I think that initial fumble in his first carry, combined with flow of the game, caused Lattimore to be a little tentative at first. Plus, I think he was just getting his feel back with real game play in almost a year. I actually thought Shaw looked a little slow, but I know he is in great shape/conditioning coming in. I don't know if it was the new turf, the weather, it being the first game, but overall, it all seemed a 1/2 step slower to me. But, when I saw #21 makes some of the ankle-breaking moves he did and a couple of longer runs, I knew he was pretty much back. Speed is not Marcus' game: Vision, quick decisions, cut backs, strength, durability, and breaking tackles is it; and I saw all of it Thursday night.
Conditioning
? I almost want to laugh at this one. We got nothing but glowing reviews out of the spring/summer work-outs and such. Everything pointed to this team being focuses and active in the off season. Game conditioning is not something that can be replicated in practice and scrimmages. There are multiple factors going on that impact the most well-conditioned athlete. Emotions and nerves of the first game. It was a very humid night with the weather. Game speed vs Practice. Combine that with the 2 early turn-overs and the defense having to be on the field nearly 10 minutes of the 1st Quarter due to 2 early turn-overs and you have a D grasping for a little air.
Backup QB's? I'm not going to be a fool and act like Spurrier the known "QB Guru" has loaded the cupboard with 5 Star QB's, cause this area has been his Achilles heel. But, after 1 game in which the backups were thrown into the fire on the road against an SEC team who was playing well and not allowing our offense to do much to that point, was no easy task. Obviously Thompson and Strickland are not the runners Shaw is, so the game plan would have to shift to a more passing game. The blocking was suspect all night and these guys had almost NO CHANCE to get into the natural flow of a game. Let's not forget that our very own Connor Shaw looked pretty bad against ECU and he knew he was going to start that game. We know how his story ended last year.
I hate repeating myself, but it was:
* The first game of the year
* on the road against a conference opponent
* New turf they had never played on
* Raining cats/dogs initially
* A fired-up team and home crowd playing for their "Super Bowl"
* The leader and arguably MVP of the Offense was hurt 80% of the game
* We turned-it over 2 of the first 4 plays of the game
* We made a come-back on the road in the 4th Quarter to win the game - Offense and Defense
Many other teams struggled against inferior competition at HOME in the first week - #6 UGA, #21 Stanford, #5 Oregon, #10 Arkansas, #12 Wisconsin, #23 Florida
We played like crap against ECU in the opener last year and went on to win 10 more. Can we at least wait to see what happens against ECU this year before we hit the panic button?
Conditioning
? I almost want to laugh at this one. We got nothing but glowing reviews out of the spring/summer work-outs and such. Everything pointed to this team being focuses and active in the off season. Game conditioning is not something that can be replicated in practice and scrimmages. There are multiple factors going on that impact the most well-conditioned athlete. Emotions and nerves of the first game. It was a very humid night with the weather. Game speed vs Practice. Combine that with the 2 early turn-overs and the defense having to be on the field nearly 10 minutes of the 1st Quarter due to 2 early turn-overs and you have a D grasping for a little air.Backup QB's? I'm not going to be a fool and act like Spurrier the known "QB Guru" has loaded the cupboard with 5 Star QB's, cause this area has been his Achilles heel. But, after 1 game in which the backups were thrown into the fire on the road against an SEC team who was playing well and not allowing our offense to do much to that point, was no easy task. Obviously Thompson and Strickland are not the runners Shaw is, so the game plan would have to shift to a more passing game. The blocking was suspect all night and these guys had almost NO CHANCE to get into the natural flow of a game. Let's not forget that our very own Connor Shaw looked pretty bad against ECU and he knew he was going to start that game. We know how his story ended last year.
I hate repeating myself, but it was:
* The first game of the year
* on the road against a conference opponent
* New turf they had never played on
* Raining cats/dogs initially
* A fired-up team and home crowd playing for their "Super Bowl"
* The leader and arguably MVP of the Offense was hurt 80% of the game
* We turned-it over 2 of the first 4 plays of the game
* We made a come-back on the road in the 4th Quarter to win the game - Offense and Defense
Many other teams struggled against inferior competition at HOME in the first week - #6 UGA, #21 Stanford, #5 Oregon, #10 Arkansas, #12 Wisconsin, #23 Florida
We played like crap against ECU in the opener last year and went on to win 10 more. Can we at least wait to see what happens against ECU this year before we hit the panic button?