First, I mean what can you say? How awesome was that? Always nice to have a little pep in your step this week after a win like that.
After watching our team, I felt like credit is due to some of the other facets of our program beyond the obvious (Leach, Costello, etc).
Tyson Brown - Hats off to this dude. I've read a few mentions on here about how well conditioned we looked. While I agree, I want to pull that thread further and give Tyson Brown credit for making us TOUGH again. It's a hard thing to measure but I immediately recognized it on Saturday. I didn't fully realize the lack of toughness we had the past 2 years until Saturday. All the videos I've seen and the info I've heard, his regime was similar to what I went through with Matt Balis. I specifically remember that Balis had us so tough and in shape that it was hard for him or Mullen to punish us over something because we would almost just laugh and do whatever punishment we had to do. I get that vibe with Tyson Brown. Again, it's something that's hard to point to as a KPI but that alone can/will be a deciding factor in some of our games.
Special Teams - Got to give credit to my fellow fruitcakes. Tucker with a strong 44.7 yard average, 45.3 net, and 1 inside the 20. Dude looked like a different punter out there. Proud for him. Ruiz going 3 for 3 was also a huge boost. A few days back, a few of us on here talked a little about him being in front of Christmann. I admittedly was not a fan at all of that, but I'll admit when I'm wrong. Ruiz seems pretty solid. I certainly hate it for Christmann though as I can obviously relate to that. It sucks. But hey, hats off to Christmann for hanging in there and supporting us regardless. Lastly, it was nice to not really see any silly mistakes on special teams as a whole. I felt like we covered well and returned well. I was worried that due to lack of preparation time thanks to COVID that special teams may have taken a back seat just out of necessity. Definitely not the case. Great game for special teams.
Cohen and/or Keenum - There's been some debate on here as to who actually made the call to let Moorhead go. Whoever it was deserves a lot of credit. Sure hiring Leach was a fantastic move. But I'm more specifically talking about not accepting mediocrity, not playing the "Oh poor us at Miss. State. That's just how it is around here", and being willing put ourselves out there and act like a big boy SEC program when it comes to standards. I'm sure firing a coach after 2 years was a hard thing to do but they obviously set a standard and stuck to it. I myself didn't like where we were going with Moorhead. I WANTED him to be successful. He seemed like a fantastic guy. I was willing to give him another year to figure it out because I felt like he was an incredible person. Sadly that doesn't always translate into wins so Keenum/Cohen had to make that tough decision. And obviously, it paid off Saturday.
Lastly, I think it speaks volumes of the kind of coach that Mike Leach is. The dude took on a new program, new QB, didn't have spring practice, and was thrown a curveball with COVID. We did not look like a team coached by a new coach with a completely new staff and a completely new offensive system. We looked like a true SEC veteran team. An team that could have easily laid down when LSU hit us with some adversity. We didn't lay down. In fact we took our punches, got up, and beat LSU.
I almost started to type out sheer difference in teams (this year vs the last two years). It frustrates me to no end what those teams could have been. But I don't see any point in beating a dead horse. We're sitting pretty good at 1-0 right now.
Now that game is behind us. Week 2 - Beat Arkansas.
After watching our team, I felt like credit is due to some of the other facets of our program beyond the obvious (Leach, Costello, etc).
Tyson Brown - Hats off to this dude. I've read a few mentions on here about how well conditioned we looked. While I agree, I want to pull that thread further and give Tyson Brown credit for making us TOUGH again. It's a hard thing to measure but I immediately recognized it on Saturday. I didn't fully realize the lack of toughness we had the past 2 years until Saturday. All the videos I've seen and the info I've heard, his regime was similar to what I went through with Matt Balis. I specifically remember that Balis had us so tough and in shape that it was hard for him or Mullen to punish us over something because we would almost just laugh and do whatever punishment we had to do. I get that vibe with Tyson Brown. Again, it's something that's hard to point to as a KPI but that alone can/will be a deciding factor in some of our games.
Special Teams - Got to give credit to my fellow fruitcakes. Tucker with a strong 44.7 yard average, 45.3 net, and 1 inside the 20. Dude looked like a different punter out there. Proud for him. Ruiz going 3 for 3 was also a huge boost. A few days back, a few of us on here talked a little about him being in front of Christmann. I admittedly was not a fan at all of that, but I'll admit when I'm wrong. Ruiz seems pretty solid. I certainly hate it for Christmann though as I can obviously relate to that. It sucks. But hey, hats off to Christmann for hanging in there and supporting us regardless. Lastly, it was nice to not really see any silly mistakes on special teams as a whole. I felt like we covered well and returned well. I was worried that due to lack of preparation time thanks to COVID that special teams may have taken a back seat just out of necessity. Definitely not the case. Great game for special teams.
Cohen and/or Keenum - There's been some debate on here as to who actually made the call to let Moorhead go. Whoever it was deserves a lot of credit. Sure hiring Leach was a fantastic move. But I'm more specifically talking about not accepting mediocrity, not playing the "Oh poor us at Miss. State. That's just how it is around here", and being willing put ourselves out there and act like a big boy SEC program when it comes to standards. I'm sure firing a coach after 2 years was a hard thing to do but they obviously set a standard and stuck to it. I myself didn't like where we were going with Moorhead. I WANTED him to be successful. He seemed like a fantastic guy. I was willing to give him another year to figure it out because I felt like he was an incredible person. Sadly that doesn't always translate into wins so Keenum/Cohen had to make that tough decision. And obviously, it paid off Saturday.
Lastly, I think it speaks volumes of the kind of coach that Mike Leach is. The dude took on a new program, new QB, didn't have spring practice, and was thrown a curveball with COVID. We did not look like a team coached by a new coach with a completely new staff and a completely new offensive system. We looked like a true SEC veteran team. An team that could have easily laid down when LSU hit us with some adversity. We didn't lay down. In fact we took our punches, got up, and beat LSU.
I almost started to type out sheer difference in teams (this year vs the last two years). It frustrates me to no end what those teams could have been. But I don't see any point in beating a dead horse. We're sitting pretty good at 1-0 right now.
Now that game is behind us. Week 2 - Beat Arkansas.
