Post Louisville Game Discussion 9.2.2023

[Vespidie]

It’s also hard to stretch the field when you run dive, dive on 1st and 2nd down and then the D can pin their ears back on 3rd and 7. Playcalling is partly to blame here. Just a complete lack of adjustment.

Yes...this. All I saw was the 2nd half, and it wasn't very good football. The O-line got no push yet we kept trying to run up the gut with no luck at all. Was impressed with the QB play as well as Rutherford being able to find open areas in the secondary. Kicking seems.to be a continuing problem that definitely had and effect on the outcome IMHO, as it changed the complexion of the game after the miss.
Defensive secondary lack of tackling after initial contact was very telling. Louisville's YAC is what won the game for them if I had to pinpoint 1 specific thing. Our undersized guys have to stop opposition at first contact, period.
Let's learn what worked, what didn't, get better, and get ready for next week.

 

[MEwreck02]

How many chicken sandwiches did you sneak in?

 

[savbandjacket]

Yes...this. All I saw was the 2nd half, and it wasn't very good football. The O-line got no push yet we kept trying to run up the gut with no luck at all. Was impressed with the QB play as well as Rutherford being able to find open areas in the secondary. Kicking seems.to be a continuing problem that definitely had and effect on the outcome IMHO, as it changed the complexion of the game after the miss.
Defensive secondary lack of tackling after initial contact was very telling. Louisville's YAC is what won the game for them if I had to pinpoint 1 specific thing. Our undersized guys have to stop opposition at first contact, period.
Let's learn what worked, what didn't, get better, and get ready for next week.

If you had seen the second quarter, it makes more sense what they were trying to do in the second half. Runs up the gut got us going in the 2q. Unfortunately we could not find a way to replicate that in the second half against a changed defense.

 

[USCJacket]

Wanted to circle back to this too, cause while Key isn't directly coaching for his job security this year, he needs good will from wins this year. Some sort of steady progression where we maybe expect a bowl game in year 2 would make getting to year 3 pretty hard for him from what I remember of his contract.

I think this year is sort of a stabilize the program kind of year. On the field, 5 wins with hard fought losses will go a long way vs getting blown out against good teams and struggling with G5 and lower teams like the previous coach. If GT can get to 6+ wins that’s a bonus.

It’s all about 2024 and on. The staff has done very well on the recruiting trail, and will end up probably around #35 before portal additions / subtractions.

How the ACC reshuffles the schedule with the additions of Stanford, Cal and SMU will be interesting. FSU at this point is the only locked in ACC game next year. OOC VMI, Georgia State and UGA is a much softer OOC slate (minus UGA of course) compared to recent seasons with UCF, Ole Miss, etc.

 

[Vespidie]

We put up 488 yards offense on 23 first downs. Louisville made adjustments and we couldn’t counter effectively. Our OL seemed to tire and then our D folded. Arm tackling means you aren’t there with the body. That often indicates fatigue.

Were they not trained well enough, or were they over trained?

If our guys were already fatigued after halftime, then we have bigger problems than just Xs and Os AND Jimmy's and Joe's..

 

[Supersize that order mutt]

You must have been drunk. The sequence was,
7 yard run to the 5 yd line
Incomplete pass on 2nd and 3
4 yard run to the 1-yd line for a 1st down
No Gain
No Gain
TD on PA pass set up be previous run.


Nothing wrong with that series. The runs were smart calls.

I just rewatched that series of plays, and I guess it wasn't as bad as what I remembered, but after the first no-gain play, I would not have run the same play again. I like what I THINK Pyron might have done, but to be fair, I THINK King could have done the same thing on a keeper. What I remember is being frustrated that those 2 plays, in spite of any other plays that worked, were just too reminiscent of what Long and P'nut almost always called.

 

[Vespidie]

Didn’t think the offense played bad at all. Even OL was ok against a really good front. It wasn’t like King was getting assaulted. We lost because we missed a FG and had a very poorly timed fumble.

