1) We are way too finesse of an offense. We are a passive offensive team trying to imitate an aggressive offense. We don't practice the run enough & we damn sure don't practice the cut back run enough in practice which means we aren't live scrimmaging at all. And there's no way to develop a physical attitude without practicing some physical football.
2) Anyone who blames Ben alone for that safety is insane. The number one reason for that safety was being outcoached on special teams. Since we know we can't run the ball out of the shadow of our own goal post to save our lives because we never ever ever get up under center, we should be coaching our star punt returner to go up, signal fair catch & field the damn ball instead of letting it bounce for an additional 10-15 yards. How much effort & coaching does this take? Which leads me to 3.
3) I had a hard time finding players to give game balls to due to lack of team commitment to win. But one player I have no issue with giving the stinky face to was Eric Garror. Man, what kind of crap was that? No, I'm not talking about the miserable job you did of not fair catching punts that you had time to read the paper while catching. I'm talking about that miserable rotten job of covering Brownlee on that hail mary from Gore. Was this play not in every single gossip column in Lafayette? The how could you let the man get so open that you weren't even in the shot when he went galavanting for the score? Yes, I have gone back & seen who was lined up on Brownlee & it was Mr. Absentee. Someone's gonna have to convince me that EG wasn't taken hostage & a clone put in his place. Or he's been zombified.
4) Oh, I ain't forgot about Ben. No,no,no,no,no, no, Oh Hell NO! You ain't forgotten Ben? I want to know what happened to the Ben Wooldridge that understood how bad his offensive line situation was & realized he had to run with the ball to help his team win. Where the hell did that Ben go? Because we sure coulda used that Ben. You know, the one that took the game over with his running when he saw us struggling against Marshall? I saw one designed QB run & almost vomited when I saw how poor the execution was by everyone, but especially Ben on that play. He looked like he was shocked to be calling his own number. HTF does that happen? Most of Ben's runs were effective because they weren't planned in the past. Now he acts like he's Tom Brady.
5) But Ben wasn't nearly respectful enough of their secondary & neither was Mike for that matter. It appeared to me that the only thing this team practiced with any intensity was it's medium to long ball passing game. I'm sorry to have to break this news to you Mr. Desormeaux. But you ain't ever & let me reemphasize EVER gonna beat a team like USM & not out physical them. If you don't smash their faces, then by golly they will smash your face. And that is exactly what they did to us.
JMV said something that wasn't right when he said it. But it's right now. as a fan base, a coaching staff & players. Everyone of us needed to stare this beat down in the mirror & be repulsed by it for at least 48 hours, especially with a whole week until the next game. But it's time to take lessons hopefully learned from this embarrassing country butt whipping & make certain we never relive them again this season. If that isn't enough of a motivator for this team going forward, then there isn't enough motivation on Earth to save them from lack of interest. F--- this game. let's Kick the hell out of Troy!