First off, Happy New Year! I'm at home tonight because, well, I have 2 kids - one is 3 and the other just short of 2 - and finding a high-schooler to watch them until 0100 is just a little difficult. So, we rode into the new year here at home with a bottle of champagne, watching Fergie (yowsa...), Carrie Underwood (not bad, either), and Alicia Keys (again, quite nice...what's with all the chicks?) sing on the TeeVee. While I'd rather have seen something a little less Top 40, I guess I'd be asking a bunch and showing my 30 years of age. So, decent entertainment. Dick Clark sounds better this year, too. Seems to have his wits fully about him as he jabs Ryan Seacrest...OK, enough of this crap. FOOTBALL!!!
Well, we came up just a bit short last night. However, it's tough to get going when you're picked off on your first play from scrimmage. Hawkins appeared to just plain miss MLB Rolando McLain during his scan for receivers and tossed it straight to him, resulting in a 17-yard return and setting up Alabama's first FG. We managed to make John Parker Wilson (JPW from here on - too long of a name) look like an all-star at the beginning of the game, where he lit us up for 20 points in the first quarter ALONE...
CU made a valiant effort of it, however, as Hawkins drove us for 2 TDs in the last few minutes of Q2, sending us to the locker room at 27-14. The momentum, however, died out when we narrowly missed that FG on the opening drive of Q3. We played 'em tough for the rest of the game and outgained and outscored them, but it was too tough to dig out of that 27-0 hole we jumped into at the beginning of the game.
Altogether, we looked pretty good and our offense showed some promise. Problems I see from last night, however...
- Power running game: If this is due to play-calling or running back size, I'm not sure. Either way, we appeared afraid to run it downhill. The misdirection and end-arounds didn't fool anyone and it appeared as if UA was simply waiting for us to do it on running downs. I'm pretty sure it's not the O line, as those guys certainly had no problem giving Hawkins plenty of time to pass. The run blocking was no worse. Hugh Charles is not huge, but he isn't tiny, either. Run at 'em, already.
- Pass defense: We just made JPW look too damn good. Sorry, but this guy was on the skids for the last half of the season. We gave them the mid pass (20-30 yards) too easily. We need to make them earn that. We have the talent to stop it. Perhaps the Cover 2 scheme is too easily picked apart? I know it doesn't work so well for my Vikes with a good QB...
Well, that's about it from here for the night. Happy New Year, everyone. I appreciate your joining me last night during the game. I'll be expanding the blog (and hopefully moving over to SB Nation) as we move into 2008. Have a good sleep this evening/tomorrow morning/tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to try to ignore the fireworks going off outside my window and get some sleep here shortly. More coming up later this week. We'll talk NFL draft, upcoming recruits, and even some CU basketball.
Peace, all. Take care!
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