Special Teams was the only real concern from last night. The punting is yet again awful, kickoffs were poor, and not much needs to be said about punt return other than it has to be corrected asap. Having a defense force a 3 and out to a good offense, and then muffing the punt (especially deep on our side of the field) is just bad. TSU could've/would've been held to single digits if not for our Special Teams play last night. However, the KO return game looked much improved. The combo of Kermit and Jalen seems to be a great fit and decision by the coaches.
Offense went as I expected for the most part in the first half. Jimbo knows how important it is to establish chemistry with the offensive line, so we had a heavy dose of Cook/Pender the first two quarters. I was pleased with the o-line as a group, and they were able to keep Golson comfortable all night. One guy that stood out to me on offense (other than the guys we all know about) was Izzo. I really liked how he played. He seems to be a physical blocker, good route runner with sure hands. If Saunders can keep coming around, the combo of Izzo and Saunders can be really dynamic.
Defense went up against another uptempo spread offense that hurt us badly last season; however, the tackling was much better and the guys played with great discipline all night. For those complaining about the sack total being only 1, let's just realize that it is nearly impossible to record several sacks when the offense literally passes the ball within a matter of 2-3 seconds from the snap. But back to the defense, I was very pleased and the potential is definitely there for these guys to be very, very good.
All in all, I was pleased with the first game. Jimbo and Kelly were conservative as we expected. No need to show your deck only 1 game into the season against a Sun Belt team. I liked how Jimbo called the game on offense. Allow the o line to get comfortable, which in turn helped EG6 get comfortable, let the dynamic duo in Cook and Pender get some good reps and touchdowns, then open up the passing attack once the game was well in hand in the 3rd quarter.
USF is a more talented football team than TSU, and they have now instituted an uptempo offense as well. So the defense will have their work cut out for them next Saturday as well.
Offense went as I expected for the most part in the first half. Jimbo knows how important it is to establish chemistry with the offensive line, so we had a heavy dose of Cook/Pender the first two quarters. I was pleased with the o-line as a group, and they were able to keep Golson comfortable all night. One guy that stood out to me on offense (other than the guys we all know about) was Izzo. I really liked how he played. He seems to be a physical blocker, good route runner with sure hands. If Saunders can keep coming around, the combo of Izzo and Saunders can be really dynamic.
Defense went up against another uptempo spread offense that hurt us badly last season; however, the tackling was much better and the guys played with great discipline all night. For those complaining about the sack total being only 1, let's just realize that it is nearly impossible to record several sacks when the offense literally passes the ball within a matter of 2-3 seconds from the snap. But back to the defense, I was very pleased and the potential is definitely there for these guys to be very, very good.
All in all, I was pleased with the first game. Jimbo and Kelly were conservative as we expected. No need to show your deck only 1 game into the season against a Sun Belt team. I liked how Jimbo called the game on offense. Allow the o line to get comfortable, which in turn helped EG6 get comfortable, let the dynamic duo in Cook and Pender get some good reps and touchdowns, then open up the passing attack once the game was well in hand in the 3rd quarter.
USF is a more talented football team than TSU, and they have now instituted an uptempo offense as well. So the defense will have their work cut out for them next Saturday as well.
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