Coach G "Bennett never showed consistently in practice"

[gth816f]

Dude, watch the UGA game again. We lost because Reggie choked for 60 minutes strait. Every play where Reggie was supposed to do anything, he choked at it. The only coaching mistake vs UGA was not pulling Reggie.

I'd say it was a mix. Reggie definitely was definitely in the midst of putting up a historically bad performance, but you can't just suit Bennett up at halftime(well, I guess you could, but it would take some big cajones). However, you can just run run run the ball and never pass it except for screen plays. Since we only got an average of 1.9 yards per pass play that game, we undoubtedly would have done better.

The coaching staff probably felt pressured to use Calvin Johnson as much as possible though, and with the demands of the fans and media, it's tough to blame them. They really were in a tough spot with seemingly no right answer, other than benching Reggie after his UNC performance, which obviously wasn't an option in the middle of the UGA game. Just an all around bad situation.

 

[BarrelORum]

Dude, watch the UGA game again. We lost because Reggie choked for 60 minutes strait. Every play where Reggie was supposed to do anything, he choked at it. The only coaching mistake vs UGA was not pulling Reggie.

Yeah... I call that coaching.

 

[beej67]

Since we only got an average of 1.9 yards per pass play that game, we undoubtedly would have done better.

Take the sacks off pass yardage instead of run yardage and it's much worse. 11 yards net passing, and 3 turnovers from the QB. Reggie averaged 1 turnover per 3 yards gained.

When you call a play, and 3 receivers including one all-american are all standing wide open in the end-zone, and the QB runs in circles, fails to see ANY of them, and takes a 12 yard sack, that's not coaching. It's a perfect playcall that only one man can screw up.


I still think Reggie was on the take. It's the only explanation I have.

 

[jacketup]

Take the sacks off pass yardage instead of run yardage and it's much worse. 11 yards net passing, and 3 turnovers from the QB. Reggie averaged 1 turnover per 3 yards gained.

When you call a play, and 3 receivers including one all-american are all standing wide open in the end-zone, and the QB runs in circles, fails to see ANY of them, and takes a 12 yard sack, that's not coaching. It's a perfect playcall that only one man can screw up.


I still think Reggie was on the take. It's the only explanation I have.

Our passing offense has sucked for 5 years. For you mathematically challenged folk, Reggie only played for four.

Our offense sucked in the second half of the Gator. We scored 7 points. The offense looked a lot like a bunch of other games. For you mathematically challenged folks, seven points wasn't enough to win. By the way, Reggie did not play in the second half of the Gator.

For you folks that can't logically reason, our passing offense has sucked for 5 years, no matter WHO is at QB.

Reggie didn't improve for four years. Joe Hamilton said that everything Reggie knew HE LEARNED HIMSELF.You think that maybe those well paid coaches are supposed to make players better?

You think maybe we have had a problem with our coaching in the passing game?

Nah, beejay67, you are right: it was all Reggie's fault. Even when he was a senior in high school it was his fault that our passing game sucked under this coaching staff. Only scoring seven points in the second half of the Gator against the 109th rated passing defense was his fault too.

Can you tell the difference between a pumpkin and a football? They both come out in the fall, but I doubt that you know the difference.

 

[gth816f]

jacketup, if you think it was coaching that was the cause of Reggie's poor performance against UGA, you must have been watching a different game than me. Sure he might not have improved in four years, sure he might not have been coached well, but his play that game was FAR FAR worse than his normal play...he just choked, plain and simple.

And also it's a bit tough to harp on the offense in the Gator Bowl, even if they did only score 7 in the second half...when the O puts up 35 points, that should be more than enough to win, no matter when they score them.

Also, it's nice that you quote beej's post(which is about the UGA game of Reggie's senior year), talk about something completely different(Reggie's performance over four years), then tell him he doesn't know the difference between a pumpkin and a football.

 

[helluvaparamedic]

:wow:

I still think Reggie was on the take. It's the only explanation I have.

Other astute individuals have had these same suspicions. Stating those suspicions; however, will get you into hot water around here though.

 

[midatlantech]

I wondered the same thing, but that thought was easily dismissed by poor play at other games too. There was another game against "red" opponents however that I will never be convinced otherwise that someone didn't throw the game.

 

[knoxjacket]

Nah, beejay67, you are right: it was all Reggie's fault. Even when he was a senior in high school it was his fault that our passing game sucked under this coaching staff.

I seem to recall us having a different OC in 2002 and that being our most productive year passing in the Chan Gailey era.

Interestingly enough I also seem to recall him being blamed and run off. Then I recall another coach running the show for three years of dreadful offense before replacing himself with another coach. The offense was better during the one year that coach ran it than the three years prior, but he too got run off.

As I have said many times the problem with our offense is still very much with the team.

 

[77GTFan]

I, too, believe Reggie's performance was the key to the UGA loss (and WFU, for that matter). But, to insinuate he was "on the take" is slanderous.

If you have any proof, go for it. If not, why speak about one of our student athletes in such a way? I think what did happen is that Reggie wanted to go out a winner against UGA and atone for the Athens disaster of throwing the ball away on fourth down. I think the young man was far too hyped up and nervous against the Dawgs. Fault him for wanting to beat them too much that he performed poorly. But, don't say he tried to throw the game.

 

[mm42]

Our passing offense has sucked for 5 years. For you mathematically challenged folk, Reggie only played for four.

2002: AJ Suggs completion rate = 58%
2003-2006: Ball completion rate = 48%
2006: Bennett completion rate = 60%

Boy, I sure do feel mathematically challenged, because these do not look the same to me.

 

[Essobee]

And also it's a bit tough to harp on the offense in the Gator Bowl, even if they did only score 7 in the second half...when the O puts up 35 points, that should be more than enough to win, no matter when they score them.

