Once again the Hart players displayed their collective inconsistency. Turnovers were the Indians ruination. Birmingham played a nearly flawless first half and took a huge, 26-0 lead into the locker room. Any Hart fan know the last time Hart was shutout in the first half? Hart's first half included a fumble and an INT, a couple of sacks, MINUS 7 yards rushing on 14 carries and 12-24 for 144 yards passing. The thing that was so devastating is that each time that Hart looked to start to steady up, kaboom! another big Birmingham play. BH's 4 first half TDs were on a 34-yard run, an 83-yard pass, an INT returned about 80 yards for a TD and 31-yard pass for a TD just before halftime.

It got worse in the start of the second half. Hart fumbled the first snap from scrimmage and a few plays later Birmingham scored on a 17-yard pass to go up 33-0.

Hart finally woke up and scored 27 consecutive points -- but also had 2 more INTs, 2 more fumbles and a couple more sacks.

There were an enormous number of penalties (I haven't counted them all yet) by both teams. And also a huge number of injuries. Zimmerman was knocked out in the third quarter. Late in the fourth, a Birmingham player broke a leg, very badly. The game was stopped for over 30 minutes. Lets hope the kid is okay.

Hart's first half was just a disaster at almost every level. The amazing thing -- and the thing that ought to give opponents pause -- is that despite playing so horribly against a really quality team, Hart was right there at the end.

So here's the play by play.

Birmingham got a 22-yard return on the opening kickoff and started at the 27. Miramontes started in the shotgun position and the center rocketed the first snap back to him. He looked surprised and took off running which I don't think was his intent and got a yard. The next play was a pass for 14 yards and a first down followed by a nifty run by the RB where he started right and then completely reversed the field and went left for 11. The next play was a pass to the RB for 5, run for 5 and run for 3 for a first down at the Hart 34. Incomplete, incomplete (knockdown by Surratt) then a run over the left side for 34 yards and a TD and it was 7-0 at 8:39.

Hart got a 20-yard return by Leigh and started at the 26: Inc (knocked down), run by Lyon for 6, pass to Yudin for 5, run by Casselbury (hereafter RC) for -2 and then pass to Wolfe for 24(this was a perfect pass -- step into the pocket by Lyon to completely defeat the blitzers from the outside); run by Lyon for 1, run by RC for -1 and then a sack for -10 followed by a 34-yard punt.

Birm started at the 17 and on one pass went 83-yards for a TD (#7). The PAT was blocked so it was Birm 13-0 at 4:38.

Hart got a 19-yard return by Leigh and started at the 24: pass to Wolfe for 8, run by Lyon on a sneak for 3, pass to Surratt on a nice route over the middle for 27 and then the first huge mistake: the snap went sailing by Lyon (not over his head) and after a big scrum, BH came up with it at the Hart 47.

Birm: run for 0, pass for 4, PENALTY for delay, pass for 1 and a 45-yard punt down to the Hart 2.

Hart: run by RC for 2; incomplete on a very catchable ball on the sideline (alligator arms -- failed to extend for the ball -- this woulda/coulda/shoulda been a huge gain), incomplete and punt of 28 yards out to the Hart 32.

Birm: QB run for 1 [END of QUARTER], run for 5, SACK for -11 and punt of 30 yards.

Hart: run by RC for -3; pass to Yudin for 20 down to Birm 48, run by RC on a pitch for 4, pass to Yudin for 9, inc, and then another HUGE play: an INT which was returned about 80 yards for a TD. The PAT was no good and it was 19-0 Birmingham at 8:32 in the second quarter.

Hart got a 28-yard return from Bright (?) to the 31: inc. (dropped!), run by Lyon for no gain, pass to Leigh for 4 and then on fourth down from punt formation, Christensen completed a pass to Toledo for 11 and the first down. One would think this would have been a huge turning point but it was not to be: run by RC for 6, pass to Wolfe for 12 to the Birm 48, pass to Yudin for 7, run by Lyon for 2, pass to Leigh for 11, run by RC for 5, pass to Surratt for -2, PENALTY for delay for -5, inc and inc on 4th down to Yudin. He was ruled to be out of bounds on the side of the endzone when he caught it. I'd love to see that one from the endzone camera.

Birm started at the 22: run for 3, run for 16, pass for 12, run for 2, pass for 14, inc and then another disaster for Hart: a 31-yard screen pass for a TD (to beat an all out blitz by Hart) and it was 26-0 at :32 in the half.

Hart started at the 33 on the short kick: inc, pass to Surratt for 20, inc (spike), inc. and then inc on a hail mary to end the half.

The second half started about as disastrously as it could: Lyon was under center and the exchange was bad.

Birm recovered the ball on the Hart 34: run for 4, run for 2,pass for 10, run for 7, PENALTY (procedure) -5, run/fumble by the QB for -1 and then a 17-yard pass (and from my view point, probably not a legitimate catch at the back of the endzone) for a TD and it was 33-0 at 8:26.

Hart finally decided to play after that series. The kick went out of bounds and Hart started at the 35: pass to Wolfe for 13, PENALTY (holding) for -8, pass to Yudin for 35, pass to Yudin for 25 and the TD. 33-7 at 7:42.

The defense started to toughen up considerably as well. Birm started at the 26: run for 1, run for -2, pass (big blitz) for 29 on a blown coverage down the right sideline (Hart was lucky to get out of this without a TD on the play), run for 5, run for -1, SACK for -10 and punt (almost blocked).

