This Was A Totally Different Ball Game Than Last Year…

[BainbridgeJacket]

We are better by miles at QB. King has exceeded expectations. He makes a bad thrown every now and then, but so does everyone else. But he seems poised and he makes throws that our QBs generally have not made. A-

WRs are good and deep. Dropped balls are frustrating and we had a few. Not worried about this unit. B

TE. We have them. And they are catching the ball. Seither seems to be a solid team addition. B

RB is a step back from our standard. We lack a bruiser and it is a huge gap on our team. Haynes and Cooley are ok at what they do, but neither is capable of taking over a game. Dontae seems to have disappeared. C. Some of us probably related to …..

OL is inconsistent but seems to be getting better. King is getting time to pass (most of the time). We aren’t pushing people around though and run lanes don’t last long. C

Faulkner gets a B+. I like the idea he has. Some of the play calls are head scratching though. Red zone offense needs to drastically improve.

Defense is a D- (or probably an F)
D line gets no pressure on the qb
Entire defense gets pushed around on run plays
Tackling is hit garbage
Secondary is slow and frequently breaks coverage
We can’t tackle for öööö
Defense kills any momentum that the O may start. We give up big plays when it matters most.

Thacker gets an F. He needs to go.

Special teams remain special. FG unit has and is going to cost us more games. As much as I hate to say it, it may be time to see if Frank Beamer wants a part time job as an analyst.

For the most part, agree, but some notes:
QB - I thought he somewhat lost his poise in the 4th especially as they began to pull away. Started to lock in on Singleton and force it rather than scan the field for other targets at times. Had several plays where he had someone open who could've gotten a first down with YAC, but forced a ball to a tight window downfield and the result was an incompletion. The failed 4th down conversion scramble, he had a guy open after he broke the pocket but panicked and didn't reset. He's still a massive upgrade, but there's a lot of room for improvement still.
WR - y'all notice how Rutherford disappeared in this game? I'm glad we upgraded this position group in the portal. They need to block better, though.
RB - Haynes looks better to me every game (improving). I'm interested to see how this group develops. We really need to come up with something fire the red zone though. Maybe the read option was the tweak.
TE - have we ever had this position group look this good? If it was, it was before I was in school. 1 transfer and 1 guy stepping up is all it took.
OL - I'm personally blown away by how much better they looked last night vs week 1. They're getting better every quarter they play it seems.

I really wish we'd played Bowling Green yesterday instead. I think this game would look a lot different with two more weeks for our offense to gel. I'm seeing visible week to week progress here.

 

[gnats67]

I’m not saying you’re wrong, but it someone worth their salt who is anticipating moving up the ladder as a DC going to leave mid season? It’s not a good look for future employers. I worry we’d get some equally bad or worse.

Sure that's a good concern. That's just what I would do. Cut bait. Get on with it. I'm not waiting to next week. I want to do it today. It's not what they would do, it's what we do and how we would reach out. But yeah, I hear ya. It's tricky and it's tough but I think we need to face facts and get on with it. At the very least send out feelers. "WE'RE GEORGIA TECH AND WE NEED A LEGIT DC" Obviously we're just fans and aren't going to be involved with the process but JBatt most definitely would be and CBK. Why wait to the end of the year? Let's start cranking the gears today and see what the heck we can scare up. I guess my issue is that it's a critical problem. Not just a talking point about how the season's going. This needs to be fixed now. Right now.

 

[JacketFan77]

Once again….when we have the opportunity to win we don’t just lose, we find a way to look completely inept. If we like Buster, make him Head Coach.
There isn’t shame in losing. The way we are losing is troublesome and completely on the head coach.
The team completely lacks composure.

 

[BainbridgeJacket]

Once again….when we have the opportunity to win we don’t just lose, we find a way to look completely inept. If we like Buster, make him Head Coach.
There isn’t shame in losing. The way we are losing is troublesome and completely on the head coach.
The team completely lacks composure.

We didn't really have an opportunity to win, though. We played up to our competition when it was pretty clear we were outmatched. Kept it close when they could've pulled away in 1H, hell even made it a 1 score game in the 4Q. Make no mistake, though, we were not the better team. Ole Miss may very well be the 2nd best team in the SEC right now and if they catch lightning in a bottle might just win the conference. We're not there yet.

If you want to piss and moan, take it up with the defensive players who couldn't be bothered to make routine tackles all game and then just flat out quit in the last 6 minutes and let the score get out of hand.

 

[verdi]

Overall I feel pretty good about the team going into ACC play. 6 will be tough but definitely possible.

I think we don’t have the depth on defense that we need to compete with Ole Miss. I think our boys were getting tired towards the end.

 

[stinger78]

Sure that's a good concern. That's just what I would do. Cut bait. Get on with it. I'm not waiting to next week. I want to do it today. It's not what they would do, it's what we do and how we would reach out. But yeah, I hear ya. It's tricky and it's tough but I think we need to face facts and get on with it. At the very least send out feelers. "WE'RE GEORGIA TECH AND WE NEED A LEGIT DC" Obviously we're just fans and aren't going to be involved with the process but JBatt most definitely would be and CBK. Why wait to the end of the year? Let's start cranking the gears today and see what the heck we can scare up. I guess my issue is that it's a critical problem. Not just a talking point about how the season's going. This needs to be fixed now. Right now.

