#PITTvsGT Coach Collins Postgame Press Conference

[vapspwi]

These perceived lows after highs are more indicative of being an average program. Most average level programs have the same highs and lows. Truly terrible programs will lose almost every game. Elite programs will win the vast majority and string great wins together consistently. Tech has been a average to slightly below average program for most of the past half century.

Regression to the mean? Fair enough. I’d say that we were pretty consistently average to slightly above average for a 15-20 year run through O’Leary, Gailey, and Johnson, though.

JRjr

 

[Supersize that order mutt]

T
That is exactly what I did. They have not been. I did inside the 10 first then I went back and did all the redzone possessions the last time we had this discussion.

Well, you obviously skipped over the one against NIL, the 2 against KSU that failed, the 3 against Clemson that failed, and however many against Pitt failed. Every one of those happened in exactly the same way. Inept call and/or execution on 1st and 2nd downs, timeout on 3rd down followed by a penalty or yet another failed play, few if any points on 4th down plays. And this dates back to last year. I don't understand why you cannot see that his percentage of failed red zone series is abnormally high, and one of the worst in the country,

 

[GoGATech]

Without checking the stats, “get in red zone, call a time out, come out and false start” was enough of a pattern in my mind that I called the false start on Saturday during the time out. :-)

JRjr

BINGO !!!!

This is some serious Mandella effect stuff you guys have going on then. Want to know how many times we have gotten into the redzone, called a timeout, come out and false start since CGC has been here? Twice. Both this year. Did it 2nd and goal vs. UNC and 3rd and goal vs. Pitt. The only other time we've called a TO then false started coming out of it was 4th and 6 at Miami in 2019 at the 34 yard line. That made it 4th and 11 and we punted on a short field to be safe and pin them. We've had entirely too many false starts, especially last year, and many came at very inopportune times, but this imaginary scenario you guys have concocted is just that, imaginary.

 

[whiskey clear]

This is some serious Mandella effect stuff you guys have going on then. Want to know how many times we have gotten into the redzone, called a timeout, come out and false start since CGC has been here? Twice. Both this year. Did it 2nd and goal vs. UNC and 3rd and goal vs. Pitt. The only other time we've called a TO then false started coming out of it was 4th and 6 at Miami in 2019 at the 34 yard line. That made it 4th and 11 and we punted on a short field to be safe and pin them. We've had entirely too many false starts, especially last year, and many came at very inopportune times, but this imaginary scenario you guys have concocted is just that, imaginary.

All of those false starts do tend to blend together and make one focus on the worst examples.

 

[GoGATech]

Well, you obviously skipped over the one against NIL, the 2 against KSU that failed, the 3 against Clemson that failed, and however many against Pitt failed. Every one of those happened in exactly the same way. Inept call and/or execution on 1st and 2nd downs, timeout on 3rd down followed by a penalty or yet another failed play, few if any points on 4th down plays. And this dates back to last year. I don't understand why you cannot see that his percentage of failed red zone series is abnormally high, and one of the worst in the country,

Why don't you go read my post then smart guy? Because I explained every single one of those scenarios. Every play in each one to be exact. And once again, I did not say we didn't have a terrible red zone percentage or goal line percentage. But once again, you are pinning it all on the OC, and I have pointed you to the failures of each, yet you don't want to see it. You think you're smart because you see what we ran that didn't work and can say, "well we shoulda ran it outside or we shoulda went under center," etc. My post shows that we have done all of the things imaginable, and the blame can be laid mostly on OL failures/penalties.

 

[gtchief]

This is some serious Mandella effect stuff you guys have going on then. Want to know how many times we have gotten into the redzone, called a timeout, come out and false start since CGC has been here? Twice. Both this year. Did it 2nd and goal vs. UNC and 3rd and goal vs. Pitt. The only other time we've called a TO then false started coming out of it was 4th and 6 at Miami in 2019 at the 34 yard line. That made it 4th and 11 and we punted on a short field to be safe and pin them. We've had entirely too many false starts, especially last year, and many came at very inopportune times, but this imaginary scenario you guys have concocted is just that, imaginary.

You are facting them too hard. Their feelings are moving the line of scrimmage back ten yards each time you provide contradicting data. We should be at the 30 yard line now I believe.

 

[Supersize that order mutt]

This is some serious Mandella effect stuff you guys have going on then. Want to know how many times we have gotten into the redzone, called a timeout, come out and false start since CGC has been here? Twice. Both this year. Did it 2nd and goal vs. UNC and 3rd and goal vs. Pitt. The only other time we've called a TO then false started coming out of it was 4th and 6 at Miami in 2019 at the 34 yard line. That made it 4th and 11 and we punted on a short field to be safe and pin them. We've had entirely too many false starts, especially last year, and many came at very inopportune times, but this imaginary scenario you guys have concocted is just that, imaginary.