Also, not sure why you guys are questioning the playcalling. We scored 35 and had 400 yards of offense against a good team.

Defense struggled, but we had our two best guys out.
There was some weird clock management by Key at the end of the first half; only glaring coaching mistake I saw

I think the play calling complaints are associated with the difference between successes in 1st half versus 2nd half failures and the inability to adjust to Louisville's adjustments.

 

[Skydog]

captain obvious but the strip sack was the play of the game ... subtract that, might have been different story. he needed more awareness there.

 

[ElCidBUZZingFAN]

captain obvious but the strip sack was the play of the game ... subtract that, might have been different story. he needed more awareness there.

His fault was trusting our LG/LT to not be completely bamboozled like a pair of numbnuts on a simple DL stunt.

 

[Supersize that order mutt]

captain obvious but the strip sack was the play of the game ... subtract that, might have been different story. he needed more awareness there.

Not sure the way that happened that he COULD have been more aware. The block on the man who sacked him didn't hold, and he was hit from the rear. Could he have gotten rid of the ball sooner? Maybe, but he didn't, and, like you said, that was the play of the game.

 

[Skydog]

Not sure the way that happened that he COULD have been more aware. The block on the man who sacked him didn't hold, and he was hit from the rear. Could he have gotten rid of the ball sooner? Maybe, but he didn't, and, like you said, that was the play of the game.

you are probably correct .. hate it either way.

 

[JJacket]

Same. I recognized probably fewer than half the names. Hard to know who the players are anymore beyond the QB as a casual fan. And now when they announce a player on TV, it's not anything interesting about the player, like where they're from, what they're majoring in, etc. It's constantly "X, the transfer from Y". The transfer from Alabama, the transfer from Texas A&M, the transfer from Louisville. Oh the two transfers from Texas A&M connected on a pass, isn't that cute. Oh the transfer from Louisville really wants to score on his former team. I don't give a öööö where they transferred from!!

Yea, at one point, they put a WR comparison up on the big board. Didn't know much about our WR or theirs. I thought "I guess he is our #1 WR?"

 

[KrazieJacket]

How many chicken sandwiches did you sneak in?

I had one of the ladies that went with us almost refused entrance for a “bag” that was maybe a half inch larger than a postcard. Then I got in there and saw people carrying around non-see through backpacks. I remember times when it was cold and sneaking a case of beer into bds. What a world.

 

[Tampa Jacket]

Our defense held them to 1/11 on 3rd downs. They completed a 4th down play before a 3rd down play. This is solely on running halfback dive every play and keeping the defense out there the majority of the 2nd half.

It’s called getting knocked on your butts in the trenches. And don’t look forward to get any better in the new semi-professional football league, where players get paid.

 

[stinger78]

If our guys were already fatigued after halftime, then we have bigger problems than just Xs and Os AND Jimmy's and Joe's..

Yes. However, it could be they over trained. That’s a different issue together.

 

[theDude47]

we are going to be over .500 this year - last night I saw a lot to build on.

I don’t know what you saw but this team is still mediocre at best and this loss probably keeps us out of a bowl. I wish I could share in the optimism, but Louisville just isn’t a good team. They have talent and their schedule will make them bowl bound, but I don’t see much hope coming from a loss to a okay-ish team.

 

[GTLiebs]

of high school football and Tulane is a top 25 football team? I don’t get it.

How many of those high school football players are raised by people who root against us?

 

[The Champ]

I think the play calling complaints are associated with the difference between successes in 1st half versus 2nd half failures and the inability to adjust to Louisville's adjustments.

Yea. Just drives me crazy when our fans blame any lack of success on “playcalling.”

 

[Akinji07]

Hey @Akinji07, next time don’t öööö up tradition by stealing @MEwreck02 ’s OFFICIAL game thread. Bad Karma.

You whine a lot.

 

[BainbridgeJacket]

Yea. Just drives me crazy when our fans blame any lack of success on “playcalling.”

The same people who think they're saying something by blaming "play calling" will call other people classless if they dare post statements critical of players.