With our current team, all but two games remaining (UAGg and Clem... maybe) are winnable from a < 50% chance (@Miami and maybe UNC) to a probable win of some sort. That's 4 more likely losses this year regardless of who is at DC. The rest are very winnable in our current configuration. But that's the way it has been from before the season, so why make a change now? Let it play out. We all knew we were most likely going to walk into Wake at 1-2. This is no surprise, so please stop acting like it is. Firing a coach mid-season can have a disastrous effect on the whole team. Since we're not behind schedule at all yet, is it not better to stay the course and work toward improvement rather than a rush to replacement?

 

[yellowbritchies]

This team is exactly where it should be. The coaches are tinkering with lineups on the O & D some of our players are not ready to play. King is an All ACC QB that could use 1 or 2 more capable receivers. Key should not have left King the last 5/6 minutes, he was gassed and could have been injured. Next year IS the make or break season for Tech and Key, anything less than 7 wins, Key has to go or Tech will always be a "middle of the pack" ACC team. Just an observation from a Tech fan for over 50 years.

 

[KrazieJacket]

We didn't really have an opportunity to win, though. We played up to our competition when it was pretty clear we were outmatched. Kept it close when they could've pulled away in 1H, hell even made it a 1 score game in the 4Q. Make no mistake, though, we were not the better team. Ole Miss may very well be the 2nd best team in the SEC right now and if they catch lightning in a bottle might just win the conference. We're not there yet.

If you want to piss and moan, take it up with the defensive players who couldn't be bothered to make routine tackles all game and then just flat out quit in the last 6 minutes and let the score get out of hand.

Everybody knows that Bobby. Dadgummit, I’m just saying we don’t have to look inept in losing. Who is in charge of that team taking the field? All areas of how that team takes the field and performs?

We COULD have won that game. We left 17 points on the field in the first half. We COULD and I would say SHOULD have beat Lville. Nobody is saying we line up position by position and are better than Miss.

In fact I’ve said there isn’t shame in losing. But looking inept in chunks of time is a leadership problem. It starts at the top. Key should own up to it this week.

 

[Vespidie]

Our mood by the fourth quarter was they’re giving us hope and we’ll probably be disappointed but this is not the team of last 4 years. I don’t like moral victories and they’ve got a lot to work on but I’m still proud that they look like an actual P5 football team more often than not.

Except for the fact that EVERYONE watching the game knew Kiffin was going to throw the football in a effort to put more points on the board, rather than run clock, and our defense essentially laid down. That was disappointing to watch.
As someone else mentioned in another thread, it appears that some of our guys lack pride and last night's defense checked that box.

 

[TechRush]

48 - 23 is not a moral victory. You all come in here wringing the same towel every year.

 

[stinger78]

Everybody knows that Bobby. Dadgummit, I’m just saying we don’t have to look inept in losing. Who is in charge of that team taking the field? All areas of how that team takes the field and performs?

We COULD have won that game. We left 17 points on the field in the first half. We COULD and I would say SHOULD have beat Lville. Nobody is saying we line up position by position and are better than Miss.

In fact I’ve said there isn’t shame in losing. But looking inept in chunks of time is a leadership problem. It starts at the top. Key should own up to it this week.

TBH, what can Key say?

I have heard from pretty well-informed sources that he put some serious feelers out for a DC in the offseason but could get no bites. I personally believe that reflects the reality of our defensive personnel at the time. Losing your top 6 players off an already marginal D is going to be a non-starter for many upgrades at DC, especially when those top 6 include 5 of your front 6 players from the previous year (both starting DE's, a DT, and both starting LB's). He had to ride with Thacker and so he went out and got what he thought were upgrades at position coach. Now he has to give that unit time to grow up. Almost everyone knew that D was going to be a major challenge this year, and we've already lost Sylvain, who was going to replace White.

Most of you guys know that Ole Miss returned the core of a real stout O this season and were ranked #13 in total O coming into last night. But how many of you are aware that Louisville was ranked #4 in total O before this weekend? That's two top 15 O that this young D has played in its first 3 games. Talk about learning under fire! Still, we were very close to pulling off the upset in game 1, and we were in the game in the mid-4th quarter last night. That's some tangible improvement right there.

So, I repeat, what would you have Coach Key say?

 

[QuadF]

We were a missed PI call away from this being a different game

 

[TechAKnee]

I felt Key made decisions as if we had slim chances of winning. I felt he pressed when I truly believe we had the talent to compete and beat Ole Miss. Not taking the 3 down two possessions early in the game and then not punting and going for it deep in your own territory when the game was 17-3 didn’t make sense to me. Not punting put the defense in a horrible position which in turn lead to easy points and put the game at risk. I just felt the risk didn’t make sense at the time in the game the calls were made. Then with 7 minutes in the game you punt? Thats when you go for it trying to stay in the game. Didn’t understand those key decisions.