It has not just been a matter of false starts after the time out. First off though, why all those 3rd down time outs anyway? Why all the confusion and chaos trying to figure out what play to run, thus running down the clock and being forced to call time out? Why doesn't he already have something in mind, especially since he finds himself in that situation so often? I think Simms or Yates would be better off just calling the play themselves. It couldn't be any worse than what P'Nut wastes a time out to call. I know you are kissing his *** (or maybe he's kissing yours), but the fact is that P'Nut is the worst OC I have ever seen at Tech, and that's really saying something since Patrick Nix couldn't even count the downs. We may win a few with P'Nut as OC, but we will never win CONSISTENTLY

 

[whiskey clear]

How much blame should the coaches receive for "OL failures / penalties?"

 

[Supersize that order mutt]

the blame can be laid mostly on OL failures/penalties.

A GOOD OC calls plays that don't play into the weaknesses (and there are many of them) of the O-line. I have no idea what plays would work; that's what P'Nut gets paid to do, and he obviously is our of his element in doing so.

 

[Supersize that order mutt]

How much blame should the coaches receive for "OL failures / penalties?"

If they occur over and over again, then I would say the coaches bear about 80% of the responsibility, because apparently they haven't taught or reprimanded the guilty lineman or linemen enough or well.

 

[GoGATech]

It has not just been a matter of false starts after the time out. First off though, why all those 3rd down time outs anyway? Why all the confusion and chaos trying to figure out what play to run, thus running down the clock and being forced to call time out? Why doesn't he already have something in mind, especially since he finds himself in that situation so often? I think Simms or Yates would be better off just calling the play themselves. It couldn't be any worse than what P'Nut wastes a time out to call. I know you are kissing his *** (or maybe he's kissing yours), but the fact is that P'Nut is the worst OC I have ever seen at Tech, and that's really saying something since Patrick Nix couldn't even count the downs. We may win a few with P'Nut as OC, but we will never win CONSISTENTLY

All those 3rd down time outs? Do you watch football? Do you realize how many times timeouts are used on third/fourth downs, especially near the goal line? Apparently this again is another imagination of yours, but I'll be glad to pull that data too if you'd like. You just can't admit it when you're wrong. The only time there was confusion was in the Clemson game when it was apparent that Jordan didn't understand the play call. I've explained to you TWICE now what happened in the NIU game but maybe you just don't comprehend well?

 

[RussianOffense]

I listened to Collins's weekly press conference a few minutes ago. The first thing he blames the loss on is turnovers. Yes, the turnovers hurt, but they aren't the reason we lost the game. I'm not confident we will fix the main problems if our head coach isn't even identifying them.

The other things he flagged were penalties and 4th down situations, which again weren't the main reasons we lost.

 

[GoGATech]

A GOOD OC calls plays that don't play into the weaknesses (and there are many of them) of the O-line. I have no idea what plays would work; that's what P'Nut gets paid to do, and he obviously is our of his element in doing so.

You've got to be kidding me. For starters, there are no plays that don't depend on the OL. And if there are a handful that you can run that don't depend on them as much as others, we would be so one-dimensional that we would likely not gain over 50 yards per game. Your reasoning is just asinine.

 

[vapspwi]

This is some serious Mandella effect stuff you guys have going on then. Want to know how many times we have gotten into the redzone, called a timeout, come out and false start since CGC has been here? Twice. Both this year. Did it 2nd and goal vs. UNC and 3rd and goal vs. Pitt. The only other time we've called a TO then false started coming out of it was 4th and 6 at Miami in 2019 at the 34 yard line. That made it 4th and 11 and we punted on a short field to be safe and pin them. We've had entirely too many false starts, especially last year, and many came at very inopportune times, but this imaginary scenario you guys have concocted is just that, imaginary.

To be fair, I did say the pattern was “in my mind.” Still, I was able to correctly anticipate the false start - maybe I’m just psychic. :-)

JRjr

 

[18in32]

How about in service of the truth?

How about in service of putting out fair & balanced analyses of the issues that are affecting us, rather than defaulting to the same sophomoric comments of:

Coach 'em up
Call better plays
Go with the the 2nd Team QB, he makes better "reads"
Fire the HC
Fire the OC
Fire the DC
Why aren't we running plays from under Center?

Sorry... what? Are the pro-CGC guys "defaulting" to anything other than "just wait till we turn over the roster and get real athletes in here instead of CPJ's runts"?

