Some notes of interest

In an effort to reciprocate the efforts of The Ralphie Report we posted earlier this week, yours truly answered a few questions for them as well. You can see it here.

We also took part in the Week 2 Rock Chalk Roundtable. Rock Chalk Talk asked the questions and will be posting the answers soon I'm sure. We'll provide an update once it's posted, but in the meantime be sure to check out their Colorado analysis.
**UPDATE** The roundtable has been posted.

And finally, we bring your attention to the LJW. It's Thursday. Of a game week. And this is the entire scope of their football content. In Dugan's defense, I did at least enjoy the piece.

And on my end I don't have a plethora of information for you. But I did get a chance to re-watch the game last night for the first time and I made a few observations that I haven't really expounded on here yet.

1. On Todd's scramble to make it first and goal (Angus scored next play), Dezmon Briscoe not only picked up, but also held, a huge block that allowed Todd to get the last few yards. While this is expected, it's also progress.

2. Despite scoring that touchdown, Angus looked a lot worse than I remembered. Slow to hit the hole and just indecisive altogether.

3. Conversely, Jake looked even better than I remembered. Aside from his two big plays that sparked the whole rally, he really looked great running the ball. Part of it was probably the opponent. Part of it was finally getting him on the outside. PArt of it was giving him a fullback when the used the I-formation (with Drew Dudley as his blocker). But a lot of it was him finding space and not dicking around trying to break a play. He never went out of bounds and always found a way to fall forward. You'd be amazed at what those two simple things can do for you on a play by play basis, but also in setting the tone for the rest of the game.

4. Switching over, aside from their last drive, the ISU receivers really made some plays. Credit Arnaud for putting the ball where it needed to be, but they made several downfield catches that were just fantastic.

5. The flip side of that is that Kendrick Harper is definitely not up to game speed. It's great to have him back and he made a couple good breaks on balls. But until he's moving better, we need to find a way to hide him or he's going to get abused (especially deep) by OU, Tech, etc.

6. And finally, the defensive line really did look pretty decent after the first few series. It didn't translate into a ton of sacks, but they definitely got more pressure, hurried him and even hit him more than I remembered. My worry though is that there has become too much emphasis on getting pressure, because they looked much more susceptible to running plays up the middle, especially the zone read, than they have in years. This could become an issue.

That's all for now. Let me know what you think, if there's anything I missed, etc.