I am very rarely in the camp of considering a loss being a good one but this was as close as it comes. Some thoughts:
- The stats were underwhelming but I thought Pickett looked better yesterday. He was confident and stepped into most of his throws and hopefully we are seeing some progress.
- Hall had some nice runs but the run game didn't really get going. One thing that drives me mad is the lack of jet sweeps. A lair member how that ND has been vulnerable to outside runs all year and don't try more than one?
- Another play calling issue - we should not be throwing to these RBs in the flat. They are tough, downhill runners without a ton of wiggle. Doesn't make sense.
- Matthews looked good today and is great at using his body. Since he's such a good blocker, I would have him try to add 15 lbs of muscle this offseason and become a tight end.
- This is what we all envisioned for our defense when Narduzzi came aboard. We attacked, we tackled confidently, and maybe got beat on two deep passes. 3 sacks and 8 TFLs against a great line on a top 5 team is what you needed to keep the team in the game. Run defense was stout too. 38 carries for 80 yards.
- The fake punt was dumb. They obviously noticed we brought in a player that wasn't our punter and the instruction should have been just to pooch it if nothing was there.
- I can't get on Kessman too bad for the 47 yarder, he's not a pro but you can't miss the short one. No clue how the game changes if we make one or both but when you are on the road against the undefeated 5th ranked team in the country, these are the mistakes you can't make.
- We need to win 3 of the last 5 and that starts with taking care of business at home in two weeks against Duke. Miami isn't nearly as good as we thought they were and they seem to be a typical Mark Richt team with a ton of talent and can blow away bad teams but don't get the job done when punched in the mouth. I would love to be able to win the next 3 and legitimately be playing for the coastal the last two games.
