Picking Up The Pieces

With the Cougs limping away from its 3rd loss in 4 games the jerseys in blue are still looking for answers trying to put the puzzle pieces together. The Cougs will also be without the services of junior Romney Fuga who is done for the season injuring his ACL and LCL. Absolutely no clue and appalling how an entire officiating crew could miss that one. Considering as young as the jerseys in blue are and have the fourth toughest schedule in the nation can only help ease the pain so much. Some positives from saturday? Holding a team that averaged nearly 51 a game to 27 for starters. The cougs also only had one penalty and had no turnovers. It was nice to see Hoffman seeing more looks. Also a beautiful site was having "Juice" getting more involved. Hoffman and Quezada by all means should have outstanding careers and those need more touches. The Heaps era is also officially underway and the passing game is starting to take shape with 229 yards against the wolfpack. Lets remember that Heaps is only beginning to get the necessary full time reps to learn his receivers. In the last three previous games the Cougs only mustered 115 yards against FSU, 73 yards again Air Force and 131 with the Washington matchup. So yes the air attack is making strides.

Whats missing though from the passing game are the tight ends. Through the first four games the TE position has only 7 catches. By comparison in the Oklahoma game last year alone there were 10. Got four freshmen at the position in Austin Holt, Devin Mahina, Richard Wilson, and Mike Muehlmann who were all great recruits. The tight ends must get more involved. Someone has got to step up for the air game to be complete and keep defenses honest.

On defense the secondary has been solid considering both Logan (was even a gametime decision) and Rich were banged up. Apparently junior linebacker Jameson Frazier even broke his thumb in the Nevada matchup but returned to action and is not expected to miss any time against the aggies. Andrew Rich on the season is the second in the nation for solo tackles with 30 and 47 overall. Unfortunately, that is not a good sign. Stopping the run has got to be a priority when seeing the Cougs are currently ranked 112th against the run. Keep in mind Nevada went for it on almost every fourth down definately not showing the Cougs defense any respect. Pendleton is clearly a presence who makes plays but somehow others must begin to step up especially with losing Fuga. Stout and Van Noy need to find a way to get on the field more. The potential is there and with more reps understanding the schemes and the execution at a higher level will happen.

In every game there will always be some questionables. Back the truck up what did I miss. Those kind of things. Not sure how the Cougs can only find a 2 yard punt and on a fourth and four calling a sweep. With the schedule beginning to "lighten" up things should begin to improve for the Cougs being a 6 point favorite. Although, this week will be a short one as the Cougs travel to Logan matching up against the Aggies.