OFFENSE
QB: C+
Correct me if I'm wrong, but QB's are supposed to throw the ball, right? After hearing Spurrier talk about how we were throwing the ball around pretty well in practice I was really looking forward to an improved passing attack. Did. Not. Happen. Thank God Connor is able to do things with his legs, but if he keeps it up he'll kill himself before the season is over. He had some open receivers early, but couldn't get the ball there quickly enough. Let's hope he's not too banged up and that he stays healthy, because behind him we have nothing.
RB: B+
Marcus is Marcus, he's special, and he returned to form last night in a big way. His TD run and his late first down run in the 4th were things of beauty. I've heard we have depth at RB, but didn't see it last night.
WR/TE: F
No separation, no finding holes in the coverage, and no fighting for the ball once it's delivered. Even Ace managed to not secure an important pass. We never had much time to throw the ball, but our WR's simply disappeared in this game. They have GOT to step up. TE's played a little better (great play Justice) but the hoped for TE mismatches never materialized. They were asked to block on 85% of the snaps, so it's hard to tell if that will be a long-term problem.
OL: D+
Very good running lanes at times, horrible pass blocking. Shell got pulled and Matilus moved over. Mike didn't play much better, as he was called for holding, but I was expecting much more out of this unit. We'll never get a passing game going if these guys can't protect better.
DEFENSE
DL: B+
These guys played inspired at times, and blew up Vandy's OL most of the night. They did have containment breakdowns at times, and allowed Jordan to move outside the pocket too many times. Overall solid job.
LB/Spur: A
Great job by these guys. A couple of missed assignments led to big runs, but overall they played great. Shaq's interception was the play of the game, IMO
CB/S: C
OK job from the unit I was most worried about. Legree played a great game, all things considered, although the safeties were out of position too many times. Williams obviously has some growing to do, as his bad angle, and trying to make a play on the ball from behind the defender (a novel idea) led to Vandy's only TD.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Overall: B
Yates looked comfortable in his only tries, our punts were nothing to write home about, and someone needs to teach Ace the fair catch signal. Kickoff and punt coverage was OK, but once again allowed too many return yards on kickoffs. Someone get Ard better cleats, he was skidding on every kickoff.
COACHING
Overall: D
Honestly, where was the offensive team we saw at the end of last year? I can't believe that we are this far into a Spurrier coached team and CANNOT PASS THE BALL. I'm not asking for fun-and-gun, I just want to know we can complete short to mid-range passes when we need to. We can't, and that falls on the staff. Also, why sit Kenny Miles the whole game? Why burn Mike Davis' redshirt on one carry? Why continue to run from the shotgun when you have a banged up QB? Do we have no 2 back sets or I formations in the playbook?! Hell, even on goal-line we lined up in the shotgun rather than trying to run it over a DL that we outweighed by a good 20lbs. Kudos to Spurrier for realizing we needed to line it up and pound the ball late, but he tried to force the passing game when Dylan was in, yanked him when it didn't work, and then set about playing to our strengths later. I am not impressed.
Ward called a good game overall, but we got lucky a few times when our blitzing packages didn't get through. God help us if we play like that against Arkansas.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It's the first game of the season, so you need to look at it through that lens. Remember that we were down to ECU by 17 at one point last year. We usually improve dramatically between games one and two, so let's hope that trend continues. It was an SEC road win, and that's something that's hard to get no matter who you're playing. Still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned. If we don't get our offense on track, we're going to see people put 10 in the box and run blitz on every play.
QB: C+
Correct me if I'm wrong, but QB's are supposed to throw the ball, right? After hearing Spurrier talk about how we were throwing the ball around pretty well in practice I was really looking forward to an improved passing attack. Did. Not. Happen. Thank God Connor is able to do things with his legs, but if he keeps it up he'll kill himself before the season is over. He had some open receivers early, but couldn't get the ball there quickly enough. Let's hope he's not too banged up and that he stays healthy, because behind him we have nothing.
RB: B+
Marcus is Marcus, he's special, and he returned to form last night in a big way. His TD run and his late first down run in the 4th were things of beauty. I've heard we have depth at RB, but didn't see it last night.
WR/TE: F
No separation, no finding holes in the coverage, and no fighting for the ball once it's delivered. Even Ace managed to not secure an important pass. We never had much time to throw the ball, but our WR's simply disappeared in this game. They have GOT to step up. TE's played a little better (great play Justice) but the hoped for TE mismatches never materialized. They were asked to block on 85% of the snaps, so it's hard to tell if that will be a long-term problem.
OL: D+
Very good running lanes at times, horrible pass blocking. Shell got pulled and Matilus moved over. Mike didn't play much better, as he was called for holding, but I was expecting much more out of this unit. We'll never get a passing game going if these guys can't protect better.
DEFENSE
DL: B+
These guys played inspired at times, and blew up Vandy's OL most of the night. They did have containment breakdowns at times, and allowed Jordan to move outside the pocket too many times. Overall solid job.
LB/Spur: A
Great job by these guys. A couple of missed assignments led to big runs, but overall they played great. Shaq's interception was the play of the game, IMO
CB/S: C
OK job from the unit I was most worried about. Legree played a great game, all things considered, although the safeties were out of position too many times. Williams obviously has some growing to do, as his bad angle, and trying to make a play on the ball from behind the defender (a novel idea) led to Vandy's only TD.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Overall: B
Yates looked comfortable in his only tries, our punts were nothing to write home about, and someone needs to teach Ace the fair catch signal. Kickoff and punt coverage was OK, but once again allowed too many return yards on kickoffs. Someone get Ard better cleats, he was skidding on every kickoff.
COACHING
Overall: D
Honestly, where was the offensive team we saw at the end of last year? I can't believe that we are this far into a Spurrier coached team and CANNOT PASS THE BALL. I'm not asking for fun-and-gun, I just want to know we can complete short to mid-range passes when we need to. We can't, and that falls on the staff. Also, why sit Kenny Miles the whole game? Why burn Mike Davis' redshirt on one carry? Why continue to run from the shotgun when you have a banged up QB? Do we have no 2 back sets or I formations in the playbook?! Hell, even on goal-line we lined up in the shotgun rather than trying to run it over a DL that we outweighed by a good 20lbs. Kudos to Spurrier for realizing we needed to line it up and pound the ball late, but he tried to force the passing game when Dylan was in, yanked him when it didn't work, and then set about playing to our strengths later. I am not impressed.
Ward called a good game overall, but we got lucky a few times when our blitzing packages didn't get through. God help us if we play like that against Arkansas.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It's the first game of the season, so you need to look at it through that lens. Remember that we were down to ECU by 17 at one point last year. We usually improve dramatically between games one and two, so let's hope that trend continues. It was an SEC road win, and that's something that's hard to get no matter who you're playing. Still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned. If we don't get our offense on track, we're going to see people put 10 in the box and run blitz on every play.
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