If you had asked me pre-season what my dream start to the season would be, I’m not sure I could have hoped for more than what we have seen. The running game has gotten on track, our defense has gone from a liability to an overall strength, the OL has established themselves as a very strong unit, we have successfully replaced perhaps the most proficient QB in program history... the list goes on. Perhaps most importantly though, we have done all of this without losing any games or key personnel.
While the start to the season couldn’t have gone better, the season really starts now. And I’m including this bye week as part of that because being healthy is one thing but staying healthy is another and there’s a lot of work that goes into that; work that needs to be happening now. Here’s a look at what I want to see from our guys over the next 4 weeks and I’d love to hear your thoughts and wishes too.
1) Day seemingly has this team mentally prepared every week, which speaks volumes about the culture, the quality of men in the locker room, and the leadership. We have two patsies coming up but the Maryland game is one we need to have elite focus heading into the game, for a couple reasons. First, they took us to the wire and should have won the game last year. They’ll be gunning for us early and we need to crush all hope before they get a chance to take a breath. Second reason is health. Kill them, then button it up with conservative game control and let the backups get that work. Being healthy is the key to beating Penn State and Michigan.
2) We can run the ball at you, around you, and through you. Now I think we need to take the next step in the offensive progression: throwing over the middle. Wisconsin came downhill on us a lot and we didn’t fully open things up until we hit KJ and Olave on crossers / slants over the middle. I want to see us continue to build on this over the next two weeks. Not just to get it on tape so our opponents think twice about selling out on our run, but to actually get live reps connecting on man beaters and middle third zone killers.
3) kicker has built some damn momentum. I wouldn’t mind it if we manufactured additional high pressure kicks for him to continue to build live game reps. 3 points is huge in big games because of the momentum and field position implications. This could be a huge weapon for us.
4) Make Garrett Wilson the full time punt returner. Continue to get him reps catching the ball and let him take one to the house in one of our next two games.
bonus:
- get Chase Young an offensive touchdown to continue his Heisman hype. How cool would that be?
While the start to the season couldn’t have gone better, the season really starts now. And I’m including this bye week as part of that because being healthy is one thing but staying healthy is another and there’s a lot of work that goes into that; work that needs to be happening now. Here’s a look at what I want to see from our guys over the next 4 weeks and I’d love to hear your thoughts and wishes too.
1) Day seemingly has this team mentally prepared every week, which speaks volumes about the culture, the quality of men in the locker room, and the leadership. We have two patsies coming up but the Maryland game is one we need to have elite focus heading into the game, for a couple reasons. First, they took us to the wire and should have won the game last year. They’ll be gunning for us early and we need to crush all hope before they get a chance to take a breath. Second reason is health. Kill them, then button it up with conservative game control and let the backups get that work. Being healthy is the key to beating Penn State and Michigan.
2) We can run the ball at you, around you, and through you. Now I think we need to take the next step in the offensive progression: throwing over the middle. Wisconsin came downhill on us a lot and we didn’t fully open things up until we hit KJ and Olave on crossers / slants over the middle. I want to see us continue to build on this over the next two weeks. Not just to get it on tape so our opponents think twice about selling out on our run, but to actually get live reps connecting on man beaters and middle third zone killers.
3) kicker has built some damn momentum. I wouldn’t mind it if we manufactured additional high pressure kicks for him to continue to build live game reps. 3 points is huge in big games because of the momentum and field position implications. This could be a huge weapon for us.
4) Make Garrett Wilson the full time punt returner. Continue to get him reps catching the ball and let him take one to the house in one of our next two games.
bonus:
- get Chase Young an offensive touchdown to continue his Heisman hype. How cool would that be?
