Post-Mortem on Louisiana Tech vs Southern Miss

[TYLERTECHSAS]

I posted this on CSNBBS, but will repeat here; our near loss at UTEP and the S. Miss collapse have the same root cause, our horrendous O-Line performance since bye week:

-Run was completely stopped due to not opening any holes (why we didn't start using a FB blocker I don't know, Dixon is good but having to make cuts in the backfield usually means disaster)
-No run option put all pressure on QB, who, due to horrendous pass blocking, was pressured & sacked multiple times
-Short time in the pocket took away long developing/deep routes,
-Allowed double up in the short/crossing game to stop YAC and 2nd defender to jump routes for INT's
-Forced to change game plan away from normal plays plus pressure to score/catch up we made many mental errors (7 Turnovers!!!!)

Our O-line has fallen apart and I don't know why, I'd like to hear Warner's analysis/take on their performance the last two games though.

Good post.

[T1]

True, you can't. But in this case, most of our turnovers came long after the outcome of the game was already decided. USM had already taken us to the wood shed and spanked us before most of the turnovers had a real impact on scoring.

Not really. It was only 24-17 after the 3rd turnover. We started the 4th quarter down 31-17 with the ball at about midfield. Then 3 turnovers on 3 consecutive plays put the game away early in the 4th quarter. Higgins added another turnover in the red zone just for good measure.

[HogDawg]

Not really. It was only 24-17 after the 3rd turnover. We started the 4th quarter down 31-17 with the ball at about midfield. Then 3 turnovers on 3 consecutive plays put the game away early in the 4th quarter. Higgins added another turnover in the red zone just for good measure.

Now you're nit picking. The game was definitely over at 31-17. LA Tech had no momentum, no will, and no energy. You could see it in the players' body language. They were ready to hit the showers.

[T1]

Now you're nit picking. The game was definitely over at 31-17. LA Tech had no momentum, no will, and no energy. You could see it in the players' body language. They were ready to hit the showers.

Close, but still not over at that point. True that drive to make it 31-17 was huge for USM. If we had held them there and got the ball back down 24-17 to start the 4th, I think we win the game. But we still had a really good chance to cut it to 31-24 with a 1st and 10 on their 40 to start the 4th quarter. But the very first play we fumbled the handoff, USM recovered, and then their first play they had a 57 yard run for a TD (they had about 50 yards rushing for the game before that play). I think the fumble was the killer emotionally. The TD run ended the game.