Remainder of season…

MoverofFridge2

MoverofFridge2

Helluva Engineer
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Aug 29, 2003
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After last night, in my opinion, this season comes down to the progress of the players. If they get better on a weekly basis,t hen I think we can win a few games. I think our ceiling is 7 wins, but I can also see no more than 3 if we go stagnant. There has been an upgrade in talent on the field compared to previous years under the other coach.

Coaching - CBK and staff is a major upgrade. There were some things last night that were concerning, but nothing that can’t be overcome. I question why we were trying to make the inside running game effective in the second half, but they had to see something that gave them reason to try and develop the inside game. Defensively, we have to get more pressure in any manner possible. Thacker can’t sit and play with what he has talent wise right now. I counted only five blitz packages last night, but I’m sure I missed some. TACKLE, TACKLE, TACKLE….cost us huge.

OL - this position more than any other is a mindset. We are just not very good at this point and more concerning is it has been a pattern for 5he past few years. Playing down there is a mentality that you are going to come off the ball and knock the hell out of the person in front of you. I saw it a few times last night, but no where near enough.

QB - King can be a good game manager for us and I think he will win more for us than he will lose. He doesn’t make many bad decisions. Give him time and I think he’s an asset.

RB - I’m not sure we have a go to back. It’s gonna be a back by committee. I no longer think Smith is our best back. They need to learn to pass protect. There are a couple of them who are game breakers.

WR & TE - We have a TE who can catch, finally. Our wideouts are small but serviceable and will catch the ball most of the time.

Defensively we had to play a lot of snaps last night, but this was not one of Thackers best showings. Tackling is atrocious and at the end of the day that is coaching. The linebackers have got to play downhill instead of “skating”. When our two best DB’s were not on the field it showed in a big way. A lot of loose coverage was played last night and we missed a lot of tackles after the short hitches that cost us. We are still small on defense on the inside. Thacker has shown he can develop a good game plan and I think we get better here as the season progresses.
 
MoverofFridge2 said:
The linebackers have got to play downhill instead of “skating”.
Click to expand...

Just quoting this again and adding a video for context so others understand and know what to look for.



This is why our defense was so good last year. Charlie and Ace came downhill together and fast so often. Need our guys to get to that point quickly this year. I saw Tatum show some flashes last night, but it can't be just one guy otherwise cutbacks open up.
 
BainbridgeJacket said:
Just quoting this again and adding a video for context so others understand and know what to look for.



This is why our defense was so good last year. Charlie and Ace came downhill together and fast so often. Need our guys to get to that point quickly this year. I saw Tatum show some flashes last night, but it can't be just one guy otherwise cutbacks open up.
Click to expand...


you are absolutely correct. Tatum may be the best LB we have, but if 5hey can get on same page we will be ok at that position group. Excellent video, thank you for sharing.
 
It was good to see the TE get a TD reception. At the end of the day, I think we underutilized the TE in the passing game. Not sure why Buster got conservative in the 3rd quarter. Trying to eat clock that early just gives the opponent an opportunity to seize momentum. When was the last time we figured out how to get pressure consistently on the QB...Tenuta era?
 
MoverofFridge2 said:
OL - this position more than any other is a mindset. We are just not very good at this point and more concerning is it has been a pattern for 5he past few years. Playing down there is a mentality that you are going to come off the ball and knock the hell out of the person in front of you. I saw it a few times last night, but no where near enough.
Click to expand...
To be fair, the OL has been a glaring issue since 2016. Recruiting along the OL was average at best the last few years under CPJ. Previous coach didn’t really do much to upgrade the OL. And here we are now.

Good news is, OL can be easily upgraded and fixed going forward using the transfer portal.
 
stingmeyall said:
It was good to see the TE get a TD reception. At the end of the day, I think we underutilized the TE in the passing game. Not sure why Buster got conservative in the 3rd quarter. Trying to eat clock that early just gives the opponent an opportunity to seize momentum. When was the last time we figured out how to get pressure consistently on the QB...Tenuta era?
Click to expand...

I agree with you on the TE play. I think we could have gotten a lot more out of that position. Buster saw something in the running game he thought he could exploit, I just wish I could figure out what it was.

Tenuta brought them from everywhere on almost every play. Not sure you can do that today, but we gotta do some5hing.
 
