Rice Post Game Thoughts

[LongJim]

After watching most (not all) of the 'performance' from yesterday, here's my take on a few things. FWIW, I believed Rice was much better than many here were giving them credit for. Probably their best team since 2006, and even better than that team.

Special Teams

I'll not go into this debacle too much, but want to say that most of what happened out there can be addressed by coaching. Read into that what you want. I believe that TD is trying to get his playmakers on the field as much as possible. When those guys are out there, they have to produce, though. They can't muff kicks. Can't miss XP's. Have to wrap up when they tackle. One thing that can help this situation will be next year's recruiting class. This team needs more depth, and the ability to replace a player who isn't getting the job done with another who will. That's the kind of coaching I'm talking about. Can't do it at this point.

Defense/Offense

Need more bodies on the line. Same old same old. As I've mentioned before--the DL and OL is where the entire tone of the offense and defense is set, and as McCombs alluded to again in the MG blog--that tone is currently set at 'wussy'. Who's going to step up? When this team can get depth and more quality on the lines, they will miraculously improve almost overnight. Very thin in these areas. Again, another recruting class will help.

It's time for the MG to check their intestinal fortitude. 'They are all they've got', so they need to suck it up and realize there ain't no cavalry coming. SBC play starts. Who is going to step up?