Hatemay Game Thoughts- Toledo Edition

First off-  Great to see everyone down at the tailgate.  Big thanks go to Crissie and Mr. Crissie for yet another great tailgate party.  We met a few new NUGies.  Wayne (sp?) and his family made the drive from Ogden, and it is always good to see "ihavenofriendzz." 

Quarterback-  Kellen made a great throw on the deep ball to Titus Young when he rolled on two defenders and made it into the end zone.  Yes, I understand that ball was under thrown a bit, but Kellen threw that ball from the far left hash and threw it across a good part of the field.  My favorite Kellen moment was watching him "rush" for 7 yards or something like that.  I must say that Chris Potter played well with the Wild Avery in the select moments at QB.

Running backs-  It was heartwarming to see Jeremy Avery make some good runs out of the Wild Avery.  In preparation for this game, the Coaches saw something on the outside contain and speed (or lack of it)  with the Toledo defense, hence multiple uses/ successes/TD's with the Wild Avery inside the red zone. Doug Martin was quiet.  Was it me, or did we not exactly establish the run in this game?  I know, we had many rushing yards, and Avery did well in the red zone, but it seemed that we came out throwing.  And yes, I know, we have a Heisman candidate at QB, so it is not like he can't pass.  But, I want to see Doug Martin run over people.  Jarvis Hodge had a very Doug Martin moment when he met the Toledo LB in the hole, and got the  best of him.  It is inspiring to see a 3rd string RB run with heart and toughness like that...even when the game had already been decided.  

Wide Receivers-  Toledo didn't see the double pass coming.  Great execution.  Maybe I am being too hard on Pettis, but this is the 2nd straight game with a drop.  I wonder what is up.  Titus was very reliable.  Our receivers continue to block well on the outside, which is huge come games where we must run the ball effectively. 

Offensive Line-  No sacks, plenty of rushing yards. If, I am not mistaken... no holding penalties, or false starts. Kellen had lots of time to pass.  What more could we want from our big men up front?  Good work big fellas. 

Defensive line-  Played well.  Shea McClellin is on the fast track to all WAC honors.  Him and the other starting 3 on our D-Line.  Battle in the trenches went to our D-Line.  That probably went with out saying, but I felt the urge to state the obvious. Does anyone know what is up with Canadian Bacon?  Do we need to put out an APB?  I did not see him enter the game, nor did I see him in street clothes on the sideline.  Looking for a little help here NUGies. 

Line Backers-  We need to wrap up a little better, and that goes for the whole defense.  This was our worst tackling game.  The only thing Toledo could do effectively was throw the check down,  crossing routes.  Which seemed to be right were our line backers should be in their coverage zones, except if they are blitzing.  Our coaching staff seemed to make more adjustments as time went on and we stayed in more coverage and let the front four do most of the pass rushing, which seemed to slow that down.  I know that our defense forced 5 turnovers.  That is phenomenal, it really is.  but we can do better and have much to improve on. 

Secondary-  George Iloka had many open field tackles while on the one on one coverages.  That is big.  We must be able to limit the down field yards when matched up on the receivers man to man.   He wasn't the only one to make those type of plays either.  Brandyn Thompson and the rest of the secondary had a good game.  Injury report on Jeron Johnson?  Did anyone catch anything on the post-game?  I was surprised to see Jason Robinson replace him.  I expected to see Cedric Febis.  I know that Jason Robinson and there won't be much drop off.

Special Teams-  Oh brother.  This is becoming a problem... with our Kick off that is.  The other parts of our special teams were good.  Solid.  This kick off issue is bad.  I am not the best with kick off X's and O's, so I am at a bit of a loss.  But, I hope we aren't at our best in early October. we need to be improving with each game.  And we have plenty of work to do in this department.

Potpourri- Our trick play success rate was near 100 % with the lone exception of the holding penalty on the fake punt.  I did not TiVo the game, so I do not have the luxury of seeing who was holding on that play.  I was really bummed that the Toledo mascot, The "Rocket" did not make the trip.  Anyone else think the the Toledo coach should have been ejected when he threw his game plans at the line judge for the illegal snap when his team lined up for the two point conversion?  Our does anyone else think that the Toledo head coach is a moron for leaving his starters in so long?  The injury to his quarterback and receiver  are on him.  That is a bad decision.  Much like the decision by the Great Robb Akey to leave in his starters when down by more than 40 points just to prove he could score on our second string defense.  Such blunders by coaches will now be know as pulling an Akey.  I have been on both ends of the score on Saturday night.  When we were ahead, our coach put in the JV, and ran the ball out.  When we were losing, he would put in the JV and run the ball out.  He refused to risk injury when a game got out of hand.  Maybe the Toledo coach re-think his late game decision making.  I hope we can do another tailgate when LA Tech comes to town. By the way, I have been watching youtube videos of the Eagles live performances.  Does anyone know where I can get a pair of blue and yellow crescent moon pajama pants?  Go Broncos.