Re-watched the offense this morning (I understand offense conceptually more than I do defense) and feel about the same way I felt during the game.
- Card was just so impressive. I thought there were new-starter jitters on the opening drive where he missed open options on his two incompletions, but on his first pass of the next series he looks left and had nobody option, moved to his right while keeping his eyes down field and when he had nobody open there dumped it to Bijan for a nine yard gain. Those are the kinds of things that stand out for a young quarterback. He's got a good arm and is mobile, but the ability to show actual quarterbacking skills was impressive.
- Not talking talent, but skill set and what they bring to the table, did Sark have a player like Whittington at Alabama? He's going to be able to create mismatches with him all over the field. Whittington isn't going to beat anyone deep, but he's going to be a monster on short and intermediate routes and we know he has the pedigree to take the ball out of the backfield too. Total Swiss Army Knife type player.
- Bijan is good at football. Lining him out wide is going to be so unfair to defenders which rules.
- The deep passing game is a work in progress. We really need someone to step up in that regard.
- The offensive line is a bad run blocking unit. I thought they held up in pass pro ok, most of the plays UL made were good schemes but there were a couple of breakdowns. Overall they were fine pass blocking, but goddamn they could not generate a push at all until the fourth quarter. UL's d-line just stood their ground all day and really didn't allow much. There were some glaring poor technique and effort, particularly when guys were asked to pull. It's really the thing that could hinder any kind of quick turnaround we might have this year.
All in all I haven't been that unstressed during a game in forever. We completely controlled the game after UL went up 3-0 and the result was never in doubt. Overall performance to be proud of and if we're ready to play Saturday we'll kick woo pig pooeys ass.