conspectus
\ kən-ˈspek-təs \
noun
1: a usually brief survey or summary (as of an extensive subject) often providing an overall view
Saturday was a wild day, huh? It never fails. Someone says the schedule is weak or boring and you know it’s on. Part of the aftermath from Saturday is the AP Poll. After looking dismal against Sam Houston State, Texas A&M looked stuck in the mud against Appalachian State…a team that just gave up 63 to North Carolina. Somehow, Texas A&M is still ranked in this week’s poll, while App State is not. Texas lost a close game to Alabama and jumped into the poll at 21. A 49-3 loss to Georgia followed by a 70-14 win over Eastern Washington was enough for Oregon to find its way back into the polls. Meanwhile, more deserving teams like North Carolina, Oregon State, Mississippi State, and Washington State are not ranked. Notre Dame is 0-2 and still getting votes. Shrug emoji. Also, Florida went from unranked to 12th after beating Utah in Week 1. Then Kentucky jumped from 20th to 9th after an ugly win in an ugly game against an overrated Florida team. Make it make sense. The only thing I can think of is we don’t need polls until a few weeks into the season when teams are starting to develop an identity. I know that ruins it for TV matchups and takes some luster off days like Saturday, but that’s a trade I’m willing to make.
I convinced myself that Michael Mayer would lead all TEs in targets this season due to Notre Dame’s lack of receivers. Through two games, that’s exactly what’s happening. He has 13 catches on 20 targets. Maybe it’s just me, but the 135 yards and one score on those 20 targets kind of feels like a let down.
Staying with the TE position, everyone knows I’m not very high on Georgia’s TE room outside of Brock Bowers. Through two games, I can’t figure out the TE usage at Georgia. Two blowout wins where the Bulldogs coasted through the second half. Stetson Bennett has primarily been dinking and dunking his way down the field. He has an average depth of target of 8.0 on 66 attempts and 1 big-time throw (according to PFF). You would think that an offense that plays it close to the line of scrimmage would involve the TE a little more, but that’s not the case so far. Bowers has 7 targets, Darnell Washington has 6, Arik Gilbert and Oscar Delp each have 1. None of them have found the endzone yet.
If Georgia is where TEs go to die, then Texas A&M is where elite WRs go to die. I know we were collectively bummed when Evan Stewart decided to enroll at Texas A&M because of Jimbo Fisher’s track record with young receivers. I’m a big fan of Chris Marshall, too, so we’ll throw him into this. I’m convinced now that it’s not just young receivers. The offense that Jimbo insists on running lends itself to almost no explosive plays, even though the weapons are there.
Staying with receivers, it’s unbelievable that the University of Florida has gotten to the point where they don’t roster a single WR that can separate from a DB before the catch or force a missed tackle after the catch.
Maybe Jim Harbaugh is still a quarterback whisperer. He officially named J.J. McCarthy the starting QB earlier this week. As weird as it was to let Cade McNamara start the game versus Colorado State and McCarthy start the game against Hawaii (after seeing what Vanderbilt did to Hawaii), I understand he had to do that to keep one of his QBs from entering the Transfer Portal before the season started. However, giving McCarthy the start against Hawaii told me that Harbaugh had already made up his mind about the starting QB.
And finally, Alabama needs a field-stretching receiver and STAT. Tyler Harrell is supposed to be that guy, but he’s been recovering from an injury. Kobe Prentice won the slot job, and he seems like a fine chain-mover. However, his 2.07 yards per route run is outside of the top 200, and his ADOT of 3.9 is not doing anyone any favors. Another slot option, Jojo Earle is also working his way back from a preseason injury. Taking all that into consideration, it doesn’t make any sense that Christian Leary has only played 7 snaps this season. The kid has world-class speed and the ability to stretch defenses both laterally and vertically.
