Hey coach, great post and good discussion from many of the AU Faithful who like myself are obviously distraught and looking for answers after a disappointing loss to an admittedly great team. Leadership/coaching behavior "under fire" can be very telling. We were certainly under fire and I was not impressed save for a punt return, two interceptions and a few decent offensive plays called during desperate times. You nailed it when you say that we lost this game at the line of scrimmage. We did.
However, I'm troubled that we did not learn from QB rotation mistakes in the Clemson game and seemed to revert to this silly behavior in the face of another strong opponent. Any QB will tell you that they need to find a rythm to be successful. This was as painfully obvious in the Clemson game as it was in the IB. Malzahn does not seem to have faith in Lashlee or his QBs and it seems likely he is coaching scared. if that is the case then maybe GA State for Lashlee is the best move for all. To be fair, Lashlee just started calling the plays, but there is something toxic between the two of them that becomes obvious when it hits the fan. Last night would be no exception.
When a QB comes off the bench after sitting all season, JFIII or JJ, they need to be given a chance, but truthfully UAT started running stunts on D and delayed blitzes that were killing of us. Surprised that we did not stick with JJ on some quick release patterns and JFIII should have tucked it on more than one occasion. We were playing a great team and just did not have any answers, but many of us thought we could have dug deeper for a better showing. Not whining, just saying what I think I saw.
