Good Morning and Howdy Ags! Blessings to Y'all! I thought I would take a more goals/results oriented slant on the game today, because aside from the reset, I firmly believe that's what is needed. Some of these will be very concrete and some less tangible, so bear with me. So, let's lay out some things we want accomplished from top to bottom....
- Restore Confidence - Starting with QB1. Honestly, I hope this began as soon as they hit the showers last week. No one knows more than those kids how much of an egg they laid with most of the football world watching last week. Still, confidence is a fragile thing. Leaders have to strike the right balance between showing the troops you still believe in them without coddling them along with no responsibility for their mistakes. The team, in turn, has to be willing to take accountability and know they still have innate talent, ability, strength, drive and focus to be better. Getting knocked down is part of life. Getting back up and overcoming shows what you're made of. That starts today.
- Pass, Run & Score Big! - This is not game to set modest goals to "work on things." Getting those accomplished should be sidelight of hammering McNease over, through and under Kyle. Normally, I am not a big fan of running up the score, (never do it insultingly...) but in our case, a point has to be made. We should be getting 250+ passing, 150+ running, and at a minimum, anything short of 50 points, is going to be very disappointing. The offense needs to come out like McNease waltzed in and stole their pre-game meal. Sometimes, a little focused anger is best.
- Begin to Build Identities on Both Sides of the Football - Truthfully, the defense is a little farther along. They looked like had an idea of who they were against ND. They just didn't focus at times and it was costly in a close game. I think the defense wants to be smartly aggressive. I believe the Coaches will let the "Dogs" loose a little more today. They have some pent up frustration. I expect some sacks and hopefully some turnovers. Offense. Ah, nope, not gonna get me. I'm still a fan of both Conner and Coach Klein. Let's start with the coaching. Ever have one of those Christmases with too many toys you like?! I think Coach Klein got a little caught up in that last week and went away from why he was hired. Power running, quick passing game with a mix of deep shots. Off that, a lot of motion, misdirection and creativity to receivers, RBs and TEs. In my mind, there was plenty of blocking to make that happen, mostly. It seemed to me, he so focused on keeping the reads simple for Conner, that he lost his creative touch on play calling (at least for a game...). I believe some of that was out of respect for the Irish. Credit them, that secondary is very good! But you can't coach away from who you are, because that's not who these kids are following. Get back to it!! Conner may have been sick, (likely...) but I'll leave the discussion of pulling him to the coaches. Bottom line, he played and played badly. As a QB, you've got to trust what you see and be decisive. I saw little of that from Conner and that led to poor play. Add in, that his mechanics were off all night and the result was what it was. Now, from what I also saw, he also got little help from his Coach or receivers. The line was a silver lining. On to today, it's time to start building a identity of what this offense wants to be. Let's call it a, "Triangle of Trust." Coach Klein has to get back to his roots of game planning and calling plays. Respect your opponent, sure, but have more respect for what your offense can do. Trust they will execute the plays you send in, which by design contain the fundamentals and creativity to exploit the defense. If they're not making it, ADJUST!! You have more plays. Conner, trust what your Coach is requiring of you. See it and make the play. You're the one guy who has the ball nearly every play. You have to have faith in yourself and the guys around you. The rest of the offense... Trust what you've been taught on the practice field and carry to the game. Trust that Conner can lead you, but only if you do your job as well (I'm talking to you, wide receiver group...).
