BC Game thoughts

etc79

etc79

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I felt like the finish to the game reminded me of a 2014 comeback. I'm wondering how good of a defense we just drove down the field with 3 minutes to play. If this was still a top notch defense from a year ago that we just played against in the rain, I can see why CPJ was so pleased this offseason.
 
etc79 said:
I felt like the finish to the game reminded me of a 2014 comeback. I'm wondering how good of a defense we just drove down the field with 3 minutes to play. If this was still a top notch defense from a year ago that we just played against in the rain, I can see why CPJ was so pleased this offseason.
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They returned 8 starters from last year on that defense.
 
Glad Tech won. Lots of work to do before next big game. Blocking and Tackling very high on the list. Play calling also. Hitting your head against a brick wall alot hurts. But that being said they pay Johnson millions and I just watch.
 
I guess I’m in the minority, but I thought the blocking was OK. The pass blocking was 1000x better than last year. Run blocking was not great, but it was wet and BC has a solid defense. I think overall the offensive line played good, 3 out of 5.

The defense was a pleasant surprise. The Dline looked pretty good. Sir Francis seemed to have skipped the game – don’t remember him being on a single tackle. Henderson and Simmons had great games. Was really happy to see them step up. The secondary was outstanding. Wow, we are stacked there for years to come. Plus, like 5 solid recruits in this year’s class. I'm very impressed with this aspect of the D. Linebacker was the question mark for me. I think 51 whiffed on about 5 tackles. He had a tough day. Freeman needs to step up as well, while not a LB, he didn’t have a great game. Davis is a stud, but seems we fall off considerably from there.

Punting was terrible, but other than that aspect special teams were solid. Every kickoff deep in end zone. JJ Green had some good runs on kick-off returns. A decent punt return by Stewart, thought for a second he was going to break it long. Only negative was that punt downed on the 1, but that was really an excellent play on the BC side and nothing GT did wrong. Big improvement vs. last year.

Great comeback and a great game in crappy conditions. The GT fan base loves to be negative – just cannot seem to find any happiness – even in a great comeback on the road again an excellent defense. Great game guys and looking forward to a great season.
 
It's easy to forget how many games Tech pulled out of the fire in 2014, not to mention losing to Duke and UNC that season. Winning conference games is tough. Playing an opener in Dublin, in the rain, and against a very athletic defense, was a huge challenge. This team never quit, and JT took over late in the game to get the W. BC started preparing for our offense last spring, and they focused on this game as much as any team can with additional time. Addazio desperately wanted to win this game, and Towles makes them a significantly better team than they were last year. This was a gutsy win, and it's easier to correct assignment mistakes than to change the character of a team.
 
D was not good overall. Gave up ypp in excess of our atrocious average from last year. Another run up the gut. Etc.

I'd hate to rely all year on interceptions and missed/blocked field goals. We had some clutch plays yesterday that masked a rather poor defensive showing.
 
Looking at the performances of our future opponents on opening weekend, I don't see our schedule quite as tough as before. There were some predictable blowouts against cupcakes which don't tell us much, but our odds of beating Virginia, Virginia Tech, UNC and even Clemson and the dwags look a little better today.
 
  1. Pass pro appeared better, but hard to tell how much of that was slippery field. Both teams struggled with footing at times which tends to affect the "aggressor" more.
  2. OL run blocking needs to improve. We missed less assignments than last year, but there were still too many. My biggest complaint, though, is just whiffing on attempted blocks in the second level. At least get a piece of the guy.
  3. Ab/wr blocking on the perimeter was a real mixed bag.
  4. Qua is a beast. A couple of great catches, but my favorite play was him decleating a BC player on a crack back block. That was late in the game and our offense started moving the ball better after that. I think that was the turning point and some defenders started running with their heads on a swivel rather than ears pinned back.
  5. Antonio Simmons was the player of the game on defense. He was consistently getting push and/or gashing into gaps.
  6. The rest of the DL needs to step up.
  7. LB play was good against the run, needs improvement in coverage, needs improvement in wrapping up.
  8. DB play was disappointing. This group should be more improved than they are. Several players that I think the world of struggled in coverage. I question if they're being taught good technique and have really worked as a unit on where they need to be in zone coverage rather than individually. Maybe BC threw some odd route combos at us. Doubt it.
  9. Let's block some more kicks. It's becoming our team identity.
 
