As I went to bed last night my disappointment was with our offense. There is little doubt that our secondary was woeful but according to Coach it was no secret. That being the case I felt our offense needed to be anything but conservative. Our path to victory was a "shoot-out", just my opinion.

31 should be enough to win but I completely understand what you are saying.

31, should have been 38, against a bad 6-6 USC should have been plenty to win if the defense bothered showing up. Defense has been the problem down the stretch.

Not worried at all. I thought they were adequate. I just believe when we had momentum in the 3rd quarter we should have not been conservative. I realize we wanted to keep the clock running but as it turns out, given our defensive issues, that didn't work.

I had a different different take.

It was our kicking that cost us the game

Taking a powder and sitting on a lead for 4 possessions sure didn't help with the outcome. Scored pretty easily when we needed to and took the lead. Why were 4 possessions essentially wasted prior to the final drive? The defense even gave the offense a short field with the Brooks int and did NOTHING with it.

Running 4 or 5 plays max on those 4 possessions sure didn't run much clock to ice the lead or extend it.

The defense was eerily similar to what has been seen before with Elko ('21 LSU or '23 Duke v ND).

Well the missed field goal & overthrown/ underthrown passes certainly didn't help; BUT, all the stupid-ass penalties that extended drives, & the defense playing like absolute DOG *****.. AGAIN, were the main culprits!!

We're a pathetic squad; everyone is showboating trying to score a lucrative NIL deal, all the while forgetting the very basics of the game. SO DEPRESSING!!!

Dorm 15 said:

---

Not worried at all. I thought they were adequate. I just believe when we had momentum in the 3rd quarter we should have not been conservative. I realize we wanted to keep the clock running but as it turns out, given our defensive issues, that didn't work.

---

In your opinion who was to blame more for the loss….offense or defense?

I agree

But our offense was fine when they were not told to run clock and be conservative. It was easy to see things changed after we were up 24-7. My guess is that's on the head coach. Not Klein. Once we had to score again. What do we do. Easily score.

As you pointed out Elko knows our secondary is a concern so he should have told Klein to open it up ALL game. Do hurry up as often as you like. But it seems that was not done until we were behind.

texag101 said:

---

Dorm 15 said:

---

Not worried at all. I thought they were adequate. I just believe when we had momentum in the 3rd quarter we should have not been conservative. I realize we wanted to keep the clock running but as it turns out, given our defensive issues, that didn't work.

---

In your opinion who was to blame more for the loss….offense or defense?

---

Head coach

Head coach knew secondary had issues and also lost best cover guy prior to game. Defense was playing well until defense with no depth started getting tired.

Now, I'm hoping Elko can learn from this. We shall see.

texag101 said:

---

So the offense marches down the field to take the lead and then the defense loses the game by letting USC drive the entire field in less than 2 minutes, and you're worried about the offense?

---

Our offense barely had 300 yards total before our last drive.

I think you are right. Coach Elko probably doesn't call specific plays but surely communicates to the OC the "pace" for lack of a better term.

Dorm 15 said:

---

I think you are right. Coach Elko probably doesn't call specific plays but surely communicates to the OC the "pace" for lack of a better term.

---

DCs as head coaches can be tricky. Their natural tendencies are to want an offense that grinds the ball, milk the clock. But that's just not realistic in today's game. I'm hoping he asks Klein what he can do to help him. And Klein tells him he wants no constraints. Wants to implement hurry up at any given time. Now I don't know if Klein is a proponent of this but my hope is that he does push for this.

Elko should understand how this hurts defenses.