...after further review, this may have been the best first scrimmage of the Croom era (not saying much). Top 2 quarterbacks completed 60% of their passes. Sure, it would've been nice to see some touchdowns, but this is a vast improvement over what we've seen in the past. Remember Henig's scrimmage stats going into last year? He couldn't get above the 50% mark. Yards per carry looked good. By all accounts, the receivers had a good day. Essentially, we moved the ball between the 20's, but just couldn't stick it in, and if Dixon is playing, we probably stick it in. We were sixth in red zone scoring percentage, a year ago, and 1st in red zone defense, so without Dixon, it's not a good sign, but at least understandable. I'd rather Dixon be held out than get hurt padding scrimmage touchdowns. The bottom line is that if we had scored 2 more td's, we'd all be feeling better. Plus, Murray said we ran out of a bunch of new formations and moved the ball fairly well. I'd be worried if we couldn't just move it. I am less worried about turnovers and mistakes, because those are correctible.
You can look at Snead's gaudy stats and be jealous, but it's not necessarily a good thing that he is exploiting their secondary like he is. It would be refreshing to see us do that every now and then, though.
I think our biggest problem this year is going to be an inability to throw the deep ball, and I think most of that resides in the quarterback position. In 2007, Carroll just simply did not have the arm for it. He simply could not get it there. It was risky because you risk an underthrow. See the Liberty Bowl as an example. And Lee, who has the better arm is so short, I don't know what to expect from him on that. Couple that with a coaching staff that called for a fade to Lance Long against LSU, and I am afraid that the safeties won't have to worry about much getting by them.
You can look at Snead's gaudy stats and be jealous, but it's not necessarily a good thing that he is exploiting their secondary like he is. It would be refreshing to see us do that every now and then, though.
I think our biggest problem this year is going to be an inability to throw the deep ball, and I think most of that resides in the quarterback position. In 2007, Carroll just simply did not have the arm for it. He simply could not get it there. It was risky because you risk an underthrow. See the Liberty Bowl as an example. And Lee, who has the better arm is so short, I don't know what to expect from him on that. Couple that with a coaching staff that called for a fade to Lance Long against LSU, and I am afraid that the safeties won't have to worry about much getting by them.
