This team has so many issues that I could write a novel about it.

Warning: this is actually a novel, but I’m still pissed and this is therapeutic and cathartic for me, so please don’t judge.

Defense was disappointing to an extent, especially on third down. There were also some boneheaded penalties that kept drives alive where they could’ve gotten off the field and helped themselves, but this loss was not the fault of the defense.

Offense was basically dead on arrival. Nuss threw some balls that looked akin to Peyton Manning in his final season.

Nuss looks just completely lost out there and almost looks scared when he senses anything resembling pressure. He never steps up into the pocket and leaves it way too early. Some of the throws were just bad (throwing into triple coverage on the INT, missing Hilton even though it was PI and even the TD pass was pure luck on a terrible throw). Body language was terrible too.

Makes me wonder if it’s the injury or if he just doesn’t have the jam at this juncture.

Running game troubles continue to plague us. Embarrassing that this was one of the worst run defenses in the SEC coupled with the fact that they dropped 8 in coverage and rushed 3 and we still couldn’t run the ball.

I was willing to be patient to an extent with Sloan, but nothing is easy on this offense. The route trees are almost always short of the line to gain when we need a first down and he has shown a refusal to adapt or try anything different when things aren’t working.

He is sans clue up in the booth as he looks at his Waffle House menu play call sheet while we’re still in the huddle with 15 seconds on the play clock.

There is a severe lack of urgency, awareness, fluidity, etc. in the entirety of the offensive operation and it is glaring.

We brought in all of these guys from the portal and I don’t think any of them have stood out five games in outside of maybe Zavion Thomas

I understand that the players also have to execute. But, we shouldn’t have to rely on our players to bail out our coaching staff because we are worried that they are going to screw up the next play call.

We burn through timeouts like we have an unlimited amount because we don’t know what we are doing.

Kelly is now 2-7 on the road or at neutral sites against ranked opponents during his tenure here. One of those was Clemson, who isn’t very good as it turns out

My hope at this point is that the offense figures it out like Jayden did midway through the 2022 season, but that is incredibly wishful thinking.

I hate to be negative because there is still so much football left to be played, but we’ve had four years of watching the same movie:

We’ll be 9-3 at the end of the year because that’s what this team has done and that’s who Kelly is at this point. They will give us some hope and we’ll slug through a couple of wins against SC, Vanderbilt and A&M because our defense will step up and we’ll skate by on offense to where it won’t be great but won’t be terrible.

But it’ll all come crashing down again on the road in a hostile environment against Bama, and the same issues will rear their ugly head.

We’ll defeat Arkansas and WKU. And then (assuming Mateer is back), we’ll go into Norman with a shot at the playoffs on the line where we’ll lose that game in the same fashion as we lost on Saturday (poor play calling from Sloan, poor decision making from Nuss, inability to run the ball, poor game preparation and in game management from coaching, which will all lead to lost opportunities that we squandered and will dwell on postgame).

I’d love nothing more than to be wrong, but based on what we’ve seen, I’d be shocked if we can truly turn this thing where this team is what we thought they were going to be going in to the season.

I am beyond tired of hearing the same thing after losses and ugly wins “we have to play better, we have to coach better, we have to execute better” from Kelly and I am seriously questioning if we’ll ever win a mug with him.

If there is ever a time for this team and coaching staff to get their head out of their arse, I hope this is it.