Bright Spots

[redmule]

Start with the obvious. The coaches knew that TO is not an effective passer. But if Bama's Heisman candidate qb can't pass against Clemson's D, then neither are we. Coaches know TO can run, so you go with the running QB, and hope to get some work for the other two.

In their hearts, the coaches probably know Graham is the guy this year. Why get him killed in the first game? TO is a tough kid and gets you thru the first game. Plus he will be needed in some games and certain situations.

Looks to me like we have a serviceable QB on the way, and some tough running backs (Mason looked strong). You can build an offense around that. Let's see how the OL looks against actual humans the next few weeks.

 

[GTJake]

Dabo was smart, he knew we'd come out and be aggressive on defense, which he turned against us with a lot of misdirection ... be prepared for USF to do the same.

 

[danny daniel]

Chico Bennett was a guy I was surprised to see Above the Line just simply based off his recruiting ranking. Sure he was playing against Clemsons backups backups but those were still scholarship players and he looked unblockable late.

I saw the same. Several players have commented about his good performance in practice.

 

[bos]

Tobias Oliver didn't have the best game, but man did he impress with his toughness. It wasn't the first time either.

The guy knew he was being thrown to the wolves against the #1 team in the nation, and he took the challenge. There was some big hits he received, but he got up and made a bunch of plays as well. I see why Collins made him the starting QB. He's got my respect.

 

[BCJacket]

Also, we could have (should have) easily had more points. We had a touchdown on the drive after Swillings interception and the refs called it back because "they" weren't ready. Could have kicked a FG there instead of going on 4th. Plenty of other one-off opportunities/mistakes that probably won't repeat against mortal opponents.

 

[techfan#14]

I though Mason played really hard and looks like what should be one of the better backs in the ACC. I didn't think tackling was anything special or maybe it just felt like our linebackers could not fill the proper holes. James Graham needs to get a strong look next week. Had we scored on the one yard line and not muffed the one punt at the start this was a 42 - 21 game and I think we would all be feeling better

 

[GTRX7]

Defense definitely looks like it should be improved.

While it didn't necessarily show last night, I do expect our ST to take a step forward as well, especially with all the focus this staff is placing on first team guys contributing to ST.

Up to Patenaude if we can be competent on offense. I truly believe we do have the talent to be so. And, honestly, if we had just stuck that 1st and goal from the 2 yard line in, I would feel much better this morning. That series was extraordinarily painful.

If we had played a clean game last night, I would be feeling ok. It was our own self-inflicted wounds that were by far the most frustrating.

 

[GT_EE78]

finding bright spots ain't the easiest after that:
Mason was good
Swilling was good
Graham wasn't as bad as others
D wasn't as bad as O
TO isn't a QB and can be moved to RB
but the biggest bright Spot is now we know what the starting lineup was !!!!
.
Georgia TechPos##OFFENSELT73Zach QuinneyLG57Mikey MinihanC55Kenny CooperRG70Jared SouthersRT78Jack DeFoorWR1JJalen CampWR1WAhmarean BrownWR15Malachi CarterQB8Tobias OliverRB2BJordan MasonTE9Tyler DavisPos##DEFENSEDE41Jaquan HendersonDT90Chris MartinDT97Brentavious GlantonDE89Antwan OwensLB6David CurryLB25Charlie ThomasCB3Tre SwillingCB2DZamari WaltonS1Juanyeh ThomasS2Tariq CarpenterS2KKaleb Oliver

 

[RonJohn]

Mason looked good
I liked the d playing press and being more aggressive. I don't mind giving up a few big plays if the d is playing aggressive, but it bothered me greatly when in the past we played conservative d and still gave up big plays. D line needs to play better, but overall d looked very good.

 

[iceeater1969]

Bright spot on this thread: All these tempered but on subject posts has not been derailed by.....

Liked every idea posted.
Posters here seem to remember we the best recent year 2014- we had some really bad games and then caught fire. The second half against gsu, duke, unc; but then nc st pitt and away we go. 19 wont be 14 but i doubt its 15

A couple of additional about game .
1. Cgc said that ATL guys would play and for most part they did. Good for cgc s reputation of doing what he says. Good for being ready for the long season. GREAT FOR RECRUITING/Transfer Portal. "We played almost everyone even against #1 clemson - come to gt and get to ATL and you will see the field. Radical change.

2. When we hit people we didnt bounce off. Sure there were exceptions- tre looked down and xss wiffed on rb tackle of rb behind the line- but guys like lb swilling hit guys and they went down .
The YAC for our rbs was good.
3. Defense committed way fewer mental errors which in past had gapping holes w lb running on wrong side of hole. Errors of omission were way down.

 

[TromboneJacket]

One bright spot for me is that we’ll have motivation for next week and a couple extra days of rest. After losing to USF last year, our guys will be hungry for revenge, which will help them move on quickly from the Clemson game. Defense has a few things to clean up, but I see a lot more potential from them than I’ve seen in a while. If we can tighten up a little on defense and figure out our QB situation for this year, I think we’ll surprise a lot of people this year.

 

[FlatsLander]

One of the biggest bright spots for me was that we (hopefully Patenaude included) saw how bad of an idea it was to try and run over the Clemson D-line 3 times in a row out of the shotgun on the goal line. Really hoping we see some better playcalling in similar situations down the road. Overall, "it's never as good or as bad as it seems".

 

[kg01]

One of the biggest bright spots for me was that we (hopefully Patenaude included) saw how bad of an idea it was to try and run over the Clemson D-line 3 times in a row out of the shotgun on the goal line. Really hoping we see some better playcalling in similar situations down the road. Overall, "it's never as good or as bad as it seems".

Or when we turned 4th and 1 into 4th and 7 by going to a shotgun snap?

 

[RonJohn]

One of the biggest bright spots for me was that we (hopefully Patenaude included) saw how bad of an idea it was to try and run over the Clemson D-line 3 times in a row out of the shotgun on the goal line. Really hoping we see some better playcalling in similar situations down the road. Overall, "it's never as good or as bad as it seems".

Coaches called time-out on the 4th and short play that TO snuck up to the center and ran. I believe that would have worked if they hadn't called timeout.

 

[FlatsLander]

Coaches called time-out on the 4th and short play that TO snuck up to the center and ran. I believe that would have worked if they hadn't called timeout.

I think it would have. Even if we had tried a couple "normal" QB sneaks there, I'd rather have done that. I was surprised we didn't try some edge/stretch plays there since we've been hearing how fast Brown is. Or even a low-risk fade to Camp or Carter.

 

[GTJake]

I think it would have. Even if we had tried a couple "normal" QB sneaks there, I'd rather have done that. I was surprised we didn't try some edge/stretch plays there since we've been hearing how fast Brown is. Or even a low-risk fade to Camp or Carter.

Yes, I agree, plus Clemson had all 11 guys up in the box with nobody out wide ...