Duke Postgame

[takethepoints]

Putting the ball on the ground, what was it? Six times and losing three will get just about anyone beat this side of Alabama. Even the Tide could not afford to do that if they were playing someone good. What made it worse was losing the ball on three straight possessions. Inexcusable.

True, in part. Puke fumbled 4 times and lost 2, but these were spaced out.

But "inexcusable"? Fumbles are partly a matter of execution, partly a matter of D pressure, and partly a matter of sheer bum luck. When it happens on three successive possessions - and, btw, TaQuon did not fumble the ball on the second one; he was down - it is in the bum luck territory. If the fumbles had been spaced out, we still might have won; Puke was dropping the ball regularly too.

 

[jmahone]

He must have a short memory because until the last year, Texas has been a dumpster fire. Probably the most fertile recruiting ground outside of Florida, and perhaps even better because it doesn’t have to split it near as much and done nothing with it.

Agreed. Folks from Texas talk bigger than they can show. Texas folks also tend to be All About Things Texas with pretty simplistic views of the other 49.

 

[bobongo]

True, in part. Puke fumbled 4 times and lost 2, but these were spaced out.

But "inexcusable"? Fumbles are partly a matter of execution, partly a matter of D pressure, and partly a matter of sheer bum luck. When it happens on three successive possessions - and, btw, TaQuon did not fumble the ball on the second one; he was down - it is in the bum luck territory. If the fumbles had been spaced out, we still might have won; Puke was dropping the ball regularly too.

Fumbles happen, but 6 of them? Uhh, something's wrong, and spacing them out won't fix it.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

True, in part. Puke fumbled 4 times and lost 2, but these were spaced out.

But "inexcusable"? Fumbles are partly a matter of execution, partly a matter of D pressure, and partly a matter of sheer bum luck. When it happens on three successive possessions - and, btw, TaQuon did not fumble the ball on the second one; he was down - it is in the bum luck territory. If the fumbles had been spaced out, we still might have won; Puke was dropping the ball regularly too.

Where and when they occurred was devastating. The one that really irked me was when Jerry fumbled at the end of a good run early in the third when we were moving the ball. The other two became icing on the cake so to speak.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I’m not lying. Come to section 101, row 24 and I’ll show you. You won’t have to wait long if we are on D.

I’m not sure if @boger2337 noticed it, he might be able to confirm if he did. Pretty sure he sits close to me. It kinda cracks me up. Some folks just don’t like noise around them.

I do not doubt it. Tell you what. Yell louder and see if it helps.

 

[awbuzz]

When bowl games become ubiquitous to the point of rewarding mediocrity, it is apparent that there are way too many of the damn things.

No doubt about it! It 's basically to the point of insanity. I think I counted 40, yes 40 bowl games not including the championship game.

 

[heyhellowhatsup]

I'm still surprised that people here aren't more mad about the Juanyeh Thomas fumble... If he doesn't fumble that, we probably go to O.T. with Duke.

That was the most boneheaded play that I have seen in a while.

 

[g0lftime]

That doesn’t answer the question.

I watched every play through binoculars. We had a few successful runs but Dook was in our backfield almost every play. Did you not see the number of times we were tackled for loss. This O is supposed to not lose yardage on any play. They were using swim moves and gap slants to get off blocks. They were crashing the gaps with corners and safeties when we showed run. I have not looked at the stats yet but we lost a lot of yardage. We got to them on D at times with a good push and Edge rushes. Adams played well on D. I must have seen a different result than you. One of our TWO scores was on a pass BTW. I thought we were going to be called for offensive pass interference with the push off. I would not say any of our O was that good on Saturday. Maybe you should watch the replay and look our ONE rushing TD.

 

[684Bee]

I'm still surprised that people here aren't more mad about the Juanyeh Thomas fumble... If he doesn't fumble that, we probably go to O.T. with Duke.

That was the most boneheaded play that I have seen in a while.

That’s a true freshman that made one mistake.

I’m much more upset about an experienced Olineman repeatedly making incorrect line calls and upperclassmen fumbling.

 

[g0lftime]

That’s a true freshman that made one mistake.

I’m much more upset about an experienced Olineman repeatedly making incorrect line calls and upperclassmen fumbling.

We are so bad on ST kick returns we should fair catch all of them and start on the 25. Their guy wasn't that great either. Kicked one out of bounds.

 

[Dottie1145]

I watched every play through binoculars. We had a few successful runs but Dook was in our backfield almost every play. Did you not see the number of times we were tackled for loss. This O is supposed to not lose yardage on any play. They were using swim moves and gap slants to get off blocks. They were crashing the gaps with corners and safeties when we showed run. I have not looked at the stats yet but we lost a lot of yardage. We got to them on D at times with a good push and Edge rushes. Adams played well on D. I must have seen a different result than you. One of our TWO scores was on a pass BTW. I thought we were going to be called for offensive pass interference with the push off. I would not say any of our O was that good on Saturday. Maybe you should watch the replay and look our ONE rushing TD.

