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1) I usually hate to be so negative but our Offensive line sucks. Notice I did not say our Offensive linemen. Individually, they are talented, but as a group they are lacking. Other teams are able to confound them with any number of dogs or blitzes and they rarely pick it up properly. It seems that Kollmorgen is constantly under pressure. Maybe three step drops and short passes to stop the lineman from sprinting straight to Kollmorgen. Unfortunately, this is going to become a recurring theme this year. We are going to have to make sure we do everything in our power to improve their play. They are going to make us or break us. If they continuously get pushed around, we can forget about having a high powered offense with our talented skill players.
2) Pass defense has a Frankenstein personality. They play good at times and then they give up a big play. Once again, we need some consistency and our secondary has quite a few vets on the team. So I do not see any reason why our guys were letting the receiver get so deep on them. I realize that in many cases they are playing man, but you can’t bite on every move. You have to be stubborn as a Missouri mule in your technique while the moves are being thrown at you. Then you have to be as focused as a laser beam once the play has been executed.
3) I do hate when we seem to get Johnson going on a few run plays and then DJ never sees the ball again on that drive. This should never happen.
4) Defensive line has actually been impressive. They seem to get pushed around some and then do a great job adjusting. This week they are doing a much better job pressuring the QB and holding up on the Bows tricky misdirection run plays.
5) Billy Williams, he is a big freshman. He also had a big catch. The kid played sparingly, but one play was all you needed to see to know that he can play. Showed some wheels and a good receiving skillset.
6) Catch a pass- too many dropped passes by our receivers. Will someone make a big play! Nobody is getting open and no one wants to make a big play to get some momentum going. Hawaii’s DB’s were far more aggressive than our receivers. Let’s out athlete the defense and make a play.
7) QB Play- Our quarterback is pretty good at times. Today was not one of times. Sawyer is a environment quarterback. These are QB’s who instead of establish their own type of success, he allows the environment to dictate for him. Sawyer cannot ignore what is going on around him. Once a defense sets the tone he is rattled the entire game, unless another player grabs the bull by the horn and changes the environment to our favor. This is usually DJ. Yet with defenses constantly stacking the line on DJ, he needs someone else to step up. Usually the O-line is next, but read the first thought to see how I feel about that.
8) Miller- is a trooper. He has that never gives up mentality. It seems that he always has the desire to go out and make a play. He needs to continue it. I think he is a very good player, but just needs time to grow in our system.
9) Lastly, some may feel that these games are not important. In some ways they are right. Yet in one specific way they are dead wrong. We ae not playing Alabama, Notre Dame or USC. Every one of our games are within reach of victory. We need to pull it out. This coming up short the past few years has change our culture slowly, but surely. It shows as we try to win a tough division and try for the playoffs. We just always come up short. It started happening in the Playoffs and slowly working its way to just normal games. There use to be a time when you could feel the flow of the game and knew that UNI would win because that was our mentality. Now it seems that every game is a nail biter. This like losing, becomes a habit. In time our talent won’t matter , because we will not be able to instill that winning mentality in our players.
Years ago we had a player say some great words. It is in ChiTown’s Panthers signature and it goes :
"We're not an ordinary school," said Fort. "We have tradition. We have a good team year after year. We rebuild, and it doesn't matter who we have coming back.
We need that mentality back and need it soon, because other school’s now think we can be beaten!
Discuss
2) Pass defense has a Frankenstein personality. They play good at times and then they give up a big play. Once again, we need some consistency and our secondary has quite a few vets on the team. So I do not see any reason why our guys were letting the receiver get so deep on them. I realize that in many cases they are playing man, but you can’t bite on every move. You have to be stubborn as a Missouri mule in your technique while the moves are being thrown at you. Then you have to be as focused as a laser beam once the play has been executed.
3) I do hate when we seem to get Johnson going on a few run plays and then DJ never sees the ball again on that drive. This should never happen.
4) Defensive line has actually been impressive. They seem to get pushed around some and then do a great job adjusting. This week they are doing a much better job pressuring the QB and holding up on the Bows tricky misdirection run plays.
5) Billy Williams, he is a big freshman. He also had a big catch. The kid played sparingly, but one play was all you needed to see to know that he can play. Showed some wheels and a good receiving skillset.
6) Catch a pass- too many dropped passes by our receivers. Will someone make a big play! Nobody is getting open and no one wants to make a big play to get some momentum going. Hawaii’s DB’s were far more aggressive than our receivers. Let’s out athlete the defense and make a play.
7) QB Play- Our quarterback is pretty good at times. Today was not one of times. Sawyer is a environment quarterback. These are QB’s who instead of establish their own type of success, he allows the environment to dictate for him. Sawyer cannot ignore what is going on around him. Once a defense sets the tone he is rattled the entire game, unless another player grabs the bull by the horn and changes the environment to our favor. This is usually DJ. Yet with defenses constantly stacking the line on DJ, he needs someone else to step up. Usually the O-line is next, but read the first thought to see how I feel about that.
8) Miller- is a trooper. He has that never gives up mentality. It seems that he always has the desire to go out and make a play. He needs to continue it. I think he is a very good player, but just needs time to grow in our system.
9) Lastly, some may feel that these games are not important. In some ways they are right. Yet in one specific way they are dead wrong. We ae not playing Alabama, Notre Dame or USC. Every one of our games are within reach of victory. We need to pull it out. This coming up short the past few years has change our culture slowly, but surely. It shows as we try to win a tough division and try for the playoffs. We just always come up short. It started happening in the Playoffs and slowly working its way to just normal games. There use to be a time when you could feel the flow of the game and knew that UNI would win because that was our mentality. Now it seems that every game is a nail biter. This like losing, becomes a habit. In time our talent won’t matter , because we will not be able to instill that winning mentality in our players.
Years ago we had a player say some great words. It is in ChiTown’s Panthers signature and it goes :
"We're not an ordinary school," said Fort. "We have tradition. We have a good team year after year. We rebuild, and it doesn't matter who we have coming back.
We need that mentality back and need it soon, because other school’s now think we can be beaten!
Discuss
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