Watched the game for second time, here’s what I think:
> Brohm gets it. He took one look v. Nevada, which you can’t do halfway through Nevada, and he realized that short passes are this teams run game, which he addressed after..
You could kinda see Brohm wanting to go into shut it down mode and then stopping himself and realizing that this team is not gonna pull that off.
> A fair viewing shows that vandy sold out on the run. They run a 3-4 but had their OLBs up on the line in a 5-2 look most of the time. A few times I counted six just at the line.
This seemed bizarre. It gave us the middle of the field. The thing if anyone goes back and watches, is that with hopkins and Moore playing the way they were, they needed depth from their front. There is one play where hopkins is lined up on the left with Moore slotted below him (3Q - the ref pick drive), each has a defender over him. Hopkins drags his man out and there’s no one to the inside of Moore, who gets hit with a pass and has plenty of room... gets a first.
> Sindelar, at least for one day, answered a huge question.
Can you give him receivers short and force him to make a touch throw on the money? Will he put to much on it? If vandy coaches were asking that, it was a resounding no, and that’s a problem for opposing defenses.
Back to the last point. To appropriately defend hopkins and Moore in the middle.. with Sindelar throwing the way he was, you have to bring defenders up and toward the middle, leaving less or no help on bell and Anderson and relying more on your DL to stop the run. When this happens, I think you see much easier runs for Horvath and Doerue. At least the ability to get 3 or 4 yards.
> not sure about any of you, but any time we face a QB who isn’t a quality passer, and a team can’t pass first to beat us, since about 2003, we play our best defense. Our linebackers, all three of them (and not just Bailey) haven’t been outstanding in coverage since 03, to me. I thought BSU had been turning out better college passers, so I expected way more from neal.
> Sindelar s success yesterday is the product of so many people. Moore and Hopkins being huge stars, the offensive line holding on for dear life in pass coverage to give him just enough time, Horvath being a tough tough kid. The rest of these backs and receivers working hard and growing each day. Says a lot that Sparks is grinding for those results continuously. Anderson plays with a real edge. Bell appears to grow up by the quarter. Durham’s size reminds me of that hockenson kid from Iowa. The coaches obviously .. everyone coming together and then Elijah showing that he’s learned something in these up and down years.
Last year we saw David Blough grow as the year went on. If this kid does the same, look out.
> Huge Huge Huge Huge to see this team hold their own at defensive tackle and grow by the quarter without a player like Lorenzo Neal. Can’t remember the last time a player that good was out and the next guy held their own.
I’m used to asking where a player like Lawrence Johnson is for another months or years after this point. For him to step in and hold his own is outstanding. Loved the hit on neal that led to the INT. IIRC, we were told that Sullivan would be a good player, but we might not see him till his 4th year.. here we are seeing him as a redshirt freshman.
If neal is out next week and he’s back for minnesota, it’s gonna be something I’ve never seen to have that many DTs who can play to rotate in behind neal and Watts.
> Glad Cornel Jones was back but that there isn’t the reliance on him that there was last year. If he was to act the same way, he probably realizes he’d just be out, so it was great to see his physicality without the extra stuff. Ben Holt didn’t show up on screen for any bad reasons, which was nice. Nice solid player.
> Major and Mackey being as good as they’ve been.. reminds me of last year when I said I’d cut a toe off to have anthony Brown and Brandon King as a tandem on last years team. Major to me was already pretty good. Dedrick Mackey has come a LONG way to play that well with a groin.
> Special teams was about the only area where we netted negative results yesterday. If Brohm wants to scream at someone in meetings, I hope Sindelar gets a pass and he goes in that room.
> this week I’ll be curious with TCUs nose tackle if they give the extra attention to Moore and Hopkins and dare us to run it.
> been outstanding to see Anderson and bell come in as the athletes that they are and play this well. Anderson to me has kind of hit the ground running as what people thought Sparks would be (and Sparks getting in there nicely yesterday) last year.
Bell is getting as open as Zico. His next step is to have a throw come his way like the one Watkins mugged him on and picked off on the penalty, and fight Watkins off to either get the P.I. or bring in a huge contested catch. It’s a lot to ask because that position can get more physical than the slot, but I think he’s up to the challenge. Kid has an aura like he knows what he wants to be in life and he’s gonna go take it. Like Moore, Graham and Karlaftis, Bell doesn’t have that freshman look to him.
> Wright is the biggest combo of size and speed at WR. I think now that Brohm has realized that we’ve reached that point where we can get outside receivers as wide open as Zico was getting last year, he’s gonna spring wright for a huge play very soon.
> finally, I predicted 34-28 vandy.. crow please.
I thought the TE would be full go but he was hampered. I expected more from neal and for their defense to adjust. Our guys decided to come out and swing for the face early and often. This took over two games last year. This year it was game two.
This team looks like a team that can beat teams I didn’t think they could, right now. We will see against TCU. They should be favored but I think we can win a close one
Oh and one more thing.. Moore to me is like if you put all the best of Taylor Stubblefield and Joey harris into one guy lol
> Brohm gets it. He took one look v. Nevada, which you can’t do halfway through Nevada, and he realized that short passes are this teams run game, which he addressed after..
