After having a little time to do some reading and watching and thinking about the game Saturday, I think it's fair to repeat that it was a good win for us and you've got to think that it'll provide a little juice for the players. It was, by no means, a perfect game and there are a ton for the coaches and players to work on.
I had an interesting conversation this morning at work with a colleague who is one of the football coaches and was a college player. One of his comments was that the final play was spectacular, but after having watched the entirety of the game, our offense looked more suited for high school than college! One point he emphasized was the pass play that had two players running posts where they wound up side by side. Obviously, one should have been skinny and the other flat, but it is this kind of thing that is so maddening to watch! Can't keep writing this kind of stuff off to simply mistakes being made. Precision has to be the name of the game. If this kind of thing keeps happening over and over, it not only limits progress on the field, but it reinforces to those noticing that there is a disconnect between what the coach(es) are teaching and expecting and what the players are producing. Youth and inexperience can't be an eternal mitigating factor.
I finally watched the post-game presser. Sorta worried about Mac's change in demeanor. I've been critical of him and my confidence has certainly waned, but as a HBC with a big $ job in a great conference, I just expect a guy that has a group not performing and coming under criticism from fans and the media to not look like, as '78 said (in not so many words in another thread) he was getting ready to take Clarabelle (or Nuss) to the vet to be put down. First and foremost, I would have thought there should have been some outward signs of elation with the victory, despite the specter of time management and other mistakes that may have been in the sub-conscious. Also, when answering the questions from the press, be firm, confident, and honest. He ought to know what's going to be asked by now.
We say as much with our expressions and body language as we do with our words. Quite frankly, Mac looked like a kid from an enabling family who just got his first bad grade and doesn't quite know how to handle that critical aspect. At this level of football and where we are in terms of fan expectations and the whole social media thing, this can't be a shock. The ego can't be so fragile. Nobody likes to have criticism heaped on them, but if it is deserved, own it, but more importantly, do something about it that will change the public view. So far, this doesn't appear to be happening, but perhaps we get to see something better in this area as we move forward into the schedule.
As for the players, they look rough in a lot of areas that we have discussed. But make no mistake, they are our players and we want them to progress and improve faster than we are seeing. There is a lot of potential that has to be better cultivated. We can't just keep waiting on next year for it to happen.