Patenaude's Offense

[Deke]

DUT

 

[ETBee]

And how do you figure that? Are you saying we are poorly coached?

I have no idea if they are coached well or not. I just expect a complex offense with lots of substitutes running on and off, plus lots of formations where players need to remember where they are supposed to be, coupled with it being the first game is going to result in mistakes. It will get better in subsequent games.

 

[TampaBayJacket]

The people who hated CPJ will love it when it works, and complain about recruiting when it doesn't. Which is basically what everyone did with the last offense

Everybody loves any offense when it works and hates any offense when it doesn't. You're right there. What I disagree with is the second statement, which implies CPJ's offense didnt really hurt recruiting. CPJ's offense definitely did hurt recruiting, irrefutably, whether it worked or not. The absolute truth is elite players have dreams of playing in the NFL and the triple option is a big turn off. The long-term erosion of our talent level was measurable in both the trend in our W-L record and in the number of NFL draft picks each year.

 

[The Jacket]

some of our previous assistant coaches were not getting the job done.

 

[ciegetanks]

You got a big cry from someone, but I can't recall any death marches over the last several years

Miami 2018.
They score to come within six points. We get the ball with 6:20 on the clock and never relinquish posession.
In fact we took a knee in their red zone to end the game.

 

[gtfan088]

Everybody loves any offense when it works and hates any offense when it doesn't. You're right there. What I disagree with is the second statement, which implies CPJ's offense didnt really hurt recruiting. CPJ's offense definitely did hurt recruiting, irrefutably, whether it worked or not. The absolute truth is elite players have dreams of playing in the NFL and the triple option is a big turn off. The long-term erosion of our talent level was measurable in both the trend in our W-L record and in the number of NFL draft picks each year.

And I think a lot of recruits just saw the TO as antiquated. While I love option football, it's not what most 16-18 year-old athletes are dreaming of playing in. I had hoped that kids would see how successful the offense was with guys like Dwyer and Thomas and it would help offset previous perceptions, but that just never materialized in recruiting. PJ's attitude probably didn't help in this regard.

The schematic advantage helped compensate for this somewhat, but think about all the times we had backs caught after a 20-30 yard run, then fumbled or otherwise failed to score that drive, and imagine someone like Dwyer taking that same run to the house instead.

 

[samsgt02]

Maybe I'm remembering the game wrong, but weren't a couple of those TD's in junk time?

How many of the 21 were against their starters? 7? Why are we still arguing this, anyway? This is Patenaude's first game vs PJ who had well over a hundred under his belt. Not really apples to apples. Guess if we score 21, we will be way ahead of the game, then.

I looked at Clem's son's scores from last year, and we were only 1 of 4 teams to score over 20 points against them. ND and Bama couldn't do it in the playoffs. Texas A&M and Syracuse look to be the only teams that didn't get the "garbage time" experience. I think we can pat ourselves on the back a little.

 

[txsting]

Miami 2018.
They score to come within six points. We get the ball with 6:20 on the clock and never relinquish posession.
In fact we took a knee in their red zone to end the game.

I love it, but we have to lose the good with the bad. So going forward, we'll simply have to either go score or get a stop. Hardly impossible.

 

[GT65_UGA89]

Maybe I'm remembering the game wrong, but weren't a couple of those TD's in junk time?

Scoring Summary
Scoring Summary Table
Quarter Time Team Description CLEM GT
1 3:42 CLEM Clelin Ferrell 1 yard fumble return (Greg Huegel kick) 7 0
2 9:11 CLEM Hunter Renfrow 17 yard pass from Trevor Lawrence (Greg Huegel kick) 14 0
7:05 CLEM Justyn Ross 53 yard pass from Trevor Lawrence (Greg Huegel kick) 21 0
2:08 GT TaQuon Marshall 11 yard run (Shawn Davis kick) 21 7
0:05 CLEM Travis Etienne 3 yard pass from Trevor Lawrence (Greg Huegel kick) 28 7
3 12:20 CLEM Tavien Feaster 27 yard run (Greg Huegel kick) 35 7
5:10 CLEM Travis Etienne 3 yard run (Greg Huegel kick) 42 7
1:43 GT Nate Cottrell 2 yard run (Shawn Davis kick) 42 14
4 6:15 GT Clinton Lynch 5 yard pass from Tobias Oliver (Shawn Davis kick) 42 21
4:01 CLEM Tee Higgins 30 yard pass from Trevor Lawrence (Greg Huegel kick)

