Week 10 - Paradise Lost

Week 10 - Paradise Lost

There's no other way to say this:  I still feel like throwing up.  Normally I try to watch at least some of the replay before writing in the blog.  But I really don't want to see this one again.  Yes, it's respectable to play UAT tough and to be in it until the last play, but damn, it hurts to lose one you had won.  To sum it up, the a snippet of the lyrics to Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath" kept flashing through my mind last night ...

"And the all time winner

Has got him by the balls."

The 'Dogs had Alabama by the balls ... and failed to do what one what a winner must do in a street fight with a badass, i.e., when you've got ahold of them, squeeeeeeeze!!!

One like this sticks in one's craw.  Despite the late night, I awakened a little before 6:00 a.m. and kept asking myself, "Did we really lose that game, or am I just having a nightmare?!?"  According to the highlights, it appears that we lost.  Hard to accept when your line on both sides dominates the other teams' for 3 quarters.  Kudos to Hevesy and the OL.  I knew our OL was a helluva lot better than we expected before the season, but I didn't know they were that good.  If the Tide is the Tide -- and we'll find out soon against Auburn and UGA if they are -- then State's OL is damn good.  And the defense did a masterful job for 3 quarters, stopping the run and harrassing Jalen "I've Been" Hurts.  However, UAT eventually exposed the chink in our armor, speed in the secondary and our inability to cover fast receivers.  I feared the big play, and in the end that was the difference in the game.  Had State not given up 2-3 long pass plays, UAT would've been far up the fecal creek.  But "ifs" don't count for much ... and Calvin Ridley was the best player on the field and the difference in the game.  The 'Dogs had no answer, other than having Hurts try throwing from the prone position.  And Hurts had poise in the clutch (lots easier with no pressure).  He showed why Dan had recruited him so hard out of high school. 

I don't feel much like belaboring my memories of the game, but a couple of more observations:  I liked Grantham's aggressiveness and thought other than the long 3rd down conversion on a late drive, when State blitzed the house, that it paid off.  Did the defense wear down?  I don't think so.  Dan continued playing his 2nd team D line and LB's and to substitute liberally in the secondary throughout the game.  (In fact, to be candid, I thought that this was the first game in which there was a discernible difference when the 2nd unit was in there.)  If anything UAT should have been the ones who were tired because the 'Dog line had them on skates, pushing them around most of the game.  Simmons once again proved he was a man among men.  Damn, he's good.  It was good having Cory Thomas back in.  Gerri Green and Montez Sweat, and Dez Harris (before his injury) kept pressure on Hurts and the Tide backs on their backs.  I won't name call any of those who didn't get the job done in the clutch ... don't think it was from lack of effort.  One thing is clear:  If you are going to play fast, physical, and aggressive, it helps when you're actually fast.  Our team speed is certainly better, but we have to improve it in the secondary if we're going to be a true contender in the SEC West.

Finally, I have to say this:  I thought that at 2 critical points in the game that the coaches did not maintain the level of aggressiveness an offense must have to beat a top notch opponent:  One of those times was at the end of the 3rd/start of the 4th when the Bulldogs were up and driving for another TD.  We seemed to get conservative -- perhaps afraid of a turnover that might mean coming away with no points and willing to settle for a FG.  A TD there and the game was over.  The second was when we had just made a stand, forced a missed FG with the game tied, had some time and all the momentum.  Again we seemed to play not to lose rather than to try to win.  When I was in grad school at Florida, I saw a coach with elite talent who routinely sent his trips to bowl games (before there were 1,001 bowls) get fired because his stated philosophy was "avoid losing."  The fans hated that and wanted to play to win, not to keep from losing.  That's why the Gator fans loved Spurrier so much ... not just because he won, but because he started throwing punches from the moment he came off the stool.  Perhaps Dan found the almost forgotten Doug Dickey's old "avoid losing" playbook lying around in a corner in Gainesville?  To beat the champion, you have to knock him out, not just clinch and hold and try not to get knocked out.  As Jordan Rodgers of the SEC Network said in making the point a week earlier about how LSU had to play to have a chance to beat UAT, "Empty the clip!"  But to be fair, if we had gone all out throwing the ball, thrown a pick at the end, and lost the game that way, we fans would've been raising hell and saying, "What the hell is wrong with Dan?!?  All we had to do was keep running the ball, and we could've beaten them in OT!"  Sometimes you just can't win for losing ... and losing sucks.

I hope this team can get their dobbers out of the dirt now ... and win 2 games that are eminently winnable.  This can still be a special year if State plays the way they're shown they're capable of playing.  Hail, State! And bleep UAT.