Awake to halftime, watched the DVR this AM, and...

[Mr. Cook]

Overall, I give it a "B" effort with a many positive take aways

Positives -

* State looked fast on defense last night -- especially on the edge. We forced their QB - who was prone to mistakes - to make those mistakes (huge shout out to the LBs and DBs for great coverage)
* Interesting we ran for 100+ yards for over 4 YPC
* We dominated TOP with almost 37 minutes - an encouraging sign of defense getting off the field and offense doing its job to stay on the field.
* Although we looked a little "too loose" at times, we never let that turn into a negative

Areas to improve -

* We were even in turnover ratio (3 each)
* Our receivers had some drops that were quite catchable
* Would like to see us wrap up better in some of our tackling opportunities
* 2 missed PATs back-to-back is unacceptable

Overall, this was a game that I was worried about which teamm would show up given the circumstances. I was encouraged that they put the game away on the road against an inspired opponent multiple time zones away on a weekend when many favorites struggled (or lost). This game could have easily been dropped this game with a one-score lead at the half. There were a lot of things that some of our teams in years past would have made this game a LOT closer (or worse) than the 22-point road "W" -- so I won't look the gift horse in the mouth.

Kudos to this team for the inatngibles they demonstrated last night that got them a well-deserved and convincing win. Hope they rest up and adjust to Central Time quick -- we have to go call on Baton Rouge now

 

[dog99walker]

Went to see Dawg Talk in downtown Starkville last Thursday. Coach didn’t talk about football very much. I think he was very secure in how well the guys were prepared for this game. Topics ranged from Billy the Kid, the Oriental Hotel in Tucson, Boot Hill, Earp’s career as a Western consultant in Hollywood, who was the best Doc Holliday in film, to picking out the best pair of sunglasses-everything but football. He would not have been that loopy if he was worried about their preparation. I had a blast.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

That's kind of the way he is. He's mostly always OT.

 

[Dawgzilla]

God help me, I'm warming up to this offense. The play calling these first 2 games has been excellent. And it certainly helps when your QB is completing almost 80% of his passes. I'm even optimistic in the red zone that we won't have to settle for a FG.

I still reserve the right to whine incessantly when we need a big drive and just throw 3 incompletions instead.

 

[Seinfeld]

Games like these are always a little funny to me. On one hand, for anyone that watched the game last night, it’s hard not to come away feeling like we could have easily won by another 7-10 pts. That said, the game pretty much went exactly like we thought it’d go, we beat the spread by more than a TD, and we got out of there with the W. I think most would’ve taken this result in a heartbeat going into it.

 

[Mr. Cook]

In short, we got the job done. Sadly, this has not always been our hallmark in football