Actual talk about the rest of this football season

vapspwi

vapspwi

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As exciting as it is to watch people argue over who our next coach should be, I'm actually somewhat curious about the rest of this season. I've got tickets to the games, and I'm going to try to get as much out of them as I can.

While it had nothing to do with us losing the game, the officiating was wretched on Saturday. Just random and unpredictable - not calling obvious PI, somehow no holding calls, some weird spots, and letting Duke get away with a LOT of chippy bullshit leading up to the fight. Any update on Alexander's availability for VPI after the ejection?

Marshall has looked hurt for most of the season. I don't know what the answer is for getting him healthy (the OL not letting him get killed on the first play of the game would be a start) - give Oliver a start (which could be writing off a game)? If a 75% Marshall is our best option, that's unfortunate and hard to watch.

Any idea what our WR situation is, injury-wise? I heard Camp was hurt (and I don't think he played) - any updates? Seemed like Dolphus started but didn't play for long - did he get hurt? It was good to see Stewart go up and get a 50/50 ball for once - the passing game wasn't great, but if we could make more plays like that it would be better.

As exciting as Thomas can be as a returner (he had a TD brought back by penalty earlier this year), it seems like we need to take advantage of the fair catch rule more often. I don't know how the returner can judge when there's a chance to break one, but I think I'd be OK just taking the 25 on balls kicked inside the 5 for the rest of the year.

I shouldn't complain about Stewart as punt returner, because he always catches them, but I've been getting a little disgruntled with the fair catches inside the 10 and with the 3 yards at most returns of late. But at this point, I guess safe is best just to avoid giving us another way to shoot ourselves in the foot.

No CPJ show tonight because of the bye, right?

JRjr
 
vapspwi said:
As exciting as it is to watch people argue over who our next coach should be, I'm actually somewhat curious about the rest of this season. I've got tickets to the games, and I'm going to try to get as much out of them as I can.

While it had nothing to do with us losing the game, the officiating was wretched on Saturday. Just random and unpredictable - not calling obvious PI, somehow no holding calls, some weird spots, and letting Duke get away with a LOT of chippy bullshit leading up to the fight. Any update on Alexander's availability for VPI after the ejection?

Marshall has looked hurt for most of the season. I don't know what the answer is for getting him healthy (the OL not letting him get killed on the first play of the game would be a start) - give Oliver a start (which could be writing off a game)? If a 75% Marshall is our best option, that's unfortunate and hard to watch.

Any idea what our WR situation is, injury-wise? I heard Camp was hurt (and I don't think he played) - any updates? Seemed like Dolphus started but didn't play for long - did he get hurt? It was good to see Stewart go up and get a 50/50 ball for once - the passing game wasn't great, but if we could make more plays like that it would be better.

As exciting as Thomas can be as a returner (he had a TD brought back by penalty earlier this year), it seems like we need to take advantage of the fair catch rule more often. I don't know how the returner can judge when there's a chance to break one, but I think I'd be OK just taking the 25 on balls kicked inside the 5 for the rest of the year.

I shouldn't complain about Stewart as punt returner, because he always catches them, but I've been getting a little disgruntled with the fair catches inside the 10 and with the 3 yards at most returns of late. But at this point, I guess safe is best just to avoid giving us another way to shoot ourselves in the foot.

No CPJ show tonight because of the bye, right?

JRjr
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Five ACC wins might win the Coastal Division. We are 1-3 with four to play. Just sayin'.
 
Yukonwreck said:
Five ACC wins might win the Coastal Division. We are 1-3 with four to play. Just sayin'.
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Pretty unlikely at this point, but at least it's out there as a goal to strive for. Duke actually has to play Clemson this year, for once, so that could help us avoid losing that tiebreaker to them.
 
If we quit shooting ourselves in the foot with stupid mistakes, we could actually win a few more games this season.

We've only really gotten our butts handed to us once (Clemson).
 
Yeah, the most frustrating thing about the last couple of seasons has been the "if only..." factor. Even in the 3-win season, we were right there in several of the games and couldn't close the deal. Our margin for error is razor thin. I really thought that we had turned a corner going into the Duke game. Duke came out with a chip on their shoulder, playing pretty nasty (and a little bit dirty) and we struggled to match that intensity. I don't think we've mentally adjusted to the Duke game being a down-and-dirty dogfight.

I don't expect us to run off wins in the next 4 (losing all 4 seems more likely than winning all 4), but it's not impossible. VPI on Thursday night is a tall order - we haven't played well on the road for a while, and we've been bad in those Thursday night games more often than not. I'd feel better about UNC if we got them at home - that might be another "last possession wins" kind of game. Richt and Miami are bad enough to lose any given game, but they're annoyingly lucky, too. UVA in Atlanta should be a W, but if we're sitting at like 4-6 by that point, it could go the other way.

JRjr
 
Fact is the teams they play us year-in and year-out have enough experience and knowledge to neutralize the triple option. Unless we get better talent, we will have to rely on near perfect execution to win against decent teams.
 
My understanding from reports is Dolphus, Curry, Cerge-Henderson, and T. Marshall were injured and didn't return. Honestly, T. Marshall was slow to get up from the 1st play of the game pass->sack (please stop this playcalling) and then slow to get up everytime he was on the ground after that until he finally had enough.

I know Juanyeah Thomas held that ball out and fumbled (rookie move) but he is explosive. One of the few bright spots this season, IMO (D. Curry, K. Cerge-Henderson, P. Harvin, P. Braun, M. Rivera, T. Carpenter, and that's about it for me). Go ahead and start liking this kid because he is going to make plays for the next 3.5 years.

