After 13 years of mediocre football, it is glorious being 9-1 and playing some good football. Sark and this team deserve a ton of credit for bringing us back to the brink of being elite. We have a really good football team. Am very proud of this staff and the young men on this team.
Thinking about this pattern we've been stuck in since the Houston game, here are four things keeping us from truly being elite:
Just one man's take. Enjoy being 9-1 and in the pole position in the conference race. Lord knows it has been awhile.
Thinking about this pattern we've been stuck in since the Houston game, here are four things keeping us from truly being elite:
- Running Game - When we really need a yard or two, we can't consistently generate enough surge at the LOS to gain short yardage. It is one of the primary reasons we've struggled in the redzone. From my perspective, it is the biggest issue on offense and perhaps the biggest impediment we face.
- Play Calling - I say this as a huge fan of Sark: he has time and time again proven susceptible to falling into a play calling rut. He gets out of rhythm and balance on offense. Consider this sequence from the 3rd quarter last night: in the 2nd possession of the half, we threw 5/6 downs. We then proceeded to run the ball 11 times in a row across two possessions. We scored 3 points during this span while TCU scored three TDs. We aren't good enough to dominate a team with a one dimensional offense in either direction. Sark's play calling works best when it is dynamic, balanced, and unpredictable. For some reason in the second half, he stubbornly forgets this truth.
- DBs - Love these kids and how hard they play, but we're just not good enough in the back end. We lack speed at several positions and seem to struggle tracking receivers in / out of zone coverage. The offenses are too good in this conference to let them loose against our DBs for 4 quarters without pressuring the QB.
- DL Depth - Our starting line is very good to elite, but we lack the productive depth needed to control the game defensively over 4 quarters. We seem to get tired and without consistent pressure on the QB, it becomes a track meet. See above.
Just one man's take. Enjoy being 9-1 and in the pole position in the conference race. Lord knows it has been awhile.
