Care: Just Win Baby

I have attended every season's big game in the Shoe since who knows when. But since 2019 Wisconsin we have not won that game (Michigan games, Oregon, etc).

Today we won. It was not the game we thought it would be but our team played clean and methodical, if not explosive. Our defense was tight, and our offense didn't turn the ball over. As Day said before the game: "just win". And we did.

That's all we need.

Don't Care: Manning conversations.

Arch Manning was set up for failure from the get-go. He played seemingly well against bad competition last year. He is young. His first game this season after months of conversation of him being the Heisman frontrunner and next great QB was in an exceptionally hostile environment against a very good defense. There was no way to succeed unless he was a true can't-miss kind of player. He will be good, but he was rattled and Sark didn't seem to trust him.

If we see him again in the playoffs I expect a different QB.

Care: Offensive play calling

It was Hartline's first game as OC. And it looked like Hartline's first game as OC. The contrast between Chip Kelly and Hartline's offenses is stark. A lot of conservative runs off tackle and very little creative route combinations to get our guys open.

That being said, Texas is going to have a great defense this year so it may have been something planned: keep things simple and low-risk. But it will have to impress ve moving forward because we won't beat teams with better offenses later this season without creativity.

Don't Care: Rankings conversations

We are going to be ranked #1 on Monday. I don't like it and I don't want to hear it. This was not a game of juggernaut slugging each other for 4 quarters, mostly because the offenses are headed up by two very green quaerbacks going against talented defenses.

There will be hype and narrative out of this and I hope our team stays hungry because they did not look championship-level today. And I mean that in the most complimentary way, as we just beat an extremely talented Texas team.

I hate preseason rankings and the weight they carry on the resolt of the season. I don't want a fame like this to make us satisfied.

Care: Sayin play smart

Julian Sayin didn't look amazing today. I think that was a result of the play calling as much as anything. He made good decisions and his passes were on the money. The ball comes out fast and we had an uncharacteristic number of drops

Funny enough, one of his worst passes ended up being a TD to Carnell Tate as it was severely under thrown and Tate did the "Ohio State WRU" thing to make the play.

I'm really excited to watch this kid grow and gain confidence this season because he has the potential to be great.