I'm currently at an AirBnb near 43rd and Slide. Haven't watched highlights and barely looked at the boxscore. It'll be interesting to compare these thoughts to how I feel after a few rewatches and closer look at the key stats. It feels really good to be 2-0.
> Props to the secondary. They tackled really well and were stingy in the air. That was, by far, the best game I've seen out of Malik Dunlap. He was making plays all over the place in one-on-one situations. I thought Rabbit, Muddy, Rayshad, and Pearson all ranged between solid to great. That was the secondary I thought we could have going into the season.
> I'm hoping this impression changes after a closer look, but it felt like our OL was getting eviscerated on every snap. Just melting away. At the same time, it felt like Donovan was taking too long to process things and get the ball out when he should. Those two things, in combination, were a terrible Saturday. There was a guy a row below me scrolling through the RRS game thread, and I asked him "what are the idiots saying?" He yelled back, "they are all bitching about our OL... literally everyone is." Anytime you have en exchange like that during a game, something bad is happening.
> Brady Boyd didn't play very much but I noticed him several times blocking downfield. Our whole WR group blocked really well. Loic Founji had a good one 40 yards downfield on Myles Price's long catch-and-run before half.
> I can't recall the last time we had a QB throw 3 interceptions in one half. It's amazing we won the game considering some of the situations Donovan, our O-line, and offense in general put the defense in. Our defense held UH to FGs on 3 drives that started inside our own 25 yard-line (including the OT one). There was also the pick for snacks that occurred immediately after the defense set up the offense around midfield after a Reggie Pearson interception. The only legitimate scoring drive that UH put together was the first one of the second half. UH never had a sustained drive lead to a TD. And that has been there MO for the last two seasons.
> Thank goodness UH botched the punt return. Fatal mistake kicking the ball to Tank Dell and I wonder how that game turns out had UH not roughed McNamara. That's the second punt return Dell has had called back this year. He was really good. The fastest player on the field, by far. Speaking of fast players, did Myles Price get dinged up?
> The intentional grounding by Donovan inside the red zone was killer. You'd like to think our QB would know the rules in that situation, especially considering how slow developing that screen was. I'll have to re-watch it, but I'm pretty sure it was a play-action / QB power screen. It didn't work at all. Donovan didn't know the rules because he clearly spiked the ball thinking he could, and the result was back-breaking for that drive.
> I was in the middle of mentally processing that game as a loss on 2 different occasions. It's not often we win a game when that happens. I still don't know how we converted the 4th and 20. Trey Wolfe made a really big kick that I was giving about a 20% chance of going in. UH's defense in the later part of that game was extremely susceptible to Donovan's legs. Thank goodness. Because I'm not sure Donovan (or our OL?) could've won that game with his arm and decision making.
> Extremely frustrating to watch us try to run the ball. It seemed like A+ effort after A+ effort by our running backs only to result in 2.5 yard gains. Just took everything we had to get back to the line of scrimmage. Not being able to hand the ball off and run it, not being able to block pass rushers, and not having a QB making quick decisions is a serious problem.
> I'm going to do a rewatch breakdown and a longer breakdown in writing once I've got back home and have my wits about me. But that felt like an all-time heroic performance by the defense. We are 2-0 with a win over a ranked team. I'll take it. No questions asked. 2-0 is where we wanted to be. Even though I was confident this week (too confident), I thought all summer it would be very difficult to be 2-0. But here we are, with a real chance to do something now ("Doing something" = going 1-1 over the next two games). I think we will be around +7.5-point underdogs at NC State. And something around +7 against Texas at home.
Ryan left it all out on the field in everything he did. In his honor, we bring you Fields of Gold, so that others facing bone cancer can keep on playing. A portion of proceeds from every case sold is donated to The Little Warrior Foundation.
The Little Warrior Foundation's mission is to fund & find a lasting cure for childhood cancer, with a specific focus on Ewing's Sarcoma.
shop.summerlandwinebrands.com
@Saynotobarefoot
> Props to the secondary. They tackled really well and were stingy in the air. That was, by far, the best game I've seen out of Malik Dunlap. He was making plays all over the place in one-on-one situations. I thought Rabbit, Muddy, Rayshad, and Pearson all ranged between solid to great. That was the secondary I thought we could have going into the season.
> I'm hoping this impression changes after a closer look, but it felt like our OL was getting eviscerated on every snap. Just melting away. At the same time, it felt like Donovan was taking too long to process things and get the ball out when he should. Those two things, in combination, were a terrible Saturday. There was a guy a row below me scrolling through the RRS game thread, and I asked him "what are the idiots saying?" He yelled back, "they are all bitching about our OL... literally everyone is." Anytime you have en exchange like that during a game, something bad is happening.
> Brady Boyd didn't play very much but I noticed him several times blocking downfield. Our whole WR group blocked really well. Loic Founji had a good one 40 yards downfield on Myles Price's long catch-and-run before half.
> I can't recall the last time we had a QB throw 3 interceptions in one half. It's amazing we won the game considering some of the situations Donovan, our O-line, and offense in general put the defense in. Our defense held UH to FGs on 3 drives that started inside our own 25 yard-line (including the OT one). There was also the pick for snacks that occurred immediately after the defense set up the offense around midfield after a Reggie Pearson interception. The only legitimate scoring drive that UH put together was the first one of the second half. UH never had a sustained drive lead to a TD. And that has been there MO for the last two seasons.
> Thank goodness UH botched the punt return. Fatal mistake kicking the ball to Tank Dell and I wonder how that game turns out had UH not roughed McNamara. That's the second punt return Dell has had called back this year. He was really good. The fastest player on the field, by far. Speaking of fast players, did Myles Price get dinged up?
> The intentional grounding by Donovan inside the red zone was killer. You'd like to think our QB would know the rules in that situation, especially considering how slow developing that screen was. I'll have to re-watch it, but I'm pretty sure it was a play-action / QB power screen. It didn't work at all. Donovan didn't know the rules because he clearly spiked the ball thinking he could, and the result was back-breaking for that drive.
> I was in the middle of mentally processing that game as a loss on 2 different occasions. It's not often we win a game when that happens. I still don't know how we converted the 4th and 20. Trey Wolfe made a really big kick that I was giving about a 20% chance of going in. UH's defense in the later part of that game was extremely susceptible to Donovan's legs. Thank goodness. Because I'm not sure Donovan (or our OL?) could've won that game with his arm and decision making.
> Extremely frustrating to watch us try to run the ball. It seemed like A+ effort after A+ effort by our running backs only to result in 2.5 yard gains. Just took everything we had to get back to the line of scrimmage. Not being able to hand the ball off and run it, not being able to block pass rushers, and not having a QB making quick decisions is a serious problem.
> I'm going to do a rewatch breakdown and a longer breakdown in writing once I've got back home and have my wits about me. But that felt like an all-time heroic performance by the defense. We are 2-0 with a win over a ranked team. I'll take it. No questions asked. 2-0 is where we wanted to be. Even though I was confident this week (too confident), I thought all summer it would be very difficult to be 2-0. But here we are, with a real chance to do something now ("Doing something" = going 1-1 over the next two games). I think we will be around +7.5-point underdogs at NC State. And something around +7 against Texas at home.
Ryan left it all out on the field in everything he did. In his honor, we bring you Fields of Gold, so that others facing bone cancer can keep on playing. A portion of proceeds from every case sold is donated to The Little Warrior Foundation.
The Little Warrior Foundation's mission is to fund & find a lasting cure for childhood cancer, with a specific focus on Ewing's Sarcoma.
Summerland Wine Brands - Shop - Fields of Gold
@Saynotobarefoot
