2014 Wish List

Would it be OK to wish for Blake Bortles to come back and play his final year for the Knights?  I know I am a little late with my wish list but here it goes anyway.

1. Win two out of three of our major out of conference games (no disrespect to Bethune Cookman).
2. Win a second American Athletic Conference Football Championship.
3. Beat the bulls.

We have to keep the momentum going from all that we accomplished last year in order to continually elevate the program and at the time of this writing it means beating a team like Missouri at home and beating a team like BYU at home.  I do not want people to view our program as a flash in the pan and then forget about us two years down the road.  The win against Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl went a long way in gaining us respect in the college football world but we have to sustain that success this year with a few more statement wins.

I am not sure what to make of our competition this year in the American.  Both Memphis and Temple are both looking surprisingly good this year.  Maybe those close wins against them last year was not that bad.  I have to tip my hat to Memphis for giving UCLA quite a scare last week by playing them very close.  Definitely positive exposure for the AAC.  I think if we stay focused we can once again be in the running for another conference title.

As far as the bulls, we need to not turn the ball over five times this year and beat them like we should have last season.  I am still scratching my head on this one from last year.  Maybe everyone was uptight from the pressure of actually being in the driver's seat for a conference title.  It almost makes sense since we were a pretty young team last season. Or maybe it was the black and gold helmets that threw off all of our timing and caused us to not play anywhere close to our abilities.  Well, just beating them and getting the "W" would be sufficient when I really think about it.

Go Knights!  ChargeOn!

PSU review Mizzou preview.

OK it is a little over due but things have been a little hectic with our move and getting settled. We are not close yet to being completely settled but I can take a little time to post.

 Not sure where to begin so I will start with a review of the Croke Park Classic. No disrespect to Pete Dinovo but he did not look at all ready to play quarterback at this level of football and I am still not sure how he got the starting nod against PSU. Maybe it was all part of some kind of deception on the coach's part but unfortunately it did not pay off. I saw a spark of electricity when Justin Holman took over under center and when he started getting the ball to our playmakers (receivers) things started to click. Hopefully we can keep that momentum going into the next game. The defense kept us in the ballgame early on when we couldn't score and at the halftime we were only down 10 - 3. I think except for a couple of major gaffes in defensive coverage which lead to touchdowns and the lack of a pass rush our defense can be fixed in preparation of the next game. All in all I think it was good exposure for the program. I was actually amazed at the size of the crowd for the game, it seems the Irish fans were very excited to see an American college football game.

 Missouri has already played a couple of football games and they look pretty good. They are not without their weaknesses though which hopefully our offense, defense, and special teams can expose. I am really hopeful that we get Rannell Hall and Will Stanback back in action for this very important road game. We desperately need a more balanced attack on offense when we go up against a team like Missouri who won their division last year in the SEC. Go Knights! ChargeOn!