positive takeaways

[JustBlues]

I hate to lose. I do not believe in moral victories. A loss is a loss and the most painful kind of loss is a close one that you feel like you should have won. However, after a game is over it is over and all the second guessing in the world won't change the outcome. Dwelling on a painful loss can be hazardous to a team's health. You do, however, have to remember the game without dwelling on it. To be honest, there are certainly some mistakes made in this game that the coaches and team needs to learn from, but I think that there are more positives than negatives from a learning perspective. A few I feel are worth mentioning:

Though we still have turnover problems, we have made progress in this area. One of Texas A&M's strength this year has been their ability to avoid turnovers. We had a couple of costly turnovers, but A&M had more. We won the turnover battle, including Manziel's first interceptions.

Speaking of Manziel, we were able to put pressue on him and take advantage of that. Yes, we gave up some big plays but we also made some big plays due to pressure. Most were saying before the game that we would not be able to pressure him because of his mobility and the outstanding Texas A&M line.

The recent emergence of Vince Sanders over the last two weeks give us two deadly receiver options. Additionally, although he just had one catch, Mackey's reception was a thing of beauty and wins my award for play of the game. Not only was it a big play, it tells the world that we can use the running back in the passing game very effectively giving them something else to watch for.

Peeking at other games out there, we may very well have already played the two best teams in the SEC west. Certainly, from my view every game left on our schedule is winnable. I am not saying that we will win all of them-- we all know that would be asking a lot-- but we most certainly can win any of them and I'd say that the prospect of a winning season is quite possible.

[bigtreydaddy]

Good post. I was as heartbroken as anybody this weekend, but losses like that happen when you have a young team (we started something like 8-9 true frosh, RS frosh, and sophs on defense alone). I agree that we have a bowl game still in reach. Ark, Aub, and Vandy can all be had. I'll say we win two of those. LSU has proven to be beatable, and State's signature win over Aub is looking less than impressive. I think we can upset one of Georgia, LSU, and State. That's six W's and a trip to Shreveport, and Freeze probably wins SEC COTY

[JustBlues]

Good post. I was as heartbroken as anybody this weekend, but losses like that happen when you have a young team (we started something like 8-9 true frosh, RS frosh, and sophs on defense alone). I agree that we have a bowl game still in reach. Ark, Aub, and Vandy can all be had. I'll say we win two of those. LSU has proven to be beatable, and State's signature win over Aub is looking less than impressive. I think we can upset one of Georgia, LSU, and State. That's six W's and a trip to Shreveport, and Freeze probably wins SEC COTY

I would never promote a 6-6 coach as coach of the year even if he coaches my team.

[bigtreydaddy]

*sigh* ok. Sorry for trying to be civil. I'll go back to lurking.

[JustBlues]

*sigh* ok. Sorry for trying to be civil. I'll go back to lurking.

nah, just because someone has a different opinion is no reason to stop talking. We obviously agree on a lot, but of course there will always be some things that we disagree on. That's true even with our closest friends.

[lewindha]

I agree with both of you. There are a lot of positives to take away from the game. Ours guys can ball. They've just got to finish. That can be worked on.

Like I said, it's just frustrating and deflating to get so close and slip away so late in the game after what we've been through the last couple of years.

All things considered, I think a 6 win Ole Miss squad would garner some SEC CoY talk for Freeze.

And , seriously, this "play my way or I'll take my ball and go home" attitude is just as bad as the negative nellie attitude. We're all better than this. Just agree to disagree. It's pretty simple.

[Rebchuck18]

I had actually begun a post Saturday night applauding Coach Freeze for several things during this season. I was in the middle of writing it on my cell phone when he made "the call". I saw lots of positive things Saturday night...and every single one of them was erased by that call. That doesn't mean we cant re group against subpar Auburn and Vandy teams. I think Coach Freeze knows his offense and knows that you have to have a legitimate passing attack for it to reach its full potential and he has been steadfast and focused for the most part in making sure that passing component stays in the game from a personnel standpoint and that has been very impressive to me. The defense is playing hard and playing well...if anything when they get in trouble it is because they over pursue and get out of their lanes and allow some bigger plays to bust...but I like what I am seeing. Scott is a helluva running back and our line looks better and we have a fantastic WR in Moncrief who is in sync with his QB and other good receivers as well. Werner needs to keep coaching Bo up and I think some of the play calling in the red zone and personnel changes in the red zone actually upset our offensive rhythm as opposed to the defensive rhythm of the opponent, but I think Freeze's offense can win in the SEC with a legitimate passing threat at QB. Some of the passes to Moncrief from Wallace have been some of the best I have seen in years at Ole Miss. But he needs to mature, become more consistent and work on looking off receivers and continue to be coached up. It would be nice to allow his shoulder to heal but I just don't think we have that luxury. AND we need to get the plays in quicker at times because on several plays by the time the signals get in from the sideline we are down to almost 10 seconds on the play clock.

I see lots of positives I really do. I just hated seeing those positives wiped out by what I believe was a horrible decision. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that was the toughest loss I have experienced since LSU in '03 because it would have meant so much to this young team and IMO it was so avoidable.

