failed two point attempt were he was open, but never looked back for the pass the than landed near him. I believe this was a called two-point attempt because the holder bailed early and Tater Salad was wandering around in the endzone, if it was a busted play on a bad snap (because why would you go for two there – other than to practice going for two) and if he wasn’t running a route, then I don’t know what he was doing wandering around alone in the endzone (unless he realized it was a bust almost instantly).
GRADE: incomplete
OL: Oh boy. For a team with three new DL starters they sure got a bunch of pressure on Leak. Of course we had four new starters too. We got some movement on running plays, but not consistently. It was their first game, and one (new) starter is hurt, so I won’t kill them, but they need to get better by Tennessee.
GRADE: C
DL: Even missing our best run stopper, Thomas (44), who was being disciplined, it seemed that most of Southern Miss’s running plays went for about two yards and that was it (but again this was their RB’s first start). However I caught both ends, Moss (94) and McDonald (95), shooting upfield and blowing containment a few times. More alarming neither got much pressure at all. Moss of course had that weird bone particles in his blood issue last year, but he does not seem to have taken the summer to get any bigger – or maybe he just looked small because I saw him up close. For this game he held his own on the run, but can he all year? Of course the other issue is you don’t want your pass rusher to lose speed either, so we’ll say he is okay as is. My biggest worry after no pass rush is conditioning, I saw some hands on hips in the first quarter!?! Maybe this was why so many guys were rotated in early.
GRADE: B (I’m not going to knock them for not living up to the hype of being the greatest UF line of all time, but you need to get some sacks boys).
LB: Everett (30) had a pretty good game, better than you might realize. He did little that was spectacular, but did all the little things well. He stayed with his guys on coverage, filed gaps, blew up blockers, made a few good tackles. He won’t get much credit for it, but you need guys playing that way to be a winner. Siler (40) was very disruptive on the blitz (unfortunately though he provided almost all our pressure). He needs to work more on not being obvious when he is coming, although the might be a strategy as he is rather talented at baiting the line into thinking he is coming and then bailing. The new guy, Crum (13), looked a little confused on coverage early, but otherwise did little of note.
GRADE: A-
DB: This will be the hardest section to grade because the safeties played well and the corners didn’t. Smith (28) didn’t know where he was supposed to be on some plays, even from the very first drive as Joiner (19) had to move him around. Lewis (22) got beat at least once that I remember and had a brutal pass interfere (where he was beat again) waived off as uncatchable. I’ll give credit to the coaching staff for naming Joiner as a starter over Jackson (3). Tony had a pick – it was right in front of me: he went and got that ball with his hands, taking it away from the receiver. Sure it was a floater into coverage (only the CB was beat – shocker – and even he got back because it was a duck), but he was right were he was supposed to be (and I like that). Joiner also had 2 passes defensed, a stopped a RB at the line who had gotten past Moss, and did well directing traffic. Nelson (32 last year, now 1) had some big hits.
GRADE: B (lets not be to generous for stopping a QB making his first start).
ST: Nelson had some nice returns, but that was in part because their punter kept out kicking the coverage – and most of the time the return was on, even when the Golden Eagles were pinned deep (not sure why that was). Coverage was good, but once again we are purposely leaving an alley outside the numbers on kickoffs (which they tried to exploit once). We are also still using that stupid three men five yards behind the line punt blocking formation. Wilber (10) had a good kick to pin inside the ten at one point. Whatever the plan on that two point conversion was, the play did not come out well.
GRADE: B+ (as mixed bag, but better than last year).
Coaching: First the good: there were far less of those annoying shovel passes and 1-2 yard routes by receivers. They used Harvin well on misdirection plays and did not over use them (which has been Meyer’s tendency). Now the not so good: boy did they look confused on defense early on. On the first drive the secondary was pointing and trying to figure things out every play. Leak was telling receivers where to lineup on some plays too. That is not the hallmark of a team ready to play and really bothers me. I know it was the first game, but that is inexcusable. Also I would have liked to see them run more once we were safely ahead as the running game clearly needs work. Going for it on 4th and 13 early was a horrendously bad move – Southern Miss was out of the game and you let them get some hope back and they proceeded to drive the field. Did he learn nothing from the Tennessee game last year? If the field goal is too long, you punt and pin them to make them have to beat you. I may be a liberal who grew up watching Montana and Rice, but I’d rather see UF play conservatively and make sure to get the win against the teams we should beat (especially since our strength is the D). Pull out all the stops for Auburn. We caught Southern Miss in a rebuilding year, but in seasons past they’ve been good enough they would have given us a very tough game the way we played. That worries me and doesn’t help me warm up Urban, not one bit.
GRADE: C+
NOTE: I made the joke about registering “FireMeyer.com” before (again: as a joke, I’m not calling for his head), but without doing research – someone already has, but just to block others.
