The journey to Texas has 11 pre-scheduled stops with only one break between now & late November. There will be twists, turns & trouble along the route but through it all the Herd will progress. Following each game that progress will be analyzed. As great as the destination is, enjoy the weekly pit stops along the way!
With THE game of the season on the horizon there was a possibility that Murray State would be overlooked by the squad, at least long enough for them to get some measure of traction. That question was answered before the first cup had been emptied and they left little doubt about their ability to lock-in on a second straight over-matched opponent.
For some the story of this stop is Cam Miller dishing and dashing like he was playing against air. That's not incorrect, Miller was tremendous and continued to ascend to where Easton Stick was when he ended his legendary run.
But then, sort of like fire that's consumed all of it's lighter fluid, the impactfulness vanished. Their final six possessions of the game went punt, fumble, punt, punt, FG, end of game. So they technically ended on a slight up-tick but three points over the final 36 minutes is troubling, to put it mildly.
Worse yet, the team likely lost a few more significant contributors during the garbage time. Even if Murray State had managed to get into the end zone a time or two against third or fourth stringers, it would have continued to be garbage time. Trying to get the offense back on track during the third quarter was a defensible decision even though it was obvious that Murray State was not going to be able to make up the difference. And it paid off for Entz in that none of the main point scorers were downed.
There remains no defense for keeping all of the top defensive guys in the mix as long as they were. Murray State scoring a touchdown or two would have been a fine price to pay to keep everyone in the mix for next Saturday. There's no two ways about it, the choice to keep running the top 15 out is a black mark on his resume.
But as Harry said to Lloyd, it is possible for him and the staff to total redeem themselves by having the current 100% as sharp next Saturday as they were to start this one, with a plan that puts the hoof on the Rabbits neck as vociferously!
Frankly, you have to be guzzling the kool-aid to have confidence that that's how the Marker game will play-out but in the land of the Purple there probably are some such people.
Adding highlights such as the one-handed interception by Logan Kopp or the several that Hawk Wisniewski has hauled-in previously can cover for several mistakes. As would Jayden Price breaking the school record for punt return touchdowns, after tying it with his third quarter gem.
As tune-ups go, the vehicle should probably remain in the shop for further work to be done. Unfortunately that's not an available option for the team so they will just need to glue & duct tape the problem areas as best they can and hope that the thing doesn't blow-up on them down the highway!
Might not be as optimistic as a 38-6 would generally merit but am I wrong?
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