That is much, more like it. I am none to happy about the loss, going down in that fashion in a game that is eminently winnable sucks. But my personal bar for this team was so low going in that this performance is enough to give me some faith and a bit of confidence heading into the bye week. I once again recognize this group as a UC Football team. Over the first three games of this season the thing that jumped out at me was that most of the team weren't playing fast, some people were. JK Schaffer was, Malik Bomar too, Derek Wolfe as well. But that was it, everyone else was thinking, not playing. Anyone can tell you that when playing sports, especially at a high level, thinking can be equated to death. That is what made the teams under Brian Kelly so damn good. Above all else they played fast, and digested the consequences at a later time. That attitude and a certain gentlemanly swagger were back with a vengeance tonight. The defense and offense were playing fast and executing at a much higher level than they had to date.
At a later point, most likely tomorrow I will go a little more in depth about the minutia of tonight's emotional roller coaster. I just don't have the initiative to do it right this minute. However, I will touch on two points briefly. Last night when I did my extraordinarily abbreviated preview for tonight's game I touched on the two things that had to happen for UC to have a chance to spring the upset. Chief among them was finding out if moving Alex Hoffman out to right tackle would provide the stability up front that has been so overwhelming absent. Tonight provided that answer, and it is a fairly emphatic yes. 156 yards rushing on 32 carries, Isiah Pead, iPead, went for 169 on 21 carries, 3 sacks allowed, two of which were on Collaros according to my hastily scribbled notes and a handful of TFL's. Not great, not to the standard of last years group, but the offensive line was stable which is a much better place to be than in complete anarchy, where it resided for the first three weeks of this season. Secondly, I said that the run D needed to shut down Demarco Murray and the Sooner run game to make Oklahoma one dimensional. That also came to pass Murray toted it 28 time for just 67 yards, with a long run of 9 yards. Landry Jones was great in the passing game, and Ryan Bryoles was a pain in the ass. But as long as UC continues to play these basic schemes in the back end competent QB's will shred the passing defense. More on this game tomorrow. This is probably the best I have felt about a loss since the Keg of Nails game in 2006, coincidentally the last time UC started a season at 1-3. It isn't ideal to be pleased with a losing performance, but that is where I am at.