Is this really even necessary. I guess so, if only for the sake of continuity. I do feel though that all of us can agree that the last several days have been difficult days to be Ole Miss Rebels. The Auburn loss preceding an early November cupcake mixed in with a dash of "OLE MISS IS RRRAAACCCIISSTTT" controversy all haven't made this very fun.
We'll mope about this post game thingy half-assedly but, rest assured, tomorrow will bring another HATE WEEK and more of what folks 'round here expect.
Alright, NAU. Where to begin?
Michael Herrick looked alright out there for the Lumberjacks. The guy isn't bowl-level talent, but he makes good decisions and showed great touch on the ball. It also doesn't help that he has the Jordan Shipley of FCS ball, Caucasian McI'mnotgonnalookitup. Michael, sorry it didn't work out for you here at Ole Miss. I'm sure you're a good guy who will end up coaching ball in Valencia or something.
NAU's offense is well run. They were outmanned, for sure, but they were efficient and smart, making the best of what was, for them, a very bad situation. I guess if you don't have the brawn you'll need the brain.
Their defense wasn't anything special, which is obviously why Jevan Snead and the coaches felt he needed to do them a few favors with some stupid decisions. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh to criticize the coaching because, barring something incredibly bizarre, we were not going to lose on Saturday. We simply weren't. We could have run the same play fifty times and still had more than NAU's 14 points.
Still though, Jevan Snead makes poor decisions and dances around the pocket rather foolishly, even against far inferior competition. To be fair, Rebel receivers not named Shay Hodge aren't doing him any favors (HEY LIONEL BREAUX YOU NEED TO WORK ON CATCHING A DAMN BALL SIGNED EVERYBODY WHO WATCHES YOU PLAY OK THANK YOU GOODBYE) and a whole bunch of linemen were suspended, but the guy has been a nervous wreck damn near all season long.
And I don't care if Bradley Sowell and John Jerry were suspended for something or another; SEC backups, especially gigantic mutant super-recruits, should be able to handle a bunch of undersized FCS linemen who likely played their high school ball at Tempe Academy or Phoenix Prep.
Ugh. This is harder than I thought it would be. Okay, deep breaths. Moving on.
Dex wasn't used which is fine. We didn't need to win with style, we justneeded to win. I'm fine with the coaches having kept him out of the action.
The defensive line was great on several plays, and disappointing on others. Powe blowing up the interior of the Lumberjack's line before yanking Herrick down by the ankle is an example of the former, and their halfbacks carving up the field on draws will serve as the examples of the latter. They are going to have to play better ball against Tennessee if we're going to keep them from scoring too often.
The linebackers, eh. Whatever. They're the same no-flash no-fail guys they've been all year. Allen Walker looked good I guess.
The secondary has regressed a bit. Maybe NAU's offense is good at exploiting seams in zones (pretty likely, now that I think about it), but these guys don't have the swagga they had earlier this season. The season has obviously taken a toll on them.
Suffice all of this to say that I wasn't exactly thrilled with what I saw on Saturday. I know that I was deflated before the game even began, but even a win by 20-something wasn't enough to thrill me. If we play agaisnt Tennessee like we played against NAU, the Vols will win by 17 or so. We've got to get Dex the ball. Our receivers need to step up. Halfbacks need to protect the football. The coaches need to get creative. Snead needs to remove his skull from the inside of his rectum. The secondary needs to play with more aggression. Bradley Sowell needs to transfer. I need to chill out.
HATE WEEK is tomorrow. G'night.