What a rough weekend. This was a total gut-punch of a game and I still have not internalized it yet. Never at any point during the game did I think we'd lose, I thought at worst we would eek out a win. But I was wrong. Here are some of my observations:

1. Williams cannot throw the ball more than 5yds downfield

If we want to emphasize running the ball more this year, we'll have to balance it with a vertical passing game (namely play-action) to keep the opposing team from loading the box. Every pass Williams attempted that wasn't a flat route, curl route, or screen, was wildly inaccurate. Like I'm talking he was throwing 10ft above or 10ft behind his receivers. Fitz has the arm, but the playcalling was horrible when he was out there, and he was staring down his receivers pretty badly. Tiano or Fitz has to play for our offense to truly be effective. I understand Williams played the best this game (which isn't saying much), but Williams has zero to no big play potential whereas we'd be better off playing a young QB with arm talent.

2. Mullen royally screwed up the QB competition

Fitz played all of 6 plays and kneelled the ball going into halftime. This is really on the defense; I do believe Mullen intended to play Fitz again in the game but he didn't. Williams was 8/8 in the first half, and 6/20 the rest of the game. There was a pretty considerable stretch of scoreless drives in the second half where Fitz could've maybe made a play. We need to settle on a QB after this week, this "competition" cannot last the whole season.

3. We have a swiss cheese secondary

This has been the case for at least 3 years. I recall the UAB game in 2014 where we gave up over 400yds passing and our offense won us that game, but we don't have that luxury anymore. I understand we lost two of our corners with any true experience, but we have the athletes to make plays. Jamoral Graham, Jamal Peters, Lashard Durr, Brandon Bryant, etc. Yet we continue to play off-coverage with a soft zone and we get eaten alive by mediocre quarterbacks. This "bend but don't break" does not work.

On that note, WHERE WERE JAMAL PETERS AND MAURICE SMITHERMAN? Kivon Coman was incapable of covering, Chris Rayford and McLaurin did not look great either. We are already limited with depth in out secondary, how come Peters only played special teams? I don't understand.

4. Our defense had the same feel as last years defense

Maybe the gameplan was meant to be vanilla, but by the middle of the 3rd quarter, I don't know how you do not unleash the more intricate plays. 3-4 or 4-3, doesn't really matter. We had no turnovers (or any plays close to being turnovers), few sacks, inconsistent tackling, and horrible coverage. The rush defense was pretty good, but it should always look good playing a SUN BELT team. The defense NEEDS to be the strength of the team this year, and getting Nick James and Jeff Simmons back should help.

5. Please bring the Maroon and White cheer back

I actually really liked the drum chant (cowbell chant? whatever the new cheer is called), but why the heck would you get rid of the maroon and white cheer? There were other points in the game where they could've used the cowbell chank to get the fans into the game (during a T/O possibly?). We should bring the M&W cheer back next week and it should always be a pregame mainstay.

6. I'm tired of Holloway up the middle

For the love of god, Holloway is an electric player, but running him up the middle is about as intimidating as a chihuahua's bark.

7. We need our leaders to step up

Richie, Brandon(s), AJ, and Fred. Dak isn't here anymore, and our team is young. We need a win next week and I expect you guys to show out. Please don't let me down

8. We will be fighting to make a bowl

I thought at the beginning of the season that we would lose a game we were supposed to win, but in no way did I think it would be this game. We can't even consider some games "easy wins" anymore. South Carolina and even KENTUCKY will be considered toss-up games.

9. I expect us to win next week

This wasn't what I thought would be a bold prediction before the season started, but it might be considered one now. This South Alabama loss better have lit a fire under our a** and I expect the leaders on this team to step up. We NEED some swag from this defense (is a turnover too much to ask?). I think how we respond to this loss will define our season, next week is a MUST WIN and I think we are capable of doing so. South Carolina has no offensive playmakers and I think IF our defense can force some turnovers we should be able to get back on track.

We are more than capable of beating South Carolina. We need BIG PLAYS on both sides of the ball (I'm looking at you Brandon Bryant and Malik Dear) not only to get our confidence back, but to get the crowd behind the team.

This is a long season, our team will grow from this, and we need to show out to Davis Wade next Saturday to beat South Carolina. Hail State and Go Dogs