Things to Improve

[JoeB]

While that was a great win, I've noticed a few bad things from the first two weeks of watching the games a couple of times each. 

1.  Selvie and the other DEs needs to stay at home more.  I noticed several times Selvie got suckered in.  I was waiting for AU to exploit this, but they never did.

2.  Too many penalties.  That first half was ugly with penalties.  Second half was alot better.

3.  MG needs to get rid of the ball instead of taking big losses.  He doesn't seem to have the 5 yard losses that other QBs have.  He loses 12 or more due to his  scrambling ability.  I counted at least 3 'bad' sacks at AU.  Live to see another play by throwing it away and helping our D win the field position battle. 

4.  Give Alvarado some practice time in clutch situations (make the team run gassers if he misses).  This is the only way he'll get better.

5.  Throw more on 1st down.  We were very predictable on offense on 1st and 2nd down for the better part of the game.  Open it up a little bit more.

Thats about it after 2 weeks.  These are things we can definitely correct.  Anybody else see some things that need a little bit of extra work?

[Bulls Are We]

1.  They tried in OT and had the perfect play call, but the TE (#5) dropped the ball.

2.  Par for the course...

3.  Yes, against a team as fast as Auburn MG can't run around like those circus plays from Pitt a year ago.  Auburn is just too quick for that stuff to work. 

4.  Practice, practice, practice.

5.  I agree.  I felt the game plan was just a little too conservative.  I'm glad it worked, but MG completed 67% of his passes and we could have thrown more.  The short passes were working. 

I would add #6 which would be to improve our red zone play calling.  No reason why we shouldn't be able to get the ball in the end zone after the Jenkins INT and then again for our last possession in regulation.

[BigEastBeasts]

I agree on the Red Zone play-calling. When we were inside the 5 I would have loved to have seen a playaction bootleg with tight end release. With Matt's athletic ability and Auburn pretty much knowing we were going to run, I think this would have been a perfect play, especially out of the 3 back set.

If not that type of pass play, then something similar to the TD pass Ford caught against Elon coming out of the 3 back set.

[usfgrad84]

I agree with you on grothe.  He needs to learn to get rid of it to or take the sack where he is.  Even on a run he went backwards.  The same thing that some of the receivers had done in the past.  He made good decisions to not throw a bad ball.  He just needs to learn to not try to do too much.  However, I don't think he ever ran into a defense that was able to sandwich him.  he knows there is normally a back door escape route.  I think that it was closed off because of good film study by Auburn's defensive coaches.  Yhey learned his tendency to reverse when under presure.

Penalties are always a problem.  I have no problems with the playcalling.  I think it was dictated by the circumstances, position on the filed and I believe the playcalling was to be conservative and let the D win the game for us.

[BigShoop]

1) Will we ever throw the ball INTO the endzone? Why does every ball go to the 5 and "hope" the player breaks a tackle?

2) Throw it away Matt......THROW THE BALL AWAY.

3) Carlton Williams seems get out of position a lot. Either that, or it was just he and Nate Allen not having that chemistry together yet.

4) Attn: Mike Williams, wrap up please. Your shoulder never has, and never will, bring someone to the ground.

5) Ben Williams comes into the game when we pass. Mike Ford, when we run. Can we please mix is up a bit? Or even better, just stop bringing in Ben Williams whatsoever? I'm pretty much done watching him turn  2 yd gains into 0 yd gains and watching Ford turn -2 yd losses into 2 yd gains.

6) Amarri Jackson, get open. Thanks.

7) Someone, anyone, block someone on FGs. Alvarado made a couple bad kicks....but if he didnt have 6 guys in his face, he probably would've had a better chance of making the others.

8) Why do we have TEs on the roster? I mean, really.

9) I think I just saw Leavitt already waste his 1st timeout of the UNC game...

[Kyle]

How many turnovers do you think we could have given up without losing that game?

I think if we turned it over, we lose. We didn't turn it over because we played conservativly. We played to the strength of our defense and played away from the weakness of our OLine. Maybe if we had an OLine that wasnt playing catch up from injuries we'd have thrown the ball more...but what's it matter? We're two games in and we're 2-0...more importantly, we've still yet to really open up the passing game which should bode well against what looks to be some sub par defense in the big east.

[Apis Bull]

1) Will we ever throw the ball INTO the endzone? Why does every ball go to the 5 and "hope" the player breaks a tackle?

2) Throw it away Matt......THROW THE BALL AWAY.

3) Carlton Williams seems get out of position a lot. Either that, or it was just he and Nate Allen not having that chemistry together yet.

4) Attn: Mike Williams, wrap up please. Your shoulder never has, and never will, bring someone to the ground.

5) Ben Williams comes into the game when we pass. Mike Ford, when we run. Can we please mix is up a bit? Or even better, just stop bringing in Ben Williams whatsoever? I'm pretty much done watching him turn  2 yd gains into 0 yd gains and watching Ford turn -2 yd losses into 2 yd gains.

6) Amarri Jackson, get open. Thanks.

7) Someone, anyone, block someone on FGs. Alvarado made a couple bad kicks....but if he didnt have 6 guys in his face, he probably would've had a better chance of making the others.

8) Why do we have TEs on the roster? I mean, really.

9) I think I just saw Leavitt already waste his 1st timeout of the UNC game...

1.  Maybe the receivers in the endzone weren't open

2.  I agree, I think he was trying too hard to make a play.

3.  I think they will gell over time.

4.  As a former LB, this drives me nuts when anyone does this.

5.  Ben did have 5 carries for 18 yards.

6.  I thought Jackson played okay, we just have so much receiving talent now.

7.  Alvarado waited forever to try to kick the one that was blocked.

8.  For blocking apparantly.

9.  I thought most of the timeouts called against Auburn were called at good times.

[usfgrad84]

I thought we were much better at using the timeouts in this game.

Hey, Ben Busbee caught 2 passes in this game.  Not bad for our TEs.

[BigShoop]

1.  Maybe the receivers in the endzone weren't open

2.  I agree, I think he was trying too hard to make a play.

3.  I think they will gell over time.

4.  As a former LB, this drives me nuts when anyone does this.

5.  Ben did have 5 carries for 18 yards.

6.  I thought Jackson played okay, we just have so much receiving talent now.

7.  Alvarado waited forever to try to kick the one that was blocked.

8.  For blocking apparantly.

9.  I thought most of the timeouts called against Auburn were called at good times.

1. In general, we dont take too many shots to the endzone. It wasnt only the Auburn game.

5. Yes, but on at least 2 of those carries, a more talented back(which we have) wouldve had the vision to turn those 18 yds into 25-30 yds on those same plays. Ben tries hard, and hustles his ass off, but he just doesnt have the vision or the ability to break tackles(ie: the talent) that Mike Ford does.

9. We always burn timeouts for stupid reasons. Auburn was no different. I bet Leavitt wouldve wanted one at the end of the 4th quarter...