It bothered me watching ULaLa run straight through our DL. I rationalized my expectations about the DL because I assumed that ULaLa was a top 25 team and had a good OL and RB, yada yada yada. We talked before the game about their "tiny" center and how he was going to be abused by our stout DL of big hungry stalwarts ready to eat his lunch. But during the game, it seemed like our middle was giving up the most yards. Oh well, we won and looked decent doing it.
BUT
My immediate reaction upon watching the first quarter against Arkansas on O was...uh oh.
I knew that our O was a work in progress because of the OL but figured we'd see some early screen passes to Bijan to keep their defense honest. I don't remember seeing any of those plays and apologize in advance if I am wrong.
However, I expected the Defense to be a strong point of the team this year and specifically, that sure we'd give up the edge, but they wouldn't be able to run the ball down our middle, for sure. It really didn't look all that different from the ULaLa game.
What was once thought to be a strength of this team is just flat out not. Unless there are some changes to the scheme/personnel I have a seriously bad feeling about this year. I know the "Show Me A Loss" crowd was bullish on the D but it does not look close to being serviceable at the moment. I know it's early and shit can get fixed, but all the off season kool-aid has turned sour in the blink of an eye.
I'll be at the Rice game and want to see this team in person, root them on and hope they can fix shit quick. Sark deserves more time for sure, but not getting up for the Arkansas game is like not getting up for the OU game. Like, wtf? How do they not understand this?