Unfortunately I haven't been privy to rewatching the game, but I came away with some overall impressions that were positive as it applies to the rest of the season:
Wide receiver and receiver corps can officially be stamped as preseason question mark to an in season weapon. Lacy makes a huge difference and hopefully he can take on more load; the benefactor of his presence might be Chris Bell more than Brooks because Bell really is a third receiver and limited in his routes; on the crossing routes and go routes very good, on routes that require him to be quick out of breaks, not really his skill set. I come away from every game thinking the tight ends are underused for their skill; Jamari Johnson just looks like he is out of central casting as a pro tight end. All of that with Shough's abilities leaves me really excited for the rest of the year; he made some great throws against the best secondary we'll see this year.
Running back is a mixed bag but Isaac Brown just keeps showing us something different; KBrown is a good combination of physical and burst. Chaney leaves me a little vexed because he doesn't have their gears.
All of that said, the right side of our Offensive line (and Nygra at center) is a noticeable dropoff from last year. We got a little more on the ground than I thought we'd have, but Shough is taking too many hits.
...and defensively the bad is the secondary and that rates as a shock for me. It looks like Hutchinson and Neal are pared as safeties when they are in the game and we got caught with a really good route concept on the TD in the 1st quarter and that was the personnel on for the breakdown against Ga Tech. It looked like it was Hutchinson in the hole as a deep safety in three deep coverage and they flooded the backside with go routes and deep posts freeing up the seam route; quality scouting by Notre Dame but a breakdown nonetheless because Hutchinson needed more depth. Hutchinson made a great game saving tackle on Notre Dame's last touchdown only to have them score on the screen pass. Griffin and McDonald look like the better tackling group. Corner has become a borderline mess. As it applies to SMU and into the Miami game that is a very serious concern.
...but man did the linebackers look great Saturday. The Stanquan Clark I have been lauding as a potential all-ACC caliber LB showed up Saturday and so did Antonio Watts. And so by the way did Brock Travelsted; that was a huge FG and a huge lift at a critical point in the game.
Wide receiver and receiver corps can officially be stamped as preseason question mark to an in season weapon. Lacy makes a huge difference and hopefully he can take on more load; the benefactor of his presence might be Chris Bell more than Brooks because Bell really is a third receiver and limited in his routes; on the crossing routes and go routes very good, on routes that require him to be quick out of breaks, not really his skill set. I come away from every game thinking the tight ends are underused for their skill; Jamari Johnson just looks like he is out of central casting as a pro tight end. All of that with Shough's abilities leaves me really excited for the rest of the year; he made some great throws against the best secondary we'll see this year.
Running back is a mixed bag but Isaac Brown just keeps showing us something different; KBrown is a good combination of physical and burst. Chaney leaves me a little vexed because he doesn't have their gears.
All of that said, the right side of our Offensive line (and Nygra at center) is a noticeable dropoff from last year. We got a little more on the ground than I thought we'd have, but Shough is taking too many hits.
...and defensively the bad is the secondary and that rates as a shock for me. It looks like Hutchinson and Neal are pared as safeties when they are in the game and we got caught with a really good route concept on the TD in the 1st quarter and that was the personnel on for the breakdown against Ga Tech. It looked like it was Hutchinson in the hole as a deep safety in three deep coverage and they flooded the backside with go routes and deep posts freeing up the seam route; quality scouting by Notre Dame but a breakdown nonetheless because Hutchinson needed more depth. Hutchinson made a great game saving tackle on Notre Dame's last touchdown only to have them score on the screen pass. Griffin and McDonald look like the better tackling group. Corner has become a borderline mess. As it applies to SMU and into the Miami game that is a very serious concern.
...but man did the linebackers look great Saturday. The Stanquan Clark I have been lauding as a potential all-ACC caliber LB showed up Saturday and so did Antonio Watts. And so by the way did Brock Travelsted; that was a huge FG and a huge lift at a critical point in the game.