Fans: I’ve heard us be louder (although we did make them burn a timeout), and the shouts when Tebow came in were moronic: A: we were on offense and B: Leak should be the starter this year. There was some girl sitting by me not even cheering (although at least she had a UF t-shirt on).
GRADE: A-
Player of the game: I strongly consider Joiner, but in the end all the big plays where we just flat out beat Southern Miss straight up were made by Dallas Baker.
Play of the game: Nelson’s interception in the endzone, no doubt. They were getting a little momentum back and that absolutely killed it.
Football 101: A “clearing route” is when a receiver runs a route (usually a post – that is runs hard straight up the field past the corner) to draw all the coverage to him so someone else can run a shorter route underneath him and be wide open for a catch. We did an excellent version of this on Moore’s TD catch. He slipped out from the backfield and caught the ball with no one within five yards of him (everyone was down in the endzone) and then bolted for the score. Then I had to think about propping a guy I said should be the starting RB to keep my rep up when he really had a subpar game or keeping it real for my fans.
Bottom line: Meyer may be in his magical second year, but this team has too many issues. We’re not going to win the SEC, as Heather’s shaved head will eventually attest (you’re not seeing me in a dress).
You may notice I am giving individual credit on plays less often than normal; this is because I had great seats. Front row in fact. However I was on the five yard line (near the band endzone) so while I was right on top of some of the action I was pretty far away from other plays and could not always see exactly who was making the play. And the cheerleaders were right in front of me blocking the view occasionally. What? you ask, the cheerleaders weren’t cognizant of letting the fans see the game? Nope, not at all. And they tried to pump up the fans when we had the ball (so annoying) – I know they are trying to make a living out there and may not care much about football, but get your act together and know what is happening on the field. Try to remember what we came to see.
QB: Leak had a game (that’s not a typo). He is a still pretty smart quarterback (doesn’t throw into coverage and knows when to throw it away) who, while not fast, can get out of some sacks. Alas he also still struggles with accuracy, and especially needs to work on his timing with Andre Caldwell (5) (not good when you can’t hit your best WR when he is open deep – twice). To be fair his interception early looked to be a quick drop pass to a spot and the WR ran to the wrong place. Tebow came in a couple of times to run. He looks smaller than he did in the Orange N’ Blue game. He’s 6-4 and could lift to add some bulk.
GRADE: B+
RB: What the hell happened? Wynn (21) looked okay, especially going outside, before he was dinged, but our leading rusher was a freshman receiver (not good, all the more so since he only had 58 yards). Moore (33) looked alarming average and was occasionally telegraphing when he was going to get the ball by running in place the way a five year old does when he has to pee. Take away his 27 yard run against the backups in the last minute of the game and he averaged 2.2 yards a carry. His touchdown catch was nice, but he was wide open underneath a clearing route (*see Football 101 for an explanation). And once again Meyer seems to have no interest in using our quality blocking fullback Latsko (42)
GRADE: D+
WR: Last year each week a different receiver stepped up to be the guy, so I’m not willing to declare Dallas Baker (81) all-SEC. As I mentioned Caldwell got open for big passes a couple of times, Leak just did not get it there. Of course the big news of the game was true freshman Percy Harvin (8) who is as fast as advertised – but do try to remember his big plays were runs, he only caught a few balls.
GRADE: B+ (this is a unit grade – Cornelius’s one catch, for 26 yards and a TD, is included)
TE: Did not see much of Tater Salad (Number 84 in your program, number 1 in your heart). The only time he was involved in anything other than blocking was failed two point attempt were he was open, but never looked back for the pass the than landed near him. I believe this was a called two-point attempt because the holder bailed early and Tater Salad was wandering around in the endzone, if it was a busted play on a bad snap (because why would you go for two there – other than to practice going for two) and if he wasn’t running a route, then I don’t know what he was doing wandering around alone in the endzone (unless he realized it was a bust almost instantly).
GRADE: incomplete
OL: Oh boy. For a team with three new DL starters they sure got a bunch of pressure on Leak. Of course we had four new starters too. We got some movement on running plays, but not consistently. It was their first game, and one (new) starter is hurt, so I won’t kill them, but they need to get better by Tennessee.
GRADE: C
DL: Even missing our best run stopper, Thomas (44), who was being disciplined, it seemed that most of Southern Miss’s running plays went for about two yards and that was it (but again this was their RB’s first start). However I caught both ends, Moss (94) and McDonald (95), shooting upfield and blowing containment a few times. More alarming neither got much pressure at all. Moss of course had that weird bone particles in his blood issue last year, but he does not seem to have taken the summer to get any bigger – or maybe he just looked small because I saw him up close. For this game he held his own on the run, but can he all year? Of course the other issue is you don’t want your pass rusher to lose speed either, so we’ll say he is okay as is. My biggest worry after no pass rush is conditioning, I saw some hands on hips in the first quarter!?! Maybe this was why so many guys were rotated in early.