 

[txsting]

Scoring Summary
Scoring Summary Table
Quarter Time Team Description CLEM GT
1 3:42 CLEM Clelin Ferrell 1 yard fumble return (Greg Huegel kick) 7 0
2 9:11 CLEM Hunter Renfrow 17 yard pass from Trevor Lawrence (Greg Huegel kick) 14 0
7:05 CLEM Justyn Ross 53 yard pass from Trevor Lawrence (Greg Huegel kick) 21 0
2:08 GT TaQuon Marshall 11 yard run (Shawn Davis kick) 21 7
0:05 CLEM Travis Etienne 3 yard pass from Trevor Lawrence (Greg Huegel kick) 28 7
3 12:20 CLEM Tavien Feaster 27 yard run (Greg Huegel kick) 35 7
5:10 CLEM Travis Etienne 3 yard run (Greg Huegel kick) 42 7
1:43 GT Nate Cottrell 2 yard run (Shawn Davis kick) 42 14
4 6:15 GT Clinton Lynch 5 yard pass from Tobias Oliver (Shawn Davis kick) 42 21
4:01 CLEM Tee Higgins 30 yard pass from Trevor Lawrence (Greg Huegel kick)

See? Once Clem is up 35 they let up on the gas. Place your bets folks!

 

[beej67]

He says he runs whatever fits his players the best. I don't think we'll be nearly as creative on offense, but I think we will be better coached to execute the fundamentals and more balanced to attack different weaknesses.

Completely independent of scheme, it's really starting to become evident that some of our previous assistant coaches were not getting the job done. Even though I think we will take a big step back offensively from an X's and O's standpoint, I expect a step forward in execution.

I'll throw Patenaude a bone here. The biggest problem with the CPJ system was that it was inherently difficult to execute. If you could execute it, it was lightning. If you couldn't, it was a sack of dung. So maybe moving to something easier to execute will help us out.

 

[beej67]

I watched a few Temple games but not all of them so of course I could have viewed an unrepresentative sample.

Offense:

• In general, it is going to be a big adjustment for the GT fanbase; most of us understood the GT offense and knew how it worked. In most cases, we knew it better than most announcers and other fanbases. So, we have a lot to learn. I might butcher some descriptions below so please correct me.

• Multiple, Multiple: lots of different player packages and lots of different formations.

• When talking about personnel they basically use this number scheme: 21, 11, 20, etc.:
o First digit is the number of Running backs.
o 2nd digit is the number of TEs
o The remainder (5 total skill players) are WRs.
o 21: 2 RBs, 1 TE, 2 WRs
o 20: 2 RBs, 0 TE, 3 WRs

• I think the OC said his base formation is 11 but since we are so RB heavy and TE light you will see more 20, 21.

• They were switching personnel and formations constantly. Sometimes they do go up tempo and didn’t switch much.

• They used a power I formation for short yardage/goal line with QB under center.

• They liked to throw in trick formations or plays. One time they had 3 QBs on the field at one time, 1 of the QBs was in shotgun and another was standing directly behind him. Not sure what the purpose was.

• They used wildcat a few times. We have good running QBs so we might not use this BUT I could see Oliver subbing for Johnson to run this package since he is a dynamic runner. Unlike for most teams, defenses wouldn’t know it was wildcat since the “RB” was a QB.

• Even though they did sub a lot: they had a few key players that got the ball a lot. More or less, if we have great players, they are going to get the ball regularly.

