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BarrelORum

BarrelORum

Mediocre Poster
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Jul 24, 2002
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Just got back from Atlanta. Took off from Savannah about 2:45pm yesterday and actually didn't get into too bad of traffic. arrived on campus at 7pm with enough time to drink a few beers with friends and get into my seats before kickoff.

Reggie in my opinion looked great with the exception of the unnecessary jawing he did with a UVA Dlineman after a couple of plays. I've given Ball a hard time on this board. Always admited he was a competitor but not necessarily a good QB. Last night he was an outstanding QB. He reminded me a lot of Sean Jones.

I seemed to grasp some insight last night on Reggie. Reggie may not be as bad of a QB as his past would indicate. Last night our OLine was HORRIBLE. Reggie or the runningbacks were making plays in spite of an OLine that got pushed around like a little girl at a boys camp. I think Reggie Ball might have been as good as Sean Jones was if not better if he only had a line.

Which brings me to my next comment. Our left guard needs to be benched in favor of Dunman. He was constantly abused last night as he has been in games past. At the snap he was already being pushed in the backfield on most plays and his idea of Pass protection better resembles a piece of paper trying to stop a freight train. I made the comment to the fan sitting next to me that our left guard was getting abused. After I told him what number to look for he said, "man you are right, that guy just shoved him all over the place." My response was, "watch this, he will lose his cool and hold him on the next play because he ain't getting the job done". Sure enough, next play, 5 yard holding penalty.

In the 4th quarter when Choice broke the long run, and the flag came out. I did not see the penalty, but made the comment to my section, "I got $20 that its on number (Left guard), who wants to take the bet?" Sure enough after the long pause for the refs to make the announcement, "Clipping #(left guard)". The lady in front of me asked me if I was a genie. I said, no ma'am, you don't have to be, that guy is almost money with holding or illegal block penalties. Thank goodness that right after that play Gailey finally benched him which was 3 quarters too late in my opinion.

I have heard from more than a few people and witnessed myself that we have young and better talent on the bench who are not playing in favor of more experience. Well I hate to tell this to Coach Gailey, but a couple members of the OLine are not getting it done. Reggie has zilch time to allow the play to develop and is why he has grown accustomed to the happy feet syndrome. Twice last night the pocket was closing, Calvin's in one on one coverage, and Reggie Ball takes off running because the line cannot sustain blocks.

The problems with our Offense IS THE DAMN OFFENSIVE LINE!!! That is the root problem.

Ok, now that I vented, off to the good. The receivers played excellent tonight, and obviously Calvin was tremendous. He was simply awesome. I was so happy to see him have a huge 2nd coming out party on ESPN Thursday primetime. The runningbacks got the job done. #3 Reshaun Grant is a threat whenever he is on the field. Didn't like the fumble, but it was a nasty hit he took.

Playcalling really was super this game with the exception of the 4th quarter and the penalty infested -45 yard drive. Which brings me to my next point, penalties will kill us in a big game.

The defense was outstanding. I will say that our Defensive End play was much improved, but I still cannot figure out how Michael Johnson is not starting. I think Robo made some big plays and really did well against the run which was a worry of some of the people on this board. Still cannot figure out how MJ isn't starting, but at least he's seening the field often. Which brings me to my next poitn, on special teams, MJ is on the kickoff and punt teams, and he was getting triple covered on kickoffs and still making a play.

Our Safeties tend to get too relaxed at key moments in the game and allow a big play. Overall they played great, but a couple of times, it seemed that they were getting too relaxed due to the Dline kicking so much ass that they forgot to cover. Especially on the UVA TD pass.

Finally, we won't beat VT. We're going to get our ass kicked for two simple reasons.

a.) Our Oline won't get the job done.

b.) Gailey does not have a killer instinct

After last night I am convinced that our head coach lacks the killer instinct. Those two points above are challenges as much as they are observations. We should and could have beaten UVA by 3 more TD's easily and still have done it with time to spare in the 4th for running the clock down and playing reserves.

3 years we have gotten man handled and beaten by UVA. 3 years Groh has kicked the ever living crap out of us. He's on the hot seat and UVA's talking replacing him... what do you do? You pour it on. We had a real chance to put UVA in a tailspin last night by piling it on. And it would have been appropriate AND justified. Yet we didn't. I couldn't figure this one out. On 3rd down and 9 with LOTS of time to play in the 4th quarter we ran the ball up the gut for a 2 yard gain. That is for pussies. No killer instinct. Made me want to puke.

Which leads me to my next comment which is Al Groh is the worst coach in D-1. Single Coverage on Calvin? Yeah, nice call jackass. For those that didn't watch or pay attention to the coverage, Calvin was in single coverage the majority of last night. How he didn't have 300 yards receiving is a testament to our inability to call the right plays at the right times or audibilize (which isn't in the Gailey coaching dictionary). From UVA's 17 yard line in the 1st quarter, Calvin is lined up in single coverage and Reggie hands off to Choice. WTF??? Was it not obvious to everyone else in the stadium but our OC?

