Originally posted by goodknight65:
The offense was, indeed, a pleasant surprise, especially given the concern about the offensive line going into the game. Shumaker made a couple of nice blocks to help spring Dixon up the middle, but also showed some rust from the lack of practice with at least one false start.
Who would have expected Maples to be the leading receiver and have three times more yardage receiving than he did running? That's something I might expect more from Giovanelli.
I wasn't at all surprised to see Dixon and Baggett break a few long runs, although the number of times they succeeded was a pleasant surprise.
This is a more interesting offense than we ran under Shields, but still not quite as gadgety as AFAs.
Speaking of Air Force, did anyone else notice that they threw the ball 32 times last night, even though they weren't losing until the last minute of the game? That's practically heresy for SA football. It's almost a balanced offense.
Contrast that with Monken's post game comment about passing the ball. "I would like to not feature the passing game at all. We are a running team. I like to run the ball. We will throw it when we need to and when the defense plays so heavily on the run and is making it difficult, that is when we will have the opportunity to pass the ball."
7 completions in 7 throws with 4 first downs in critical situations is a nice complement to the running game.
