I'm not going to harp on too many of the bad things this week, because, quite frankly, I'm starting to sound like that damned 'ole broken record that keeps playing on every other blog/vent/newspaper. Instead of telling you how giddy I am at work and how awful we played, I'll just stick to the good stuff kids go for and keep the negativity (and the fire Willie comments) to a minimum. Just to forewarn you, my tone may drastically change following the results of next weeks game.
In my last post I made what was believed to be quite a bold prediction, forecasting that our defense would have a respectable showing against a formidable PAC-01 opponent, and hold them somewhere close to 14 points. However, little did I know that predicting our defense to allow a beggarly two touchdowns would not be good enough. Amazingly, and obviously through some kind act of a much higher power, our defense held an opponent to 10 points (in case you were too drunk, or couldn't see through the torrential squalls, I will remind you that 7 points came via an interception return). The same beleaguered group, plus two new faces, who had just allowed 78 points in the previous 8 quarters and was in danger of resurrecting Erk from his permanent resting place to come down and donkey punch DC WM in the face actually had a good showing. And none too soon.
The ASU offense managed a total of 204 yards on the night, about 80 less than in the first half of the previous weeks' game. There were no defenders getting burned deep, no clueless corners getting arrested for loitering, and no stupid penalties that led to free first downs. Instead, we had defenders trying to jump routes, deflecting passes, and overall making plays. Our line finally came to the party and decided to put pressure on the opposing QB for the majority of the game for the first time this year. Overall it was a very solid defensive showing, one that Dawg fans have been waiting to see for the better part of a year now.
Offensively, we reverted back to the ways of week one, looking largely ineffective with the exception of all things AJ, and we continued to turn it over too many times. We again struggled to run the ball, and went to the fullback well about five too many times in short yardage situations. What I would like to know is if our QB has the authority to audible at the line as he sees fit, does that apply on third and one with ten defenders in the box? Our short yardage play calling definitely left a good bit to be desired, stalling multiple drives, but I'm not putting that on the players. On the bright side, we cut our penalties in half, though we still committed some bone-headed procedural mess that shouldn't have happened, especially on back to back plays.
So where does that leave us heading into next week's enormous showdown with the Bayou Bleaux'ers? As far as I can tell, we're in the exact same situation we were in heading into week one. Nobody knows how good we are, yet, nobody knows how bad we are either. We've had three straight weeks that didn't teach us anything except how inconsistent we can be. We know we have weapons, we just don't know how they need to be utilized; we know we can play good defense, we just don't know which week that will happen; we know we can play good offense, we just don't know which week that will happen; we know we turn the ball over too much, and thankfully, we know exactly which weeks that will happen. Check back in a few days for any updates that trickle my way and for the weekly recipe and prediction.
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