vapspwi
Dodd-Like
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2002
- Messages
- 8,569
OK, so I just got back to town (and woke up from my nap, after getting up for a 6:30 AM flight)from the Maryland game. I commented at the game that the Hive would be shut down after such an ugly loss, and sure enough, I was right. So I'm a new poster here at StingTalk. (I was a relatively new poster, long time lurker, at the Hive.)
I don't really have the football experience that a lot of folks do, but I do go to a ton of games and watch a lot more. I haven't reviewed the in-depth stats from the game last night, just what Maryland puts up on their scoreboards (passing/rushing/total yardage). So this is really just a set of random things that I happened to notice in College Park last night.
Weather was pretty lousy before the game. It wasn't supposed to rain, but it did, and it was cold. The rain stopped before the game, but the field looked pretty soggy. Our guys seemed to slip a lot more than theirs, for whatever reason.
The Maryland fans have turned into NC State or something after 1 good season. Despite messages from Friedgen on the scoreboard before the game and at the half to "Act Like You Know" or "act like you've been there before," we took more uncreative, juvenile "Tech Sucks!" abuse walking into the stadium that I've heard at any game since NC State 2000. We took some more during the game, and some more walking out.
The crowd was pretty weak, really. They only got notably loud when Maryland scored their first TD. They announced the attendance as 41,000 or so, but unless there were a LOT more people sitting in the upper deck, which I couldn't see, there's no WAY there were that many there.
The TECH crowd was obnoxious, to the point that I had to move out of my decent seats in row CC down to around row F. I don't drink, but I don't mind being around people that drink. But most of the Tech fans sitting around us were an embarassment to the school and themselves, falling down drunk, abusive, and not paying ANY attention to the game. Why buy a ticket to the game, when all you're there to do is drink and talk about drinking, instead of actually watching the game and participating with the crowd? I don't get it.
As for the game itself, it didn't FEEL that bad, especially in the first half. We were moving the ball reasonably well (though we couldn't put up points). It took all of one play for some fatass loser next to me to start screaming for Bilbo, another reason I had to move. Early on, AJ looked decent, making catchable throws, though he started bouncing balls or overthrowing later in the game. Bilbo didn't look great on his first possession, but definitely looks more poised and confident out of the pocket than AJ. I'm a "support the guy on the field" guy, to the point that I was ready to ditch my ride to the game when he started getting obnoxious about the QB situation. But at this point, I think I'm ready to see Bilbo in the game full time to take his lumps and learn the system. What's the worst that could happen? It doesn't seem likely that we'll win many more anyway, so we might as well work for the future.
I don't know what's going on with all our injuries. We were sitting close enough to our bench to kind of see what was going on, and at various times, we saw Dorsey, Hargrove, Bilbo, Clinscale, Hester, Ezimefe, Fox, and others being taken care of. With all the injuries we've already got, it's mind-boggling that that many of our "name" players can get hurt in a single game.
Not that it really had any bearing on the game, but the officiating was somewhat suspect. Watkins' catch in the end zone may or may not have been a trap, but from the replay I saw, from the same angle as the official that made the ruling, there was NO WAY that the official could have seen what happened. They also might have missed the call on our first fumble, which looked in the replay like it was caused by the ground.
Our penalties were once again out of control. We look disorganized and undisciplined, something that I'm not used to seeing from a Tech team. I heard somebody on the radio say that we used to win games not so much with overpowering talent as with good coaching. That sounds right to me, and we're not seeing that this year. I don't really know enough to judge the playcalling, but the discipline aspect seems lacking.
Anyway, my train of thought has been derailed a few times already, so I think I'll stop there.
JRjr
I don't really have the football experience that a lot of folks do, but I do go to a ton of games and watch a lot more. I haven't reviewed the in-depth stats from the game last night, just what Maryland puts up on their scoreboards (passing/rushing/total yardage). So this is really just a set of random things that I happened to notice in College Park last night.
Weather was pretty lousy before the game. It wasn't supposed to rain, but it did, and it was cold. The rain stopped before the game, but the field looked pretty soggy. Our guys seemed to slip a lot more than theirs, for whatever reason.
The Maryland fans have turned into NC State or something after 1 good season. Despite messages from Friedgen on the scoreboard before the game and at the half to "Act Like You Know" or "act like you've been there before," we took more uncreative, juvenile "Tech Sucks!" abuse walking into the stadium that I've heard at any game since NC State 2000. We took some more during the game, and some more walking out.
The crowd was pretty weak, really. They only got notably loud when Maryland scored their first TD. They announced the attendance as 41,000 or so, but unless there were a LOT more people sitting in the upper deck, which I couldn't see, there's no WAY there were that many there.
The TECH crowd was obnoxious, to the point that I had to move out of my decent seats in row CC down to around row F. I don't drink, but I don't mind being around people that drink. But most of the Tech fans sitting around us were an embarassment to the school and themselves, falling down drunk, abusive, and not paying ANY attention to the game. Why buy a ticket to the game, when all you're there to do is drink and talk about drinking, instead of actually watching the game and participating with the crowd? I don't get it.
As for the game itself, it didn't FEEL that bad, especially in the first half. We were moving the ball reasonably well (though we couldn't put up points). It took all of one play for some fatass loser next to me to start screaming for Bilbo, another reason I had to move. Early on, AJ looked decent, making catchable throws, though he started bouncing balls or overthrowing later in the game. Bilbo didn't look great on his first possession, but definitely looks more poised and confident out of the pocket than AJ. I'm a "support the guy on the field" guy, to the point that I was ready to ditch my ride to the game when he started getting obnoxious about the QB situation. But at this point, I think I'm ready to see Bilbo in the game full time to take his lumps and learn the system. What's the worst that could happen? It doesn't seem likely that we'll win many more anyway, so we might as well work for the future.
I don't know what's going on with all our injuries. We were sitting close enough to our bench to kind of see what was going on, and at various times, we saw Dorsey, Hargrove, Bilbo, Clinscale, Hester, Ezimefe, Fox, and others being taken care of. With all the injuries we've already got, it's mind-boggling that that many of our "name" players can get hurt in a single game.
Not that it really had any bearing on the game, but the officiating was somewhat suspect. Watkins' catch in the end zone may or may not have been a trap, but from the replay I saw, from the same angle as the official that made the ruling, there was NO WAY that the official could have seen what happened. They also might have missed the call on our first fumble, which looked in the replay like it was caused by the ground.
Our penalties were once again out of control. We look disorganized and undisciplined, something that I'm not used to seeing from a Tech team. I heard somebody on the radio say that we used to win games not so much with overpowering talent as with good coaching. That sounds right to me, and we're not seeing that this year. I don't really know enough to judge the playcalling, but the discipline aspect seems lacking.
Anyway, my train of thought has been derailed a few times already, so I think I'll stop there.
JRjr
