The wheels would fall off shortly after this (Photo: Sabrina Schaeffer/Daily Progress)
I don't need to recap the atrocity that was our overtime "win" against lowly Idaho - I'd say I'd never heard of anything like it, but the Hoos have made this sort of game commonplace in recent years. A couple quick notes:-The idiocy that is this two-qb system needs to end. Immediately. Pick one, play that one. If you want to use Watford during the game, do it when the SITUATION MAKES SENSE, not when you predetermined the time. You see, that's part of what COACHING A FOOTBALL TEAM IS, recognizing the game situation and addressing the necessary players/playcalls for the current moment.
-Rocco was having a great game before we benched him for no reason. Whitey provides a great writeup about this here.
-The defense played alright for the most part - though the safeties are still pretty terrible. Finally we got some turnovers, but the passbreakups really tell the story of the D.
-Oh the fourth quarter. As my friend Caleb notes, the fourth quarter was "the most potent combination of shit-officiating, shit-sportsmanship, and shit-football I've ever goddamn seen." Hard to argue with that, especially the "shit-football" part.
-We're halfway to bowl eligibility!!!!!
Speaking of making a bowl game, its time to move on from the first five games. We could lament on how the team completely screwed up a winnable USM game (and honestly had plenty of chances to steal a win in Chapel Hill). The truth of the matter is we should be relieved to even have three wins, considering the way the team played in two of them. There's plenty of football left to be played this season, though the prospects of finding three more wins look very bleak. But look at the rest of the ACC - Duke, Maryland, NCState, and even Virginia Tech look pretty darn terrible nowadays. While the bye week gives us two weeks to prepare for the 40 pt trouncing Georgia Tech is going to bring us, a lot can happen in a fortnight.
Yes, we could really could go winless for the rest of the season, but we wont. Lets look at it this way:
What in our current status needs to be addressed?
-PLAY ONE QUARTERBACK, I DONT CARE WHO, BUT PROBABLY ROCCO.
-Improvement in the safety position.
-Every single area of special teams (maybe Dex should find...er...a different role on the staff).
-Finishing drives (really this will come, especially if we address point number uno).
-Get those TEs back in the game. Seriously, as a hokie friend correctly told me recently: UVA needs to get back to what they do well: NFL Oline, a stable of TEs, and Tiki Barbers.
What is working and will continue to improve?
-Solid OL play. Yes they sucked it up in the USM game, but in general this unit should remain competitive.
-Solid RB production. Sitting out against Idaho + bye week is a godsend for Kevin Parks, hopefully he'll come back strong during league play (yes, the other guys need to stop fumbling, but boy does Clifton not look like the best 3rd string back we've ever had).
-Give. The. Ball. To. Timmy. Smith. More. (But seriously, the WRs could be a real strength - just keep getting them the ball, and for fuck's sake not on another end-around).
-Robert Randolf and the Family Band. Recent hiccups aside, it's still been a good year for RR - let's hope he gets back to form.
So what's our status? We have things to work on. A lot of things. Things that should've been settled in summer training camp. But let's not give up. We knew the rebuilding was going to take a long long time - good god did Groh leave this program in shambles. Hopefully London can find some improvement in this season - and no, I'm not sold on him either, but the guy's gotta have more time than a season and a half. What happens if we pull it together and beat NCSU? We're 4-3 with 5 games left. All is not lost.
They're not giving up. You shouldn't either. (Photo: AP/Richmond T-D)
this is good
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