BYU

Just Have Faith.

In 1991, a Nole squad in urgent need of an opening statement win went West to Anaheim to face Heisman winner Ty Detmer and BYU. The Mormons delivered. A 44-28 Cali beatdown propelled Casey Weldon into the Heisman race and some key sacks by Dan Footman closed the temple door. In 2000, when folks began to question which coach was too old to roll, Bowden ushered LaVell Edwards permanently onto the front porch of a Cracker Barrel to rock with a 29-3 sermon. Last season, the unconquered protestants headed to Provo with no identity again. I heard no squealing, and Ned Beatty was not in sight but Deliverance was found in the Wasatch. We exited that game with an offensive confidence that stayed solidly in place until that rock solid belief was broken last week in Norman. Enter Joe Smith's squad and let the light shine on our Tallahassee congregation. Yup, we found our defense, our ground game and heard a rumor about some long lost Donner Party survivors. God Bless BYU (and their fans!). And by the way, the aforementioned Dan Footman's son is Freshman Dan Hicks and he delivered a sack...against BYU. Hmmmm, 19 years ago...oh never mind.

Seeing the defensive improvements was like discovering that eating triple sausage pizza actually helps your abs. Television does not do justice to all the adjustments we made. It was like watching Benjamin Button on fast rewind. The staff and the players aged incrementally in 7 days. The LB's were employing better angles and hitting the right gaps. Terrance Parks proved that all that time not getting a haircut was well spent as he forced almost every running play into a man that could finish. Our corners - although still using zone principals - were flying to the football from only 5-7 yards back (and not 10-12) and completing the play. Heck, Greg Reid used his arms to tackle. Xavier Rhodes had two pass break-ups without leaning on the WR's back with his off arm. Lamarcus Joyner is so sound with his hips and his footwork that three games in, his man has yet to be open (and if they are open even a little bit, he will just smack them out of bounds to discourage that kind of future behavior). Folks, at years' end we may still have some weaknesses on defense. However, our corners are going to scare QB's like Justin Beiber's mama when she finds out her boy has been dating that "nice Lohan girl". I had a buddy tell me he thinks we might just have Dynasty era corners, and he might be right. With 8 recorded sacks, I guess the ends played well this week too, but I was not blown away. I felt like our three interior guys actually forced most of the action and Jenkins and White just cleaned up on aisle 7. However, how about the beast that we may have in our German Freshman sensation Bjorn Werner. This man was making pretzels by picking up the fat doughy glob blocking him and twisting him into unrecognizable shapes before asking the QB for mustard as he pounced. He has been in about 12 plays in 3 games, and has 2.5 sacks and a caused fumble. Might be time to let that U-boat strike a bit more often.

"Will the offense that came out of the locker room please report to the field....ummmm more." Yes, it was terrific when little Chris Thompson got it Dunn. And the back shoulder jump ball to Willie Haulstead got me a little Carr-ied away. But the consistent play of the O in half two was much more encouraging than occasional splashes of brilliance. We dominated them. They dropped five back, we ran at will. They snuck a safety up, and we tossed it on the edge. Christian showed leadership, toughness and intelligence. Soon, he will find a phone booth and all will be right with in Doak. If our young wideouts can simply gather the confidence to run away from the coverage rather than just jogging with them like they are on a Central Park stroll, things will begin to take off.

As I promised last season when we were treated like guests in the Kings Palace in Provo, I went out of my way to be nice to our very pale visitors. However, if I had any real decency, I would have just handed them sunblock. These poor folk were in the dead Doak sun for all four hours and I can assure you that there was not a base tan in the bunch. Blisters in, Boasters out.

I also wanted to point out two other pet peeves of Paul. First, Jimbo has apparently dismissed the tradition of "The Good, the Bad & The Ugly" March of the Noles pregame. I know most of you are still banging back Buds & blue cheese burgers in the parking lot when this happens, but I always felt that this was one of the best traditions we had. Even on the road, this brought our small Garnet contingent to our collective feet while we drowned out the jealous boos. Bad decision. No reason to junk a 30 second tradition that in no way affected the rest of the pregame warmups. Secondly, the Seminole stadium operations team are clueless. For the second home game, actual replays on our new ridiculously expensive video board are apparently a luxury we can not afford. Heck, even ads would be welcome (I am kinda partial to these), but spinning helmets and "live action" is not really the point. Additionally, two games in a row, Nole greats from the past have been invited to toss the coin, and have been introduced - while Osceola is galloping to Midfield - so only the spotter next to the PA guy actually hears the announcement. I can envision us bringing Bobby back next season and making the announcement as Miami takes the field and Boos rain down... Wake Up this week; pun intended.

So the "Undefeated in Doak Deacs since 2004" come to town. Let's restore order to the ACC and treat them like Mormons - on the field.