WHEW!!! I'll start by saying that was a wildly exciting football game. Back and forth. That was some old school Rocky fake boxing ****. It was another slugfest with a crappy opponent with a bad backup QB, but at least this one was fun to watch. Let's get right to it.
Pros:
--The King. This is a special special dude. He's tough as nails. Cool as a cucumber. A phenomenal leader. Just imagine what this season would be looking like right now if we didn't have that dude. Mabo would be circling the drain like a **** shot in the shower. That was the best QB performance I've seen at UM since Vinny beat OU with some superman ****. Sure, it wasn't for all the marbles or any of that other cliche ****, but it was incredibly important to THIS TEAM's season. Without that miracle performance, we lose to a crappy team, and the wheels officially fall off with us likely staring at at least 3 more losses.
King brings not only exceptional ability, but he's a guy that his teammates can rally around because of his toughness and leadership too. This dude's a dream QB for this program and Lashlee's system. I knew NCSU's D was a **** pile, but King still had to make those plays. Guys were open, but we've seen that before. Open doesn't mean the play will be made.
If we didn't have a handful of drops, King would have been a 90% passer for 500 yards with 600 total yards. Let that sink in. We've never seen anything remotely close to that. OK. I'm going to stop sucking King's dyck because my jaw is getting tired.
--The team's resolve. They made a lot of mistakes and came out sluggish and undisciplined, but they kept swinging.
--Joe B. That dude's automatic, and he gives us a guy we can rely on. If we didn't have him, we don't kick that late FG and probably fail on 4th and goal from the 5. And that onside kick didn't happen by accident. He drilled that dude with the ball on purpose.
--Cam Williams. It was one play, and I don't know if anyone even saw it, but it was pretty fun to see a DE 35 yards down the field running down a RB. That was hustle and some crazy athletic ability. Looked like Metcalf.
--Knighton for dropping a hat on NCSU's K. I love that kid's toughness. He's a tone setter. He's close to breaking a KO for TD, but it'll probably get called back anyway.
--Harley. This little dude has flipped the switch. He's pretty much catching everything, and he's a TD machine. Harley, before the last 2 weeks, falls down on that final slant that he housed. Now, he keeps his baby giraffe legs and balance and goes to the promised land.
--Pope. He's a con and a pro for me. He's an enigma, but I get the feeling he's right on the cusp of being the guy I always thought he would be. He was wide open for a long TD on one of King's only bad throws. He had another awful drop and a stupid drive killing selfish penalty, so it was tough to put him the pro section. I put him here because I admire grit almost more than anything, and he showed it last night. He could have folded after his early struggles, but he didn't. Kudos, Pope.
--OL. We rallied. NCSU is a terrible D, but that hasn't stopped us in the past from giving up a ton of sacks. We gave King more time than I can remember a UM QB getting consistently. Still not moving anyone in the run game, but we started getting it going a little bit late in the game.
--Nesta's super manly bull rush late. That was a momentum changer. Our DL isn't getting the pressure I thought they would, but that play was huge.
--Love little Couch. He's a tough kid with great football instincts. The way he evaded the RB on his sack is what we've been missing. Most of the time, our blitzers
just run into blocks and get absorbed. Not Couch. I love him blitzing from the slot because he's fast, tough, and smart. He's not looking to get absorbed.
Cons:
--Defense. Again, we let a ****** backup (and don't let anyone tell you that POS Hockaloogey is anything other than bad) get comfortable and play easy pitch and catch. The D is a shell of what it was. I cautioned when we decided to go up tempo spread that our D would suffer, but I don't think last night had much to do with our up tempo offense. We just looked lifeless, slow and clueless for 3 and a half quarters.
--Al Jr. He dropped a huge INT. On top of that, he's another one of our CBs who is either coached not to find the ball or just can't. There was a long pass early that was underthrown. If Al turns his head, he picks it off. Instead, the WR slowed down, turned around, and caught it. Bad stuff. Watch how Clemson's CBs turn around and make plays on balls, and then watch ours. Ours look like the mentally challenged kid running face first into a wall.
--Once again, just too many guys wide open all over the field.
--Pass rush is super weak. I overestimated Phillips's impact in the pass game. I love his motor and his relentlessness, but he doesn't get enough heat on the QB for some reason. With his motor and athleticism, it must be a lack of toolbox. Wouldn't mind seeing a little more 22 and 12.
--Penalties. The selfish penalties are absolute killers and so are the offsides on 3rd and 4. We are still a very undisciplined team. We were absolutely killing ourselves with untimely penalties on O and D yesterday. Drive killers and drive extenders.
Conclusion: Not sure that game proved anything, but wow was it fun to watch and win. NCSU is a REALLY bad defensive team, but we took advantage of that. We've played some really bad defenses in the past and made them look good by slowing the game down and playing tight formation football in a phone booth ****. Last night, we humiliated a bad defense, which is what I've been dying to see for years.
Defensively, we're pretty weak. Play Vag Tech, UNC, or even Wake like this, and they'll hang 50 on us. Good news is we can hang a lot on them too. I expect a lot of shoot outs for the remainder of this season. We're playing some good offenses, and we stink on D. If we can keep The King rolling like this, we should be able to out shoot the rest of em.
Put King is a fcking hotel and leave him there for the rest of the season. Test some hookers. Let them relieve him of his poison. Give him room service. Do whatever you have to do to keep the VID away from him. But if this guy isn't our QB, we are garbage.
