A few thoughts about the game and the season as a whole. Seems like Auburn could have just ran all over us if they wanted, no idea why they kept going to their awful QB. Smoke Monday. After about 5 minutes into the game I was like "that dingus is gonna end the game in the lockerroom". Good luck to him in the draft. Not a good era to be a headhunting safety with minimal cover skills looking for a job in the NFL. Whomever called that awful passback to Tune should have to clean the team toilet after the bus ride home. Yikes. So glad Herslow got to be the hero. He's been solid but unheralded for us all year and his journey here was long and odd. UAB's new stadium is really cool. I'm so happy for their program to finally have a home like that. Alton McCaskill is baby Adrian Peterson. His star will reach Keenum/Oliver heights before he is done here. This offense is primed to make a quantum leap forward next year. Top 25 in CFB material.
Another bowl win, and this team, of all our teams, will finish in the Top 20 and go home with a 12-2 record. Go figure. They earned it. Tenacious victory.
I didn't think Houston played their best game. They left points on the field. There were several wide open passes that were missed. But, I'lll take it. We need to bolster the offensive line to maximize McCaskill. When he even has a small opening he can take advantage of it.
Tune did a few Tune things. Two bad misfires that cost us 14 points and one completely egregious interception (pretty normal for him to have one per game). But yeah, overall, we played well enough to win any given day. McCaskill's biggest strength is his patience. He follows his blocks and knows when to go for daylight. On top of having elite speed. He can also catch and block well. He's a true every down back. We haven't had a real elite RB since like Antowain Smith, so this guy is going to raise some eyebrows.
I mean, presumably Tune is back under center, right? Does he have another quantum leap in him after this season? He showed better elusiveness against Auburn than Cincinnati. If he can cut his turnovers in half, I guess he could be great. McCaskill already is great. If the line can improve, look out.
McCaskill is barely showing his potential. If you think he's great now, strap in. There's only like 2 seniors on the entire offense, and neither one of them are significant contributors. The defense is also not loaded with seniors but is far more top-heavy with upperclassmen than the offense. Next year's team is going to be very dangerous.
Excellent season, and I have to eat crow re: Dana Holgorsen. He and his staff had this team ready all year.
They made me a nice amount of money this year. I had them with only two loses but knew they needed some good luck.
I hope we can add some WR help in recruiting. If we get some good WR play in addition to Dell this offense can make the leap Donny talked about.
I think the OL has been the weak point this year. We're bottom 30 in sacks given up (some of this is Tune's decision making) and bottom 3rd in rushing. There were so many times we had a nice screen set up or we had a runner with a lane and I was yelling at the damned lineman to hustle his ass up because he was legit ruining the play by not getting to his assignment fast enough. The receivers and runningbacks were good enough. Singleton, Dell, and Trahan all did well and will be back next year. Henry/Car were not ideal in relief of McCaskill but those are big shoes to fill. I think all the pieces are in place, if we get some help from freshman, that's just gravy, but if the OL is any better next year (and they should be) we will see some real fireworks.
We lacked depth at WR and lost Carter 2/3 of the way through the season. We run 3 wide 90% of snaps so you really need 6 WR's that can play and we really only had Carter, Dell, Singleton and Herslow plus Trahan at TE that could be trusted. We also have a commitment from a juco WR who is a lot like Dell from what I have read but he didn't sign in December for some reason.
