Chick-fil-A Kickoff Postgame Discussion

[SidewalkJacket]

The difference is the quarterback and the Bback are already on the same page with the mesh and reading the defense. Plus, the line is better than ever. Man, that Benson can really block on that little delay counter that Marshall ran so well. Kirvonte is absolutely perfect for this offense, power with balance, vision and just enough speed to get to the corner when needed. His blocking is exceptional. Just a fine, fine, football player. On top of all that, the man has more gears than a 16 wheeler.

Agree, except there was no mesh last night. We didn't run any triple option.

 

[MikeJackets1967]

Nope. Sorry, but you don't bring in a guy who has never taken a snap there. If he wanted a more powerful runner, MJ was right there waiting. Power wasn't the issue on that play.



Totally agree with this. Should've redshirted him last year.

I think being elusive and quick like Marshall is more important at option quarterback than power.

 

[forensicbuzz]

If the D could of remotely made a stop in the 4th qtr we would of won. You are asking perfection out of these young men. True, the fumble did not help. However; the D couldn't stop a pack of cub scouts, in that 2nd half. It was a complete team effort. O was mistakes. D was just bad play calling. Which one is worse??

If D was bad play calling, then blame it on the coaches, not on the D. I thought the D performed very well for the most part. There were some bad plays that went for long yards, but I think the D did well.

 

[56JacketDE]

I think being elusive and quick like Marshall is more important at option quarterback than power.

I agree, compare Nesbitt who had more power, to Taquon, not knocking Josh but Taquon is more of a "playmaker" with his elusiveness

 

[YJMD]

CTR sent more guys to the LOS as the game wore on and I think it hurt us. Our blitz schemes aren't that complex and rely on numbers rather than twists, overloading spots, getting around the corner of a tackle, etc. When we tired we couldn't get off blocks to control the LOS and lost contain in the run game. Our back 7 relies on being able to go downhill and separate man from ball or have someone operate as a robber underneath. That worked a lot of times (and an INT or 2 would have changed things dramatically). When we were sitting on a bigger receiver we couldn't tackle him without momentum. When we were 1 on 1 we didn't have the size to win a jump ball.

I'm ok with those liabilities except the tracking, but we have to find a way to keep our guys on the DL fresh (more rotation) and creative ways to get pressure. Ironically, we got more pressure on the edge rushing 3. I imagine this was because they were free to pursue instead of try and keep gap integrity in the run game or engage a blocker to free up space for someone else.

We are going to struggle from a depth standpoint up front and got help us if injuries hit, but we can do more with the talent we have.

That said, kudos to Roof and the D for what we actually did well. Sure we could do better, but they didn't lose us this game.

 

[56JacketDE]

from what I have heard Kelton Dawson is a great pass rusher, but I didn't see him out there last night. Did he play?

 

[Sideways]

I disagree.. We can get shut outs... Issue is... CTR does not attack. His bend but don't break method is something of the past. I not saying blitz on every down. However; how much presnap movement did you see? Barely none. How many stunts were ran? I could tell you....0. How many times did the players miss tackles because they wanted to lay down lumber? Too many to count. A lot of this IS defensive coaching, that does not seem to be done. You missed the pass int. call, in which (with good coaching) would not have been a penalty.

I agree.... We need a kicker... Like really bad.. We lost because of our kicking game. We lost because the O didn't play perfect to outscore the other team, due to bad defense. Or lack of defense.

Until proven different. I call CTR... No Proof Roof... Yeah... He talks a be game. Yeah...people SAY he recruits well. But, in the last 5 years, have we even broke into the top 30 in defense stats? Like ever?? We all know the O is in the top 30 most of the time. What about the D? So, you CTR lovers and apologists.. Please tell me why he is so valuable? Because he's a Tech man isn't a good answer. Where are the supporting stats that show, he is worth keeping?

