It was a hard pill to swallow. The temperature outside didn't help the cause, but thankfully the fireworks actually made the ride home bearable. After reflecting on this loss over the past few days, I can't believe how positive I feel about the team. I have one major concern, but my thoughts are below:
-- We had no national aspirations; this year’s goal was to get double digit wins and a league title. No one realistically thought this team would do anything on a national scene, so this loss doesn't hurt our initial goals.
-- Waters is hands down a beast thrower. He had a comp % over 73%, which is insane. Two picks, but one doesn't count at the end of the game, and the other is a good lesson learned early on. If you throw short 9/10 times, no reason the CB shouldn't jump the route. This is more a play calling issue IMHO then Jake, but none the less, he shouldn't have thrown it.
-- The main reason we lost was Snyder (still love the guy), but his scheme reflected last year’s team with QB runs, and abandoning the pass late in the game. That in a nut shell won us a crap load of games with a team that is built for it. This team is completely different. You throw throw throw till they move their coverage back, then run run, and back to the passing. With a QB at 73%, WHY NOT? Snyder threw in over 10 QB designed runs. That is stupid and he won’t make these mistakes twice.
-- This does bring me right to my concern. He is publically said Sams will get more touches. So I am certain he will. But talk about showing our cards. Sams in the game? Plan for the run! Waters in the game? Plan for the pass! I know you can mix it up and Sams can throw a couple, but give me a break, 75% of the time either of those two are in, you will know what it is. I just beg that he picks a QB and schemes around him and it better be Waters throwing majority of the time with the cookie monster keeping defenses honest.
-- 8 regular season wins, 1 bowl game win, tied 2nd in the big 12. That’s my predictions.
