clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: Sun Bowl Edition

What went right, what went wrong. and everything in between Vs Washington State. Plus team grades.

By Jerry Steinberg
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes, more mistakes, and missed opportunities.

Oh,  and a whole lot of snow.

The Hurricanes were not the less talented team today.  They were the sloppier one. Sloppier than even the weather.

Still they had two really good chances to go ahead in the final quarter.

But they could not close the deal.

What a frustrating end to a frustrating era.

The particulars below.


The Good:

  • We hear Demetrius Jackson used his Sun Bowl per diem to buy toys for kids in the hospital.  AWESOME!
  • This speaks for itself.

  • It snowed at the Sun Bowl!  Football is meant to be played in the cold (sometimes).
  • Great 15 play response on the Hurricanes opening possession.  Stacy Coley was the target on not 1 but 2 4th down conversions.

  • Brad Kaaya to Coley for 36, staring down the barrel of a huge hit.
  • Hello Braxton Berrios with the 60 yard run off the jet sweep.   Where has that been?
  • Great 4th Q redemption for Rashawn Scott.  His huge 46 yard catch in the 4th was spectacular.  Too bad it was all for not.


The Bad:

  • Slow start for the D.  Thanks you CBS for making us miss it.


  • Two early drops by Scott hurt, especially the one in the end zone that led to an INT. His 3rd Q one that would have converted 2nd and 15 was all mental.  Scott spiked his helmet in disgust and was inconsolable on the sideline after that one.
  • Still too many penalties.  Larry Scott was not able to fix this issue.  Mark Richt will need to address it in 2016  A costly 2nd Q personal foul allowed a WSU drive to continue.  The result was a Gabe Marks TD.  Rayshawn Jenkins targeting penalty at the end of the 1st H was just not a smart play either (bad call or not).  The illegal block below the waist by Trevor Darling that wiped out Coley's 49 yard run was even worse.  Last but not least, the go ahead TD just before a fumble deep in the red zone, was also taken off the board by penalty.  Atrocious call by the refs, but still unnecessary push by Herb Waters.

  • Hello Offensive Line!  We need you so much better in 2016.  Kaaya took far too many hits.


The Ugly:

  • Third down issues on both sides of the ball.. This was an problem all year.



Team Grades:

Offense:

grades

Great job by Mark Walton, first with a spectacular catch over the middle off a deflected pass, then second making all kinds of moves and reversing direction on a second Q screen,

The O line is still mediocre at best.  I can't believe how much they missed Sunny Odogwu.

Scott had a nightmare of a day until the end.

This unit as a whole left so many plays on the field.

Two costly turnovers were the difference today.

Defense:

grades

The D was pretty good in coverage after the opening mess.  But lack of pass rush (for the most part) as usual, made them vulnerable. And against an offense like WSU, that can be costly.

Still good job by a short-handed unit.   The weather helped, but they did a pretty decent job containing an explosive offense.

Great hit by Dallas Crawford forced a 1st Q fumble.

Lots of near misses on INTs.

Deon Bush was everywhere.  But his TO with 3 minutes left hurt the 'Canes chances to make a last second comeback, and was unnecessary as UM did have 11 on the field.

Special Teams;

grades

Justin Vogel's 2 2nd Q shanks were ugly.  I know the weather is bad but...

We'll excuse Jon Semerene's kick out of bounds given the blizzard.

Mostly quiet day both good and bad by this group.

Coaching: 

grades

I like the aggressive approach early.  Players need to make more plays.

The team played hard in unenviable circumstances.

But that was an awful call by James Coley on the HB option with a chance to win the game.  Yes the snow caused a bad throw.  But you never take the ball out of Kaaya's hands in that situation.

Let the Richt era begin.