Well, I have been and to a certain extent continue to be a CTR apologist. He loves Georgia Tech, he is an excellent recruiter and a credit to the Institute in so many ways. BUT I am tired of defending his style of defense. Let's look at Alabama. They come all the time from every direction. They use creative blitzes to make quarterbacks hesitate and when that happens they are dead. Alabama comes and keeps on coming until you make them stop. I am not saying we can do what they can given the talent differential but we can and must be more creative in applying pressure and just let our guys play. Step had perfect coverage on that touchdown pass in the endzone but just did not turn around. It is beyond tiresome to see the same results on defense year after year. The difference between the truly elite teams in college football and the also rans lies on the defensive side of the ball. Seemingly everyone has play makers and gunslingers galore on offense and can score in bunches (well almost everyone Florida is a notable exception) but few teams really play sound pressure defense with good tackling and use of mix and match schemes in the secondary. If we want to win divisional and conference championships while being a perennial top 20 or so program then the defense (and the special teams) must improve markedly.

 

[Sideways]

Agree, except there was no mesh last night. We didn't run any triple option.

True dat. There was no "twirl" that is characteristic of the triple option. But I would be willing to bet that Benson and Marshall will bond and be as instinctive as any quarterback - bback combination we have had in Coach Johnson's tenure.

 

[Jacketman1]

It's week 1. Because it is week 1, I was ecstatic with our O, Taquon and Benson came to play. Cottrell also had a good game, he did a very nice job running the ball. The D- awesome first half, porous second half. Special teams- terrible minus Harvin. Can Harvin kick field goals? Hopefully when King comes back he is solid.

Now, as far some of y'all, you need to calm down. This is not the worst loss in two decades. Not close, really. I sure as heck would not trade this game for the 2014 ugag game; that game was amazing, as is any win against ugag. Let's stay positive. There was a lot to like from last night, and we can beat everyone left on our schedule(not likely, but possible). We could also lose to anybody left on our schedule. Bottom line, if we continue doing good things on O, patch up the D, and if King can show some promise, we will be in VERY good shape; I don't think we're far off.

 

[MikeJackets1967]

True dat. There was no "twirl" that is characteristic of the triple option. But I would be willing to bet that Benson and Marshall will bond and be as instinctive as any quarterback - bback combination we have had in Coach Johnson's tenure.

I'll take 500+ yards of not meshing

 

[Cam]

The 92.9 The Game guys were really talking up Marshall this morning. Rick and John are talking about him in the Heisman mix and saying he's already better than JT (a lot of hyperbole). Despite the loss, seems like we're getting at least a bit of national respect.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

The Defense gave up 369 yards. That is not a terrible performance when you're playing a very good SEC team. Due to our poor kickoffs, Tennessee had the benefit of starting near midfield like 4 times. And a fumble gave them the ball at midfield. If a team like Tennessee starts at midfield 4 or 5 times and you hold them to 28 points, that's not a bad day in the office. Tennessee was 5-12 on 3rd down and 0-1 on 4th down. 38% is not bad. If we hadn't missed FG and if we had kicked the ball down to the 5 on kickoffs, and if the turnover margin was closer, we would have likely been up 3 touchdowns down the stretch. None of all those what-ifs are on the defense.

 

[takethepoints]

Agree, except there was no mesh last night. We didn't run any triple option.

Hmmmmm. Must have been a surprise to Taquon given all TO counter options we ran. Admittedly, we did run more double option plays and sweeps, but that's first game stuff. My guess = Coach wanted to keep things simple and when he did it worked so well that he kept at it.

 

[PBR549]

Defense got 5 three and outs and 7 stops out of 11 during regulation, and that included two drives for UT that started in our territory, and a couple others starting ~30-40 yard line. We lost because we had a ton of empty yards. We had something like 215 yards on 4 drives ending in turnovers or missed FGs. That's probably a 20 point swing if we just don't make those mistakes. But we did and so we lost.

Anyways, Benson is a player, and Marshall looked good, although carried it too much imo. OL also looked good. D looked improved for the most part until momentum swung back in UT's favor. Just too many big mistakes to overcome.

Exactly, the loss hurt but we really played some great offense and defense. Tennessee has ranked 8th over the last 4 years in recruiting. We looked so much better than them and dominated them throughout most of the game. Two turnovers killed us. Kickoff coverage needs to be better but I'm encouraged for the season.

