Let me say this first: A HUGE thanks to Coach Brown, his staff, and these young men for an incredible season. I knew coming in that we were young and this still may not be our year. I figured we were 1-2 years out from being dominant again. This team showed so much heart from game one versus WKU all the way though making the game interesting yesterday.
We simply ran into a better defensive team. ISU did everything right: They controlled the LOS on both sides, they threw Breylin out of his rhythm, got to him too many times, and did not give us a chance to consistently stop their great running back. Dude is a stud, no doubt. Hats off to ISU for a great game.
Yes, the officiating was horrendous. I kept wondering if the crew was from the MVFC. But the officiating cannot be the blame for how we played or the outcome. Yes, many penalties were bogus, but only a couple really hurt us (the "leaping" penalty was a bogus call, and the ref knew it. We were layout out to block a ball at the same time a defender came into attempt a low block. White hat held that flag until the very end to throw).
I got there mid Q1 and missed the punch thrown, but kudos for Nathan for getting all over the refs in that moment. I would not have blamed him for getting a 15 yarder.
Instead of a game review, I'd like to post what I think is needed for 2020 and beyond:
Offense
I'm going to echo the sentiments of many here, and things I've said all season: Either Collums needs to be removed from the play calling, or Nathan needs to be more involved. I look at where we were 2 years ago to now. Sure, we're younger, but the play calls are just not there. We knew what we were up against and played into ISU's strengths all day. This is a team you have to play dink and dunk on, and then sneak in a couple of runs. They were big and physical up front; no way we were going to consistently win that battle.
The two plays that made up my mind about this were:
1. The 4th and 1 or 2 where we went for it (rightfully so), but looked completely unorganized as to what to do. They loaded the box. We should have called a TO and discussed what to do there. Instead, they went with the play we had and we got stopped. It was not the right play in that situation. We should have at least discussed it when we saw them bring everyone up.
2. The whatever and goal from the 2 (was with 4th?) and we try to run Breylin on a sneak off the right side. Wrong play. That's a Carlos play all day. Play the dive. Nothing against Breylin, but with a strong defensive line against our O-line, we needed size and power off the right side.
Just poor play calling and decisions at critical moments.
Regardless of what happens at the OC position, the good news is our young guys got a lot of experience. I know Breylin is going to be reviewing film in the off-season and learn from his mistakes as well as learn more about defensive coverage and finding our open guys. I know the O-line is going to get bigger, stronger, more explosive off the ball. Playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores (who many got their first full season starts this year) was a tall order, but they will get better. They learned a lot and generally improved over the course of the year. That was encouraging to see. Even against a good team yesterday they were able to get some openings for runs. They have got to assert themselves more on pass blocking and keep the pocket secure for Breylin next year.
Also, has anyone thought about our receiving corp next year? We get Brandon Meyers back from injury, Winningham back, Hudson will be back, Blakely back, etc. Camargo back at TE plus we're decently deep there. We very well may have the best receiving corp in FCS next year. We're losing Carlos, which stinks, but I know Kiki wants revenge after this year. I'll be interested in seeing some of these young guys coming up next year to replace Carlos' power running game.
As a whole, I'm excited about the offense. Sure, I think we need some changes around play calling, but I think we'll be more assertive and dominant next year IF we stay healthy during offseason and pre-season camp.
Defense:
I thought defensively we got better, and honestly played pretty well in the second half. We adjusted well. Two things we were not good at all year though:
1. We were not good against mobile QB's. We needed someone to play scout to keep the QB from scrambling on us. It hurt us yesterday and throughout the season.
2. We're bad on the edges. We're pretty stout up the middle. We would not contain the RB's on the edge at all yesterday and that is where they got their big gains (along with the QB scrambles/draws). Again, this is experience that this team will use to grow from, no doubt.
We're losing a couple of playmakers in the secondary, so I hope we have the next guys ready to go. No doubt we're reloading nicely from the recruiting reports I'm seeing on Twitter.
I don't know about everyone else, but I feel we have the brightest future for winning football in the state, and maybe the conference. It's a good feeling to be a Bear, and like Ma Bear said, better feeling than being a fan of the team on the hill!
Go Bears, and let's make 2020 even more special than 2019 was!
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