I was at the game from start to finish, and there weren't a lot of positives to point to other than maybe these:
1) no one got struck by lightning (as far as I have heard);
2) there were no serious injuries to any of the players (there were few licks passed hard enough to hurt anyone, other than one nice spearing job by a Wake Forest player on a UM lineman after a WF fumble ---hit our guy while he was pinned down, knocking off his helmet and cutting his face ---and no flag BTW ---I guess the ref was so shocked by then to see any real contact by anyone that he was too impressed to break out the hanky) ;
3) our backup QB, after the game was out of reach, got some snaps against the WF backups ---and he looked pretty good driving the Rebs down the field, completing short to middle range passes across the middle, along the sideline, and in the flat --- the way BS was playing, he could not have completed those same passes against air --- Adams actually looked like a QB and appeared to know what he was doing out there --something foreign in Oxford since Eli graduated ----sooooo, we may see the backup Adams against UGA in the event BS comes out looking less than impressive;
4) our young receivers, for the most part, caught the ball pretty well considering the bad weather conditions ---one diving catch, in particular, by Dexter McCluster was very impressive, keeping a drive alive when the game was not yet out of reach;
5) we had very few, if any, bad snaps by our center or long snapper, even with a wet ball for most of the game;
6) our frosh kicker made his first field goal of his career (after missing one from about 25 yards that knuckleballed) ---so, he is perfect in the few extra point attempts he has had so far, and 1 for 2 from inside 30 yards ---yee haaaaa;
7) we had fewer penalties than we did at Kentucky ---not sure if it was because we played that cleanly, or because the refs were ready to get out of that nasty weather and go home ---that may have been the fastest first half I have ever witnessed, as both teams were trying to run the football (well, correction....UM was trying to run the football, WF WAS running the football) and there were few penalties, scores and timeouts to stop the clock ---the first half was over in approx. one hour ---the halftime entertainment took almost as long;
the UM band performed well under the conditions ---give em credit giving it their best in full uniforms in an often times driving rainstorm;
9) the pregame videos on the Jumbotron were pretty cool;
10) all in my entourage made it home safely ---which as Jack Cristil might say (and has said), was the "drive of the game".
Oh yeah, on a more serious note, Todd Sandroni (from Shaw, and Indianola Academy grad) was inducted into the UM Sports Hall of Fame. It is a shame that his award was presented during halftime of such a $#!+ game, with few people to see it. Maybe UM can honor these new inductees at another game --- Todd deserves better.
