Returning to work today was a good bit more enjoyable than last week. This week I can hold my head up high, well, higher than last week, and bask in the glory of a somewhat well deserved victory all the while admiring our advancement back towards the top of the national rankings (two out of three ain't bad, right?). Yes, as most of you know by now, we did in fact DROP two spots in the AP poll after escaping with our first conference victory of the year, and what a victory it was. Though my predicted score was just a bit off, I did get the ending right.
I joked in last weeks post about the offensive prowess that would be displayed Saturday, and amazingly, that is exactly what we were shown. More points were scored in the '09 match-up than in the previous three combined, all from two offenses that managed a total of 17 combined points in their respective openers. Who needs KnowStaff when you have a GreenCox right? However, despite the 41 points we managed to pound out of poultry, we still had to rely on RC to deflect a pass with twenty some-odd seconds left to preserve a victory. To say Willie's scheming is atrocious would be well deserved, but still an understatement.
A mere week after showing the Big XII how to somewhat contain the three headed monster that is the Okey Pokey offense and how not to score points, we give up 430 yards to a mediocre O and score 41 on an above average D, and we barely win the game. Now I understand WM has caught quite a bit of flack in recent years, and maybe not all of it was deserved, but something has to be done. Just last week the mighty powerhouse that is NC State held the birds to 250 yards, so giving up over 400 just isn't acceptable. Not only was the defensive play calling awful, it was late. At least five plays were started with our subs still running onto the field and our line standing up. Some may try to put that on the players, but if the plays were in, they would have been ready, so I don't buy it. I'm just glad we have recruited well enough to have some great talent on our squad so that even where there is a lack of coaching, we are still able to see some excellent individual performances (see Curran, Boykin).
Adding to the insult of making Stephen Garcia look like Sam Bradford, we find out today that we have lost yet another defensive starter to a torn ACL. Starting end Rod Battle went down in the second quarter and is now done for the year. His injury should be somewhat eased by the fact we get Justin Houston back from suspension this week to make the start against track star Petrino's swanky bunch of swine. Nevertheless, it's another injury and another position we have to fill with an untested young'n.
Although our offensive woes seemed to have been somewhat resolved with a week of seasoning, I'm still not too comfortable. Keep in mind that three of our scores stemmed from great returns giving us a short field to operate on. While I would like to think huge returns will be a regular happening, it's pretty unlikely that they will. Also, our offensive play calling was..well..pretty offensive at times. I've yet to figure out the personnel packages and substitution strategy. Richy Sams carried the ball a scant 15 times, with only four of those coming on consecutive plays. To me it was evident pretty early on that Thomas wasn't going to be effective, so why not give Sams 25 touches? He has obviously been capable when given the opportunity to carry the load, averaging close to 4.5 per carry on the season. Big Red played a much better game, efficiently guiding the offense for the majority of the evening, though he did make one terrible throw that you could see going the other way as soon as the ball was snapped. All-in-all, he did what we needed him to do and limited his mistakes. We again saw flashes of greatness from our receiving corps, which I believe will only get better as the season progresses. AJ gave us two more highlight reel catches, and TKing showed us he does in fact have the wheels that got him a scholarship. Does Orson Charles remind anyone else of a Kellen Winslow Jr. in his Miami days, minus the Armed Forces references? Before he leaves after his Junior year, he will be a force to be reckoned with.
A win is a win, no matter how ugly. It's good to know that you don't have to play your best game every time out to emerge victorious. That being said, a game like Saturday's lets you know you still have a long way to go, it's just easier to get there from .500. I'll be back Tuesday with updates and predictions, and I'll even try to get that recipe in early this week.
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