Don't need to spend a lot of time on the positives, of which IMO there were a lot (including only 1 motion penalty on offense and no turnovers):
Offense
We rolled up 59 points despite taking 14 off the board (and then subsequently missing 2 field goals) and ~600 yards. Dobbs looked much improved from a passing perspective and was his usual elusive self with the ball when he wanted to be. The OL was really good in pass pro (1 sack, early) and the run game was obviously amazing. The WR/TE corps was very good too, despite being without Pig.
Defense
Other than a handful of delayed handoffs, the run defense was very good. Most importantly, we only gave up 10 points in the second half after getting punched in the mouth by their offense in the 2Q. More on the defense below.
Special Teams
In what we've now come to expect from a CBJ team, coverage units were outstanding, the return game for both punts and kickoffs was explosive - well blocked and run. Daniel showed out punting, booming two and pinning them with the other one. Obviously Medley struggled, but a) no precedent for that, so willing to chalk it up to a well timed bad day, and b) hitting his last one should have given him some confidence.
Moving forward
I think there is a lot of low hanging fruit in terms of ability to quickly improve on defense (the focus here, because the offense was sick, the new OL will now have a game under its belt, and we get Pig back).
1) Coaches are obviously going to spend the week pushing KMac and JMart to get ready to play many more reps this coming week. That's two of our more talented players, neither of whom played meaningful minutes last week. KMac just boosts an already deep and talented unit, but I think he could make a real difference. Martin is much more of a need, and getting him on the field more adds talent and depth in an area where we need it (both relative to the secondary's performance vs. BGSU and due to OU's likely gameplan of passing a ton).
2) A full game of TKJr gets the coaches' preferred starting S on the field for more of the game than last Saturday, and puts the guy who clearly made a big impact in holding them to 10 2H points in a position to make more plays.
3) Willie Martinez being back in the booth. No one can say how much it hurt having him out (although Butch clearly thought it did), but I think we can all agree it didn't help, and that therefore having him back is a benefit for sure.
4) A week of real-game film for new starters Jumper and Foreman, as well as Abernathy. Two of them had never played at all, and Foreman did not have experience at the NB position. Now they've all played, made good and bad plays, and have another week of practice with specific things to both build on and improve on.
5) Butch talked about it today, and in retrospect it makes sense: getting burned on those go routes (which were perfectly placed and also the large majority of their offense) seems to have been mostly due to poor technique at the line. That can be corrected rather quickly IMO. It's not like we were physically incapable of covering their WRs - we know that Moseley and Foreman and Abernathy are athletically gifted. So again, another week of practice with things to work on should show instant improvement.
So as I see it, tons to love on Offense, with some upside left as the OL continues to gel and we add back our leading returning WR (not to mention get healthier with North/Smith/PW). Special Teams is solid at worst, game-changing at best. And on Defense, plenty of room for quick improvement from a) adding depth/talent in guys like KMac/Martin/TK, b) coaching with Martinez back, c) experience for guys who had never played or not played much, and d) technique stuff that is quickly correctable.
I could be wrong, but with a 1 game sample size it looks to me like the Offense is going to be better than I thought and that the Defense has the capability of being as good. We'll obviously see on Saturday.
Offense
We rolled up 59 points despite taking 14 off the board (and then subsequently missing 2 field goals) and ~600 yards. Dobbs looked much improved from a passing perspective and was his usual elusive self with the ball when he wanted to be. The OL was really good in pass pro (1 sack, early) and the run game was obviously amazing. The WR/TE corps was very good too, despite being without Pig.
Defense
Other than a handful of delayed handoffs, the run defense was very good. Most importantly, we only gave up 10 points in the second half after getting punched in the mouth by their offense in the 2Q. More on the defense below.
Special Teams
In what we've now come to expect from a CBJ team, coverage units were outstanding, the return game for both punts and kickoffs was explosive - well blocked and run. Daniel showed out punting, booming two and pinning them with the other one. Obviously Medley struggled, but a) no precedent for that, so willing to chalk it up to a well timed bad day, and b) hitting his last one should have given him some confidence.
Moving forward
I think there is a lot of low hanging fruit in terms of ability to quickly improve on defense (the focus here, because the offense was sick, the new OL will now have a game under its belt, and we get Pig back).
1) Coaches are obviously going to spend the week pushing KMac and JMart to get ready to play many more reps this coming week. That's two of our more talented players, neither of whom played meaningful minutes last week. KMac just boosts an already deep and talented unit, but I think he could make a real difference. Martin is much more of a need, and getting him on the field more adds talent and depth in an area where we need it (both relative to the secondary's performance vs. BGSU and due to OU's likely gameplan of passing a ton).
2) A full game of TKJr gets the coaches' preferred starting S on the field for more of the game than last Saturday, and puts the guy who clearly made a big impact in holding them to 10 2H points in a position to make more plays.
3) Willie Martinez being back in the booth. No one can say how much it hurt having him out (although Butch clearly thought it did), but I think we can all agree it didn't help, and that therefore having him back is a benefit for sure.
4) A week of real-game film for new starters Jumper and Foreman, as well as Abernathy. Two of them had never played at all, and Foreman did not have experience at the NB position. Now they've all played, made good and bad plays, and have another week of practice with specific things to both build on and improve on.
5) Butch talked about it today, and in retrospect it makes sense: getting burned on those go routes (which were perfectly placed and also the large majority of their offense) seems to have been mostly due to poor technique at the line. That can be corrected rather quickly IMO. It's not like we were physically incapable of covering their WRs - we know that Moseley and Foreman and Abernathy are athletically gifted. So again, another week of practice with things to work on should show instant improvement.
So as I see it, tons to love on Offense, with some upside left as the OL continues to gel and we add back our leading returning WR (not to mention get healthier with North/Smith/PW). Special Teams is solid at worst, game-changing at best. And on Defense, plenty of room for quick improvement from a) adding depth/talent in guys like KMac/Martin/TK, b) coaching with Martinez back, c) experience for guys who had never played or not played much, and d) technique stuff that is quickly correctable.
I could be wrong, but with a 1 game sample size it looks to me like the Offense is going to be better than I thought and that the Defense has the capability of being as good. We'll obviously see on Saturday.