In regards to our defense, the defensive front is not getting the pressure last years front did. In addition, we thrived on turnovers last year and we are not getting them in the same way this year.

I would like to see the offense be able to push the ball down field more. Overall, I’m confident we can compete with any of our opponents. I haven’t felt that way in several years so I give the staff credit for that.

 

[KrazieJacket]

TBH, what can Key say?

I have heard from pretty well-informed sources that he put some serious feelers out for a DC in the offseason but could get no bites. I personally believe that reflects the reality of our defensive personnel at the time. Losing your top 6 players off an already marginal D is going to be a non-starter for many upgrades at DC, especially when those top 6 include 5 of your front 6 players from the previous year (both starting DE's, a DT, and both starting LB's). He had to ride with Thacker and so he went out and got what he thought were upgrades at position coach. Now he has to give that unit time to grow up. Almost everyone knew that D was going to be a major challenge this year, and we've already lost Sylvain, who was going to replace White.

Most of you guys know that Ole Miss returned the core of a real stout O this season and were ranked #13 in total O coming into last night. But how many of you are aware that Louisville was ranked #4 in total O before this weekend? That's two top 15 O that this young D has played in its first 3 games. Talk about learning under fire! Still, we were very close to pulling off the upset in game 1, and we were in the game in the mid-4th quarter last night. That's some tangible improvement right there.

So, I repeat, what would you have Coach Key say?

“It’s my responsibility to have the team prepared and I failed in my responsibility. We have too many times looking inept…… this is how we are going to make sure it doesn’t happen again”.

 

[WracerX]

We were better on offense but gave up more on defense.

Another loss. SS,DG

We gave up more on offense, but Ole Miss was trying to score except for that last drive where our D just quit. Those were clock killing playcalls that should not have resulted in a long TD.

Last year, Ole Miss stopped trying to score at the half.

 

[stinger78]

“It’s my responsibility to have the team prepared and I failed in my responsibility. We have too many times looking inept…… this is how we are going to make sure it doesn’t happen again”.

OK, and just what would the "this" be? I believe that Key has taken responsibility. He has not ducked it or blamed his players. The reality is just something that we need to understand. We don't have the players on D to compete well against top 15 offenses this season. We just really need to get used to that notion - it is the truth.

 

[Vespidie]

For the most part, agree, but some notes:
QB - I thought he somewhat lost his poise in the 4th especially as they began to pull away. Started to lock in on Singleton and force it rather than scan the field for other targets at times. Had several plays where he had someone open who could've gotten a first down with YAC, but forced a ball to a tight window downfield and the result was an incompletion. The failed 4th down conversion scramble, he had a guy open after he broke the pocket but panicked and didn't reset. He's still a massive upgrade, but there's a lot of room for improvement still.
WR - y'all notice how Rutherford disappeared in this game? I'm glad we upgraded this position group in the portal. They need to block better, though.
RB - Haynes looks better to me every game (improving). I'm interested to see how this group develops. We really need to come up with something fire the red zone though. Maybe the read option was the tweak.
TE - have we ever had this position group look this good? If it was, it was before I was in school. 1 transfer and 1 guy stepping up is all it took.
OL - I'm personally blown away by how much better they looked last night vs week 1. They're getting better every quarter they play it seems.

I really wish we'd played Bowling Green yesterday instead. I think this game would look a lot different with two more weeks for our offense to gel. I'm seeing visible week to week progress here.

Just a wag, but regarding QB play, I don't think it was lack of poise more than King understanding that his own defense is completely inept and unable to stop Ole Miss, so he needed to put points on the board as quickly as possible.

 

[KrazieJacket]

OK, and just what would the "this" be?

He should just admit half the the time he doesn’t know what he is doing. We could start with a plan to fix tackling. I’d really need to see what they are doing in practice to tell you.
It looks like they haven’t really bought in or are giving up. Poor tackling is a sign of 1). Being out of position or 2). Lack of caring.

 

[BainbridgeJacket]

Just a wag, but regarding QB play, I don't think it was lack of poise more than King understanding that his own defense is completely inept and unable to stop Ole Miss, so he needed to put points on the board as quickly as possible.

That's even worse imo. We saw that a bunch with our two safeties in the clown era.

 

[stinger78]

He should just admit half the the time he doesn’t know what he is doing. We could start with a plan to fix tackling. I’d really need to see what they are doing in practice to tell you.
It looks like they haven’t really bought in or are giving up. Poor tackling is a sign of 1). Being out of position or 2). Lack of caring.

OK, based on this response, I think you need to admit that you don't know what you're talking about. Admittedly, you haven't seen them practice.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to be frustrated with the D - they did not finish well last night. But I'll also try to understand how outmanned we are this season on that side of the ball and that we've played two top 15 offenses so far. I'll also keep on trusting Key and his staff to make improvements that are already happening on offense, and with Birr now kicking, maybe even on ST's.