I agree that 35 points should be enough to win most ball games. However, I would be interested in knowing the time of possession for each team. WV had a high-powered offense...one you would like to keep off the field through your own ball-control type of offense.

 

[mm42]

I would be interested in knowing the time of possession for each team.

1st column is WVU, 2nd is GT:

We scored a lot of points in the first half because we had no offensive penalties and no turnovers. We scored less in the 2nd half because we had 2 turnovers and 3 offensive penalties.

 

[beej67]

Joe Hamilton said that everything Reggie knew HE LEARNED HIMSELF.

I find that hard to believe, but I'm not calling you a liar. Got a link? Not to a blog taking the quote out of context, either, got a link to the original quote?

You think maybe we have had a problem with our coaching in the passing game?

It is entirely possible that the coaches did not do a good job training Reggie to be a good quarterback. I will most definitely concede that point, as I've done in the past, and I do agree that training is part of the job of a coach. But neither the game plan, nor the play calling were responsible for our losses to UGA and Wake.

It makes me want to puke when the idiot in front of me at BDS yells "Great Playcall Chan!" after a fumble, as if Chan had, in his infinite wisdom, called the "turnover" play. Level your Pumpkin accusations at that guy, not me.

Even when he was a senior in high school it was his fault that our passing game sucked under this coaching staff.

No, that was clearly AJ Suggs fault - the worst QB we've ever had at reading coverage. Now, was it our staff's fault AJ never learned how to read coverage? Possibly. But half his time in a GT uniform was under O'Brian and O'Leary.

Can you tell the difference between a pumpkin and a football? They both come out in the fall, but I doubt that you know the difference.

I think my arguments on Stingtalk clearly indicate that I know as much about football as you, jacketup, yet I'm not resorting to personal attacks.

If you have any proof, go for it. If not, why speak about one of our student athletes in such a way?

I have no proof, I just have no other viable explanation. Furthermore, I find it fishy that UGA's defense could be so wretched against Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and so many other opponents during the season, and then do so well in 2 strait weeks vs Auburn and GT, as both of their QBs had career-worst games. (Check out Auburn's stats - they're worse than ours)

It's not an accusation. It's a hunch, nothing more, and will never become more than that.

Also - 4th quarter TOP was skewed vs WV because of the freak pooch kickoff. Which, btw, we would have won the game on if we were able to fall on the ball.

**

WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY last season, if I were the coach, is the same thing in retrospect as I said pre-season on the Hive. I would have played a 2 qb system, and sat Reggie on the bench every time he made a major game-changing screwup, to calm him down.

Do I wish Chan had done that last season? Sure do. Do I personally think it would have won us a few more games? Yup. But I'm not so naive as to think that I know more than someone who's won a DivII title, gone to a Superbowl, and coached at every level of the game.

 

[Essobee]

We scored a lot of points in the first half because we had no offensive penalties and no turnovers. We scored less in the 2nd half because we had 2 turnovers and 3 offensive penalties.

That pretty much speaks for itself. End of story...and ballgame.

 

[Techbert]

I find that hard to believe, but I'm not calling you a liar. Got a link? Not to a blog taking the quote out of context, either, got a link to the original quote?

On the "learned himself" comment, I heard Joe say this before the ACCCG at a sponsored event at the Landing. He was on a big stage. So I can corroborate. And it was his point, not a snippet taken out of context.

One of my peeves is an attitude that if something can be linked on the internet it must be true, while something that cannot be linked on the internet must be false. It gives the internet waaaay too much credit. (Not saying that you fall in this category, BJ, but your comment reminded me of my peeve.)

As far as the truthfulness or the level of insight Joe showed, we can debate that. But he did say it. From what I have seen and heard, I think our quarterbacks are getting much better instruction now than they did last year.

 

[ncjacket]

So how do you align those comments of Joe's with others where he said that he tried to talk with Reggie about playing QB and Reggie wouldn't listen to him? Was Joe trying to say he wasn't coached, or that he wouldn't listen to coaches?

 

[beej67]

Well I'd call a surprise post from Techbert solid corroboration on it. Lets hope the new guy does better than the old one.

Anybody got any idea when Joe can become a grad assistant?

One of my peeves is an attitude that if something can be linked on the internet it must be true, while something that cannot be linked on the internet must be false.

I hear you, but one of my peeves is people using "Trust Me I heard it from a reliable source" to win hostile discussion board arguments. I like to know sources.

 

[GEETEELEE]

Furthermore, I find it fishy that UGA's defense could be so wretched against Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and so many other opponents during the season, and then do so well in 2 strait weeks vs Auburn and GT, as both of their QBs had career-worst games. (Check out Auburn's stats - they're worse than ours)

UGa, unfortunately, very rarely lacks for depth and talent. What they did lack last year was experience. After 9 and 10 games, they no longer lacked experience and it showed.

It's not an accusation. It's a hunch, nothing more, and will never become more than that.

Reggie rarely performed well under pressure his entire career. Yes, he had his moments, but unfortunately with the game on the line he has a well established history of, simply, choking. His last two games were no question the biggest of his career, and he didn't deal well with the pressure, bless his heart.

The simplest and most obvious reason is usually the most accurate.

 

[TechGator1066]

The simplest and most obvious reason is usually the most accurate.

A fan of Occam's Razor I see.

 

[mm42]

My opinion is that Reggie Ball has a defective adrenal medulla.

I estimate that his releases approximately one thousand times the normal human dose of adrenaline during stressful situations.

Needless to say, this condition would tend to amp one up a bit.

For a QB, who must keep cool and calm, this is a devastating trait. At another position, it might be less so, perhaps even beneficial in the case of someone like a return man or punt rusher.