Yeesh

Well, that was rough.  Not all that surprising, but still, not much fun to watch it unfold.  We’ll spare the heavy-duty analysis until tomorrow, but for now, the most glaring thing to these eyes?  Boy oh boy, were we MANHANDLED TONIGHT.  We’re talking men vs. boys up front.  I guess we could have sort of expected that, what with so many injuries on both sides of the lines, but wow, this was an eye-opener in terms of just how far away this group is from being able to truly slug it out with the big kids. 

I don’t know which was worse, to be honest – the defensive line that was getting blown off the ball so badly, with holes that seemed five to ten yards wide?  Or the offensive line that just couldn’t establish any kind of running game early nor give young Tuel time to pass, early on when it mattered?  Take your pick, either side of the fence was pretty bad. 

And on top of all that, a familiar refrain – lack of speed is beyond obvious now.  When Notre Dame’s backup tight end is running down Chima Nwachukwu from behind, when he’s 15 yards behind him when Chima grabbed the blocked extra point?  Wow.  They just don’t have wheels, really anywhere, defensively.  In the old days, we used to be smaller than your average defense, but we always had “cats” who could fly around, make plays and most of all, could RUN with almost any offense out there.  Quickness and speed was everywhere, from defensive ends to linebacker to the secondary.  Those days are long, long gone.

In the “small wins” department, things that we try to hang our hat on right now because we quite honestly cannot compete otherwise?  Nice to see Jared Karstetter’s two TD catches, but those were his only two catches on the game.  Can’t complain about touchdowns, but you know the kid has ability.  They need to find a way to get him involved beyond just throwing fades into the end-zone. 

Dwight Tardy and Logwone Mitz had some decent moments, running the ball with some pop at times.  But their chances to shine were far and few between, and non-existent early on. 

Who knows what the answer is to all this.  Keep recruiting BCS athletes who can come in and compete for immediate playing time, I guess that’s one thing they’ll keep doing.  Otherwise, we wait and hope that all this youth can develop into something to be reckoned with.   

That’s it for now.  Happy Halloween, and GO COUGS.