GRADE: B (I’m not going to knock them for not living up to the hype of being the greatest UF line of all time, but you need to get some sacks boys).
LB: Everett (30) had a pretty good game, better than you might realize. He did little that was spectacular, but did all the little things well. He stayed with his guys on coverage, filed gaps, blew up blockers, made a few good tackles. He won’t get much credit for it, but you need guys playing that way to be a winner. Siler (40) was very disruptive on the blitz (unfortunately though he provided almost all our pressure). He needs to work more on not being obvious when he is coming, although the might be a strategy as he is rather talented at baiting the line into thinking he is coming and then bailing. The new guy, Crum (13), looked a little confused on coverage early, but otherwise did little of note.
GRADE: A-
DB: This will be the hardest section to grade because the safeties played well and the corners didn’t. Smith (28) didn’t know where he was supposed to be on some plays, even from the very first drive as Joiner (19) had to move him around. Lewis (22) got beat at least once that I remember and had a brutal pass interfere (where he was beat again) waived off as uncatchable. I’ll give credit to the coaching staff for naming Joiner as a starter over Jackson (3). Tony had a pick – it was right in front of me: he went and got that ball with his hands, taking it away from the receiver. Sure it was a floater into coverage (only the CB was beat – shocker – and even he got back because it was a duck), but he was right were he was supposed to be (and I like that). Joiner also had 2 passes defensed, a stopped a RB at the line who had gotten past Moss, and did well directing traffic. Nelson (32 last year, now 1) had some big hits.
GRADE: B (lets not be to generous for stopping a QB making his first start).
ST: Nelson had some nice returns, but that was in part because their punter kept out kicking the coverage – and most of the time the return was on, even when the Golden Eagles were pinned deep (not sure why that was). Coverage was good, but once again we are purposely leaving an alley outside the numbers on kickoffs (which they tried to exploit once). We are also still using that stupid three men five yards behind the line punt blocking formation. Wilber (10) had a good kick to pin inside the ten at one point. Whatever the plan on that two point conversion was, the play did not come out well.
GRADE: B+ (as mixed bag, but better than last year).
Coaching: First the good: there were far less of those annoying shovel passes and 1-2 yard routes by receivers. They used Harvin well on misdirection plays and did not over use them (which has been Meyer’s tendency). Now the not so good: boy did they look confused on defense early on. On the first drive the secondary was pointing and trying to figure things out every play. Leak was telling receivers where to lineup on some plays too. That is not the hallmark of a team ready to play and really bothers me. I know it was the first game, but that is inexcusable. Also I would have liked to see them run more once we were safely ahead as the running game clearly needs work. Going for it on 4th and 13 early was a horrendously bad move – Southern Miss was out of the game and you let them get some hope back and they proceeded to drive the field. Did he learn nothing from the Tennessee game last year? If the field goal is too long, you punt and pin them to make them have to beat you. I may be a liberal who grew up watching Montana and Rice, but I’d rather see UF play conservatively and make sure to get the win against the teams we should beat (especially since our strength is the D). Pull out all the stops for Auburn. We caught Southern Miss in a rebuilding year, but in seasons past they’ve been good enough they would have given us a very tough game the way we played. That worries me and doesn’t help me warm up Urban, not one bit.
GRADE: C+
NOTE: I made the joke about registering “FireMeyer.com” before (again: as a joke, I’m not calling for his head), but without doing research – someone already has, but just to block others.
Fans: I’ve heard us be louder (although we did make them burn a timeout), and the shouts when Tebow came in were moronic: A: we were on offense and B: Leak should be the starter this year. There was some girl sitting by me not even cheering (although at least she had a UF t-shirt on).
GRADE: A-
Player of the game: I strongly consider Joiner, but in the end all the big plays where we just flat out beat Southern Miss straight up were made by Dallas Baker.
Play of the game: Nelson’s interception in the endzone, no doubt. They were getting a little momentum back and that absolutely killed it.
Football 101: A “clearing route” is when a receiver runs a route (usually a post – that is runs hard straight up the field past the corner) to draw all the coverage to him so someone else can run a shorter route underneath him and be wide open for a catch. We did an excellent version of this on Moore’s TD catch. He slipped out from the backfield and caught the ball with no one within five yards of him (everyone was down in the endzone) and then bolted for the score. Then I had to think about propping a guy I said should be the starting RB to keep my rep up when he really had a subpar game or keeping it real for my fans.
Bottom line: Meyer may be in his magical second year, but this team has too many issues. We’re not going to win the SEC, as Heather’s shaved head will eventually attest (you’re not seeing me in a dress).
posted by El Breto @ 6:19 PM
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