i left my notebook at home tonight...wanted to enjoy the scrimmage without charting play by play, but i'll offer my thoughts. i wish i had made it to a few more practices in the last few weeks, but my semester is coming to a close...

1. RN knows how to play the crowd...provided he stays within the rules while here, he is the perfect fit for us.
2. i would say Craft and Forcier were about even...there's a reason why Ossar doesn't get much time in practice....i'll get back to that
3. i think we have some reasonable optimism for next year

1) RN did a few things and said a few things that were awesome. he welcomed us all in after a series (which i missed) and kind of woke up the crowd a bit, telling us that we were going to "have some fun" tonight.

second, he did something really classy. towards the end of the scrimmage, he brought both Ben and Pat out to midfield on the logo, on their crutches, and asked the crowd to give them some applause. people came to their feet and gave some love for both senior quarterbacks, which i thought was a tremendous gesture by RN...unfortunately we're without cowan for 2008, but here's to hoping we can salvage something out of Big Ben.

finally, to end the evening, he said "i apologize to you guys down here (referring to some fans) who wanted us to throw deep. but we WILL throw deep this year. we WILL run the ball this year. and we'll do what we need to do to make this an exciting program, not only this year, but also in the years to come."

the guy is a TREMENDOUS public speaker...the passion bucket was overflowing tonight!

2. neither Craft nor Forcier stepped up and took control of the offense, but if you remember back to last year's scrimmage, we didn't score any touchdowns. If I'm remembering correctly, Craft led one long touchdown drive, and Forcier led one, with Craft adding another TD during red zone situationals. both made some nice throws, made some bad throws, and didn't necessarily have a complete grasp of the offense, especially since cowan has been getting a majority of the reps to this point.
3. the fact that the offense put the ball in the end zone a few times without PC or BN, without Khalil Bell, Raymond Carter or Aundre Dean, was encouraging. i'm not sure, but this year's defense should be just as good as last year, because i never did really think our seniors last year were that great as all-around football players. davis and trey brown always talked a good game, but i think this year's defense will be more disciplined, won't give up personal foul penalties at the end of the half to give the other team gifts, and will play more disciplined. that being said, the fact that both Craft and Forcier led a TD drive against the D when last year neither BO or PC could get us in the end zone until red zone says something, and i think it's because of NORM CHOW. i think we will move the ball despite our serious talent deficiencies, and with RN and NC in control of this team, i think we can be competitive, and i'm looking forward to our BN discussion about our expectations for the 2008 team.