First, the very good news- Sheets sounds like he'll be OK. All that happened was his shoulder fell out of socket again. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this something that happens more and more once it occurs? I hope Kory can hold it together and finish his college career as this season has started.
On a much worse note, Frank Duong will probably be out next game with a strained MCL. Is it coincidence that as Frank went down, so did the defense, Saturday? I think not. Duong is part of Spack's master plan- base your entire defense's ability to stop the run on a 5'7" ex-walk-on Safety. I like Duong and see him as extremely important to this defense as the linebackers simply haven't performed. If only we had a defensive coach who played LB in college to give them some pointers...
To beat this rotting dead horse once more- Is he honestly going to tell me that this defense is "close" again? The linebackers are the worst part of the defense (the position he coaches, by the way) and the rest of the team isn't far behind in their ability to be out of position time and time again. While stats don't tell the whole story, Purdue, once again is in the cellar nationally as a defense. The honor of being one of the worst defenses in the land left this team last year as they landed firmly in the 50s...Now they're back to where they were in '06. Yippee! A few years ago, Tiller and Co. blamed injuries...they of course learned their lesson by not preparing no one except one the one-deeps at LB in '08. So when Werner went down, so did the defense. I don't blame Werner and his back for any of this and don't see him as a savior. He's a good, untested player...the system is seriously injured.
Anyone who still thinks this should have been Spack's job in '09 is either:
-heavily impaired
OR
-has the last name of Spack
All that said, the systemic issues that are deep in the brains of those in the program can be traced to the very top.
I'm not blindly optimistic...But I'll be cheering for my alma mater as this season continues on; hoping for the best, but only believing what my eyes keep telling me...
Damnit, prove me wrong.