Hart started at the 38: pass to Wolfe for 17, PENALTY (offsides) for 5, SACK for -6 (3-man front but 2 blitzers), pass to Wolfe for 31 , pass to Wolfe for 4, PENALTY (pass interference) for 6, PENALTY (illegal procedure) for -5, inc, pass to Wolfe for 5, run by RC for 1, PENALTY (offsides) for a couple of inches then run by Lyon for the TD. The PAT missed and it was 33-13 at 1:23 in the third quarter.

Birm started at the 20: run for 0, PENALTY (pass interference) for 15, PENALTY (motion) for -5, run for 1 [QUARTER], inc, pass for -3 and punt.

Hart started at the 43. On the first play, Surratt was running down the left side line and either didn’t see the ball coming or didn’t know it had been thrown his way – in any event he made no play on the ball and it was an INT at about the Birm 22.

Birm: FUMBLE on the first play (the first and only Birmingham miscue of the night!).

Hart started at the Birm 22: run by Lyon for 3, inc, PENALTY (offsides) for 5 and then a run by RC up the middle for 14 and a TD. 33-20 at 10:27.

BH started at the 18: inc, run for -2 then another #$%^@#^@ PENALTY (pass interference) for 15 yards, inc., a fumble for -5, a pass for 11 and punt.

Hart started at the 26: pass to Surratt for 14, pass to Yudin for 8, inc (tipped), run by Lyon for 1. Here may have been the final nail in the coffin: Hart went for it on fourth down from the Hart 49 with less than 7 minutes left. RC took off on a 19-yard run and then FUMBLED at the end of it. Birmingham recovered at the Hart 30.

Birm: run for 5, run for 4, inc. and punt.

Birmingham got a spectacular roll on the punt so Hart started at 19. On the first play Surratt ran a route through the middle and Lyon overthrew him and right to the defender for the third INT of the night.

Birm got the ball on the 50: run for -1, inc. (penalty declined -- Birm: why in the world are you passing here?!), inc (why are you passing!) and punt.

Hart started at the 24: pass to Wolfe for 11, SACK for -3, inc, pass to Wolfe for 15, pass to Yudin for 7 up the middle [a Birmingham player was injured on this play which stopped the clock, a big help to Hart], SACK for -5 [another Birmingham player was seriously injured on this play -- he appeared to have broken both bones in his lower left leg; play was stopped for about 40 minutes while they treated him and waited for the ambulance -- once again, while I'm certain the kid's season and career just ended -- I hope he is okay], pass to Wolfe for 14, pass to Yudin for 19 plus PENALTY for personal foul, pass to Wolfe for 4 plus PENALTY for personal foul, inc and then run by RC for 5 and the TD. 33-27 with 2:36 to play.

On the ensuing onside kick, the Hart kicker, Weinstein made a perfect onside kick to the right and the ball was loose for the entire Hart team to recover but, like the rest of the evening, they didn't quite get the job done.

Birmingham started at the Hart 44 with 2:34 to play and Hart had one timeout left: PENALTY for procedure -5, run for 0, run for 1, run for 8 and then on 4th down (and following a timeout), the last nail in the coffin: 16 yard pass for the first down with 1:06 to play, knee and then a PENALTY for delay.

The good things: overall the kicking game: kickoffs, punts and returns was, I suppose better in that the return yards by Birmingham were minimal and Hart blocked a PAT; the Hart missed PAT is a continuing sore spot for Hart.

Wolfe had a very nice night as a receiver with 11 catches and 146 yards. There was only one pass thrown his way that he did not catch and there was an army of DBs surrounding him in the endzone at the time (Hart scored on the next play).

Yudin had a nice receiving night as well with 9 catches for 128 yards. Surratt had 4 catches for 63 yards but he also had some drops where he again appeared to take off before putting the ball away.

The defense is a complete Jekyl and Hyde outfit. In the first half, the Birmingham offense had 70 yards rushing on 12 carries or well over 6 yards a carry. The QB was 8 of 12 for 164 yards and two TDs -- that's over 20 yards a catch and a total of 234 yards of offense in the first half.

The second half was completely different: Birmingham had 15 yards rushing on 21 carries for well under a yard per carry and 6 of 12 passing for 80 yards (and a TD) and a total of only a 101 yards total offense in the second half – and almost half of that was on the first series.

Lyon finished the night at 26 of 45 for 353 yards and a TD. That sounds like a terrific night but the three INTs were killers. From my perspective, one pass should not have been intercepted because the receiver simply didn't get his nose into the play. The other two were overthrown, always a problem, especially over the middle. Playing QB is tough, especially when you get in a big hole early. The other team can really bring on the blitz. Given those circumstances, the easy drops by receivers become a real issued. It looked to me like a receiver or two got pulled for awhile and rightly so.

The rushing game was abysmal, especially in the first half. Note my previous comments about running from the shotgun against a team with quick linebackers. In the first and third games this season, RC was much quicker then the opposing LBs and got some really great yards, against St B and Birm both of whom are loaded with speed, he generally was easily contained and tackled except when the run was such an utter surprise (which was almost any time he ran in the second half.) Overall RC had 49 yards on 11 carries. Overall Hart had a net 23 yards on 24 carries, a repeat of the St B running stats.

So where are the Indians after four games? Who knows. Turnovers on offense and screwups on defense. There is some repair work to do. The Indians avoided turnovers versus Moorpark and Westlake and controlled the games. 5 turnovers against St B and 6 against Birm turned into two close losses.

Conclusion: If Hart cures the turnover problem and plays more alert defense (gee whiz guys: an all-out blitz just before half time and not one of you blitzers had the sense to see it was obviously a draw play and stop in your tracks?), Hart will be a very formidable opponent for ANY team they play. Clearly, really speedy teams can give Hart fits. Fortunately, we probably won't see any more teams with the speed and quickness of St B and Birmingham.

Next: Nationally ranked Loyola: a black and blue game.

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