I have not read all the posts, and will probably be repeating what others have said, but ... I had a few stray thoughts that I wanted to share about our squad.
1) Talent gap is huge, and glaring. We have some good players, and some guys who are playing well above their station. But Florida has players that are on a completely 'nother level. I love the fight and the heart that our guys bring to the field (I can do without the finger wagging and taunting) and that they seem to believe they can beat teams like Bama and Florida. But until we get much better talent, and coach up who we have, we just can't hang with the big boys... and it was painfully obvious last night. We can scheme only so much to make up for the lack of players... Drink and company have their work cut out for them.
2) We seem to have a QB, we need receivers. From what we have seen so far I think Baze is a good QB (and Lock could have been great) who has been over-hyped in his young career. Yes, he is calm, cool and composed. He can launch the ball downfield, and he is not afraid to take a hit. But, he is also young and is not able to read the whole field (yet). Something Lock said a few weeks ago seems to be at play with Baze... Lock said that he was not asked to look at the whole field at Mizzou, but rather certain quadrants. So some receivers were uncovered and he did not see them. The same seems to be happening with Baze. Hopefully, as he grows and matures at this level, he will be able to see the whole field. Also, he is still making basic mistakes that cost us yards and downs. They need to be corrected. But, he is really smart guy and I am sure the coaching staff will work most of this out before next year.
That said, we need guys who can catch the ball. I stopped counting the number of times the ball touched hands and was dropped. Several drops would have been for huge gains early in the game. It is beyond me how a guy can be a receiver and not be able to catch the ball. Maybe I am spoiled by the Chiefs and their offense... but this seems to have been a problem at Mizzou for years. At this point, if we want to move the ball it needs to be fixed, pronto. (yes, I know the receivers went without a drop against UK... but they lost all that this week)
3) Lots of mistakes due to inexperience. I am sure the strange off season and even the strange in-season have complicated the learning curve, but there are too many mistakes and miscues because of inexperience. That will not be fixed this year, it will take off season and multiple camps to get the job done. Like the talent gap, it is not a quick fix but it is something than has to be a priority or we will keep hurting/beating ourselves. Against lesser opponents it is not as obvious... against teams like Florida, it is an exploitable weakness. And it was.
4) Frustration from players was obvious at the end of the half, but they have to control themselves. That fight should never have happened. Mizzou gave up several quick scores at the end of the half, and the team was obviously frustrated by the fact they went from being in contention to being out of the game in a few short minutes. Florida is known for their taunting and baiting, they are trying to make you lose your cool. That is their MO... but we have to be mature enough to walk away. Once that fight started the game was over for us. Again, we have a lot of young players and players who are being asked to play over their talent level, but they have to handle it better. I am sure this will be a teaching moment for Drink and the coaches... and the players better listen or this will happen again.
5) SEC officials are horrible.
6) I feel for Larry Roundtree... this guy has amazing talent and has really come to life this year. There were plays that I thought he was dead, and he somehow sprung free. I am not qualified to rate the O-line, but Roundtree does seem to be making the best of having a line that is not quite SEC level. I would have loved to have seen him behind a group of guys that could pull and block for him consistently (with this coaching staff calling the plays). Hopefully we will see him in the NFL.
7) Let's stop being cute on the play calling until we know how to handle the adversity that comes with it. I get it, we mix it up to help overcome the talent gap. But we can't be losing 10-20 yards on a play because the play was busted and the ball carrier does not know what to do next. That can't happen.
8) Nick Bolton... damn.
9) I know they were lit up last night, and made some mistakes, but I love to see the fight in our defense. They fly to the ball and it is obvious they want to make plays. They were the bright spot in the game for me last night.
10) I like our coaching staff... I think we have the right guys in the right places so far as we can tell at this time. With the wins over UK and LSU many of us had unfair expectations for this year, and last night was a reality check. There is a lot of work to be done on this team... and a lot of talent that needs to be brought on board. But the staff seems to have the right attitude, and Drink is the first to call out his mistakes (more than "that's on me")... Right now we are competitive with the middle of the pack, and that is better than I thought we would be... it's going to take a few years, but I believe we will get to the point we are competitive with Florida and Georgia again. Let's see what happens next at Georgia, and how the team holds together in adversity... this will tell us a lot about the coaching and what we can expect down the road.
