Going into our 1st bye week, where are we as a team?
We're 4-1, which is good. We won our one "toss up" game so far versus FIU, and won the others where we were favored - although not by the margins that we would like.
Offense: Ahead of where I expected. JMar has played well consistently and has become a leader. Cee Jay has emerged. Once cured of his fumbleitis, Henderson gives us the bruiser we desperately needed in the run game. Hebert and Stanley play well in spurts but need to be more consistent. Hardy is good but could stand to be more team oriented (read: He is our diva). Smoke still needs to run North and South more - this is D1 football, not HS. With a few exceptions, Graham is MIA.
The O Line is inconsistent. We expected as much.
Defense: Behind where we expected. Maddeningly inconsistent. Gives up easy scores initially. Red zone defense has been mostly exemplary. DBs are not performing up to their level of talent. Taylor and Barnett have been good. Baker has been a major disappointment. D Line has been decent against the run but lack any push on passing downs.
Special Teams: After the UT disaster, Hale has been money on FGs. His kickoffs remain horrid. Punting is weak, as we knew. KRs and punt returns are nothing special, nor is our punt and kickoff coverage.
Coaching: After the Grambling scare, Holtz has done a good job of playcalling. Not great, but not bad. Henderson's emergence gives him a true running option, which he has used to advantage.
Diaco remains a frustrating enigma. When he lays back, we look putrid. When ge goes aggressive, we look pretty decent. Fitch has been good for JMar.
The rest of CUSA (because who we play is important): In short, CUSA is a mess. There is no dominant team. There is an obvious top tier, however - and we have yet to face most of them. Any of those games are toss ups, honestly. S Miss has been our kryptonite, and they look pretty solid this year. There is not one top tier team we can't beat, and not one that we can't lose to. Unfortunately for our schedule, the relative strength of the Conference (if you can call it that) resides in the West this year.
The remaining dregs on the schedule are just that.
My slightly improved hopes of making it to the Championship game are based upon the weakness of CUSA this year, and not on any particular strength of this team.
Ahead of where I thought we'd be when I predicted 8 regular season wins - but only slightly so. Still a lot of improvement to be had.
Team Chemistry: Better than last year. We have a little swagger about us in close games, which has and will be needed, especially in November.
UMass should be a fun one. After that, a win over S Miss in the West is imperative to keep us in the hunt for a Championship matchup.
Thoughts?
We're 4-1, which is good. We won our one "toss up" game so far versus FIU, and won the others where we were favored - although not by the margins that we would like.
Offense: Ahead of where I expected. JMar has played well consistently and has become a leader. Cee Jay has emerged. Once cured of his fumbleitis, Henderson gives us the bruiser we desperately needed in the run game. Hebert and Stanley play well in spurts but need to be more consistent. Hardy is good but could stand to be more team oriented (read: He is our diva). Smoke still needs to run North and South more - this is D1 football, not HS. With a few exceptions, Graham is MIA.
The O Line is inconsistent. We expected as much.
Defense: Behind where we expected. Maddeningly inconsistent. Gives up easy scores initially. Red zone defense has been mostly exemplary. DBs are not performing up to their level of talent. Taylor and Barnett have been good. Baker has been a major disappointment. D Line has been decent against the run but lack any push on passing downs.
Special Teams: After the UT disaster, Hale has been money on FGs. His kickoffs remain horrid. Punting is weak, as we knew. KRs and punt returns are nothing special, nor is our punt and kickoff coverage.
Coaching: After the Grambling scare, Holtz has done a good job of playcalling. Not great, but not bad. Henderson's emergence gives him a true running option, which he has used to advantage.
Diaco remains a frustrating enigma. When he lays back, we look putrid. When ge goes aggressive, we look pretty decent. Fitch has been good for JMar.
The rest of CUSA (because who we play is important): In short, CUSA is a mess. There is no dominant team. There is an obvious top tier, however - and we have yet to face most of them. Any of those games are toss ups, honestly. S Miss has been our kryptonite, and they look pretty solid this year. There is not one top tier team we can't beat, and not one that we can't lose to. Unfortunately for our schedule, the relative strength of the Conference (if you can call it that) resides in the West this year.
The remaining dregs on the schedule are just that.
My slightly improved hopes of making it to the Championship game are based upon the weakness of CUSA this year, and not on any particular strength of this team.
Ahead of where I thought we'd be when I predicted 8 regular season wins - but only slightly so. Still a lot of improvement to be had.
Team Chemistry: Better than last year. We have a little swagger about us in close games, which has and will be needed, especially in November.
UMass should be a fun one. After that, a win over S Miss in the West is imperative to keep us in the hunt for a Championship matchup.
Thoughts?
