Sunday, September 17, 2006

Top 5

I'm going to alternate between Positive and Negative this week, because otherwise by the time I reach Negative #3 I'll have slit my wrists and you'll never see this post.

Negative #5 - Heart On Offense?
What's one of the least worst things that happened this week? I have to say Heart on offense. Where is it? I know it's not at QB. Where's the passion? Where's the intensity? I don't need any players talking like CJ (Love ya, baby!), I don't need them mouthing off because they've done nothing to show even the potential for backing it up. But how about acting like you are something when you are on the field? How about even APPEARING that you believe in yourself? I haven't seen that once this year.

Positive #5 - Coaching
I'm probably going to get torn apart for this, but I really think the coaches did a great job getting a game plan together. We held WSU to 17 points, in a very hostile stadium, which if you recall is only 3 points more than Auburn allowed AT HOME. The scheme sounded solid, but the players weren't executing. Dropped passes killed plays that would have been big. Penalties before the snap put us in very difficult positions to move down the field. If the players execute a little better, (and yes I said this after the TCU game, too) we win this game going away.

Negative #4 - Drops
Where are our receivers? I was one of the many that thought that we would have one of the best receiving corps in the conference. Oops. I couldn't have been more wrong. These guys will be lucky to average 10 yards per catch as a corps, and I would be shocked if we had anyone gain more than 800 yards this season (that's only an average of 67 yards per game).

Positive #4 - Kickoff Returns
Yeah, I might be reaching for some of these. But really, Teasley and Baker did do a good job on the kickoff returns. 4 returns for a total of 116 yards is an average of 29 yards per return. We are pickup up at least 10 yards more than a touchback would give us, assuming that every kick lands at the goalline. That's very important for how very, very poor our offense has performed.

Negative #3 - Turnovers
Two interceptions, two fumbles. Jerry Hill noted that half of Bells interceptions have been by defensive linemen. This is the problem with having a 5'11" QB. The turnovers came at the WSU 16 (RED ZONE!!! ARRGH!!), the BU 34, the WSU 48 and the WSU 49.

Positive #3 - Daniel Sepulveda
Great day on Saturday. 8 punts, 47.8 yards per punt. Daniel got the defense out of some of the messes the offense seemed to try to put them in.

Negative #2 - Offensive Line
You better be glad for Shawn Bell, or you would have run away with the #1 position. Illegal procedures, holding, false starts... Do ya'll not care that you are costing this team wins? Baylor should be 3-0, knocking on the door of the Top 25, but instead we are 1-2 and about to lose our dream of a bowl game because we can't stand still before the ball is snapped. We can't protect the QB for an entire game. We can open some holes for the running attack. This wasn't a great or even good defense we were facing. Pitiful effort.

Positive #2 - Linebackers
I was really worried about the WSU running game. But Nick Moore, Antonio Jones, and Joe Pawelek really showed up yesterday. Combining for 19 tackles, including 11 solo stops, 1 FF and 1 FR. And while tackle stats are nice, the most important stat is this: 1.5 yards per rush. Woolridge only gained 54 yards rushing, which is about 60% of what he did to Auburn in ONE HALF of football.

Negative #1 - Shawn Bell
Sorry, Shawn. The QB is what makes this offense go. Yes, there were drops, but our inability to go down field, 12-play 30-yard drives, 5.33 yards per attempt... I mean, IDAHO passed for 220 yards. 256 is nothing. No less than 300 yards should have been acceptable, unless it came with a win.

Positive #1 - CJ Wilson
He is still tied for 1st in interceptions with 4. There are only two players with 4 interceptions at this point. There are 6 players with 3 interceptions at this point. He grabbed an interception against WSU, did a great job of defense, grabbed 6 tackles, and while I'm not sure how much he was lined up against Jason Hill, I do know that he wasn't against him on the TD pass, but Hill only had 72 yards on 6 catches, which is well below his regular average.



