My fiver on Saturday's loss at Missouri...
1. Austin Kendall's mental errors early. Obviously, the interceptions were game-changers, literally and figuratively. However, Kendall can't take a sack down 17-0, 3rd-and-10 with the ball at the Missouri 20. Evan Staley was looking at a fairly benign 37-yarder if Kendall simply throws the ball away there. Instead, he takes a sack for an 8-yard loss, and now Staley is forced to try a 45-yarder. Big mentall error by Kendall there. Then, on our 4th-and-5 from midfield, I know the pocket was collapsing, but Kendall needs to get the ball out there. Can't take a sack there. We have some tall receivers...just throw up a jump ball down the field. More on that...
2. Neal Brown's WTF moment. We're down 24-0, nothing's working, and we have the ball at midfield, 4th-and-5. Can't believe Brown went for it there. Message to the team and fans? I guess, I don't know. But, that was the end of pretty much any hope we had. We punt there, stick Mizzou inside their ten or five, we have two more timeouts...who knows. But, you give Missouri back the ball at midfield with 1:43 to go...forget about it. I had made peace with a 24-0 deficit at the break. However, 31-0 was too much. I absolutely can't believe he went for it there.
3. How in God's name do we not have a single pass caught by Jovani Haskins through two games and only one to O'Laughlin for four yards - thrown by Jack "Well, bye" Allison no less. When you're having pressure problems, which we were Saturday all afternoon, your tight ends and your fullbacks are your best friends. Use them.
4. The Lines. It was well-known that we had an issue with our OL. Can't run the ball, having some issues with pass-protection...we get it. But, we can't suffer through issues on our DL (and LBs) now too. If we can't stop the run, and can't run the ball...then we have not yet hit bottom. It could be 2-10, or even 1-11 if Pooka Williams gets going for Kansas. The defensive unit came out of the gates just fine Saturday...giving up just a field goal on two short fields (what was that ugly pooch/onsides kick to start the game BTW????) on Mizzou's 1st two drives. Then, after the 1st INT, Missouri's next four drives went: TD, TD, TD, TD. And, on all of those, they ran at will. Dylan Tonkery is getting out of position and is simply getting overwhelmed. We aren't substituting well. Quandarius Qualls has been a major disappointment thus far. Reese Donahue has been blah. Now it appears we may have lost Tahj Alston. Tackling was extremely poor Saturday as well, as were our angles of attack -- very Tony Gibson-esque. This unit needs to get things shored up right away.
5. Where are we headed? Well, we can't say that many of us didn't see Saturday coming. Hopefully, this was the worst of it. My goal for this team all along is to simply get better, each week, between now and November. Like we did in 1987, like we did in 2002, 2003, 2005. It's going to keep me coming back each week -- looking for that spark. Players like Sam James, Alec Sinkfield, Dante Stills, Darius Stills, Nicktroy Fortune, Tykee Smith, Sean Ryan and Bryce Wheaton -- I'm hoping that we find something there. Some sort of spark that can give us some hope of moving in the right direction. It's going to be nice to get some of these four-star guys back: Dreshun Miller, Leddie Brown, Vondarious Cowan, TJ Banks -- all four-star recruits who are currently out with injury or suspension. Hopefully, they'll be back soon, Brown will get things moving in the right direction, and we'll play like we're capable. Because I still do believe that we made the right hire and that Neal Brown and his staff can produce a winner. It's just going to take a bit -- and it's going to be a trial of patience. (A good buddy of mine already fired our offensive coordinator and offensive line coach by halftime this past week.) Patience seems to be in short order right now, but we're going to need it. Ultimately, I do think we'll be competing for a Big 12 title again soon. Not this year, but soon.
1. Austin Kendall's mental errors early. Obviously, the interceptions were game-changers, literally and figuratively. However, Kendall can't take a sack down 17-0, 3rd-and-10 with the ball at the Missouri 20. Evan Staley was looking at a fairly benign 37-yarder if Kendall simply throws the ball away there. Instead, he takes a sack for an 8-yard loss, and now Staley is forced to try a 45-yarder. Big mentall error by Kendall there. Then, on our 4th-and-5 from midfield, I know the pocket was collapsing, but Kendall needs to get the ball out there. Can't take a sack there. We have some tall receivers...just throw up a jump ball down the field. More on that...
2. Neal Brown's WTF moment. We're down 24-0, nothing's working, and we have the ball at midfield, 4th-and-5. Can't believe Brown went for it there. Message to the team and fans? I guess, I don't know. But, that was the end of pretty much any hope we had. We punt there, stick Mizzou inside their ten or five, we have two more timeouts...who knows. But, you give Missouri back the ball at midfield with 1:43 to go...forget about it. I had made peace with a 24-0 deficit at the break. However, 31-0 was too much. I absolutely can't believe he went for it there.
3. How in God's name do we not have a single pass caught by Jovani Haskins through two games and only one to O'Laughlin for four yards - thrown by Jack "Well, bye" Allison no less. When you're having pressure problems, which we were Saturday all afternoon, your tight ends and your fullbacks are your best friends. Use them.
4. The Lines. It was well-known that we had an issue with our OL. Can't run the ball, having some issues with pass-protection...we get it. But, we can't suffer through issues on our DL (and LBs) now too. If we can't stop the run, and can't run the ball...then we have not yet hit bottom. It could be 2-10, or even 1-11 if Pooka Williams gets going for Kansas. The defensive unit came out of the gates just fine Saturday...giving up just a field goal on two short fields (what was that ugly pooch/onsides kick to start the game BTW????) on Mizzou's 1st two drives. Then, after the 1st INT, Missouri's next four drives went: TD, TD, TD, TD. And, on all of those, they ran at will. Dylan Tonkery is getting out of position and is simply getting overwhelmed. We aren't substituting well. Quandarius Qualls has been a major disappointment thus far. Reese Donahue has been blah. Now it appears we may have lost Tahj Alston. Tackling was extremely poor Saturday as well, as were our angles of attack -- very Tony Gibson-esque. This unit needs to get things shored up right away.
5. Where are we headed? Well, we can't say that many of us didn't see Saturday coming. Hopefully, this was the worst of it. My goal for this team all along is to simply get better, each week, between now and November. Like we did in 1987, like we did in 2002, 2003, 2005. It's going to keep me coming back each week -- looking for that spark. Players like Sam James, Alec Sinkfield, Dante Stills, Darius Stills, Nicktroy Fortune, Tykee Smith, Sean Ryan and Bryce Wheaton -- I'm hoping that we find something there. Some sort of spark that can give us some hope of moving in the right direction. It's going to be nice to get some of these four-star guys back: Dreshun Miller, Leddie Brown, Vondarious Cowan, TJ Banks -- all four-star recruits who are currently out with injury or suspension. Hopefully, they'll be back soon, Brown will get things moving in the right direction, and we'll play like we're capable. Because I still do believe that we made the right hire and that Neal Brown and his staff can produce a winner. It's just going to take a bit -- and it's going to be a trial of patience. (A good buddy of mine already fired our offensive coordinator and offensive line coach by halftime this past week.) Patience seems to be in short order right now, but we're going to need it. Ultimately, I do think we'll be competing for a Big 12 title again soon. Not this year, but soon.
