Give me 60 Minutes

It was late sometime last week when Arkstfan and I were having a conversation about the upcoming Western Kentucky game that I heard a comment that was absolutely on point.  “We haven’t played a full 60 minute game yet” was what Mark said.  It was exactly what I had been thinking.

In every game this season the Red Wolves have played in spurts.  Some of those spurts not so good, others, very good.  The first half against Oregon was a total disaster.  I felt like I woke up and was in 1991 watching LSU treat us like their kid brother, toying with us on the way to a 70-14 victory.  But it wasn’t a dream and the Ducks embarrassed us.  In the second half we showed that we have ability albeit against backups.  The Oregon game made me realize that we definitely weren’t going to be like last year’s squad.  The Memphis game showed me that we have lots of talent on the offensive side of the ball.  We moved the ball at will against the hapless Tigers.  But when it came to putting the ball in the endzone we showed we had issues.  Whether it be an outcome of the spread offense, a lack of physicality from the offensive line, inefficient play calls in near the goal line, or lack of execution of those plays, the Red Wolves struggled to score touchdowns.     The biggest thing that came out of the Memphis game to me was the poor play and decision making by the special teams.  Without those special team mishaps that game is a 33-14 win.  At 1-1, we had seen two poor team performances with mixed in flashes of brilliance.  There were some very impressive individual showings as well as some lack of focus by players. 

I felt like the Nebraska game would allow the offense to continue to grow and let the defense build on what the improvements made the previous week.  For the first time the Red Wolves were getting pressure on the quarterback.  The defensive backs struggled and Cornhusker offensive line just overpowered our defensive front.  I saw lots of 3-4 in that game and there were some obvious growing pains.  The offense is where I was most surprised.  The Nebraska defense that had given up a number of points and yards previously really stifled the Red Wolves.  The offense and Aplin were out of rhythm in the second half.  Was it the loss of Stockemer and Muse or was it that the ‘Husker defense was the first real group D we had seen since the first half at Oregon?  Either way, once again we had put together some excellent plays but maybe not great drives.  Or we had played fantastic defense one series but gotten pushed around the next.

Alcorn State even gave us a viewing that we still were not clicking on all cylinders.  We went 3 and out in our first drive, something that should never happen against a team like Alcorn State.  We did do some great things offensively against the totally overpowered Braves, but even then the offense sputtered at times.  The defense was the bright spot in this game.  They had been challenged by coaches to get a shut-out, and they responded well.   There were some breakdowns as the Alcorn QB ran for a couple of longer read option runs but for the most part the defense was figuring out the 3-4.  The special teams play was once again the thorn in my side.  Kick offs out of bounds, another muffed punt.  The problem with the special teams play was it was the same mistakes made in earlier games.  Not improving – not learning from their mistakes.

The first half of the WKU game was the best 30 minutes of football A-State had played this fall.  There were still issues though.  I remember telling my dad sitting next to me that the field goals would come back to haunt us.  We have to score touchdowns.  But we had played 30 minutes of football that we needed to in order to win the game.  The problem was the last 30 minutes.   Our offense looked very similar to the offense that came out after halftime at Nebraska.  We struggled to stop any pass rush.  The offensive line could not open a hole and sustain a block.  We were not much of a threat to add points to the total.  The special teams play kept us either pinned deep in our own territory or gave the Hilltoppers the ball in great position to score.  Our defense play valiantly but the size and physicality of Western Kentucky wore them down.  This game was another show of positives and negatives for A-State and again not a full game of solid play.

7 games left in the season.  The young Red Wolves are learning new systems trying to improve weekly, even daily.  When I say young, I am not just referring to the players.  A first time head coach, leading a number of coaches that are, as coach Malzahn likes to say, “in their first rodeo”.  Sure they’ve been graduate assistants or quality control guys.  But take it from a former GA, it is different when you are the guy.  There is no doubt in my mind that given the time Malzahn will build this team into a very good football program.   There were a lot of people that had expectations that were too high.  I predicted 8-4.  That may still be a possibility.  But right now, I’m more interested in a full 60 minutes of solid football.  Then we can go from there!