We were flawed all year. Even at top strength. We were much better than we have been. We are moving in the right direction. But we were/are flawed. So was Duke. Their weakness (passing game) matched ours (secondary), so it was good matchup.
Yesterday was us - it's who we were. All year (with a couple of exceptions) we played to the level of our competition. We never crushed lesser teams. We gave better teams a scare.
Across all sports, that is a trait shared by young teams, and by teams that are competitive, but not Top 20. Teams with some strengths, and some weaknesses.
Injuries contributed because even our improved depth is not team wide. But our games were usually determined by the clock. If we had the ball last, we could score and win. If we needed stops, we'd lose, because our defense was never good late - too slow, by then too tired, sometimes confused. They could compete early, but as a smart man once said, "Son, being ahead at halftime don't mean ****."
And all year we have not done "clock" well. I hate that, but I don't coach. We take passing to the prom and we dance. Same thing yesterday.
When we got the ball with 6:03 left, if I coach, we run run run. Our first play was a 50 yard pass. So we scored at 4:03. Now we need a stop to win.did anybody think we'd get it? They scored at 0:41.
We made em work. But we gave them clock. If we kill 3 minutes off the clock, they maybe don't score. They are flawed too. But almost anybody can score late if WE give them 4:00 minutes late.
But it was a great thrill to go bowling. We represented ourselves well. This season keeps us moving in the right direction.
Yesterday was us - it's who we were. All year (with a couple of exceptions) we played to the level of our competition. We never crushed lesser teams. We gave better teams a scare.
Across all sports, that is a trait shared by young teams, and by teams that are competitive, but not Top 20. Teams with some strengths, and some weaknesses.
Injuries contributed because even our improved depth is not team wide. But our games were usually determined by the clock. If we had the ball last, we could score and win. If we needed stops, we'd lose, because our defense was never good late - too slow, by then too tired, sometimes confused. They could compete early, but as a smart man once said, "Son, being ahead at halftime don't mean ****."
And all year we have not done "clock" well. I hate that, but I don't coach. We take passing to the prom and we dance. Same thing yesterday.
When we got the ball with 6:03 left, if I coach, we run run run. Our first play was a 50 yard pass. So we scored at 4:03. Now we need a stop to win.did anybody think we'd get it? They scored at 0:41.
We made em work. But we gave them clock. If we kill 3 minutes off the clock, they maybe don't score. They are flawed too. But almost anybody can score late if WE give them 4:00 minutes late.
But it was a great thrill to go bowling. We represented ourselves well. This season keeps us moving in the right direction.
