It's gonna be a long year...

[JasonS]

It's gonna be a long year if the offensive line doesn't get their heads out of their asses and learn how to block someone. This game is fucking ridiculous and I am scared to see what Oklahoma is going to do to this offensive line.

Hopefully Vidal is not seriously hurt. It is never a good sign when the cart comes out though.

 

[Catpaw]

Butch Jones looked so pathetic also.. He panicked and it showed.

 

[bearcat18]

Wow, I don't even know where to start.

First thing I think we need to do is put Davis back at center and put Kelce at guard. Several of his snaps were low and he even rolled one back to Collaros that results in a loss of 10 and killed a drive. The same stuff was going on in the Florida/Miami game today and Brantley had a tough time. When you have to bend down and take your eyes off the defense just to catch the snap, it makes his job a lot harder.

In the beginning of the game, Zach was scrambling around the backfield and was lucky to get away. As a fan you knew it was eventually going to catch up to him and he would get sacked for a big loss. We have to get smarter decisions from Zach.

I didn't like our playcalling at all tonight. I think we threw 3 deep balls all night (Woods TD, Hazelton and Binns incompletions). You have to make a defense at least respect the deep ball. Screens, swing passes, quick outs, those types of passes only get you so far. I just feel we didn't utilize our skill players (more deep balls to Binns, get the ball to DJ, Guidugli?). Now I know this would all have been easier if our O-Line would have done something.

Now some of the sacks tonight fall on Zach's shoulders. But in the drive where he got sacked 3 times, 2 were squarely on the line. They rushed 4, and we had 6 blocking. I don't see why they couldn't at least give Zach a few seconds to throw. No excuse for that.

Pead seriously needs to work on his blocking out of the backfield. Williams also missed a block on the Woods TD too.

Our defense started out flying to the ball, and I was loving it. Then when we get a 14-0 lead, did we become too conservative on defense? Sure seemed like it. Huge cushions, no pass rush, etc. If Zach had the time to throw that Kolburn (sp?) did he would have done the same.

Didn't like Butch burning TO's like that in the first half either. Hopefully that's just some week 1 kinks that will be worked out.

We have a lot of work to do, especially on the O-Line. Find some kids that want to block and protect their quarterback or something, I really don't know. I hope we get healthy soon and are ready to play against ISU.

 

[nparker1]

That was a tough one to swallow. I was expecting a win, but it was the first game of the year and luckily it was a non-conference bout. I agree that the O-line needs fixed immediately. Luckily for Collaros, he is mobile and was able to keep from enduring too much punishment from the bullrushes. I am sure that this was not what Coach Jones had envisioned to begin his tenure at UC. One thing I liked from the game, came from Trent Dilfer. He reassured UC fans that despite the outcome of this game, that he was confident that Butch Jones is going to bring success. He even called Jones one of the best young coaches in the country, and said that UC is better off with Jones than with Kelly. So despite the negative outcome of the game, and numerous concerns that arose, I do not have doubts in Jones. Dilfer's comments and opinion are not uncommon. Jones has established a solid and respected reputation, and I am excited to see how he responds to this defeat.
Go Bearcats!

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I don't have doubt in Jones either. I think he looked lost on the sidelines because he really was. I had the same look on my face by the fourth quarter. The offensive line just deteriorated as the game went on. Usually a good coach can make adjustments when one facet of the game isn't working, but one thing you can't correct is your O-line not being able to stop a 3-man and 4-man rush. They were just getting destroyed late in the game. Collaros was like a deer in headlights out there. With that said he needs to learn to get rid of the ball quicker on some of those plays earlier in the game. If you have time to scramble out of the pocket you have time to get rid of the ball. Some of his sacks came after he failed to get rid of the ball.

Overall I was happy with the defense. Two of the scores they gave up came on a short field after a turnover and what might as well have been a turnover when Collaros ran backwards before taking a sack near the goal line. We got beat some in zone coverage, but that is what zone coverage allows. Hopefully we'll get some confidence in guys to go more man-to-man on those receivers. One of the TD's they gave up someone missed an assignment and the guy was wide-open. The run defense looked good. Good enough that Fresno had to abandon the run in the first half.

Hopefully this is first game jitters and we can make the necessary adjustments. We got roughly 10 days to find guys that know how to block before the NC State game and then Oklahoma. I'm just glad this was a non-conference game. It will have no bearing on our chances to win the conference.

 

[DontMissHim]

Can someone tell Zach he is actually allowed to throw the ball away? I think he put a lot of pressure on himself last night. I also wish we would have gone for it on one of the early 4th and shorts where we punted- I know it was near the 40 but give us a chance to go up 21-0 and we could have killed Fresno's confidence. Not that big of an issue, I understand why we punted away.