I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, but I feel obligated to voice my opinions and observations about the game against MSU. I apologize for being late with my writings, but I traveled a little bit over the weekend and returned home to do some last minute home work. Here we go.

Offensively we were not effective. I think that has been established. We must give credit where credit is due, MSU has a solid defense, and they very well may play for the Rose Bowl. We did not establish the run and that prevented us from having an effective play-action game. Yes, our offensive line was undersized, however, the silver lining to that was our line did not give up any sacks. Joe Southwick only forced one throw, and the was an interception in the red zone. There are alot of people (those who know sports, and those who don't) jumping on Southwick for his performance. Have people forgot about a returning starter who opened up in Athens, GA who threw four first half interceptions and lost one fumble against a top 25 opponent? We need to keep some optimism and realism. Our coaching staff is finding a balance with what Southwick can handle as well as plays that our team as a whole can effectively run. Our fan base wasn't naive enough to think that Southwick would operate with the same degree of difficulty of plays with the same precision as Kellen Moore? This is one game, it does not define our season, and our staff will get things figured out.

Our wide receivers were kept fairly quiet although we had good efforts from Kirby Moore and Mitch Burroughs, with Matt Miller getting harassed by potential first round draft pick Johnny Adams all night. Our tight ends were very quiet, and that is because our tight ends are usually 2nd and 3rd options of passing routes, and Southwick was probably trying to keep things simple and not get too fancy in a hostile environment.

Defensively our team played very well. Once again our boys up front were out weighed (with the exception of Atkinson and Tjong-A-Tjoe of course) by probably 20 pounds per guy, but that didn't matter. Demarcus Lawrence, Beau Martin, Sam Ukuawachu, Dextrell Simmons and others were all over the field. Our team showed they wouldn't back down to a bigger, faster opponent. Credit goes to young guys in the secondary, Bryan Douglas, Darian Thompson, and Jeremy Ioane for making plays, forcing fumbles, and even taking an interception to the house. Our defense was on the field for way too long. We held a top 10 team to 17 points in their own house, that was more than enough to get the victory.

Kicking game was great. Credit goes to Michael Frisina for making his two field goal attempts.

I hope alot of fans can realize this is the first game. We opened with a tough opponent on the road, and this time around we weren't on top. Life goes on. No need to cast stones at Pete, Prince, Southwick or anyone else. We replace an unprecedented amount of NFL talent, and it showed. That is no one's fault. The best quarterback is playing. I am not taking anything away from Hedrick, Laughrea, or Patti, but it is not the time to question our coaches pick at quarterback. The last thing we need now is a quarterback debacle. Why don't we keep perspective a little bit: Idaho lost to a D-2 opponent, Pitt lost to a D-2 opponent, Houston lost to a D-2 opponent, Florida struggled with a pretty decent Bowling Green, Wisconsin struggled with Northern Iowa, and so on. People are acting like the Titanic went down, and it didn't. We lost a dingy if anything at all. We play the game for one reason:

Herm Edwards "You play to win the game!" (via aarondesmarais)

We have more games to play, and more wins to earn. By now our staff has watched film, discussed it, showed our guys where mistakes were made, and now it is time to focus on Miami (OH). When we open on the Blue we need to be out and support our team. We have large expectations, and we can still fulfill goals of winning the conference.