VT is a HUGE game. Winner can write his check to the top of the Coastal Division. But we won't get it done, because the weaknesses I pointed out will be horribly exposed at 3:30pm on Saturday.
 
Pretty much agree, but a question -
Our left guard needs to be benched in favor of Dunman.
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Trey is on the depth chart as #2 center - Newberry is the backup Lt Guard....I didn't notice, did both of these guys play? Did Dunman come in at guard?

I don't necessarily agree that VT is a lost cause, but it will be a stiff test, no doubt. In the post game show Gailey mentioned to Wes WTTE of the team is really focused and had already had a team meeting regarding the VT game. The team seems very tight this year - good chemistry throughout.

Although he may have been getting pushed around on the field, on the sidelines #61 is a leader and very vocal cheerleader- the first one to congratulate CJ on his TDs and also being sure RB gets his due as well. But he does look small next to the other linemen.
 
I didn't think the UVA defense was able to get to RB most of the night. RB had plenty of time becuase the pass blocking was good. The run blocking wasn't so hot...
 
BOR, I haven't rewatched the whole game but through mid way of the 3rd quarter I have to tell you I'm not seeing what you're talking about with #61. The penalties, yeah, but he's not missing assignments that you can tell on film and he's not having any more problem with his man than any other OL is. I know he's smaller than most and I'm not claiming to be an expert on OL. But if you watch the film I don't think you will see what you're claiming you did live.
 
GEETEELEE said:
Although he may have been getting pushed around on the field, on the sidelines #61 is a leader and very vocal cheerleader- the first one to congratulate CJ on his TDs and also being sure RB gets his due as well. But he does look small next to the other linemen.
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He can lead as a non-starter too.All those things you mentioned can be done without setting foot on the field.
 
BarrelORum said:
After last night I am convinced that our head coach lacks the killer instinct. Those two points above are challenges as much as they are observations. We should and could have beaten UVA by 3 more TD's easily and still have done it with time to spare in the 4th for running the clock down and playing reserves.

3 years we have gotten man handled and beaten by UVA. 3 years Groh has kicked the ever living crap out of us. He's on the hot seat and UVA's talking replacing him... what do you do? You pour it on. We had a real chance to put UVA in a tailspin last night by piling it on. And it would have been appropriate AND justified. Yet we didn't. I couldn't figure this one out. On 3rd down and 9 with LOTS of time to play in the 4th quarter we ran the ball up the gut for a 2 yard gain. That is for pussies. No killer instinct. Made me want to puke.
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Play to win...not play to win by as much as possible. I asked a friend on that 3rd and 9 if we should run or throw it. He said throw, I thought we should run it. We have the game in the bag, lets run off as much time as possible. Call it pussy if you want, I call it insuring the win. Just win. Throwing it on 3rd and 9 presents many possibilities for things to go wrong; why take the chance when you've got the win in the bag.
 
I thought the line played better last night than the last few games. The key to me is time of possession. When the game was still in play we had a HUGE lead in that category. If we can lead in time of possession we will probably win that game.

The penalties were killers and need to be cut down but I liked the fact we were able to get 1st downs.
 
geeteelee, Dunman is our #1 go to interior lineman which is why he needs to play guard. He lined up at Guard some last week and I thought he did last night. He's also practiced there too.

How you guys don't see our problem on the interior is beyond me. NCJacket sums it up nicely in another thread that we don't seem to be firing off the line on run plays. We let them engage us and then try and steer the defender. The big problem is we get anhilated on the line of scrimmage.
 
BOR, I don't know enough to pick out who should be playing that isn't, but I'll buy Dunman as someone who might be able to help. My point on #61 is that from looking at film I don't know that it's him as much as how we're playing. Maybe he needs to sit, I don't know. But it still seems that if we're not firing off the line it doesn't matter too much.

The problem I have with our scheme in the running game is that is seems if we fire off the ball, the hole will close before the back gets to it. But in catching the DL the hole has to exist in our backfield and the back has to be able to get to it. Don't know if that exactly makes sense but hopefully you get my point. That's why I wish we were using more under center formations along with the shotgun.
 
BOR, your point b is wrong.
We will not beat VT with more or less of a killer instinct. A blowout against UVA would not help the cause against VT. We need to go into Blacksburg with as little hype as possible. Last year we had hype and ran into a buzz saw.
Don't get me wrong, if they try to throw on us, then we should hammer their QB and recievers. But we also need to play smart.

It was right for Gailey to give our subs more playing time last night. This may give us additional depth. It is clear that we have struggled in the fourth quarter against quality opponents because lack of depth.

