Proud of the defensive effort today

I think the majority of the youth, inexperience, and injuries we've dealt with thus far have all been on the offensive side of the ball. Hopefully we'll get Samuel and Edwards back for next Saturday - we've already gotten Camper back earlier than expected, and Dowdle played today for the first time this season, and played well for the few carries he got.

To start the season, I leaned more to Orth starting at QB, knowing that McIlwain would still get a number of snaps to show how ready he was to lead the offense. Then, once we realized that our OL and run game was lacking, I felt McIlwain should start based on his ability to contribute with his legs, running the ball and thus adding that dynamic to the offense and keeping opposing defenses more honest.

But I was also expecting him to pass the ball better than he has, and now the last 2-3 games he hasn't really been able to gain yds on the ground even though he was averaging more rushing attempts than anyone else (barely 2.0 ypc), and lately his passing has declined. Now with the addition of Dowdle to the equation perhaps we need to see more passing from Orth when Brandon struggles in the air game.

We've seen glimpses of talent from Samuel, Edwards, Davis, Dawkins, and now Charleston, and Googer has also contributed. We just need to get to where we can have 3-4 of them contributing in the same game at the same time, lol.

In other words, I think we're seeing gradual improvement based on just adding experience with each passing week, if nothing more. Hopefully it continues...