 

[GoGATech]

To be fair, I did say the pattern was “in my mind.” Still, I was able to correctly anticipate the false start - maybe I’m just psychic. :-)

JRjr

And this is exactly what I mean. Just like supersizedturd has so much disdain for our OC that he probably has it in his mind already and expects every play to be bad and sits there at every game on pins and needles waiting on every play that doesn't net 5+ yards just so he can yell "FIRE P'NUT."

 

[vapspwi]

And this is exactly what I mean. Just like supersizedturd has so much disdain for our OC that he probably has it in his mind already and expects every play to be bad and sits there at every game on pins and needles waiting on every play that doesn't net 5+ yards just so he can yell "FIRE P'NUT."

Don’t lump me into that. I don’t pretend to understand the nuances of coaching or OL play or whatever, so I’m not calling for anybody to get fired, though I did say during the game that I wished we’d quit trying to run Gibbs inside. I don’t sit around hoping for failure so I can be right, but there was SOMETHING (maybe just coincidence, I guess) that made me certain enough that we were going to false start that I called it to the guy that sits next to me.

JRjr

 

[GoGATech]

Well, you obviously skipped over the one against NIL, the 2 against KSU that failed, the 3 against Clemson that failed, and however many against Pitt failed. Every one of those happened in exactly the same way. Inept call and/or execution on 1st and 2nd downs, timeout on 3rd down followed by a penalty or yet another failed play, few if any points on 4th down plays. And this dates back to last year. I don't understand why you cannot see that his percentage of failed red zone series is abnormally high, and one of the worst in the country,

Here it is again for you though since you didn't comprehend it the first 2 times apparently:

NIU - 1st and G from the 5, I've covered this one extensively but folks keep ignoring it. We ran inside zone to Mason for 3 yards to the 2, there was a pile of players on the ground and the ref started the play clock immediately when he got tackled. It took a while for everyone to get up and Mason was still on the ground when the play clock was already down to about 25. The play clock should've been reset. Our sidelines were signaling in the play, Yates did not ever look at the play clock and realize how low it was and we had to call a TO or he would've taken a delay of game. Folks keep blaming that TO on the OC though. So the next play, we were UNDER CENTER, ran POWER RUN to MASON with a TE pulling and leading with a great kickout block. Guess what? LG let a guy run free and made the tackle in the backfield. 3rd and G, under center, misdirection, pass to Gibbs in flat, Yates has to float the ball, Gibbs still catches it at the 2, 1-on-1 vs defender and gets tackled. Great play there by defender. 4th down we are set to take the chip shot FG but CGC calls the timeout after the booing. This OC's fault? Ok so 4th down, pass to McGowan in back of endzone, called a TD and reversed. Very iffy review and overturn there. His left toe barely caught the line but his right foot was already dragging inbounds. In that case I don't see enough to overturn the call on the field. But still looked like a great play to me, so blame the OC for this?

There was only one against KSU actually that did not result in a TD. We were at the 21, 1st and 10. Pop pass to Dontae Smith for 7 yards to the 14, and its now 2nd and 3. Pass play with TE wide open in the middle past the sticks but RT whiffs his block and Jordan has to run for his life just to throw it away. 3rd and 3 Jordan has his TE wide open again in the middle past the sticks but decides to take a deep shot to the corner of the endzone and it's broken up. 4th and 3 we kick the FG. Where are the stupid 1st, 2nd down plays and the timeout?

Clemson - 1st and G from 10, 23 seconds before halftime (clock running) with one timeout, you are limited to what you can call here. 1st down pass to the corner of the endzone, overthrown by Yates. Play was there but you have to throw it where only your guy can catch it and Yates just put a little too much on it. 2nd down, Yates has protection and bails for 5 yard gain. Had Deveney open in the middle of field but likely couldn't see him. 3rd and G, sideline is signaling the play in, Yates looks confused and playclock is running down so we have to call TO. 3rd and G Yates gets pressured and has to throw it away. 4th and G kick the FG. OC's fault? I like the 1st down call here, you take a shot and if it's incomplete you stop the clock. 2nd down not real sure why Yates bailed so quick. Don't know who's fault it was that we had to call a timeout but the sideline was signaling a play in and Yates looks confused. You can see it on the replay. Maybe this one is on the OC, who knows? But the TO is called, next play you can't run it because you can't risk getting tackled in bounds so pass play gets pressured, throw it away and take the FG. So this is possibly one so far that MAY be on the OC and that's only for the one third down. First and 2nd down were fine and like I said, playcalling is limited here already because of situation.

