So this is going to be a long post, but a few thoughts about Sark, this staff, position groups, game performance, and Arky.
Sark: I think we hit a home run hire. I was drunk on the Meyer bandwagon and I really didn’t know what to expect with Sark due to him flaming out at USC. This dude is arguably the best QB coach and play caller in college football. How many QBs has he had drafted? NFL scouts trust him. He put on yet again a coaching clinic last week. The 3rd and 4th down plays were perfectly designed and got our best players open. How many times would Herman sub out our best players on critical downs and basically play hero ball with Sam. This team and players are going to love him. He was a successful D1 player so he can relate to these guys. This is an elite coaching staff that we’re in comfortable situations that chose to leave to follow him. Contrast that to Herman who brought a G5 staff and brought in guys like Tim Beck that were basically told to look for other jobs. Just really happy that we have Sark.
QB: Card is the real deal. When was the last time we had a qb that was throwing guys open? If this is his floor, he’s going to be the best passer since Colt. Sark recruited and offered Card at Bama. I don’t think he takes this job is Card isn’t on the roster. I fully believe he was going to start Card the minute he got here bc his skill set is perfect for his offense. But he let Card prove himself to the team and didn’t just hand him the job. How do you earn your teams respect and beat out a veteran player that the team likes? You do it by kicking ass with the 2nd team.
RB: This is the best RB room in the country. How refreshing was it to see our best player get utilized and put in successful situations. I’m excited to see how we use K. Robinson. That guy has another gear that most defenses aren’t built to defend.
WR: If you don’t have speed, you probably need to transfer (looking at you Troy O). Sark has a type and I don’t think he’s going to compromise. There’s a reason a 160lb Freshman WR is starting over everyone else when he showed up just a few weeks ago and didn’t even know the play book. I feel great about Worthy, Whit, and Moore.
OL: Work in progress. I’m optimistic. We ran the ball pretty well against a veteran well coached defense. Obviously we need work, but I trust these coaches to scheme around the OL and they will scheme plays to their strengths. How refreshing is that compared to the idiots we had under the last 2 regimes.
DEFENSE: PK and these boys completely punked the ragin Cajuns. Napier is a damn good coach. We contained a mobile quarterback, did not let them convert 3rd downs, and shut down their running game. When was the last time we could say that?
Special teams: the Pat block followed by anticipating the onside kick. Wow…. For the last decade, these coaches couldn’t even teach the players when to fair catch. Very impressed with Banks.
Game thoughts: Herman would talk about making teams tap out but he had no idea how to do it. Let this sink in… Napier had to go for an onside kick in the 2nd quarter bc his defense was gassed and we were dominating the time of possession. This is the first game in 7 years that I felt we were prepared in all 3 phases. This is also the first time in 4 years our back ups got meaningful snaps to build depth. Until the Alamo bowl against CU, Herman never could even get his backup QB in for meaningful snaps bc every fucking game was in doubt regardless of competition. How nice was it to see Casey run our offense in the 3rd quarter while we were up 2+ scores.
Arky: This has to be a statement game and Sark and company know it. You don’t think recruits will compare our performance to Arky with aggy/LSU? It’s going to be a hostile environment. With that said, I’m not sure Arky has a player on their roster that would start over any of our guys outside of Catalon. Their QB is Tyrone Swooped. He can’t throw for shit. To take the crowd out of the game… I expect us to lean heavily on our RBs, control time of possession, and utilize the exact same game plan on defense. They will focus on stopping Arkys run game and ask our DEs to hold the edges and keep their QB in the pocket. We’re going to force them to beat us with their passing game while we ask our DBs to keep everything in front of them. I think this game is going to look very similar to our first game from a game plan stand point and I expect a similar score as well. I’m going with 34-20.
Hook em boys. Sorry for the long post but I feel really good about our program, something I haven’t felt since 2008 to be honest.