It wasn’t all pretty, but the Tigers did what they needed to do to come out of Louisville with a 45-10 win. There is no getting around the fact that this offense did not play well in the 1st quarter. It wasn’t much better in the second quarter for that matter. A lot of mistakes, most of the self inflicted variety. That stuff still needs to be cleaned up. We are seeing what happens when a teams roster is mostly made up of underclassmen just a season removed from losing a ton of leadership.
- That was the Tigers 10th consecutive road win. That is an impressive feat, even in the lowly ACC. Having said that, this team isn’t a “road warrior” like the teams we have seen the last two or three years. They seem to struggle more so on the road, and that hasn’t been the case in recent years.
- Travis Etienne was ballin’ today. Over 100 of his 192 yards came after contact. Yes, Lyn-J Dixon is a fine back, but he is not that kind of back. ETN does most of his damage after contact, and no other back in the country is better at that than him. Keep your fingers crossed he stays healthy. Healthy as possible anyways.
- After a HORRENDOUS start, Trevor Lawrence played very well. He had the two terrible picks early in that first quarter, but finished 20-29 for 233 yards and 3 TDs. After that second pick he was 17-22 for over 220 yards. Still needs to look for his checkdowns more instead of always going for the homerun ball, but when you have an arm like his, you are always going to think you can make every throw.
- Tee Higgins, one catch for three yards. This team needs its best receiver more involved, but he isn’t 100% either.
- Another false start for Cervenka, and in a critical situation. That is his third of the season already.
- Steven Sawiki is not the guy you want kicking FGs in the clutch. Nor PAT’s for that matter.
- Nice to see Diondre Overton making some plays. 3 catches for 43 yards off the bench and a couple of nice grabs. That is what I expected to see from him every game once Amari was back.
- Isaiah Simmons is the best player in the country, hands down. That is all.
- The defense was outstanding today, despite giving up a 100 yard rusher for the first time all season. This D is going to give up some rushing yards, and that’s alright. The goal is to keep them off the scoreboard and they’ve been very good in that department. This was a good Cardinal offense they held in check.
- Finally, no this team isn’t ready for the playoff today. There is still work to be done. Some of the sloppiness and mental mistakes have to cleaned up. You do not want them to be peaking right now. If this is a national title caliber team, they will be at their best when it counts.
The team is not a Road warrior. Mainly because the offense has “struggled”. I don’t really see it as struggling. More like dominating specked in with a few bad moments. The stats are there. Maybe it is just lack of consistency. All of that I think is being built up to possibly be the best offense in history with the best QB in history. He’s the top Heisman Candidate then Etienne is in the Heisman race also and possibly Justin Ross. When the bar is set that high by the RAT POISON MEDIA it puts undue achievement pressure on a team. I personally saw it happen with the 2016 team. That was revealed to me by the way Desaun and Dabo reacted by crying after the Championship game.
Only thing is coaches know the rat poison is bad but the Athelete eats it. Then they are faced with the side effects.
In past seasons, more often than not in road games the team came out and put its foot on an opponent’s throat. This team isn’t quite there yet. That’s all that meant