Some post game thoughts and observations

[FeatheredCock]

first, i am happy to be 1-0, especially starting the season on the road, and against an sec east foe. i know that there are a lot of our fans who's heads are exploding right now, but i'm not one of them. would i have preferred that we blow them out? of course i would. but i think this is a good time to put a few things into perspective.

• this is the first game of the season, and it is very common for most teams to have some hiccups. and most teams will be playing a cupcake to start the season, so those hiccups aren't nearly as costly, compared to playing a d1 conference foe.
  

• this team did some very good things, for playing on the road against an sec team. they ran the ball very well, and sustained drives when they needed to, especially that last drive to win the game.
  

• the offensive line run blocked very well. they really need to work on pass blocking.
  

• several of our biggest weapons weren't even used. i'm still not sure why that is, but it can be looked at as a good thing if you choose to.
  

• one of the biggest reasons i think we shouldn't be leaping off any ledges is because we have no idea how good this vandy team is. remember this team took arkie down to the wire last year, and really should have won that game, as only a freak turnover late saved arkie. and we all know how good arkie was last year. and vandy took several sec teams down to the wire at the end of last year. they have more talent now, and the coaching staff has them believing. so to go into their house, when they've had all the time in the world since the end of last season to prepare for us, and get a win, especially to be down late in the game and drive down and score that td needed, is what championship teams do. i'll say it again, championship teams make the plays they have to to get a win. nothing else is as important.
  

• we got some bum calls, but we also benefited from some bad calls. ie that last past, dj definitely interfered. so some things balanced out. you can't blame this game on the refs, which isn't always the case in the sec. i think the ref's did a decent job in this game.
  

• one of my biggest disappointments is with the conditioning of our players. i don't ever remember last year, our players looking exhausted in the first half. but there were several shots of our guys, where they looked very tired.
  

• clowney did not look dominating. i really thought he would have been a lot more dominating than he was. i might get flamed for this, but i don't care. i am calling it like i saw it. i expected more from clowney. i thought he had a good game, but not a dominating one.
  

over all, it looked like a first game for most of the game. but there were moments where you could see the potential of this team. the defense played very well, but still gave up some passes that they shouldn't have. rogers had a lot more time to throw the ball than he should have had. matthews went for almost 150 against us. that is a bit of a worry going forward. but the rushing defense was just nasty. i think the lb's played well, but need to control themselves when blitzing. how many times did i see a lb run right past rogers on a blitz? i really didn't notice how many backups got into the game on defense. but i would like to know that information if anybody has it. but the d held vandy to 13 points, and 275 total yards, only 61 of those yards on the ground.

connor shaw is a warrior!!! this kid played through some serious pain, and still went for that td, which by the replay looked to me like he got in. the ball hit before his knee's did, and it was across the goal-line. anyway, that was one of those bum calls i was talking about earlier. he will definitely be the all heart player of the week on spurrier's show.

i really thought that near the end of the first half that marcus was hurt. sos went over to talk to him, and he was shaking his head. then when connor couldn't go, thompson tried three straight passes, and they didn't use latti hardly at all for a time there. but he came back and was also a warrior in the 4th quarter. it was great to have him back in our backfield.

i am totally baffled why we didn't do more with the te's? i am equally baffled why davis only got one carry? if we were going to use him, why not give him a few more, to see what he can do? also don't understand shaq roland's absense from the game? at least i don't remember seeing him. if anyone else noticed him in, forgive me, but i didn't see him.

maybe the coaches just wanted to secure a sec win on the road, and played it a little close to the vest. maybe they wanted to wait until the next two weeks before exploring some of those options. i'm interested in all of your opinions, so let me know what you think about this point especially, but also the game itself.

don't panic, our historic year last season didn't exactly start with a bang either.