Clemson 41 - GT 10

[steebu]

Absolutely true. Even next weeks game "shouldn't" tell us much. We probably won't know until late September just how improved we actually are.

Next week’s game will tell us a lot if they Citadel us, which I don’t anticipate happening. I’m sure someone will start the, “Collins threw the game to his alma mater” if the unthinkable happens.

Last night there were some stretches of really good play, and in particular, when Sims has time to set his feet and step into his throws he can really zip them in there. Hopefully those stretches will get longer and longer and can mitigate some of the not-so-good stretches, including horrific miscues like blocked punts and self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the foot.

 

[GTLorenzo]

As for the end of half lack of calling a timeout, etc: I truly believe we had no plans to take a shot downfield because we basically quit taking shots downfield after the first throw of the game. Do you really think our OL could hold their DL long enough to let a WR get free deep enough to move the chains significantly? That is, if they didn't false start us back to our own 2 yard line...

So you are most likely correct. But, why not at least try to put some pressure on the punter? Maybe you get a block? Maybe you get a shank? We just gave up the half for nothing.

 

[GTLorenzo]

Should get called out in the film room discussions...

Sure looked like he could've been in line to make a block that MAYBE allows the ball carrier to at least pick up some more yardage. I'm sure he was tired, but geez, that looked like poor effort at the least.

 

[GaTech4ever]

it was definitely a miss by collins but i do think the impact is being overstated here in these threads. realistically we receive a punt and then run the ball twice and go into half time the same.

I think fans have a gripe with the principle of the decision. No one here thinks we were going 70 yards in a minute. But our coach cowered.

 

[GTLorenzo]

... only took the refs, 20 minutes (okay probably only 3 -5 but it felt ridiculously long from the stands) to finally come up with the 10 second run off. My son an I initially though that was wo we could save the time out and use them after they punt... BUT NO!!!! we then let the clock run down and don't even TRY.... #sigh

Yeah, but why not even try? No pressure on the punter. No return guy. Just waving the white flag to get to half time. Sad.

 

[IronJacket7]

Absolutely true. Even next weeks game "shouldn't" tell us much. We probably won't know until late September just how improved we actually are.

I don't mean this to sound negative but I know it is going to... I cringe a little when I hear us all saying that our defense looked improved. I feel that it did, but then I think about the score of last year's game against Clemson and how well our defense played. We thought then that it would be a decent season and our defense was stout. Then... 3-9. I truly hope we do well. But at the end of the day it is hard to see this not being CGC last season. I truly like him. I love that he has a history and passion in regards to GT. But it is just really hard to see him being here next season. And that is not salty talk from losing 41-10. Just an honest opinion.

 

[g0lftime]

Sure looked like he could've been in line to make a block that MAYBE allows the ball carrier to at least pick up some more yardage. I'm sure he was tired, but geez, that looked like poor effort at the least.

Very slow. He couldn't get to the defender and didn't show a lot of effort. May need to put in different personnel if running that screen to that side.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

If we sputter against a team we should beat handily, we will know a lot. Of course, I did just read that WCU had over 600 yards of offense last week so this may not be the tune up game I was expecting.

That's exactly why I said "shouldn't" in quotation marks...

 

[TheTechGuy]

Hold on now, despite Collins I saw enough tonight that MIGHT get us to 6 wins. If we get a good bounce here or there.

That's saying a lot over what I THOUGHT I would see tonight.

So much deja vu from last year: https://gtswarm.com/threads/gtvsclem-postgame.23883/

A comment from another poster after the 2021 Clemson game, “Yates will find a way to get us 6 wins this year.”

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I don't mean this to sound negative but I know it is going to... I cringe a little when I hear us all saying that our defense looked improved. I feel that it did, but then I think about the score of last year's game against Clemson and how well our defense played. We thought then that it would be a decent season and our defense was stout. Then... 3-9. I truly hope we do well. But at the end of the day it is hard to see this not being CGC last season. I truly like him. I love that he has a history and passion in regards to GT. But it is just really hard to see him being here next season. And that is not salty talk from losing 41-10. Just an honest opinion.

That's a fair take. The difference, to me, is that Clemsons O didn't look completely inept this year. Still not the Trever Lawrence version that decimated us a few years ago, but a far cry better than last year.

 

[RonJohn]

Absolutely true. Even next weeks game "shouldn't" tell us much. We probably won't know until late September just how improved we actually are.

I think it will be after Pitt, maybe UCF, before we have a good idea.

• Lost to Clemson, but that was expected. Team looked better overall. Substitutions were better. Getting the play call in was better. Some iffy game/clock management calls. Several issues with false starts. IF they can keep what was good and work on the issues, it could be a decent season. (But I felt that way after UNC last year)
• WCU - Should win easily. We won't really know anything about the team unless the performance is bad or we lose.
• Miss - Should probably lose. We won't really know anything about the team unless we win, or there are still similar game/clock management and excessive false starts.
• UCF - First game that the outcome should really be indeterminable. I think the result of this game and how the team plays are going to be the first real indication of the quality of the team.
• Pitt - The second game that should really be competitive. I think the result of the UCF game and this game are going to be the first point in the season that we can be confident how good the team is.