Going forward (@VT, @UNC, Miami, UVA, and @UGA) I guess we'll find 1-2 wins to finish with 4-5 and no bowl. If we get up or down big, I have to think we get to see more J. Graham. If he has 3 plays, call them. Give him 2 consecutive series at least once this season and save the redshirt. Then you can let Graham, Oliver, and Johnson duke it out for the starting spot in the spring. We've got 6 wins in 19 games with Marshall, to think we'll go 3-2 to finish the season is unrealistic, if we lose to VT the season is a no-bowl bust and focus on 2019. Show me something to look forward to.

I want to see us run the triple, rocket toss, midline, and speed option with varying formations and change up blocking schemes. The offense looked better in 2008 with A. Barrack at A-back.

I want to see us pass on 2nd and 2 instead of 1st and 10.

I want to see way less counters, unless they are flowing to the direction of the A-back motion.

I want to see the defense continue to get better.
 
RamblinWreck92 said:
Did the state you live in just legalize marijuana?
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My post is factual, and rational. Very possible that VPI, Duke, Miami, and Virginia end up with three or even four losses. Duke is one up on us, but they have six conference games left one of which is Clempsen. If we beat all four of our division rivals we hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against them. If the Atlantic division helps out, and we take care of business, we're in. And you have to concede, when his job is on the line, CPJ shifts into another gear.
 
Yukonwreck said:
My post is factual, and rational. Very possible that VPI, Duke, Miami, and Virginia end up with three or even four losses. Duke is one up on us, but they have six conference games left one of which is Clempsen. If we beat all four of our division rivals we hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against them. If the Atlantic division helps out, and we take care of business, we're in. And you have to concede, when his job is on the line, CPJ shifts into another gear.
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His job has been on the line all season. Anyway, doesn't matter what gear he is in if the team can't execute the basic scheme in year 11 of his reign.
 
We can beat UNC and UVA. Hopefully we can win one of the others. While self-inflicted problems have caused us to lose this year, they appear to be the norm. I don't have any expectations and will just be happy to see us compete, hopefully improve and get ready for next year. At this point, I see making any bowl game as a huge plus.
 
Yukonwreck said:
My post is factual, and rational. Very possible that VPI, Duke, Miami, and Virginia end up with three or even four losses. Duke is one up on us, but they have six conference games left one of which is Clempsen. If we beat all four of our division rivals we hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against them. If the Atlantic division helps out, and we take care of business, we're in. And you have to concede, when his job is on the line, CPJ shifts into another gear.
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So much wrong here.

It's not "Very possible that VPI, Duke, Miami, and Virginia end up with three or even four losses...".

Not going to even look at their schedules to tell you why.

and
"when his job is on the line, CPJ shifts into another gear"

But his job has never been on the line at GT. CPJ's job won't be on the line until 2019. Look, you seem like a nice kid so take my advice and Don't Do Drugs.
 
We beat ourselves too much right now to hold out hope for some kind of winning streak. Bowl eligibility would mean we really bucked the trend, but we are just too inconsistent in every phase in a deeply ingrained way to get anyone's A game and walk away with a win. That said, in the conference of "bring your A game", that doesn't seem to happen much for anyone. So who knows.

My advice for the rest of the season: enjoy the tailgates and hope for the best.
 
RamblinWreck92 said:
So much wrong here.

It's not "Very possible that VPI, Duke, Miami, and Virginia end up with three or even four losses...".

Not going to even look at their schedules to tell you why.

and
"when his job is on the line, CPJ shifts into another gear"

But his job has never been on the line at GT. CPJ's job won't be on the line until 2019. Look, you seem like a nice kid so take my advice and Don't Do Drugs.
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Sounds like good advice
 
My biggest complaint from a game management perspective is that we are not taking touchbacks more often. Look at the stats:

10 yd per KO return against Alcorn.
22 yd against USF
12 yd against Clemson
12.7 against Duke (19 if you exclude the fumbles return).

GT is good for only about 20 yards on a good return.

Worse still, every opponent this year has returned KO’s for more average yards than GT.

Either we don’t have the blocking to enable long gains or the returner isn’t running with the blocks. GT needs to take a touchback on anything inside the 5. I know that gives up the possibility of a big play, but we aren’t getting much in the returns as it is and consequently field position is suffering.
 
RamblinWreck92 said:
So much wrong here.

It's not "Very possible that VPI, Duke, Miami, and Virginia end up with three or even four losses...".

Not going to even look at their schedules to tell you why.

and
"when his job is on the line, CPJ shifts into another gear"

But his job has never been on the line at GT. CPJ's job won't be on the line until 2019. Look, you seem like a nice kid so take my advice and Don't Do Drugs.
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It may not be us, chances are slim, but the winner of the Coastal division will have three losses.
 
bravejason said:
My biggest complaint from a game management perspective is that we are not taking touchbacks more often. Look at the stats:

10 yd per KO return against Alcorn.
22 yd against USF
12 yd against Clemson
12.7 against Duke (19 if you exclude the fumbles return).

GT is good for only about 20 yards on a good return.

Worse still, every opponent this year has returned KO’s for more average yards than GT.

Either we don’t have the blocking to enable long gains or the returner isn’t running with the blocks. GT needs to take a touchback on anything inside the 5. I know that gives up the possibility of a big play, but we aren’t getting much in the returns as it is and consequently field position is suffering.
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+1

I have been surprised at how infrequently coaches instruct returners to take the fair catch. I suppose the theory is that a return out to the 20 isn't much worse than a return out to the 25, relative to the occasional times you get a return to midfield or beyond.

I think the whole stadium breathes a sigh of relief when we finally started fair catching at the Duke game.
 
I think Duke expected our first play pass. We do that trick predictability often. Great when it works, but TM was obviously shaken up the remainder of the game.
 
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