I'm going to opt not to evaluate the team after that game. We won't play on that kind of surface again this season, even in the rain, and even if we did, it wouldn't be so far from home with all the distractions and obstacles that brings. I am just glad the team had the mental grit to find a way to win at the end, and all I can take away from it is that JT has the killer instinct of a truly great football player. This year he has some good pieces around him, particularly in Searcy and the wide receivers. What a game from them.

Looking forward to getting a display of what our true speed looks like against Mercer, then getting a look at another decent defense in better field conditions in Vandy. I think we will know most of what we need to know by then.
 
jacket67 said:
Looking at the performances of our future opponents on opening weekend, I don't see our schedule quite as tough as before. There were some predictable blowouts against cupcakes which don't tell us much, but our odds of beating Virginia, Virginia Tech, UNC and even Clemson and the dwags look a little better today.
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Whoa now, one game at a time.
 
This game, and entire CFB weekend for that matter, justify my personal opinion that you really just need to survive week 1 if you're not playing a cupcake (disregard if you are Tenn or MissSt). Doesn't matter how. Doesn't matter how good or bad the OLine look. Doesn't matter how well the secondary plays. Just survive week 1.
 
BainbridgeJacket said:
  1. DB play was disappointing. This group should be more improved than they are. Several players that I think the world of struggled in coverage. I question if they're being taught good technique and have really worked as a unit on where they need to be in zone coverage rather than individually. Maybe BC threw some odd route combos at us. Doubt it.
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Why would you expect improved DB play right now, we lost a lot of talent there from last year? My biggest disappointment there was that we didn't have anyone who could run down that RB on his 73 yard trip to the end zone.
 
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etc79 said:
I felt like the finish to the game reminded me of a 2014 comeback. I'm wondering how good of a defense we just drove down the field with 3 minutes to play. If this was still a top notch defense from a year ago that we just played against in the rain, I can see why CPJ was so pleased this offseason.
Click to expand...
Pretty much how I feel. We lose that game last year.
 
jacket67 said:
... even Clemson and the dwags look a little better today.
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I would hold judgement on Clemson. They played a team uniquely prepared to defend them.

The dwags are interesting, but I'm guessing they are going to run Chubb into another injury before we see them. The fans exploded when Eason came into the game, but the offense they ran was set up for a young quarterback. He wouldn't survive a good run defense where he had to run a progression.
 
BainbridgeJacket said:
  1. Pass pro appeared better, but hard to tell how much of that was slippery field. Both teams struggled with footing at times which tends to affect the "aggressor" more.
  2. OL run blocking needs to improve. We missed less assignments than last year, but there were still too many. My biggest complaint, though, is just whiffing on attempted blocks in the second level. At least get a piece of the guy.
  3. Ab/wr blocking on the perimeter was a real mixed bag.
  4. Qua is a beast. A couple of great catches, but my favorite play was him decleating a BC player on a crack back block. That was late in the game and our offense started moving the ball better after that. I think that was the turning point and some defenders started running with their heads on a swivel rather than ears pinned back.
  5. Antonio Simmons was the player of the game on defense. He was consistently getting push and/or gashing into gaps.
  6. The rest of the DL needs to step up.
  7. LB play was good against the run, needs improvement in coverage, needs improvement in wrapping up.
  8. DB play was disappointing. This group should be more improved than they are. Several players that I think the world of struggled in coverage. I question if they're being taught good technique and have really worked as a unit on where they need to be in zone coverage rather than individually. Maybe BC threw some odd route combos at us. Doubt it.
  9. Let's block some more kicks. It's becoming our team identity.
Click to expand...
DBs should have improved!? We graduated every single starter in the secondary. Biggest concern is continued lack of pass rush. Also, one particular OL needs a LOT of work. Agree on Simmons. I'd like to see a lot more of Lynch
 
It wasn't a happy experience watching that game and a lot of expectations for improvement now seem misplaced.

Our offense had 35 yards of run offense in the first half. The only time we moved the ball is when we hit passes. They were absolutely daring us to pass putting so many people up ohn the line to stop the run. The corners were crashing if play action was to their side and they blew up the pitch over and over again. We need to be passing more and using more formation looks to help JT see the field better.

Simmons played a great game on D. The rest of the D was pretty disappointing. Same old stuff, soft coverage, nobody covers tight ends over the middle. I'll give special teams a good grade. Made the field goal and kickoffs into the end zone for the most part. Punting was spotty.

I like JJ Green, he runs hard and blocks well. Didn't see what the hype was about with Mills, would have like to seen Marshall get more carries. He is a bigger dude and that would have helped some I think on the dives. We lost the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

We got away with winning one we should have lost yesterday.
 
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