A very poor game against WCU or a very good game against Miss could change that timing, but I expect we will be 1-2 going to Orlando and still trying to find out if the team will be able to win 3-4 or 6-7.

 

[slugboy]

If we sputter against a team we should beat handily, we will know a lot. Of course, I did just read that WCU had over 600 yards of offense last week so this may not be the tune up game I was expecting.

Posted in the other thread https://gtswarm.com/threads/wcu-game.25500/post-890066.

WCU won 52-38 over Charleston Southern. I'm not sure how much to read into the win over Charleston Southern.

 

[g0lftime]

I wish I could be more optimistic. First half play was better for whatever reason. Could have been some of us and Some of them. Too many false starts really hurt us. Second half was more like last year. Did they even have any penalties? Didn't seem like it. Good deep kickoffs into the EZ. Kicker looks okay even with a close miss. Punter needs to work on fewer steps or use a running punt. May need to change who blocks for the punter. They got blown up twice.
The rules for targeting needs more work. A player should not be disqualified when the ball carrier lowers his head and tackle would have not been to the head otherwise. Lots of holding not called and one TD pass sure looked like a pick at the goal line.

 

[Jacket4Life]

Collins did all he could to make sure we didn't win this game. His use of timeouts continues shows he is in way over his head. The way he decided to end the first half? I have no words for that. I thought the team fought hard despite him. It's time to move on.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I think it will be after Pitt, maybe UCF, before we have a good idea.

• Lost to Clemson, but that was expected. Team looked better overall. Substitutions were better. Getting the play call in was better. Some iffy game/clock management calls. Several issues with false starts. IF they can keep what was good and work on the issues, it could be a decent season. (But I felt that way after UNC last year)
• WCU - Should win easily. We won't really know anything about the team unless the performance is bad or we lose.
• Miss - Should probably lose. We won't really know anything about the team unless we win, or there are still similar game/clock management and excessive false starts.
• UCF - First game that the outcome should really be indeterminable. I think the result of this game and how the team plays are going to be the first real indication of the quality of the team.
• Pitt - The second game that should really be competitive. I think the result of the UCF game and this game are going to be the first point in the season that we can be confident how good the team is.

A very poor game against WCU or a very good game against Miss could change that timing, but I expect we will be 1-2 going to Orlando and still trying to find out if the team will be able to win 3-4 or 6-7.

Agree for the most part. If we beat WCU handily it tells us nothing. The Ole Miss game can tell us more if we pay attention. Even if we lose, we should lose in a shootout. Their defense last year was not spectacular, and I'm not sure it will be significantly better this year. If we can keep the game close in a shootout fashion then I think some conclusions can be drawn, especially if we follow that up with a win at UCF.

 

[GTLorenzo]

So I've been pretty negative on Collins' performance last night. I will say the following:

Sims did look better than the last two years. He was not running for his life as much as he had been in the past and did have some good zip on his ball and hit some receivers that I think he would've missed in the past.

Would've liked to have seen more of D. Smith.

O line needs work obviously.

Receivers could've helped Sims a bit with some catches on dropped balls.

D looked better than last year without a doubt. No wide open receivers running free in our defensive backfield with two guys chasing him. Got some pressure on their QB, which was good.

Special teams were not that special. Hopefully they get fixed quickly.

Will not comment on coaching decisions as I have done that in many other places except to say that I think we have some good pieces that a good coach could likely pull together into a good team. Hopefully our staff can do that. I don't think that will be the case based on pat experience and last night, but I do want us to win every game.

A big win on Saturday night with good execution from all three phases and no big coaching blunders would be a good place to start moving forward.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Toward the end of this game I had the following feeling:

If our defense is as improved as this game suggests, and if Sims has matured as much as his better moments demonstrated, and our mistakes were mainly opening game jitters, then we should beat Ole Miss.

Seriously. We should. If all the aforementioned is true.

But if we lose to Ole Miss then it will be clear to me I was once again clinging to false hope and a 3-4 win season is in our future.

 

[g0lftime]

Areas of improvement:
Stop the false start penalties.
Improve down field blocking. If you can't get down field, then you shouldn't be out there for certain plays.
Make the catches that P5 athletes should make .
Block better for the punter and work on fewer steps.
Manage the clock better.

 

[stech81]

Hard for me to get a real opinion, 1 st half was good, 2nd half not so much. But it was the 1 st game and I'm not sure any 1 st game will tell you how the rest of the year will go.
I guess if I had to tell anyone how I felt after the game. It would be like when my wife tells me what's for dinner It did look good but at the end it same to be the same old cooking.
But it's only 1 game against a good team no matter how you feel about Clemson they are good.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Topic that I have not heard discussed yet was our linebacker performance.

Was it just me or did they seem slow and out of position on some big Clemson plays?