When you back up and just look at how so many of the drives went against Duke (not just the 2nd to last play call in OT), it just felt like a lot of those plays were called for a different set of personnel..., not what we have.
Why was Porter featured so little during the game: after Porter ripped off 46 yards on the first 2 plays of the first drive, why did he only get 8 more carries and 3 receptions in the rest of regulation. This game felt like it should have been a feature game for him with so little else working: I'm reminded of Isaiah Bowser's game against Rutgers where he rushed 24 times against Rutgers and felt like the only thing that worked at times, so we just kept feeding him the ball. Feels like Porter should've touched the ball at least 20-25 times in regulation as the only play that had high odds of generating yardage.
Joe Himon II gave some big runs towards the end, but Komolafe's didn't go anywhere and included a fumble.
Also felt like we just didn't even use Wright's attributes well, should've been on the ground running more; decision making wasn't there and 4 or 5 of his throws were straight at Duke players (could've been much worse than just the 1 INT they brought down).
Trying to use Henning with screen passes/short plays worked at times, but beyond that I'm really pressed to come up with anything that worked well in that game. Hard to get the ball to Kirtz or Gordon or anyone else since threading those passes isn't Wright's game. Can't really win many games if the offense is going 3-5 plays and out nearly every drive (even in/near Duke territory) without using much clock due to 15-20 incompletions.
Again the whole game just felt like an offense that was called for players that this offense doesn't have. In subsequent years, Lujan has to find the personnel that work, but for now, the offense needs to be something that works for the players that we have.
Defense was great all night (punt team made huge plays as well); the fact that we held Duke to basically 1 FG on something like 10-12 drives outside of a TD that they got off a turnover was incredible. But if the defense is going to have to do that much work, you're not going to win games if the offense can't take much advantage of any of the opportunities that it got from the defense/punt team.
I'm not a big believer that one play call loses the game although that 3rd and 1 play call from the Duke 3 yard line in 2OT was a disaster when Porter had already given you 6 big runs in OT including a TD. Just feed him 2 more times and live with the result. If you lose because you can't get 1 yard in 2 rushes, then it is what it is. At least you gave yourself a chance to win instead of taking an 8 yard loss there and running a 4th and 9 play that had way lower odds.
The game was lost when we didn't capitalize at all on all the opportunities (especially in the 2nd half) that we had to make it a 2 score game in regulation. Should have never come down to Duke having a chance for a FG to tie it at the end or OT.
Lujan has a lot of work to do because the offense has just not worked for 2 straight games, and we're likely to be going up against even tougher defenses later on in the year.
Final note: I expect to see Lausch at some point as QB just to see if there's anything he can do that works.
Why was Porter featured so little during the game: after Porter ripped off 46 yards on the first 2 plays of the first drive, why did he only get 8 more carries and 3 receptions in the rest of regulation. This game felt like it should have been a feature game for him with so little else working: I'm reminded of Isaiah Bowser's game against Rutgers where he rushed 24 times against Rutgers and felt like the only thing that worked at times, so we just kept feeding him the ball. Feels like Porter should've touched the ball at least 20-25 times in regulation as the only play that had high odds of generating yardage.
Joe Himon II gave some big runs towards the end, but Komolafe's didn't go anywhere and included a fumble.
Also felt like we just didn't even use Wright's attributes well, should've been on the ground running more; decision making wasn't there and 4 or 5 of his throws were straight at Duke players (could've been much worse than just the 1 INT they brought down).
Trying to use Henning with screen passes/short plays worked at times, but beyond that I'm really pressed to come up with anything that worked well in that game. Hard to get the ball to Kirtz or Gordon or anyone else since threading those passes isn't Wright's game. Can't really win many games if the offense is going 3-5 plays and out nearly every drive (even in/near Duke territory) without using much clock due to 15-20 incompletions.
Again the whole game just felt like an offense that was called for players that this offense doesn't have. In subsequent years, Lujan has to find the personnel that work, but for now, the offense needs to be something that works for the players that we have.
Defense was great all night (punt team made huge plays as well); the fact that we held Duke to basically 1 FG on something like 10-12 drives outside of a TD that they got off a turnover was incredible. But if the defense is going to have to do that much work, you're not going to win games if the offense can't take much advantage of any of the opportunities that it got from the defense/punt team.
I'm not a big believer that one play call loses the game although that 3rd and 1 play call from the Duke 3 yard line in 2OT was a disaster when Porter had already given you 6 big runs in OT including a TD. Just feed him 2 more times and live with the result. If you lose because you can't get 1 yard in 2 rushes, then it is what it is. At least you gave yourself a chance to win instead of taking an 8 yard loss there and running a 4th and 9 play that had way lower odds.
The game was lost when we didn't capitalize at all on all the opportunities (especially in the 2nd half) that we had to make it a 2 score game in regulation. Should have never come down to Duke having a chance for a FG to tie it at the end or OT.
Lujan has a lot of work to do because the offense has just not worked for 2 straight games, and we're likely to be going up against even tougher defenses later on in the year.
Final note: I expect to see Lausch at some point as QB just to see if there's anything he can do that works.
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