We cannot beat VT at their place by trying to out hit them. We need to wrap them up rather than make a spectacular hit that may or may not bring down the runner.
Our O has to sustain drives with a good mix of run and pass so that we can spread their D a little more. This would counteract their speed. I think it is doable with options that can go to CJ, RB, RG and TC, and others. If our offense executes it will rest our D, tire theirs, and we will be in the game.
If we can do this with few mistakes and play solid on special teams, which seem to be getting better, then we can win.
We can't get into physical contests with top 10 teams, we're not deep enough. Finesse, execution and smart play is the way GT will win the big games this year.
 
BarrelORum said:
How you guys don't see our problem on the interior is beyond me. NCJacket sums it up nicely in another thread that we don't seem to be firing off the line on run plays. We let them engage us and then try and steer the defender. The big problem is we get anhilated on the line of scrimmage.
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I'm not necessarily disagreeing w/ ya, but here's another opinion on the same subject from the Hive:

Finally, the OL... Some of the complained that the run blocking was not good. I disagree. Running the QB sneak and draw plays requires the OL to give the illusion of a pass play and therefor not be in run blocking form. While the draw, sneak and options were effective against the smaller, faster Troy defense who overcommits, it is equally innefective against the slower, stay in you lanes defense that the snobs were in last night.

It is all about matchups and selecting plays that work against the team you are matching up against. I think we ran those plays, becuase we we had confidence in our ability to execute them instead of running a more traditional run/blocking scheme based on what the snobs D was giving us. I did not like those particular play selections for the game last night, but think they would be more effective against VT and Clemson who are both faster than UVA and also like to overcommit.

In other words, the OL is fine. Let's get the play calling right against the D we are playing. Next weekend will be a watermark to see if our program is still at the 7-5 level or whether we have made the jump up to the elite teams in the ACC.
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I think he makes a good point that doesn't necessarily conflict with your analysis, but does conflict with your conclusions. I just don't know which is the right conclusion!
 
I am surprised that a Chan Gailey coached team can not run block too. But I think the issues about Reggie and the OL problems go hand in hand.

There are many times when Reggie has time to step up into what looks like a good pocket and instead he wanders deep or outside. Both causes problems for the line.

Reggie also has a long delivery which requires more space and more time.

And like the poster said we run a lot of cutesy stuff and don't spend a lot on developing the pure run block.
 
What I don't understand is back in the spring and when I would watch the line all they did was power block and zone block. If they changed the offensive scheme over the summer and blocking scheme as well that's why they might not be totally meshing.
 
John, does it look to you like the blocking schemes have changed? I don't know enough to know if they have changed what they want the OL to do or if they just aren't doing what they're supposed to. But it definitely doesn't look like they are trying to establish the LOS.
 
To me it looks as if they have changed. I've only been to two games but the blocking is not what I watched in the spring or maybe my memory is bad.

I'm sure the line is doing what they are told but if you are going to change schemes the summer is not the time to do it. Timing is a huge issue in this scheme, it's almost like pass blocking every play which is tough.

Maybe I'm wrong, someone correct me if I'm offbase.
 
I think our O Line is fine . . .

. . . Virginia had a very competitive Defensive Line. Very large, physical guys who played hard the entire game.

I think you have to give them some credit. Our guys do a lot of scheme and influence blocking much like every other team in the country.

Rarely do they just fire off and try to knock their opponent off the line of scrimmarge. We rarely max protect like a lot of teams and that leads to some pressure from time to time but generally Reggie gets good protection.

Our offense is not built to foster a dominant running game. When you hand the ball off to a back who is at a dead stop and must accelerate after he gets the rock, you limit the backs ability to find an open spot to run. If we want to run the ball we need to line up in the I formation and send Cox in as the battering ram and give the ball to Choice, Grant or Evans. That ain't going to happen so we will have to settle for the dink and dunk West Coast crap that the whole world seems to think is state of the art offense.

Rhodes is as good as we got. He did make some bonehead mistakes last night and if he continues to do that he will be on the bench. The guys behind him are not that much of a drop off.

Go Jackets!
 
Everybody seems to forget that that these O linemen when recruited were NOT generally big guys NOR highly thought of.Now they have gotten somewhat bigger and stronger but so HAS EVERYONE ELSE.Why would we think that they should all of a sudden be an OVERWHELMING force? just because we HAD to play several last yr and they got SOME exp ,would that mean that they now can dominate?Obviously not.
 
ncjacket said:
BOR, I haven't rewatched the whole game but through mid way of the 3rd quarter I have to tell you I'm not seeing what you're talking about with #61. The penalties, yeah, but he's not missing assignments that you can tell on film and he's not having any more problem with his man than any other OL is. I know he's smaller than most and I'm not claiming to be an expert on OL. But if you watch the film I don't think you will see what you're claiming you did live.
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I haven't had the luxury of TV replay but I've seen him tossed around like a rag doll...
 
Practice like a champ take a beating like a chump.

Div 1/ACC is pretty competitive. You can't just hang in practice and expect to rule on gameday. You may get your lunch handed to you.

Our O-Line has a long ways to go. Very long. Very, very long.
 
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