My good friend TCman. Since I try my best to tell the truth, as I see it, I will do my best to give you and others the benefit of my thoughts for this upcoming game on Friday.
The Celtics struggled against Santa Fe and they struggled against Buchholz. Two teams that they would never have struggled against in the past, although both are higher classification teams than OTC. Yes, our defense played fairly well in the first half against Buchholz. However, our offense was, for the most part, AOL through the entire game. In all fairness to the offense the two top WR's, I believe both D-1 players, were out with injuries. Our running game was pretty bad and forced Ryan Miller to pass more than he wanted to. Our OL did not block well either for the RB's or for Miller when he attempted passes. Miscues and penalties also resulted in two Buchholz TD's. Buchholz made very few miscues and practically no penalties. I was very surprised at something. We kept sending our RB's into the line even though the OL was not making the holes. Sr Cameron Thompson, who I believe is a D-1 RB, has got to be the fastest player on the team. I have seen video of him in the open field. He is fast and difficult to stop. Not once, that I could see, was he sent outside. And, he was not utilized a great deal, either. Then again, this was a KO Classic which is a game for the coaching staff to evaluate players, formations, etc., before the fist game of the season. Possibly there was a lot of evaluation going on that I am not aware of. I'm quite sure that Coach Sturdivant will have his assistants working hard on correcting things this week in anticipation of, arguably, the toughest opponent OTC will have this year. I still think that TCJax has to be wary of OTC. A team that has been as good as OTC has been doesn't go away just like that. If the injured players are back, the offense has settled into the difficult formations that Sturdivant is implementing, and Ryan Miller is on target (he's deadly when he's on target), then TCJax will be in for a game. If OTC plays no better than they did against Buchholz, then TCJax may have an easier time than is expected.
At any rate, two good decent teams going head to head, is always entertaining no matter who wins.