You’re honestly trying to tell me that the speed option wasn’t working?

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I'm still surprised that people here aren't more mad about the Juanyeh Thomas fumble... If he doesn't fumble that, we probably go to O.T. with Duke.

That was the most boneheaded play that I have seen in a while.

Well, Bear Bryant said that playing a freshman would cost you one touchdown a season but I don't really blame him for trying to make a play. Young guys will make mistakes transitioning to the college game. He will learn and move forward. He will win games for us in the future.

 

[g0lftime]

You’re honestly trying to tell me that the speed option wasn’t working?

A few times yes. No really big plays though. A few times almost broke for big yards but one tackler usually stopped it in space. We had a BUNCH of tackles behind the line of scrimmage. When we had no success inside PJ started going wide with some success until they adjusted and stopped the option by flooding the lanes. Toss worked some but not enough. They would adjust. We had too many 2nd and 12 or 3rd and 8 due to losses. We went on 4th down more than usual due to our inability to run the ball. That was a well coached team that beat us and Cut has proven he knows how to defend this offense (4 out of 5). Not even UGA has done that.

 

[takethepoints]

Fumbles happen, but 6 of them? Uhh, something's wrong, and spacing them out won't fix it.

Ok, here's a question. Your team fumbles the ball 4 times and loses 2. Your team has an interception. That's three turnovers in a close game. Do you win?

Because that's what happened to Puke and they did. They turned the ball over three times; so did we. The difference? We turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions. That, my friend, is sheer bum luck and nothing else. And, btw, we didn't turn the ball over on the second. That was a really, really late whistle and then an inconclusive film. TM was down. Full Stop.

 

[bobongo]

Ok, here's a question. Your team fumbles the ball 4 times and loses 2. Your team has an interception. That's three turnovers in a close game. Do you win?

Because that's what happened to Puke and they did. They turned the ball over three times; so did we. The difference? We turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions. That, my friend, is sheer bum luck and nothing else. And, btw, we didn't turn the ball over on the second. That was a really, really late whistle and then an inconclusive film. TM was down. Full Stop.

You might even win with 6 fumbles, but it's most often not going to be a winning proposition and it's obviously sub-par. Something's wrong and it needs fixing. Full Stop.

 

[takethepoints]

I have not looked at the stats yet but we lost a lot of yardage.

You should, you know. Here they are:

http://data.ramblinwreck.com/stats/football/2018/gt101318.htm

If you go down to team stats you will see … that both Tech and Duke lost exactly the same number of yards running the ball: 33. They had 11 TFLs - way too many - but all were for minimal amounts; we had 6, btw, and Cutcliffe would say that was way too many too. Again, the problem was when we had TFLs, just like the fumbles. We got stopped on 4th 3 times, largely because of assignment mix-ups and once, Coach said, when the pulling guard tripped. Two of those were deep in Duke territory and were hard to make up for. I hate it when that happens.

Also, we ran the ball well enough - 78% of our usual rush yardage. They're good on D, but that was enough to win. Except for the mistakes. That was only partly due to their schemes.

 

[RamblinWreck92]

You’re honestly trying to tell me that the speed option wasn’t working?

7 pts thru 3 qtrs indicates that none of the offense was working.

 

[gtg970g]

If you look at several of our losses, especially Duke ... were 3 fumbles the fault of lack of $$$? Better coaches? Blue pants? Or just kids making errors?

3 fumbles alone didn't loose us the game. Duke had 3 fumbles of their own yet they managed to win running away. Our offense was offensive and lost us the game.

 

[Vespidae]

3 fumbles alone didn't loose us the game. Duke had 3 fumbles of their own yet they managed to win running away. Our offense was offensive and lost us the game.

Overall, we played evenly. GT had 20 first downs to Duke's 19; 354 offensive yards to 304. GT had 6 fumbles, lost 3. Duke converted 2 into TD's. Duke had 4 fumbles, lost two. I don't recall if we capitalized or not.

But my point was the final spread was due to 2 TD's, both from fumbles. And that lack of resources didn't cause them. Operator error did.

 

[gtg970g]

Overall, we played evenly. GT had 20 first downs to Duke's 19; 354 offensive yards to 304. GT had 6 fumbles, lost 3. Duke converted 2 into TD's. Duke had 4 fumbles, lost two. I don't recall if we capitalized or not.

But my point was the final spread was due to 2 TD's, both from fumbles. And that lack of resources didn't cause them. Operator error did.

First downs and yardage don't mean much when you don't put points on the board. We had one TD before garbage time and it likely should not have counted because of offensive pass interference.