re: Game 1 Discussion Thread: Florida @ Utah (Thursday August 31, 2023 @ 8pm EST)

My takeaways from this game:

1. Mertz keeps us in the game. He was 31-44 (70% completion rate) for 333 yds. The only thing he really did bad was take sacks instead of throwing balls away.

2. We look slow. We look small. The big guys we do have aren’t fast-twitch and are what I refer to as bad-body-guys. Don’t look athletic.

3. Rob Sale is a moron.

4. We lack attention to detail. There is no excuse ever, for any reason, to have two players on the field with the same number.

5. Kicking game, which was once the best in the country, seems to have fallen off a cliff.

6. 13 yards rushing….13. Etienne only had 7 touches all night. See #3.

7. Penalties. Poorly timed ones at that. False starts in the red zone are inexcusable.

8. We look slow. The up-tempo needs to be a staple if we’re going to keep this season from going off the rails. Down 2 scores and we were dragging arse.

9. Defense is not improved at any area. We got some stops, but at least two drives were them stopping themselves. Gone are the days of our LB’s flying all over the field and the defense attacking the ball.

10. I don’t think anyone expected us to win. We were hopeful we’d at least be competitive and look competent like last year. That didn’t happen, but there’s nothing stopping this team from pulling their heads out of their asses and seeing the light of day. As much as we messed up tonight, it’s a totally different game if we eliminate the penalties alone.