I finally watched the tape of the game. One play stood out that I hadn't noticed in person. Arkansas State intentionally checked out of a play to take advantage of one of our defensive formations. It worked perfectly for their final touchdown. And it looked like something they had picked up based on an earlier example.
In the game at Louisville, Chickillo at right end in a 3 man front pinched inside, with his outer shoulder well inside the frame of the tackle. Louisville easily caved him to the inside. Everything broke open. That was the touchdown run in which Crawford made a flailing tackle attempt.
Since we led 41-14 I guess I wasn't paying full attention when it happened again last Saturday. Very similar, and ominous down the road. This time Chickillo was at left end in a 3 man front. But again he was pinched tight toward the nose guard and had virtually no help to his outside. Third down play. Arkansas State noticed the vulnerability and changed the play call and offensive formation to take advantage of Chickillo. Anybody who saved the tape can see this easily. The back shifts from right to left. But that doesn't mean the play is headed left. Just the opposite. Chickillo is confused and doesn't know exactly what to do based on the altered formation. He looks around and eventually moves slightly further to his left, but not enough. The blockers still have ideal angle to wall Chickillo to the inside. And that's exactly what happened. The back being on the left allows enough time for him to take the handoff and circle to his right. He cuts inside and darts unchallenged into the end zone just as Chickillo is easily turned and nullified. He wasn't wiped out, similar to the Louisville game. But the bottom line is identical. The Arkansas State player immediately assumed outside positioning on Chickillo and arm wrestled him sideways, creating the perfect seam for the back. Timing was perfect.
Otherwise only two aspects jumped out at me. John Congemi was absolutely correct to point out that Arkansas State failed to take advantage of wide open spaces several times, particularly on screen passes in the first half. It wasn't obvious on the TV coverage how open those plays were, compared to watching at the stadium. We were quite fortunate. Also, Flowers didn't struggle as much as many fans in the stadium were suggesting. When flags pile up on the same guy naturally there is some grumbling. In this case there was plenty of it, especially given the first round projections. "What is Flowers doing out there?" I heard versions of that several times. Meanwhile, he was fine, often dominant. One of the calls was very shaky after he essentially pancaked his man. You could see the bewildered expression on Flowers' face. Still, there have been posts on the draft forums, even prior to the Arkansas State game, that Flowers has been somewhat disappointing this year. He's on the "dropping" lists while Dorsett is on the "rising" lists on those specialized sites.
I still have no idea how that long 3rd down completion by Arkansas State in the first quarter was ruled incomplete. It looked like a clear cut reception when I watched it live, the replays in the stadium indicated the same thing, and watching the TV version was equally definitive. Our yards allowed were aided by that mistake and also the long snap fiasco that Arkansas State suffered on their first possession. We didn't stop a play on that drive but the 25+ yard loss meant they had negative yards for the possession.