Clemson - 1st and G from 7 - Pass in right flat to Deveney for 2 yards. Good playcall IMO and good open field tackle but with Deveney's size, he needs to be more physical there and could've gotten a couple extra yards. 2nd and G, pass play, nobody open Yates throws it away. 3rd and G, pass to Deveney in the EZ, a little bit out front but should've been caught for a TD. I have no problems with play calling here. We could not run into the teeth of Clemson's front 7, plus we needed 2 scores so we didn't need to risk running too much clock if we run the ball. We got the FG to make it a 1 score game. That was the only thing we could do on that drive was make it a 1 possession game.

Clemson - 1st and G from 3. We had just run Gibbs up the middle for a 1st down, Clemson on their heels, I agree a timeout here was a bad call but that was the HC that ran down and called the TO, not the OC. In hindsight, we saw that the hurryup offense at 1st and goal did not work against UNC so who's to say we would've scored against Clemson's DL front? Then we would've had to call timeout anyway and it be 2nd down. Either way, that is not the blame of the OC. So 1st and G, rollout right pass to McGowan. Play was there, good pass, but good play by the defender to knock it away. 2nd down McGowan in jet motion on end around with lead blocker. Good playcall to me to get your speedy playmaker the ball to outrun the defense to the corner. Skalski reads it perfectly and shoots through from the MLB spot to make the play. Excellent play by him, but nothing wrong with the play call either to me. 3rd and goal we get the play in late and then huddle up. Not sure why we huddled up, but we were out of the huddle and lined up with time to snap the ball but call the timeout with 3 secs on play clock. I can understand being a little indecisive here at the goal line at the end of the game with a chance to tie it up against Clemson. We also still had one more timeout remaining so burning one here doesn't prevent you from still running the ball. 3rd and G, power run straight ahead with Mason. Everybody firing off with 2 TE package in. Billy Ward goes outside, lets the DT by and he makes the tackle for loss. If he blocks the correct man, Mason likely scores there. Then the 4th down play, the shovel pass everybody knows about. Great play again by Skalski and if we just make that one block, it's a TD.

Pitt - 1st and G from the 4. We could not run the ball on Pitt all day, so first down call quick screen to McCollum tackled for 1 yard loss. 2nd down had a TE coming across behind the OL would've been open for a TD but he tripped. Sims had to run for his life because zero blocking but managed to scramble back to the 1. So 3rd and goal from the 1 and we false start, now we're back to the 6. Pass to Gibbs in the flat and that's a great play by the corner to let his man go to the inside and stay out in coverage on Gibbs. He was there high though on a defenseless receiver and by the definition of the rule, that targeting call should've been upheld. 4th and G from the 4, have to go for it because of the score and McCollum slips on a quick slant that was there, and also was pulled by the defender again with no call. That play was there, execution just was not. I would like to know what type of play calling could have worked better in this situation?

Pitt - 1st and G from the 7. Gibbs runs for a TD and gets called back by that cheap holding call on Norris. So now it's goal to go from the 15. 1st down pass to Carter back shoulder at the pylon, had a hand on it but couldn't make the play because his other arm was wrapped up and being held by the defender, no call as usual. 2nd and 15, outside zone run with Gibbs, 2 guys whiff on blocks and Gibbs gets tackled for 8 yard loss. 3rd and 23, Jeff has zero time to pass, is getting mauled and has to throw it away just to save a FG opportunity. Then we let a guy come free between C and G on FG try and it gets blocked. I see nothing wrong with playcalling in this series either.

 

[GoGATech]

Don’t lump me into that. I don’t pretend to understand the nuances of coaching or OL play or whatever, so I’m not calling for anybody to get fired, though I did say during the game that I wished we’d quit trying to run Gibbs inside. I don’t sit around hoping for failure so I can be right, but there was SOMETHING (maybe just coincidence, I guess) that made me certain enough that we were going to false start that I called it to the guy that sits next to me.

JRjr

No I'm not lumping you in there with him, I'm just saying that this is what I mean by folks get these senses in their mind, and as wrong as they may be, when it happens it makes you go, "yep I knew it." Just like he has this sense that every time we get in the redzone we call 2 stupid plays, then call a timeout or make a penalty and then don't convert and don't get points on 4th down either. And that's clearly not the case.

 

[GTLiebs]

I listened to Collins's weekly press conference a few minutes ago. The first thing he blames the loss on is turnovers. Yes, the turnovers hurt, but they aren't the reason we lost the game. I'm not confident we will fix the main problems if our head coach isn't even identifying them.

The other things he flagged were penalties and 4th down situations, which again weren't the main reasons we lost.

I'm curious if he's leaving the defensive post mortem to Thacker's press conference.