USCJacket said:
To be fair, the OL has been a glaring issue since 2016. Recruiting along the OL was average at best the last few years under CPJ. Previous coach didn’t really do much to upgrade the OL. And here we are now.

Good news is, OL can be easily upgraded and fixed going forward using the transfer portal.
Click to expand...

Thats what is frustrating. CBK knows it all starts up front and dang we have struggled there in the worst way. I just don’t see the mentality their I think it takes to be consistent with our OL.
 
MoverofFridge2 said:
Thats what is frustrating. CBK knows it all starts up front and dang we have struggled there in the worst way. I just don’t see the mentality their I think it takes to be consistent with our OL.
Click to expand...
100% agreed. GT is 4 full years removed from the last time CPJ was on the sidelines. Starting year 5 looks like it’s still a work in progress. I like CBK and we all know how much he loves GT, but the results while he was OL coach were underwhelming at best.

It’s only game 1, so we’ll see how much the OL and overall D improves against a pretty damn good Ole Miss team in 2 weeks.
 
MoverofFridge2 said:
Thats what is frustrating. CBK knows it all starts up front and dang we have struggled there in the worst way. I just don’t see the mentality their I think it takes to be consistent with our OL.
Click to expand...
Perhaps he has relied on having a hardass head coach above him to instill that for him?
 
MoverofFridge2 said:
I agree with you on the TE play. I think we could have gotten a lot more out of that position. Buster saw something in the running game he thought he could exploit, I just wish I could figure out what it was.

Tenuta brought them from everywhere on almost every play. Not sure you can do that today, but we gotta do some5hing.
Click to expand...

Our problem is two-fold. We don't have a legit edge rusher who can beat you with speed or the bull-rush which requires help on the outside that frees up the gaps, while we insist on rushing basic gap blitzes. If you have a legit speed rush, most college O-lines will use the OG to combo with the OT, rarely using the TE to chip down. Since we lack true top end DL talent, we got to get creative with stunts and slot blitzes. We didn't do that 1 time last night that I recall. Gotta get the OL on their heels/skis.
 
stingmeyall said:
It was good to see the TE get a TD reception. At the end of the day, I think we underutilized the TE in the passing game. Not sure why Buster got conservative in the 3rd quarter. Trying to eat clock that early just gives the opponent an opportunity to seize momentum. When was the last time we figured out how to get pressure consistently on the QB...Tenuta era?
Click to expand...
Did we really come out conservative in the 3rd quarter? Some of you guys just make up statements to fit your narrative. Our first second half drive was 3 passes and out/punt. It was our worst possession of the game.
 
That was a winnable game.The Off did as well as they can to me for a first game overall. The missed block on the QB fumble was the game changer.. The DEF is a real problem..No rush and poor tackling killed us even though they were 1-11 on 3rd down.We can't give up 500 yds (or so) iwith no TOs n a game and expect to win.
 
YellowJacket4Life said:
Our problem is two-fold. We don't have a legit edge rusher who can beat you with speed or the bull-rush which requires help on the outside that frees up the gaps, while we insist on rushing basic gap blitzes. If you have a legit speed rush, most college O-lines will use the OG to combo with the OT, rarely using the TE to chip down. Since we lack true top end DL talent, we got to get creative with stunts and slot blitzes. We didn't do that 1 time last night that I recall. Gotta get the OL on their heels/skis.
Click to expand...

Agreed. We don’t have that individual right now. We ran a couple of stunts and blitz packages, but I think to be successful we will need to blitz probably 30% of the time. Problem with that is you leave gaps and become vulnerable so you dang well be proficient when you blitz.
 
OptionJacket said:
The OLine is the most important unit in football. And we haven’t been good at that group in a long time which is why the team has not been good. We couldn’t even make it thru game 1 without OLine injuries coming into play. Its almost like maybe we should over recruit that position group.
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In my opinion, it’s finding the eight nastiest OL players you can find and then impose your will on people running the ball.
 
@MoverofFridge2

Why do you reply mostly to your threads? Are the threads we normal people not worthy? We just need more of you man. Step up your game and be like the rest of us hobos.
 
QB & WR are fine but i dont see any improvement in the D. Getting to 5 wins will be difficult, esp with this D and dismal PK.
Lather, rinse, repeat for 2024 until I see a tangible reason to think otherwise. These are the same glaring weaknesses we've had for the past decade.
 
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