1) Talent gap is huge, and glaring. We have some good players, and some guys who are playing well above their station. But Florida has players that are on a completely 'nother level. I love the fight and the heart that our guys bring to the field (I can do without the finger wagging and taunting) and that they seem to believe they can beat teams like Bama and Florida. But until we get much better talent, and coach up who we have, we just can't hang with the big boys... and it was painfully obvious last night. We can scheme only so much to make up for the lack of players... Drink and company have their work cut out for them.
2) We seem to have a QB, we need receivers. From what we have seen so far I think Baze is a good QB (and Lock could have been great) who has been over-hyped in his young career. Yes, he is calm, cool and composed. He can launch the ball downfield, and he is not afraid to take a hit. But, he is also young and is not able to read the whole field (yet). Something Lock said a few weeks ago seems to be at play with Baze... Lock said that he was not asked to look at the whole field at Mizzou, but rather certain quadrants. So some receivers were uncovered and he did not see them. The same seems to be happening with Baze. Hopefully, as he grows and matures at this level, he will be able to see the whole field. Also, he is still making basic mistakes that cost us yards and downs. They need to be corrected. But, he is really smart guy and I am sure the coaching staff will work most of this out before next year.
That said, we need guys who can catch the ball. I stopped counting the number of times the ball touched hands and was dropped. Several drops would have been for huge gains early in the game. It is beyond me how a guy can be a receiver and not be able to catch the ball. Maybe I am spoiled by the Chiefs and their offense... but this seems to have been a problem at Mizzou for years. At this point, if we want to move the ball it needs to be fixed, pronto. (yes, I know the receivers went without a drop against UK... but they lost all that this week)
3) Lots of mistakes due to inexperience. I am sure the strange off season and even the strange in-season have complicated the learning curve, but there are too many mistakes and miscues because of inexperience. That will not be fixed this year, it will take off season and multiple camps to get the job done. Like the talent gap, it is not a quick fix but it is something than has to be a priority or we will keep hurting/beating ourselves. Against lesser opponents it is not as obvious... against teams like Florida, it is an exploitable weakness. And it was.
4) Frustration from players was obvious at the end of the half, but they have to control themselves. That fight should never have happened. Mizzou gave up several quick scores at the end of the half, and the team was obviously frustrated by the fact they went from being in contention to being out of the game in a few short minutes. Florida is known for their taunting and baiting, they are trying to make you lose your cool. That is their MO... but we have to be mature enough to walk away. Once that fight started the game was over for us. Again, we have a lot of young players and players who are being asked to play over their talent level, but they have to handle it better. I am sure this will be a teaching moment for Drink and the coaches... and the players better listen or this will happen again.
5) SEC officials are horrible.
6) I feel for Larry Roundtree... this guy has amazing talent and has really come to life this year. There were plays that I thought he was dead, and he somehow sprung free. I am not qualified to rate the O-line, but Roundtree does seem to be making the best of having a line that is not quite SEC level. I would have loved to have seen him behind a group of guys that could pull and block for him consistently (with this coaching staff calling the plays). Hopefully we will see him in the NFL.
7) Let's stop being cute on the play calling until we know how to handle the adversity that comes with it. I get it, we mix it up to help overcome the talent gap. But we can't be losing 10-20 yards on a play because the play was busted and the ball carrier does not know what to do next. That can't happen.
8) Nick Bolton... damn.
9) I know they were lit up last night, and made some mistakes, but I love to see the fight in our defense. They fly to the ball and it is obvious they want to make plays. They were the bright spot in the game for me last night.
10) I like our coaching staff... I think we have the right guys in the right places so far as we can tell at this time. With the wins over UK and LSU many of us had unfair expectations for this year, and last night was a reality check. There is a lot of work to be done on this team... and a lot of talent that needs to be brought on board. But the staff seems to have the right attitude, and Drink is the first to call out his mistakes (more than "that's on me")... Right now we are competitive with the middle of the pack, and that is better than I thought we would be... it's going to take a few years, but I believe we will get to the point we are competitive with Florida and Georgia again. Let's see what happens next at Georgia, and how the team holds together in adversity... this will tell us a lot about the coaching and what we can expect down the road.
