I’m still a bit blown away by the complete collapse against the Aggies, starting at the time the Hogs were up 17-10. At that time, it sure looked like the Hogs were dominating, and the Aggies were fortunate to be behind by 7. But promptly the game turned completely around. You can’t argue that this was just tired legs in Q4. No, the Hogs had no punch or counterpunching left.
And this week the Hogs play the nation’s #3 rushing defense.
I’m just not sure what to think, besides that’s why Vegas has us as a 16 point dog at home, while being ranked #16…certainly they think we’re “too hot”.
Mostly, I’m just stunned at how poorly our D has played through 5 games.
I said early on we are in trouble come SEC play because of our O-line play! We have the QB to do big things this year if we had the O-line of the last 3 years. AA has the RBs and receivers to make this offense explode, but I fear it wont happen this year cause the strength itself just isnt there! We also have a Defense that plays pretty well for 3 quarters and seems to always take a quarter off! We will not beat Bamma who I think is better this year than last 3 yrs on offense and defense, just not going to happen and being realistic I truly see 3 games as wins left, Miss st, LSU, and Missouri and maybe a 4th in Auburn if our D continues to get better and we dont lose AA during the Bamma, Ole Miss and Florida defenses with our O-line play!!! I worry about the kid because he is the true COMPETITOR we were all hoping for but is going to get dinged up if this o-line doesnt get their act together!
I agree with a lot of your points, but not about the losses. Our Oline is going to get better with experience as all OLines do as they gel. Our defense worries me with Spread scheme gaps and fatigue via HUNH pacing. I think this game is Sprinkle time because he is 6-6 and athletic enough to get open quickly or use his height to get the ball. His height may be most important in this game because it will be a quick pass option. We are going to need a quick passing game to negate the Bama rush. Sprinkle is the best option because his height gives him a chance even if he is covered.
Not sure what happened at A&M. Did we fail to adjust to A&M adjustments or just quit. I don’t recall the exact sequence, but about midway through the 2nd quarter it turned. We fumbled on the goal, we fumbled at midfield at a time we could really take control, we could not go 2 yards in 6 plays, and finally, the defense gave up a long dirve in 1 minute with the last play being a 40 yd or so run untouched (that was not corrected in the second half).
The third opened allowing a long drive that ended with a fumble on the goal. Then we made an amazing drive converting 3rd downs for 9 min., but got no points as the Oline could not move the defense 2 feet in 4 tries. Game over and it appeared the defense completely quit.
That collapse was as disappointing as I have been in several years. I thought we were past that. It now appears we are average to weak on the Oline (at Oline U!), slow and unable to cover or tackle on defense, with place kicking and kickoffs much weaker than say, oh, Alcorn State.
Now this bunch is going to take on Alabama? I hope they at least show a little pride. We have not seen it since early A&M. It is up to these guys. They wanted to play in the SEC. Now is the time to do it.
the collapse against A & M mirrored the 28 unanswered pts we gave up to TCU. We didn’t respond vs A&M because we didn’t convert our chances earlier in the game. As much as I think of them, I think has to fall on the coaching staff due to play calling and game management. BTW what was the play called that made AA so mad?
A+M had better players than we did. That is no surprise to anyone who watched the game. They have more studs than we do. We just got dominated in the 2nd half. We played well on offense, but our defense was just bad.
Same song, 2nd verse…just like last year…our defense is not particularly athletic and we don’t have a lot of speed. We need to recruit better players for our defense. Agim and Capps are both good and young, but we are going to need more of these types of players to win the West. Bama, A+M and LSU have these type of players and plenty of them. We don’t. Our kids are fine, upstanding kids, but the talent level is not on par with the best teams in the league. This is no surprise to any of you, I know that. But the bottom line is we are playing about as well as we are capable of playing. It doesn’t mean we can’t beat anybody in the SEC, but it means we aren’t going to do it consistently like those programs can and are doing.
The horse is dead, but I’ll add one more thing. To me the play that hurt us the most was the spearing play on third down. They would have had to kick from their end zone, our offense might have driven for a touch down and the D would have gotten some rest while we drove down the field. Mo would have then been on our side. Oh, what might have been…
Hard for me to understand. If we had moved on in for that touchdown and led by 3 TDs and then won the game, would you then still claim the Aggies had better players? To that point we schemed well, played well, and we could call ourselves “dominate”.
We’ve done this before and Lady Luck reversed fortune and we lost, but in those games at Jerry World our scheme and play put us in a position to win. We were not dominated by better players any of those times. We just beat ourselves–period.
Heck, we beat ourselves against Bama. “Beating ourselves” does not mean the other team has dominance or better players. JMHO
OL is catching a bunch of grief that is unearned. 3rd party evaluators grade them very high as compared to their SEC counterparts. We have a QB that feels indestructible and holds the ball to the last second. That is his choice and he will get the ball out of his hands faster as he gains experience. The line is giving him time, he is using every micro second of it. Additionally, the backs need to do the right thing. If you see a guard pulling without a back following that is on the back. Guards don’t pull as a decoy. Lastly, if we have 5 and they have 8 that is not going to work at any level. It is easy to point at 5, but it takes 11.
does anyone really doubt that AM has better players? Looks at the # of future NFL players on both teams and see where it stands. I think we have a better culture than AM, but that is about it
We made mistakes but I think it was fatigue in our LB and Secondary that lead to our demise in Jerry World as it has for years against HUNH pace. We don’t have the depth to keep everyone fresh into the late 3rd quarter and 4th quarter so that is when we fall apart. We were in the game and able to pull ahead in the 3rd quarter. Our starting LB’s are playing every snap, so let’s hope Scoota Harris can play a bunch for Ellis and Greenlaw. Ellis is at a speed disadvantage when he is fresh against a Ridley, Cameron Kirk, or the guy from TCU but it is the 3rd and 4th quarters when fatigue slows him down more. Conversely, I think our Dline rotation can help us wear down the Bama Oline.