You could kinda see Brohm wanting to go into shut it down mode and then stopping himself and realizing that this team is not gonna pull that off.
> A fair viewing shows that vandy sold out on the run. They run a 3-4 but had their OLBs up on the line in a 5-2 look most of the time. A few times I counted six just at the line.
This seemed bizarre. It gave us the middle of the field. The thing if anyone goes back and watches, is that with hopkins and Moore playing the way they were, they needed depth from their front. There is one play where hopkins is lined up on the left with Moore slotted below him (3Q - the ref pick drive), each has a defender over him. Hopkins drags his man out and there’s no one to the inside of Moore, who gets hit with a pass and has plenty of room... gets a first.
> Sindelar, at least for one day, answered a huge question.
Can you give him receivers short and force him to make a touch throw on the money? Will he put to much on it? If vandy coaches were asking that, it was a resounding no, and that’s a problem for opposing defenses.
Back to the last point. To appropriately defend hopkins and Moore in the middle.. with Sindelar throwing the way he was, you have to bring defenders up and toward the middle, leaving less or no help on bell and Anderson and relying more on your DL to stop the run. When this happens, I think you see much easier runs for Horvath and Doerue. At least the ability to get 3 or 4 yards.
> not sure about any of you, but any time we face a QB who isn’t a quality passer, and a team can’t pass first to beat us, since about 2003, we play our best defense. Our linebackers, all three of them (and not just Bailey) haven’t been outstanding in coverage since 03, to me. I thought BSU had been turning out better college passers, so I expected way more from neal.
> Sindelar s success yesterday is the product of so many people. Moore and Hopkins being huge stars, the offensive line holding on for dear life in pass coverage to give him just enough time, Horvath being a tough tough kid. The rest of these backs and receivers working hard and growing each day. Says a lot that Sparks is grinding for those results continuously. Anderson plays with a real edge. Bell appears to grow up by the quarter. Durham’s size reminds me of that hockenson kid from Iowa. The coaches obviously .. everyone coming together and then Elijah showing that he’s learned something in these up and down years.
Last year we saw David Blough grow as the year went on. If this kid does the same, look out.
> Huge Huge Huge Huge to see this team hold their own at defensive tackle and grow by the quarter without a player like Lorenzo Neal. Can’t remember the last time a player that good was out and the next guy held their own.
I’m used to asking where a player like Lawrence Johnson is for another months or years after this point. For him to step in and hold his own is outstanding. Loved the hit on neal that led to the INT. IIRC, we were told that Sullivan would be a good player, but we might not see him till his 4th year.. here we are seeing him as a redshirt freshman.
If neal is out next week and he’s back for minnesota, it’s gonna be something I’ve never seen to have that many DTs who can play to rotate in behind neal and Watts.
> Glad Cornel Jones was back but that there isn’t the reliance on him that there was last year. If he was to act the same way, he probably realizes he’d just be out, so it was great to see his physicality without the extra stuff. Ben Holt didn’t show up on screen for any bad reasons, which was nice. Nice solid player.
> Major and Mackey being as good as they’ve been.. reminds me of last year when I said I’d cut a toe off to have anthony Brown and Brandon King as a tandem on last years team. Major to me was already pretty good. Dedrick Mackey has come a LONG way to play that well with a groin.
> Special teams was about the only area where we netted negative results yesterday. If Brohm wants to scream at someone in meetings, I hope Sindelar gets a pass and he goes in that room.
> this week I’ll be curious with TCUs nose tackle if they give the extra attention to Moore and Hopkins and dare us to run it.
> been outstanding to see Anderson and bell come in as the athletes that they are and play this well. Anderson to me has kind of hit the ground running as what people thought Sparks would be (and Sparks getting in there nicely yesterday) last year.
Bell is getting as open as Zico. His next step is to have a throw come his way like the one Watkins mugged him on and picked off on the penalty, and fight Watkins off to either get the P.I. or bring in a huge contested catch. It’s a lot to ask because that position can get more physical than the slot, but I think he’s up to the challenge. Kid has an aura like he knows what he wants to be in life and he’s gonna go take it. Like Moore, Graham and Karlaftis, Bell doesn’t have that freshman look to him.
> Wright is the biggest combo of size and speed at WR. I think now that Brohm has realized that we’ve reached that point where we can get outside receivers as wide open as Zico was getting last year, he’s gonna spring wright for a huge play very soon.
> finally, I predicted 34-28 vandy.. crow please.
I thought the TE would be full go but he was hampered. I expected more from neal and for their defense to adjust. Our guys decided to come out and swing for the face early and often. This took over two games last year. This year it was game two.
This team looks like a team that can beat teams I didn’t think they could, right now. We will see against TCU. They should be favored but I think we can win a close one
Oh and one more thing.. Moore to me is like if you put all the best of Taylor Stubblefield and Joey harris into one guy lol
Last edited:
