main takeaways:
1) Milroe was really really bad. Having one really bad interception is a problem. Having two? Then it enters very very bad game territory. On a scale of interceptions from 1 being a ball your reciever drops into the arms of a defender and 10 being a bad throw and bad decision, these were like 9.85s. His pocket presence is nonexistent and he is constantly stepping right into the pressure. At other times he makes a bad dash backwards and sideways after his first read isn't wide open......he was really bad in the A&M game(which was the last meaningful action he had), and he was really bad again tonight. I don't know if we have anyone better or not(I guess not?), but to act like he isn't the biggest problem is silly imo. Yes we may have other problems too, but not having a qb in 2023 is a killer.
2) Way too much blame is being thrown on the offensive line for the pass blocking. Pocket after pocket like the 2020 season(those were the best pockets mac was stepping into I've ever seen) are very atypical. In the real world, a pocket eventually breaks down somewhat......even when the protection is *very good*. The bigger problem is milroe's management of the pocket. Time after time he would actually be responsible for pivoting right into the collapse of the pocket. A lot of people in this forum have an unreasonable expectation for what a pretty good pocket will look like in 2023. Just because pass protection wasn't 2020 level doesn't mean it was bad. Now the bigger problem with the offensive line was they were getting good push for the run game the first possession or two, but after that not so much and it was very inconsistent. I thought after our first series- "we can just run right at these guys time after time, even if they know it's coming". Clearly, we *couldn't* do that.
3) The defense was very good in the first half, and then had some problems in the secondary(and DL- no pressure) for much of the second half. But again, here some have to adjust their expectations. Nobody really *consistently* stops a good offense like that in 2023 anymore. Expecting that to be the standard like it's 2008 is just not realistic.
And it's for that very reason why having a qb like Milroe is just not going to get it done in today's college football environment. I don't know how we got in this situation actually where roster management was such that their was no above average qb ready to step in for the 2023 season. Very frustrating......