[81alum]

If we recall our past patterns, the defense is always ahead of the offense early in the season, it always takes a few games for changes in the offensive line to jell, and no quarterback plays to his full potential in his first game.  Given all of that, I think we did reasonably well, and Burns did extraordinarily well.  The offensive line needs to keep tuning up its coordination and get better; we now have an obvious starting quarterback who can focus more on the opponent than on his competition; Shaw will have two weeks and twice as much gametape to use to prepare us against USC as they will have of us. 

I do think tonight's success in the first half probably made him more conservative in the second half.  I've been critical of Shaw for his play calling over the last many years--going back to when he was offensive coordinator.  But there comes a point where I have to say that his overall success validates what he does.

[81alum]

If we recall our past patterns, the defense is always ahead of the offense early in the season, it always takes a few games for changes in the offensive line to jell, and no quarterback plays to his full potential in his first game.  Given all of that, I think we did reasonably well, and Burns did extraordinarily well.  The offensive line needs to keep tuning up its coordination and get better; we now have an obvious starting quarterback who can focus more on the opponent than on his competition; Shaw will have two weeks and twice as much gametape to use to prepare us against USC as they will have of us. 

I do think tonight's success in the first half probably made him more conservative in the second half.  I've been critical of Shaw for his play calling over the last many years--going back to when he was offensive coordinator.  But there comes a point where I have to say that his overall success validates what he does.