Elephant in the room: The two QB system has once again been proven to be a mistake. It was unfair to both Barnes and Nate (and the rest of the team) to switch those guys in and out like that. Pick a guy and go with them until it is apparent they aren’t the guy, then put the other guy in and live with it.
Coaching: terrible first-half coaching, good second-half coaching. The defense stepped it up big in the second half, credit to Whitt and Scalley for that. Credit to Whitt for forcing Ludwig to just run the damn ball. Solid game management overall.
QB: Barnes was absolutely dreadful. Worst QB performance by a Ute QB in a very long time. Made bad choices, was indecisive, inaccurate, couldn’t run the ball himself, and when he did make choices they were bad ones.
Nate was more accurate, made better reads, and ran the ball better. He also did a better job of protecting the ball.
RB: JJ finally had the impact we’ve been waiting for all season. Glover did well also, though I think some of his bigger runs came when Baylor was trying to let him score.
WR: Vele is the same mediocre receiver he’s always been. Pittman was once again a non-factor catching the ball. BUT BUT BUT, hard to make any conclusions about these guys when Barnes played most of the game terribly.
TE: Based on some of the things Riley and Mitchell were saying it sounds like Yassmin had himself an awful game blocking. Miki also had a crucial drop. Not good overall.
OL: Supposedly they started off slow, and got things going late. Running the ball down their throats was really what got everything rolling. Their defense got tired, our OL set the tone, and that allowed our defense to rest and bring more aggression late in the game.
DL: No clue
LB: Seems like they played poorly early on based on what I heard.
S: Cole Bishop is a star. Had a pick and a forced fumble (that they didn’t call a fumble).
K: Becker and meister are both studs.
If we get all our key guys back and rolling over the next week or two we are going to be very good this year. If Rising isn’t anywhere near 100%, I say let Nate go and let him learn for next season.
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