I just finished watching the game on DVR delay, and a few things stand out to me. First of all, let me say I’ve lurked for a long time on this board and the old board before the split from scout. I just very rarely feel the need to share my thoughts, but I feel inspired after this one.
I’ve seen a post that attributes this loss to the rumors swirling around coach Herman. I can guarantee you this loss had nothing to do with that. It was a perfect storm, but we just flat out got beat. Let me explain.
The first factor that can’t be ignored is playing in the middle of a hurricane. That will always favor a running team, especially an old school triple option team. The reason being the defense already has to take a split second to make a read before reacting to the option. The strength of our run defense lies in flowing downhill to the ball without thinking too much. The option already requires some hesitation to play your read, and when you factor in a slippery field from the rain, that means the defense is playing on their heels and can’t flow like they need to. It also lead to a safety on the bad punt snap. Advantage navy.
The second factor is special teams and turnovers. Usually we’re the ones dictating that aspect of the game. But tonight, we turned the ball over three times, and gave up a huge kick return after our first touchdown which lead to their first touchdown. One of our turnovers was a pick six, so we gifted them 14 points there. We executed fairly well on offense, hence the 40 points. But it’s hard to win when you’re giving the other team points.
But I feel the number one reason we lost was because of housekeeping issues with our own players. What I’m referring to is Tyus Bowser being out because Matthew Adams punched him in the eye, and Steven Taylor missing the game because of the dreaded violation of team rules. Repeatedly through this game, Navy was able to gash us on the edge because we didn’t have anybody to play the pitch. I refuse to believe navy would have been able to set the edge like they did with a heat seeking missile like Taylor on the field. Bowser also is a very gifted pass rusher, which I think translates well into playing the run on the edge. Navy doesn’t have the success they do with those two out there.
I just want to stress that I don’t think this is a repeat of the 2011 conference championship game. The rumors around Herman did not cause us to lose this game. I hope the message he tells his guys is that even with everything going against them, we still could have won this game. I don’t know what Steven Taylor did, but whatever he did caused him to be benched for this game. Our own guys are fighting each other. I hope he tells the guys they could have taken care of their own business as the favorites, but they didn’t. For whatever reason they couldn’t handle themselves as the favorites. Now I hope he can galvanize them to come together and stop the stupid mistakes, a la Florida in 2008 after the Kentucky game and Tebow’s famous speech. We can say goodbye to the playoffs, but i think we can still make a NY6 game if we win out and beat a good Louisville team and get a little help with some navy losses.
Thanks for the post! All of us on Coog Fans love our team and we can’t deny it sucks! However, tomorrow we have to get up and prove to the country that we STILL support our team, the University, and each other. Let the trolls have their day, it’s not forever. GoCoogs!
I thought playing 5 down was a mistake. It made it easier for Navy to match up for blocks. I bet Orlando knows more on this than me so maybe we were just too weak to put more linebackers out there without Bowser/Taylor. Either way it was the turnovers that killed us, especially the pick 6. Our offense was great all game other than those turnovers.
Literal and proverbial perfect storm of cards stacked against us. The dumbasses that got into a fight on freaking family day are issue one. Taylor, who IMHO is the heart and soul of the defense, is issue two. The weather combined with facing the triple option on the road in inclement conditions was bad luck. Injuries are part of football. But issue one and two, and whatever underlying culture allowed those to happen, are primary reasons for the loss.
Whatever Taylor did, he did a greater harm to the university and the team than he did to himself. I will never see him the same again. We lost this game because some dumbasses on the team wanted to live a thug life.
This loss was a soul ripper. Say goodbye to Herman as soon as the regular season is over. Even if UH is undefeated, we might not even make the AAC conference championship game.
BOOM!!! Nail on the head!! I said the exact same thing. Our unity and leadership was not on the field. Recall when we lost to UCONN who was missing? Elandon Roberts was gone early in the game and that change the defense’s leadership and energy.Same thing here, Steven Taylor is our play caller and leader and bottom line it affected the game. I agree with you whole heartedly. It doesn’t matter now but I don’t think we lose if Taylor was there.
Great OP with good follow up. I would add that the team seemed flat from the beginning. That spectacular runback by Navy showed immediately that we were not playing at full speed. We were just beaten by the Navy return team that was well rested.
Add to all the above that our insane schedule finally caught up with us. Four games in 19 days takes a lot out of a team. Reality is while our starters have proven themselves time and again we just don’t have the depth to survive that meatgrinder schedule. Then take out 3 of our most important players on D and we are racing with one flat tire.
The lack of coverage on the pitch man drove me nuts. In the triple option someone has to be assigned to the QB and someone has to be assigned to the pitch man. I played strong safety and when we played option teams I was instructed to go after the pitch man and tackle him. Whether he had the ball or not. Another defender, a linebacker or the DE, was assigned to the QB. His assignment was to tackle the QB whether he pitched the ball or kept it.
I am about tired of this kind of language when it comes to our players. It’s demeaning and has a tone that I don’t think is appropriate at all. I will leave it at that.
Absolutely. I’m totally amazed Orlando didn’t have someone take the QB and the pitch man on every down that was under 20 yards. That is option 101. Hell, they could have called Bill Yeoman and he would have laid out a perfect defense. Duh.
I said it prior to the season, but this past Saturday was the first time all year that it truly manifested itself. The biggest loss from a personnel standpoint, from last year to this year, by an ENORMOUS margin, was Elandon Roberts. Go back and watch the highlights of the Navy game from 2015 vs 2016. E-Rob lived in their backfield, and made plays against Reynolds and Swain all day long. Worth never got bothered at all Saturday.
We are desperately missing his leadership, both on the field and off. Really need some senior leaders to step up and get this team refocused.
And don’t forget that last year, we had 3 senior safeties - Stewart, McDonald and Hightower who did an excellent job tackling at the edges and covering their receivers. Against Navy, our DBs seemed over-matched, unable to shed blocks and confused in coverage.