 

[Eastman]

This was a very tough loss but I am surprised how negative on the team many are. What if the game results had been reversed? What if UT had put up 655 yards on us to our 370 and dominated the entire game only to lose in overtime because they had two turnovers and poor kicking from a walk-on in his first game (due to an injury to their scholarship kicker)?

Of course winning is the goal and I would rather have a win etc etc. but had things been reversed I would be far more worried about both our offense and defense than I am now. (Imagine the posts about Roof had our defense given up over 600 yards) We have a replacement for the kicker recovering and hopefully will commit fewer turnovers and cause more in future. games.

Horrible loss but the future still looks promising.

 

[Jmonty71]

Well, I have been and to a certain extent continue to be a CTR apologist. He loves Georgia Tech, he is an excellent recruiter and a credit to the Institute in so many ways. BUT I am tired of defending his style of defense. Let's look at Alabama. They come all the time from every direction. They use creative blitzes to make quarterbacks hesitate and when that happens they are dead. Alabama comes and keeps on coming until you make them stop. I am not saying we can do what they can given the talent differential but we can and must be more creative in applying pressure and just let our guys play. Step had perfect coverage on that touchdown pass in the endzone but just did not turn around. It is beyond tiresome to see the same results on defense year after year. The difference between the truly elite teams in college football and the also rans lies on the defensive side of the ball. Seemingly everyone has play makers and gunslingers galore on offense and can score in bunches (well almost everyone Florida is a notable exception) but few teams really play sound pressure defense with good tackling and use of mix and match schemes in the secondary. If we want to win divisional and conference championships while being a perennial top 20 or so program then the defense (and the special teams) must improve markedly.

Point... Very good point.. Look at Bama and Clem and Son. Both have stout Ds. I mean stout. Sad part, I think Clem is better on D, this year, than last. I already dread playing them. I don't think UT is a good team.. They are above average. But, they will lost to UGA and the hapless, scoreless, offensively challenged Gators. UT is an 8 win team, at best. I am pretty sure we'll whip JSU. Pitt looked awful, so I foresee either a shootout, or decently high scoring game. Pitt still has an ok offense. Their D is worse than ours, I think. So, here's to 2 wins. Yeah, the D will look good against JSU.. Just because of the talent gap. The rest of the season, beyond that will define the D and the team.

 

[Jmonty71]

This was a very tough loss but I am surprised how negative on the team many are. What if the game results had been reversed? What if UT had put up 655 yards on us to our 370 and dominated the entire game only to lose in overtime because they had two turnovers and poor kicking from a walk-on in his first game (due to an injury to their scholarship kicker)?

Of course winning is the goal and I would rather have a win etc etc. but had things been reversed I would be far more worried about both our offense and defense than I am now. (Imagine the posts about Roof had our defense given up over 600 yards) We have a replacement for the kicker recovering and hopefully will commit fewer turnovers and cause more in future. games.

Horrible loss but the future still looks promising.

Yes, the O looks very promising. The D looks the same. That 2nd half, was CTR football at its best.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

The Defense gave up 369 yards. That is not a terrible performance when you're playing a very good SEC team. Due to our poor kickoffs, Tennessee had the benefit of starting near midfield like 4 times. And a fumble gave them the ball at midfield. If a team like Tennessee starts at midfield 4 or 5 times and you hold them to 28 points, that's not a bad day in the office. Tennessee was 5-12 on 3rd down and 0-1 on 4th down. 38% is not bad. If we hadn't missed FG and if we had kicked the ball down to the 5 on kickoffs, and if the turnover margin was closer, we would have likely been up 3 touchdowns down the stretch. None of all those what-ifs are on the defense.

UT barely held the ball and they shot themselves in the foot in the first half as much as we did in the second only our mistakes were more devastating.

 

[56JacketDE]

UT barely held the ball and they shot themselves in the foot in the first half as much as we did in the second only our mistakes were more devastating.

agree, i even commented to a friend that if their qb starts throwing accurately and/or the WR's quit dropping balls, they will start moving the ball, which they did in the 2nd half

too bad those early inaccuracies didn't equal an interception!

 

[Adadu]

To be fair, I think we all would agree that we would take beating uga on the last play of the game last year over beating tennessee on the last play of this game