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Oct 18, 2021, 11:12 AM

Swimming upstream, I suppose.

But, over the past two games, we've witnessed several aspects of the CU offense that imply current and potential production. IE, improved run game and production by backs, middle of the field and sideline passes to TEs, catches by WRs that weren't being made in the first four games, better protection and run blocking by the OL.

What makes it all look messy and undermines performance are: missed assignments (OL, backs, WRs, TEs), dropped passes, penalties.

Cases in point: We ran 73 offensive plays Friday. Of those, approximately 10 were blown up by one of reason cited in the previous sentence. So what if only 4 of those mistakes had NOT occurred? If only 4 of those plays had worked? If the high snap by a first-time center had not occurred, what might have been the outcome of that drive? Field goal, at the minimum. On the screen pass to Pace, what if Tate (freshman) hadn't missed his block? What if Trotter had blocked the DT instead of double-teaming the the R-DT/DE? And, there were at least 2 motion penalties that virtually stopped promising drives. We only needed 4 plays to turn ugly into relatively pretty.

Look, DJ's making progress, as per Dabo's comments. Think back to last year's first ND game; the final drive. Sure, he'd been productive earlier, but in that final drive, ND managed to confuse him and his reactions were slow and led to sacks. Think that didn't make it to the defensive analyses of this year's early opponents? But, he's starting to pick up the blitzes, making faster decisions on the RPOs, and his passing is more crisp, still with little touch, but more accurate and dependable.

So, in summary, everyone who's headed for the lifeboats, hold on. If we go all 12 games and we lose 3-4-5, it's time for DS to shuffle the staff, make some changes, kick some butt. Until then, it's just mid-season; keep working, get better, think good thoughts, continue to go to the games and make noise. Otherwise, you're a fair-weather, leaving-the-game early, empty shell of a fan.

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I agree. There is progress being made. Unfortunately (for some), the team was not up to the lofty preseason expectations. Reality, we all should have expected significant drop off after losing Lawrence, Etienne, Rodgers and Powell. Sure DJ looked good against ND last year, but a lot of that had to do with the respect ND's defense was forced to give Etienne's running ability. This year there isn't a back on the roster (or in the transfer portal, sorry Lyn-J) that elicits the same amount of respect that Travis earned through his 4 years at Clemson. Also, common sense should have told us that Ross was not going to be quite his old self at the start of the season. If I recall correctly, Mike Williams was 4-5 games into the season (after his neck injury) before he looked comparable to himself "pre-injury". Couple that with DJ's apparent mental (and physical) lapses at key points in the game, and you have an offense that appears confused and inefficient.

The good news is that the defense is playing at a Championship caliber (#2 in the nation in scoring defense). And despite all of our offensive woes, we are still the only team to keep Georgia within arm's reach (I know I know no such thing as moral victories).

As for this coming Saturday, I am preparing myself for the worst (Pitt wins) but hopeful that the defense will continue to carry the load and that the offense can score enough points to win the game. At this point, I would be over the moon if we pull off a 21-20 win like the Coots did over that Vandy juggernaut.

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