[Rebchuck18]

I agree with both of you. There are a lot of positives to take away from the game. Ours guys can ball. They've just got to finish. That can be worked on.

Like I said, it's just frustrating and deflating to get so close and slip away so late in the game after what we've been through the last couple of years.

All things considered, I think a 6 win Ole Miss squad would garner some SEC CoY talk for Freeze.

And , seriously, this "play my way or I'll take my ball and go home" attitude is just as bad as the negative nellie attitude. We're all better than this. Just agree to disagree. It's pretty simple.

I agree but I am afraid we may have given number 6 away Saturday night. But maybe he can steal one from ARKY or MSU.

[JustBlues]

I had actually begun a post Saturday night applauding Coach Freeze for several things during this season. I was in the middle of editing it when he made "the call". I saw lots of positive things Saturday night...and every single one of them was erased by that call. That doesn't mean we cant re group against Sub Par Auburn and Vandy teams. I think Coach Freeze knows his offense and knows that you have to have a legitimate passing attack for it to reach its full potential and he has been steadfast and focused for the most part in making sure that passing component stays in the game from a personnel standpoint and that has been very impressive to me. The defense is playing hard and playing well...if anything when they get in trouble it is because they over pursue and get out of their lanes and allow some bigger plays to bust...but I like what I am seeing. Scott is a helluva running back and our line looks better and we have a fantastic WR in Moncrief who is in sync with his QB and other good receivers as well. Werner needs to keep coaching Bo up and I think some of the play calling in the red zone and personnel changes in the red zone actually upset our offensive rhythm as opposed to the defensive rhythm of the opponent, but I think Freeze's offense can win in the SEC with a legitimate passing threat at QB. Some of the passes to Moncrief from Wallace have been some of the best I have seen in years at Ole Miss. But he needs to mature, become more consistent and work on looking off receivers and continue to be coached up. It would be nice to allow his shoulder to heal but I just don't think we have that luxury. AND we need to get the plays in quicker at times because on several plays by the time the signals get in from the sideline we are down to almost 10 seconds on the play clock.

I see lots of positives I really do. I just hated seeing those positives wiped out by what I believe was a horrible decision. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that was the toughest loss I have experienced since LSU in '03 because it would have meant so much to this young team and IMO it was so avoidable.

if he had ten years of experience, I'd be a little harder on him for calls. However, I just chalk it up to a rookie mistake that he can learn from. He's made some decisions that I consider good and some that I consider bad, but we won't know for a couple of years how he is going to work out.

[Rebchuck18]

I had actually begun a post Saturday night applauding Coach Freeze for several things during this season. I was in the middle of editing it when he made "the call". I saw lots of positive things Saturday night...and every single one of them was erased by that call. That doesn't mean we cant re group against Sub Par Auburn and Vandy teams. I think Coach Freeze knows his offense and knows that you have to have a legitimate passing attack for it to reach its full potential and he has been steadfast and focused for the most part in making sure that passing component stays in the game from a personnel standpoint and that has been very impressive to me. The defense is playing hard and playing well...if anything when they get in trouble it is because they over pursue and get out of their lanes and allow some bigger plays to bust...but I like what I am seeing. Scott is a helluva running back and our line looks better and we have a fantastic WR in Moncrief who is in sync with his QB and other good receivers as well. Werner needs to keep coaching Bo up and I think some of the play calling in the red zone and personnel changes in the red zone actually upset our offensive rhythm as opposed to the defensive rhythm of the opponent, but I think Freeze's offense can win in the SEC with a legitimate passing threat at QB. Some of the passes to Moncrief from Wallace have been some of the best I have seen in years at Ole Miss. But he needs to mature, become more consistent and work on looking off receivers and continue to be coached up. It would be nice to allow his shoulder to heal but I just don't think we have that luxury. AND we need to get the plays in quicker at times because on several plays by the time the signals get in from the sideline we are down to almost 10 seconds on the play clock.

I see lots of positives I really do. I just hated seeing those positives wiped out by what I believe was a horrible decision. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that was the toughest loss I have experienced since LSU in '03 because it would have meant so much to this young team and IMO it was so avoidable.

if he had ten years of experience, I'd be a little harder on him for calls. However, I just chalk it up to a rookie mistake that he can learn from. He's made some decisions that I consider good and some that I consider bad, but we won't know for a couple of years how he is going to work out.

I half agree with you...this one was very basic though and he has said he would make the same decision again (different play call but same decision)...that is troubling.

[badmotorfinger]

I thought Cody Prewitt's performance was noteworthy. He was all over the place and made some big plays. Looking forward to watching the rest of his career.

[lewindha]

I thought Cody Prewitt's performance was noteworthy. He was all over the place and made some big plays. Looking forward to watching the rest of his career.

Should've gotten player of the week. Not sure how many tackles he had, but two forced fumbles, one recovery, and an INT? Come on.

[1OLEMISSREBEL]

I thought Cody Prewitt's performance was noteworthy. He was all over the place and made some big plays. Looking forward to watching the rest of his career.

Should've gotten player of the week. Not sure how many tackles he had, but two forced fumbles, one recovery, and an INT? Come on.

The radio guys said he was "the player of the game" !