Good news: We won 21-6

Bad News: South Florida allowed 53 points last week to an FCS team and lost by 32 points.

Anytime McNeese State does better against the same opponent there’s no reason to be proud. In other words, this is not good.

I’ve never seen a bigger divide between the talents of a team’s offense and defense. For the second week in a row, our defense was the highest scoring unit on the football field while our offense was terrible.

So what do we know now?

Offense

I can’t tell who stinks more, our quarterbacks or wide recievers? Or is it our O-line? With nothing resembling a passing offense it’s really hard to pinpoint the blame.

We at least know there is still no clear cut quarterback even though Connor Cook, Tyler O’Connor and Andrew Maxwell each had the opportunity to play. Cook, who at one point was 4-7 for six yards, got the start but and was pulled after fumbling the ball at midfield. O’Connell, a redshirt freshman, looked unready to play college football (holding onto the ball too long, inaccurate throws, uncomfortable in the pocket). By the time Maxwell touched the field all of them had blurred into one disgusting mess of an air attack and, frankly, I don’t remember anything he did. Together they combined for 94 yards. I can’t wait to play Notre Dame.

At least the running backs are doing something. Despite a constant shuffle on who was getting the carries, Nick Hill, Riley Bullough, and Jeremy Langford each averaged over 4 yards a carry. Even though Hill and Bullough each had long runs I still think I like Langford the most. Although any time we can get Nick Hill the ball in the open good things could happen.

The quickest we moved the ball all day was a three play burst where we accepted a 15 yard penalty, then ran two consecutive end-arounds that netted 29 total yards before O’Connor got his hands on the ball again and we eventually missed a chip shot field goal.

Overall, each play on offense has the feeling of “snap the ball, EVERYBODY PANIC!!, gain at most 3 yards, get tackled”.

Defense

Beastly as usual. Shilique Calhoun scored two more touchdowns which extends his team leading total to three. That statement is as awesome as it is sad. But at least Calhoun and Marcus Rush look like a dominant pair at the ends of the D-line. As for the rest of the unit, South Florida couldn’t breathe at any point in this game. We had constant pressure and we’re just downright scary in our pursuit of ball carriers. This will again be one of the best units in the nation, not much else to say. If we could just keep our defense on the field the entire game we might score more points.

Special Teams

Almost as much of a disaster as the offense. They missed a 25 yard field goal. When Andre Sims wasn’t fumbling he was completely ineffective returning. It was a mess. On a brighter note, our punt coverage team looks like a great tandem with our defense. Four times they pinned SFU inside their ten yard line. With our defense that puts us in incredible position to succeed.

But I’m not happy the second brightest spot on our team is our punt coverage.

Spartan fans get your feelers ready; it looks like it’s going to be another long season. I’m currently terrified of playing Notre Dame in two weeks.