• I think overall, we are going to be a better running team than Temple. I think (hope) our QB play is going to be better overall. Temple did have good WRs.

• It is hard to tell without reviewing the stats but they did seem to play a lot of different players and rotate a lot. They finished well at the end of half and end of game.

• The negative: I thought the QB threw a few stupid INTs and had a lot of passes knocked down at the LOS. Hope it was a talent/experience issue and not a coaching issue.

Thanks for this.

One other note - whatever happens against Clemson is not very likely to be indicative of the rest of our season. Having Clemson up front could be a blessing. If we do well, then we build on that. If we don't, who cares.

 

[Flywheel]

I'll throw Patenaude a bone here. The biggest problem with the CPJ system was that it was inherently difficult to execute. If you could execute it, it was lightning. If you couldn't, it was a sack of dung. So maybe moving to something easier to execute will help us out.

The bigger thing to help us out will be the coaches getting support they need from the AD and boosters. Recruiting will trend upward - it has to. Enough? We'll see.

 

[aeromech]

Thanks for this.

One other note - whatever happens against Clemson is not very likely to be indicative of the rest of our season. Having Clemson up front could be a blessing. If we do well, then we build on that. If we don't, who cares.

If we can't move the ball and score three times including garbage time (with at least 1 offensive touchdown before garbage time); then it could be indicative of our season. That said if we can get over 200 yards offense and stay within 4 touchdowns of Clemson, then I'll definitely have a positive feeling about the rest of the season.

 

[Akinji07]

Lots of comments from players about how much more they're learning from the new OL coach, players talking about how the former ST coach didn't care about ST, etc. I was a huge CPJ fan and really enjoy the option, but I don't think we taught our players well at all, especially in recent years.

We also didn’t give CPJ this much budget to work with. He had his pick of dollar store clearance aisle selection of assistant coaches.

It was evident by his last two years’ performance there weren’t a lot of people on staff that gave a shit.

 

[johncu]

We also didn’t give CPJ this much budget to work with. He had his pick of dollar store clearance aisle selection of assistant coaches.

It was evident by his last two years’ performance there weren’t a lot of people on staff that gave a öööö.

Very true. It seems like we have some really good assistants now, so I hope that proves to be true and we can hold onto them.

 

[Diseqc]

We also didn’t give CPJ this much budget to work with. He had his pick of dollar store clearance aisle selection of assistant coaches.
M.

Roof was like the second highest paid assistant when we hired him. And we were overpaying Sewak if he was making more than $3.50.

 

[Yukonwreck]

Very true. It seems like we have some really good assistants now, so I hope that proves to be true and we can hold onto them.

If we can't move the ball and score three times including garbage time (with at least 1 offensive touchdown before garbage time); then it could be indicative of our season. That said if we can get over 200 yards offense and stay within 4 touchdowns of Clemson, then I'll definitely have a positive feeling about the rest of the season.

Raising that bar way up there, eh?

 

[aeromech]

Thank goodness the post you responded to said " one of the best".

Because when it comes to offensive minds I would have to vote for Mouse Davis, Emory Ballard, Mike Leach, Chris Petersen, and Steve Spuurier way more than our great mind IF there was only one choice.

Mouse Davis' resume isn't all that impressive unless you like second city football leagues.
Emory Bellard did ok in the SWC but only had 2 winning seasons out of 7 when he tried to take his show to the SEC.

I wouldn't put either of those two at the same level as Paul Johnson. Johnson, Leach, Petersen, and Spurrier are definitely on a different level than Mouse Davis and Bellard. I just found it interesting you put Spurrier at the bottom of that list and Johnson not even near the list.

 

[Yukonwreck]

Very true. It seems like we have some really good assistants now, so I hope that proves to be true and we can hold onto them.

Can that even be done? Have assistants that are really good and at the same time have then want to stay on as an assistant at Georgia Tech if they are getting opportunities for advancement elsewhere?