Some thoughts on our turn overs.

[MaleBovineK9]

We had 3 fumbles and lost 2
Tech had 2 fumbles and lost 1

We had 2 interceptions
Tech had 3 interceptions

We had 5 turnovers
Tech had 3 turnovers

We had a muffed punt that put us in a bad situation - they capitalized...against an SEC defense
Tech had a muffed punt that put them in a bad situation with the game on the line - we went 3 and out...against a WAC defense

So all the talk by the coaches about turnovers causing the loss is BS. True enough, some of our players played terrible football. Tech also played terrible football and still pulled out the win. They won the turnover battle by 2. Big deal. That's not enough to justify this loss. The difference in the game was the in game coaching decisions. If we had stuck to what worked last year...Dixon Ducre up the gut...we would have won 35-3. The game would have been shortened and we would have worn them out.

Last year playing LSU Henig came out slinging the ball and threw 6 picks trying to "open it up". Carroll came out doing the same thing this year. Our coaches aren't competent enough to coach players how to "open it up". They need to keep it simple and not get in over thier heads. Just because we want to open it up doesn't mean we have to abandon our identity as an offense. Dixon had 18 carries and Ducre had 3...THREE how in the hell do you take 2 of the best players on offense and give them a combined 21 touches??? Poor in game decision making. Ball control, keep away, clock management with good defense is how we win games, not by slingin the ball all over the field with a less than stellar QB.

I do think we have some good recievers this year though. Robinson, Smith, McRae, and Riley all played pretty good.

 

[FlabLoser]

All turnovers are not created equal. The PR and KR turnovers deep in our end were gimmie scoring opportunities for LA Tech.

Carroll had a couple of INT's he shouldn't have thrown. I won't fault him for the one that happened while he got hit. Our KR fumble came from a freshman and that's to be expected. Our PR fumble came from a guy who doesn't usually return punts.

I'm gonna get bashed for this - but I think there is more good than bad in this game. Our offensive play calling, while not brilliant, looked a lot like what we've been begging to see for years now. Both QBs mostly looked improved from last year. My main concern for the offense is the OL. Hopefully it will be a lot better when our LT gets rid of his foot infection.

I thought the defense played well. The deck was stacked against them all night with Tech getting so many possessions on our side of the field.

My biggest concern for the entire team is Eric Richards. Get that guy well and get him on the field. As soon as he is healthy he ought to be kicking off and punting.

 

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

the fumbled kick off at our own 30 then the fumbled punt at our own 10 both happening in the same half. Considering we deferred the opening kick off, we essentially gave them 3 more possessions than us so those to's were kind of a big deal. Should good teams still be able to overcome these things? Certainly but the real problem is why the game was close enough for them to be magnified. I know we passed way too much but we didn't exactly pound it at them when we ran it and when we did show some running success, they committed 9-10 guys to the box. I was disappointed in our O-line's inability to control the line of scrimmage. I was even more disappointed in our defense's non existent pass rush. If Harbison is going to live and die playing zone all year, I don't even want to think about what LSU, Bama, Auburn, Tenn may do to us.