Louisville

It was not on 34th Street, it did not involve loaves & fish, and Smokey Robinson was no where nearby; but make no mistake this was a Miracle. With just about no comparison in terms of what was at stake, this was Rooster to Pete knock out the Lizard stuff. Thank goodness for the spectacular hubris on our early entry for Coach of the Year in Bobby Petrino. Yes, the same awesome human who opened his presser two years ago with the statement that he could have scored 80 against us if he wanted, tried too hard to score an unnecessary touchdown this Saturday afternoon, and Karma bit him right below the neck brace. Tough luck Bobby, you coulda scored 50 this week, but you didn't - cuz your players are just not that good and now you are oh for the ACC this year - and thank St. Theresa, the Miracle between the Ville smokestacks could take place.

The shame of the 2016 losses to North Carolina and Clemson means that we do not recall the almost unbroken slate of last minute winning drives engineered by Deondre Francois. We remember Michigan, but he has pulled a Louisville over and over in his freshman season. He somehow has repeatedly found a way to pull hares out of haberdasheries, but our former DC buried these efforts in idiocy. Bottom line, number 12 is money late in the game. He did it again in the last stanza this week. He was 9 for his last 11. The fourth down rope to Terry followed by the absolute dime to McKitty were sublime. We were low in the end zone where the last two TD's were scored. I was able to watch Deondre look at Terry, see the safety roll over the top and check over to McKitty coming out of the backfield covered (well) by a LB. He saw the single coverage, and threw an absolute perfect moonshot. It was a 4D experience seeing everything coming right at my seats, and then bathing in the the bourbon and beer thrown in the air from Nole patrons enjoying the wares of the stadium formerly known as Papa Johns.  When Noonie found a way to run to his grandmother like he stole some honey fried chicken, I would have failed a DUI checkpoint, and I had not even had my first drink yet.

So the most prescient question might be…why are we waiting until the 4th quarter to know that we should be a throw first squad. Yes, Terry dropped a ball, but the boy is just uncoverable. Did anyone notice that with the return of Landon Dickerson, the OL did not allow a sack for the first time since 2014? Cam is still hitting holes like everyone but Luke shooting at the Death Star, and it is just painful to watch almost every first down become a second down with the same or more yards needed. To put it as simple as possible, we need to quickly become a pass first team that runs in the end to win the game. When the back seven backs up, holes will happen. It is clear that Deondre is not a confident or willing runner. No trouble. Throw is all over the yard (presumably over the line of scrimmage) and make that your identity.

On defense, watching the middle of the field look like a open lane on Friday night in Wisconsin was a little disturbing for beer drinkers everywhere. Again, we are not very good at zone coverage. At all. The good news is that Marvin Wilson was legally and illegally knocking the pooh bear stuffing out of the Louisville QB, and that may have impacted his limited ability to hit the broad side of the barn. But, we were attempting to play two and three deep zones with just 3 dudes. When the other team is sending four guys deep, well even you SAT challenged Noles know that is a math problem. When you can not get pressure with just four, trouble ensues. I would bet more than half our sacks this season are from the back seven. The good news is that these exotic blitzes are not recognizable at the presnap read (wonderful change of pace) but the gaps behind them are massive. It feels like we are watching hard charging roosters sprinting out the front door at a lonely chicken who only has to toss an egg over the top at dozens of hay bales with targets all over them.   I love the effort that Decalon gives, but why is this young man being asked repeatedly to cover slot receivers. He also may need to pick up some stickem from his Dad, cuz this kid could not grab a football if he was the only dude on the field. There are almost no teams outside of Tuscaloosa that have more quality DB's than we are stacking at Burt Reynolds Hall, so let's get them on the field on 3rd and forever, and stop asking our two OLB's to do what they clearly can't.

Thank you DJ for doing your best Foolah from Pascagoula impression and jump starting the comeback. But, what in the world made you decide to channel your inner Tavares on that punt earlier in the game and not go up and spear it - instead letting Anthony Grant serve as target practice with his helmet. And do we really need a drill in practice where we hit punts and then over and over and over let them roll forward until the ball STOPS. Good gravy that is embarrassing that it happened two games already this season - both on turf for biscuits sake. See what I did there. Man, I love breakfast... I would also strongly recommend shock collars for any kickoff returner that attempts to do anything but raise their arm for a kick inside the 5. Yes, we have a dedicated special teams coach…Yeesh.

Finally, I have been privileged to attend a crap ton of away games, but watching the entire team run to our section and chop with us for a solid minute and then START and finish the fight song en masse with no band to accompany after a tough win was just spine tingling fun. Yes, I know that half the section are parents and relatives, but the rest of us idiots choose to spend their disposable income for moments just like this. Wow. Thank you Coach.