Let’s just stick to the facts:
- 7th in Total Offense
- 13th in points per game (37.7)
- 14th in Passing Offense
- 12th in Completion %
- 11th in Passing efficiency
- 17th in Time of possession
- 22nd in Sacks allowed
- 27th in Rushing Offense
- 28th in 3rd down conversion
- 34th in First downs
A fanbase is going to cry and point fingers after a loss, no matter if they're warranted or not. But facts are facts.
It's also just so ******* infuriating how snakebitten this team is, and while I will say that often a team takes the personality of its coach (penalties/dumb decisions being the talking point here), how the god**** football bounces is NOT indicative of a coach.
Rueben Bain screams around the edge, flat ***-whips the LT, blows up Maye in his own endzone, and an OL out for a leisurely Sunday stroll just scoops up the ball and meanders out of the endzone and all is well. Business as usual.
Matt Lee has been the literal #1 center in America per PFF, he makes ONE bad snap, it's not even THAT bad, ball bounces off TVDs hand, he tries to cover it, ball is kicked, goes right to UNC. This team just cannot catch a break, it seems like ever.
But back to Dawson, the last drive before the half was very good, and while I thought we should have gotten the ball into the endzone for a shot at a TD, we kick a FG to go up 17-14, on the road in a hostile environment at night against an undefeated team. We come out of the half, and Tez Walker puts Jaden Davis into the broiler, and it's 21-17. No worries, offense is playing well, go answer the score. We get the ball, run for 3, pass for 8 for a first down, pass for 9, GREAT call on 2nd an 1 from near midfield with a quick flea-flicker, George is wide open, a better throw probably gets 20+ if not more but OK it's a gain of 14 and we are rolling at their 40 yard line. Bad snap, ****** bounce, completely unforced turnover. ****. But guess what? The defense bails us out! We get a stop, and take over at our own 14. OK, whew. We're good. Nope....1st down throw, TVD never sees Ced Gray dropping underneath the curl route, and of course as a 245 lb linebacker catches a ball well over his head with the talent that would've made the 2022 Miami Wide Receiver room drop their panties. Because of course he does. And now the game is over. Turnovers on back to back plays, ON FIRST DOWN, neither of which are the fault of the OC. Add that to the fact that your most experienced back fumbles, AGAIN ON FIRST DOWN, as he's literally falling into the endzone....and we just refuse to ever do anything or get any breaks that make any kind of sense.
Dawson has been fine. The fact that some of you watched last season and aren't blown away by the improvement is kind of terrifying, but this is CIS, after all. Can he be better? Yes. The GT game was very puzzling, for sure. But we are basically in the top third of the country in every single offensive metric at the halfway point and have played ball well enough to be 5-1. Now go score 27+ against Clemson and win and shut some people up.