Well, I don't want to slit my wrists, but I do want to throw up. I gotta take a break.

Offense, You Owe the Defense an Apology!

Defense, you can sit this rant out for the most part. I'm incredibly proud of your efforts yesterday.

To everyone else, what a pathetic effort.

  • 9 penalties for 75 yards
  • 6 of 16 on 3rd down
  • 3.9 yards per play
  • 9 (of 12) drives lasted 6 plays or less
  • Those same 9 drives went for no more than 21 yards and none lasted for more than 3 minutes

I think the worst thing (and that is saying a LOT with this game) was the 12-play, 30-yard drive that started with 36 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, and went into the fourth quarter. 12 plays and 30 yards. That's 2.5 yards per play.

Shawn Bell averaged 5.33 yards per attempt, about 2 yards short of what he should be shooting for as a minimum. He also averaged about 8.25 yards per completion. Again, AT LEAST 2 yards short of what he should be shooting for.

Defenses know that they can pack the box with men and have no fear for retribution from the offense, not because Bell can't throw it 25-30 yards down the field, but because he won't. Bell doesn't have the arm for the 35-50 yard passes (that's why Parks threw that pass to Whitaker), but he can make the 25 yard passes as well as anyone else. But he won't. Why? I can't say for sure, but I'd say it's the same reason he didn't try and run over the defender at OU last year, or why he slid short of the first down marker, or why he's been labelled soft by so many people. He's scared. If he throws it down field, it might get picked off, it might fall incomplete, it might show that he doesn't have a really strong throwing arm, whatever. If he can complete the 5 yard pass, then it shows that it wasn't his fault. "Look at my 60+% completion percentage!"

I don't think that this is necessarily something he has at the front of his mind, but I think it's in there somewhere. Morriss said after the TCU game that he wanted more of a "gunslinger" mentality from Bell. Well Guy, I just don't think the boy has it. Wait 'til next year.

The problem is, we can't wait for next year. THIS is one of the best opportunities Baylor has had for a bowl game in a LONG time. There is a lot of expectation being sunk in this year. Morriss said he didn't want to back into a bowl game, that he wanted to win 7 or 8 games. And he thought we could. Well, we could have, but wins #7 and #8 turned out to losses #1 and #2.

And that's what's killing fans. We are a good enough team to win against both TCU and WSU. There is only one way we lose those games, and we did it. We screwed around and made mistakes and blew opportunities again and again and again and again and again.

The defense says it's their fault. And frankly, I think that's one of the reasons they are so much better than the offense. They take responsibility. They weren't perfect, in fact they made two huge mental errors on the day that conceivably could have changed the game, both of them personal fouls that came on WSUs two TD scoring drives. Strangely this is a problem that seems to carry over from last year, when at A&M we let a personal foul continue a TD drive that allowed A&M to stay in the game.

But in both the WSU and last years A&M game, the story of the game was offensive incompetence.


In the first half of the game, the defense allowed a touchdown off of a Baylor fumble 34 yards from the endzone. Prior to that, WSU had gained 79 yards on 30 plays (2.63 yards per play). After the TD, they allowed 17 yards on 3 plays before intercepting the ball, giving it back to the offense with 40 seconds on the clock at the WSU 49 yard line. Three plays, zero yards.

I'm trying desperately to find a silver lining on the offenses performance. Justin Fenty was a nice surprise, Trent Shelton continued his streak, Zeigler averaged 15 yards per catch, but even those things aren't enough to overcome the negatives. Fenty also dropped two passes, including a 3rd down pass that would have continued the drive after the first WSU touchdown; Shelton only gained 25 yards on the day, on 5 catches; Zeigler only caught 3 balls on the day.

WHERE ARE OUR PLAYMAKERS!!??


Right now, we are looking at a 4 win team, if that. The defense is Top 15 caliber, in my opinion. But the offense is looking like a D2 school, and I KNOW that we have more talent than that.

A few more games like this and it's time to bring in Romo, err... Szymanski.