Man, that one was tough. For some reason, I'm not as down as you guys are. This was a game I expected to lose, and we turned it into a 50-50 game. Our guys made a ton of plays in the process, including another 4th quarter comeback. The resilience of this team is remarkable. Obviously the ending was gut wrenching, but I left feeling better about our team.
The Good:
- That's 3 straight great crowds/environments at Wally Wade, even though SMU brough nobody. The atmosphere was great as we made our late charge.
- Maalik Murphy had a genuine breakthrough. He threw two perfect deep balls (only one of which was caught), made better reads, and a lot of nice sharp throws. It wasn't perfect, of course. I know he wants that last play back (FTR, I don't think it was DPI). But if we get more performances like this, we'll win some games.
- WR play was excellent. Have a day, Eli Pancol! It has been great to see him have a nice comeback season. Aside from the one deep ball, the WRs caught everything thrown at them. Jake Taylor, who was overwhelmed in his first start, looked better in blocking and even caught a nice pass.
- Opportunistic defense. Yes, SMU made mistakes and there is always a bit of luck in turnovers, but we also made some plays. Two of our interceptions came when our DBs jumped routes and made a great play on the ball. Tre Freeman's pick came from really good pressure.
- Credit to the remarkable effort from Alex Howard on that chasedown tackle. And then the defense for the goalline stop. This team FIGHTS.
The Bad:
- I'm not a fire the coach kind of guy, but... Manny is going to have to take a hard look at our special teams coaching. There have been way too many breakdowns this season. This time, it cost us the game.
- I praised Todd Pelino for his clutch kicks last week. Ugh. I don't know what happened but it seemed like he couldn't get any lift on his kicks all night. I haven't seen a replay of the block, but I'm sure the trajectory had to have played a part. It should be nearly impossible to block a short FG if you kick it well.
- When we weren't forcing turnovers, the defense got pushed around a bit. The defensive front had by far its worst game of the season, with no sacks, 2 TFL, and getting outplayed by their OL much of the game. Then, unfortunately, we gave up some big plays. The two long passes and the overtime TD came from breakdowns, something that hasn't happened much this year.
- Our last 3 possessions in the 4th Q. After two really nice TD drives, we just sputtered. You simply cannot waste chances like that when you're trying to pull off an upset.
- What is with college bands that basically only play one song? For some reason, SMU's is "She'll be coming around the mountain." Weird. Maybe that's a Texas thing or something.
The Realistic:
- SMU failed to score inside the 5 twice and turned the ball over on 5 other possessions. In reality we may have been fortunate to be tied late. SP+ has our post game win expectancy at 26.4%. I guess that's why I don't feel as bad. To me it feels like a game we nearly stole, rather than a game we blew. YMMV.
- I'm okay with Manny's game management. At the end of regulation, we had the chance to hold for one. We executed everything but the kick. Could we have been more aggressive and gone for the TD? Perhaps, but that also might have allowed SMU to get the ball back. Then in OT, I think either kicking the PAT or going for 2 are acceptable choices. Given our kicking struggles, you CANNOT lose that game on a missed PAT. Manny trusted the Murphy/Pancol connection, and we ran a play that got the 1 on 1 coverage we wanted. Maalik just didn't make the throw. So it goes.
- If our offense can solidify the gains made last night, we can absolutely beat State, VT, and Wake. As for next week, who knows?
