What a great win at KSU. Snyder has owned us so a win at his house is huge. Yes, we got lucky because he had to play his 3rd string, freshman QB, but a win is a win and injuries are part of the game. We are 7-3 with a good chance to go 8-4. I think we are the 4th best team in the Big 12 and accomplished this with a defense that started the season with such inexperience and lack of depth. More importantly, we are simply not that talented on defense which makes the job Gibson has done even more remarkable. I believe this is Snyder's last season, I don't know who his OL coach is, but that guy does a tremendous job for them. Grab him if we can.
1. Grier had his worst day, imo, since becoming a Mountaineer. I had flashback of Skylar Howard. He made some great throws, but he made many throws that were high and hard on a wet day resulting in far too many drives ending without points. Some can blame the WR's. Not me. Grier could and should have made those balls much more catchable. KSU was also able to pressure Grier and force him to scramble. He showed a great ability to extend the plays (looked like Mayfield) and make downfield throws. However, I will be a contrarian. On his Hail Mary for the TD, he made a huge mistake. We had 10 seconds on the clock and he scrambled for too long a time requiring the Hail Mary. We were very, very fortunate it worked. But the odds were against us. He should have unloaded the ball earlier at least giving us time for a FG attempt.
2. Our defense won this game for us for the second week in a row. Who would have thought at the beginning of the season our defense would be outplaying our offense? Not me. Again, Gibby has been terrific. Long has been off the charts. Benton has been playing well, although both he and Long overran their assignments a few times. Shuler had his best game in a long time (maybe the competition from Rose is making him a better player). Tonkery is certainly not an ideal sized Sam. But he is smart and active and imo, better than Preston. But for goodness sake, catch the ball. He should have two picks in the last two weeks. Henry is playing well. Nice to see him making plays once again. Robinson is simply terrific. What a find. If we could somehow, someway generate a pass rush, this D would be even better. But we simply do not have the talent to get to the QB even when we blitz allowing us the chance to beat their man one on one.
3. We've been shutout twice in two weeks in the second half. That has got to stop. Part of it is on Grier and part on Spav. The other team makes some adjustments and we don't seem to have the ability to counter effectively. We pile up yards but not points. With our good, not great running attack and our very good passing attack, we should be scoring more points and not forcing our D to win these games.
4. Our OL missed a lot of assignments particularly in the second half as KSU dialed up the pressure. They had blitzers running free. The put a lot of pressure on Grier, pressure I had not seen from them in their prior games. I think we miss Crook.
5. How can Sills make one of the best catches of the year in the corner of the end zone, a truly great, great catch, and then drop a key 3rd down gimme? I feel for the kid. But I have not seen a better catch than the one he made in the corner of the end zone.
6. We have good, not great RB's and could really, really use a great RB. After watching ISU and OSU go at it you can tell the difference between a good and great RB. Both teams had so many yards after initial contact. Our RB's have great difficulty breaking tackles. I think Brown can become a great RB if he sticks. I am not optimistic.
7. This season may become the turning point in Dana's career. He, imo, has overachieved this year. Talent wise, this is a 6-6 team. The definition of a great coach is the ability to win with lesser talent and he has done so this season. He has a real opportunity to go 8-4 (I don't see any way we beat OU at OU). That would be a great accomplishment. And hopefully it continues to bring us great recruiting rewards as it has this season. We won 10 games last season but the Big 12 was really down and our talent warranted that number of wins, imo. But this season is different. True, we have a great QB and that means a lot. But Dana turned around the overall attitude of this team (calling them out as soft) and we began to win. Now, we need to get to the next level of strongly competing for conference titles. To do that, recruiting is key. More talent will give this staff a chance.
1. Grier had his worst day, imo, since becoming a Mountaineer. I had flashback of Skylar Howard. He made some great throws, but he made many throws that were high and hard on a wet day resulting in far too many drives ending without points. Some can blame the WR's. Not me. Grier could and should have made those balls much more catchable. KSU was also able to pressure Grier and force him to scramble. He showed a great ability to extend the plays (looked like Mayfield) and make downfield throws. However, I will be a contrarian. On his Hail Mary for the TD, he made a huge mistake. We had 10 seconds on the clock and he scrambled for too long a time requiring the Hail Mary. We were very, very fortunate it worked. But the odds were against us. He should have unloaded the ball earlier at least giving us time for a FG attempt.
2. Our defense won this game for us for the second week in a row. Who would have thought at the beginning of the season our defense would be outplaying our offense? Not me. Again, Gibby has been terrific. Long has been off the charts. Benton has been playing well, although both he and Long overran their assignments a few times. Shuler had his best game in a long time (maybe the competition from Rose is making him a better player). Tonkery is certainly not an ideal sized Sam. But he is smart and active and imo, better than Preston. But for goodness sake, catch the ball. He should have two picks in the last two weeks. Henry is playing well. Nice to see him making plays once again. Robinson is simply terrific. What a find. If we could somehow, someway generate a pass rush, this D would be even better. But we simply do not have the talent to get to the QB even when we blitz allowing us the chance to beat their man one on one.
3. We've been shutout twice in two weeks in the second half. That has got to stop. Part of it is on Grier and part on Spav. The other team makes some adjustments and we don't seem to have the ability to counter effectively. We pile up yards but not points. With our good, not great running attack and our very good passing attack, we should be scoring more points and not forcing our D to win these games.
4. Our OL missed a lot of assignments particularly in the second half as KSU dialed up the pressure. They had blitzers running free. The put a lot of pressure on Grier, pressure I had not seen from them in their prior games. I think we miss Crook.
5. How can Sills make one of the best catches of the year in the corner of the end zone, a truly great, great catch, and then drop a key 3rd down gimme? I feel for the kid. But I have not seen a better catch than the one he made in the corner of the end zone.
6. We have good, not great RB's and could really, really use a great RB. After watching ISU and OSU go at it you can tell the difference between a good and great RB. Both teams had so many yards after initial contact. Our RB's have great difficulty breaking tackles. I think Brown can become a great RB if he sticks. I am not optimistic.
7. This season may become the turning point in Dana's career. He, imo, has overachieved this year. Talent wise, this is a 6-6 team. The definition of a great coach is the ability to win with lesser talent and he has done so this season. He has a real opportunity to go 8-4 (I don't see any way we beat OU at OU). That would be a great accomplishment. And hopefully it continues to bring us great recruiting rewards as it has this season. We won 10 games last season but the Big 12 was really down and our talent warranted that number of wins, imo. But this season is different. True, we have a great QB and that means a lot. But Dana turned around the overall attitude of this team (calling them out as soft) and we began to win. Now, we need to get to the next level of strongly competing for conference titles. To do that, recruiting is key. More talent will give this staff a chance.
