Sunday, September 09, 2007

A little too familiar...

Like every good Dawg fan, I fought the urge to go straight from the stadium to hang myself from the rope attached to the Chapel bell, that same feeling I'd had so many Saturdays in the Goff and Donnan years. And yes, Gator fans, visor-flavored humble pie burns all the more on the way down. All the credit to South Carolina. We got outplayed and outcoached on our own hallowed sod. Click clack, indeed. And Spurrier has every right to point out that each of the other members of the SEC East has now beaten the Dawgs in their last meeting. That's right. 0-5 against 5 different division opponents. Sobering.

As for our performance against the Cocks, lots of blame to go around, but at least those most conspicuously culpable for the offensive bedshitting, Bobo and Stafford, are man enough to recognize and admit it. Our drives created more blueballs than a Bob Jones Academy prom night. Losing Kelin Johnson for the second half didn't help, but the real problem defensively was with the front seven. I'd like to see what Martinez has to say about us playing so soft and waiting for them to bring the fight to us instead of the other way around. Still, there were some flashes of the unexpected electricity the Dawgs showed us in the opener. Mikey and Massaquoi had some solid moments, and Moreno especially keeps me excited for the rest of the season. Keep feeding him the ball wide. I don't want to just thinkshon or hopeshon. I need to Knowshon, dammit.

Nobody was predicting undefeated. Flush that turd. Let's get better.

5 comments:

peacedog said...

I definately don't want to fall into that familiar pattern of calling for a firing, but the defense was mysterious on Saturday.

They played pretty decent overall. The DBs seem like a weakness right now, but I think it's simply a matter of (in)experience, and that with time they'll all be pretty good (or maybe better).

The DL played ok, not great but they had some moments.

I felt like the LB were missing. I suppose part of it can be layed on the DL not doing enough up front, and part of it could be a scheming issue (did we really come out in a nickle for SC's drive with 3.30ish left on the clock?). But man were they ever invisible. I saw Washington played alot. Ellerbe apparently spent a good deal of time at Will, and Dew didn't play much. Miller was invisible.

As for the offense - rough night all the way around. But the OL played better in the second half (and is it me, or is the left side of the line doing a better job overall than the right? It helps that the RB is frequently over there to assist Sturdivant, sure - and let me now comment that Moreno is blocking decently which is a pleasant surprise), Stafford had his moments (interspersed with a frustrating performance) and Moreno definately looked magic. It seemed like something - be it playcalling, or penalties, or Stafford missing guys he should hit, or even a drop here or there - seemed to derail us every time we threatened to go over the top.

Let's get better indeed.

Zazz said...

God damn, watching SC gash us repeatedly for 8+ yards, play after play, killed me.

I thought Bobo's calling in the first half in particular was terrible. Its like he was holding Stafford back and then trying to make up for that in the second half. Good call on Knowshon, him outside in the flat will be unstoppable soon enough.

What hurts most is the fair weathered Tech fan at work (whose wife went to SC) totally took fucking credit. Then preceded to tell me how Tech could go undefeated on the season. I told him its going to hurt that much moare when they cant make it past us late in November. Breakin' hearts!

Kanu said...

Agreed on all counts.

Young inexperienced teams are susceptible to inconsistent performances. Methinks well see more of that this year, flashes of brilliance and flashes of frustratingly bad.

I think we were all thinking 8-4/9-3 ish to start the year, so yeah let's flush the turd, get better, and hopefully get through the growing pains some more and build a solid year this year.

This team is all about 2008.

I like your reasoned and ultimately positive outlook. Kudos.

Ally said...

Living in Greenville, SC sux as a Dawg - today and this next year will be miserable. SCUm fans already think they've won the SEC title. Here's to hoping LSU drop kicks their asses back to the ACC.
Btw, I live 3 blocks from Bob Jones U. - nice shout out. LMAO!
Love the blog - Go Dawgs!

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