Parenting is hard. When you have just one kid, you are instantly the greatest parents ever. You switch off constantly, overcommunicating on the regular and it seemed seamless in retrospect. That little bundle of energy is never without attention and convincing yourself to punch out another human is a layup. The second one is a little more challenging, but you are still in a man defense and situational pass-offs are handled with aplomb. It is the third bouncing bambino that starts triggering some alerts. Obviously, you have to go to a full time zone, and invariably cracks in communication can create havoc. You have to rely on incredible game planning and prep for weeks to take on seemingly simple afternoons. Locked childproof doors, gates and monitors are crucial tools. On Saturday night, Coach White was hosting an outdoor soirée, his exhausted wife was hammered on a lawn chair and he placed his very pricey water fence inside the deep end of the pool. It was the worst case of third down parenting I have seen in years. His spoiled charges were playing such a soft zone without communicating that it made us ask aloud if they even practiced.
I am sure that when Mike sat down for his post game press conference, he noticed that the cushion was even hotter than his last visit there on Tuesday. How, after playing one of the worst teams in Division I college football can it feel worse than your last 29 months of misery. Um, it is precisely because of the last 29 months that it feels so despondent. Our collective default optimist switch got smashed last night, and we have 8 days to get it repaired. Coach is super prideful of his special teams, hired a new position coach solely focused on it, and spends more periods on this than anyone not named Beamer in history. We had three coaching personnel penalties with this unit on Saturday night. One taking a made FG back five yards. One taking away a wonderful punt return that ultimately lost the Noles possession and another on an extra point. Woof.
As an offensive play caller, I have usually been a fan of what he sees and how he calls the game. Last night was no exception for me. But, if you can’t block, only heyday tricky Bowden can overcome. Last year, we watched Coach Hand get five mercenaries to play together like a Swiss timepiece on day one. This was more like a twice a day you're gonna be right variety. The right side especially was a chocolate mess and against a group 50 pounds lighter who rarely subbed, this was mightily troubling. I do think that as the game progressed, communication improved, but maybe these poor Aggies finally starting feeling the 90% humidity. The huge plus last night was the trio of backs who left to their own devices on almost every call, were dynamic. The long run of Ousmane in the second stanza showed the whole toolbox. Singleton is a star and he and Wisner both hit the minuscule holes on counters fast enough to compensate for the lack of help from the fat boys in front of them. I am not sure we can run 15 screens a game and get away with it, but all three of them can thrive as part of the receiving game.
I also feel really good about the receiving corps. Only saw one ball that hit the ground that shouldn’t have, and most were more open than the results showed. Which leads to Ashton. I loved the demeanor all game, especially after the pick, when I saw a sideline maturity that was a huge positive. Next drive - touchdown. He is a little less athletic than I anticipated, and needs to process a smidgeon quicker for a 5th year dude, but when he did run, he got first downs. I also loved late when he (unfortunately had to) climb the pocket he hit guys in front of him with Landon, Boggs and Singleton being the recipients. This may be one of those outlier years where the QB is not a reason you win or lose.That may not stop the blame game, but think other factors will be bigger in the end.
One of my peeves in attending pro games is how fans treat the players. The vitriol served to those that are not “earning” their paycheck somehow emboldens these Sunday morons to extremes. This new ugly era of college sports gives us a peek into this mentality. The Desir twins and Jabril publicly held a financial uzi to the Nole fans this offseason, then fired blanks at us when the lights came on. Rawls flat out whiffed on two coverages, and I know that the new PA was way more soft spoken, but if you heard a Desir mentioned as a credited tackler, I missed it. I thought the entire new linebacker crew was an improvement over last season and Jalen Anderson had some really nice moments late, but as my friend commented postgame on the defense - “I have notes”.
Which brings us to the cherry on this incredibly vanilla 2 ounce shake. This was a 17 point win that gave the entire staff a truckload of things to address and improve from week one to two when the proverbial huge performance shifts occur. If we had played an FCS cupcake and won by 60, we may not have discovered that double chocolate with buttercream icing might make the acne pop. I have to imagine (and sincerely hope) that behind closed doors this coaching staff are mad as hornets at their now reality verses all of our five months of expectations and will be parenting with some serious man on man anger and next week we can Expect What we Expect when We Are Expecting (a reference that might be lost on my young fans!)
See you on Monday Night!
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