Duke postgame

[MacScott]

The son and I went to the game. Where he informed me that we would need 5 tickets next year because the daughter-in-law and the two sisters all wanted to geo to the games and felt left out. Well, it's only money. My impressions:

• Tech got its mojo back. I don't think there was any doubt who had the most talent on the field, but talent isn't much use if you can't use it. The key here was to have both Jamal and Alexander returned to health. Turns out from post-game interviews that fonts here who thought Haynes was hurt appear to have been right; he was himself late night and it made all the difference. And when he needed a breather Alexander came is and, as usual, moved the pile. (How he does that at 185 is a mystery, but some backs just have the knack.) That's what won the game; we Ran The Ball and had more plays and almost twice their TOP. Against a team with limited offensive power that did it.

• Well, that and a good D performance against the run; we had 5 TFLs and held them to 3.7 YPC. That'll do against a team with an inexperienced QB. And, yes, the second PI call was a complete travesty; there was no way either player could get to the ball. But I digress; the D performance was about as good as you could hope for. I was particular pleased by Lockett's performance. That young man gets push.

• I thought King looked like he might be hurt as well. His runs were more tentative then usual. Still, it's hard to complain about 197 yards of total offense and a 74% completion rate on his throws. The usual competent game, though I thought a couple of his throws were e bit risky.

• Why, merciful God, are we still running WR screens when every DC in the country knows they are coming and coaches for it? Ok, sometimes they work for big plays and we can get at least some yards from them. Maybe that's all Buster/Weike are expecting. But I'd like the O more if we were ruining some double options to the edge to get Jamal or King into the open. Maybe we can't make that work and there was nothing to complain about in the run game last night. But then I watch an Army game and get unsatisfied. Maybe it's just mw.

• Last word = our next opponent is a dangerous one. The Holes have the best RB in the conference and know how to use him. They are scoring almost at will and then can't stop anybody. (Why am I not surprised?) A performance like we had last night will do the job, but we'll have to get more out of the O to win. We'll see. If we can get to 5 -2 the ND game will be big.

Speaking of King.. He may be the most erudite QB in the ACC.

 

[tomknight]

They were senior and grad student seats when I was there. Great seats. Back then the students would start stomping and create a stadium rumble during important downs. They are very steep and no hand rails for older fans though.

made it easy to drop all manner of assorted grossness on the rats, who were right below

 

[TechPhi97]

The only contact I saw looked like typical handfighting that doesn't get called from both sides before the ball was in the area. DB turned his head around, located the ball and pulled away from the WR to make the interception, but nothing he did interfered with the WR trying to make the catch.

It felt like there were a few suspect calls like this, but then it felt like the refs would make a similar call back the other way to balance it.

On our first PI, it really looked like the offensive player pulled our DB down, also. Like he was holding our guys shoulder pad and pushed our guy down.

 

[stinger78]

Did he replace Biggers on the DL a lot in this game? Biggers had no stats during the game……?

Might have been van den Berg who had an outstanding game.

 

[danny daniel]

They were senior and grad student seats when I was there. Great seats. Back then the students would start stomping and create a stadium rumble during important downs. They are very steep and no hand rails for older fans though.

My roommate from the Dodd era gave up his seats last season because of bad knees and lack of handrails on those steep steps.

 

[slugboy]

Did he replace Biggers on the DL a lot in this game? Biggers had no stats during the game……?

I think Biggers and Van der Berg were side by side--at least, that's how they started.

Here are the highlights


For those interested, the A gap blitz is around 4:15. Efford was in the QB's face, and it was nearly a blind throw in the middle--completely uncovered, though.

Here is the condensed game

 

[stinger78]

I think Biggers and Van der Berg were side by side--at least, that's how they started.

Here are the highlights


For those interested, the A gap blitz is around 4:15. Efford was in the QB's face, and it was nearly a blind throw in the middle--completely uncovered, though.

Here is the condensed game

So did the S blow it by blitzing, too, or a blown coverage?

 

[alagold]

I rewatched the game this morning. The first PI against us on the first drive was weak. Both players had their hands on each other. Our defender was trying to turn towards the ball but the receiver was holding him and preventing him from turning. If there was interference, it was offensive. It should have been a no call.

If the first one was weak, the second was criminal. They called it on Harvey who was on the other side of the field, so that call was clearly wrong. There was no contact when the ball was in the air that was close to OPI. Just a completely bogus call and gift to Duke.

otoh--Brooks got away with a bad hold

 

[Techwood Relict]

Did he replace Biggers on the DL a lot in this game? Biggers had no stats during the game……?

Both played, with Biggers only three snaps behind. JVDB just had the more impactful game.

4. DT Jordan van den Berg- 70.4 (24)
......
19. DT Zeek Biggers- 57.5 (21)

 

[alagold]

A couple other things I noticed -
1. Audio problems in the stadium. Music too loud out times, and the ref had some issues with his mic that were pretty painful.

2. Special teams needs a lot of work. KO coverage on the one non-TB was horrendous, and I don't understand why we keep faircatching the ball inside our own 10. It's a disaster waiting to happen, get out of there and hope it takes a bounce into the endzone.

On the punts-the dook kicker is one of best in US,he kicked high so they got coverage and catching at 10 keeps it from being downed maybe at one--I'm just happy he didn't try to run with it

 

[Bogey]

I rewatched the game this morning. The first PI against us on the first drive was weak. Both players had their hands on each other. Our defender was trying to turn towards the ball but the receiver was holding him and preventing him from turning. If there was interference, it was offensive. It should have been a no call.

If the first one was weak, the second was criminal. They called it on Harvey who was on the other side of the field, so that call was clearly wrong. There was no contact when the ball was in the air that was close to OPI. Just a completely bogus call and gift to Duke.

I agree 100 %. But that was only half of it. The pass would never have been thrown if Height had not been flagrantly held, plainly seen on replay. I did not see this at the game but my son saw it and showed the replay on his phone to me at the game. I confirmed it watching the replay on TV today.

 

[cpf2001]

For those interested, the A gap blitz is around 4:15. Efford was in the QB's face, and it was nearly a blind throw in the middle--completely uncovered, though.

IMO the blitz from Efford was pretty decent, but either Tatum missed covering the middle OR Seymore's DB blitz was a bad call/misread. It was a pretty quick "throw at where the blitz came from" read but the two blitzes basically came from the same spot, and one was VERY late.

 

[HurricaneJacket]

The roughing call was pretty textbook, based on the new emphasis on protecting the qb and disallowing helmet2helmet contact. Jmho

I'm sure it looked weak(sic) from the Duke perspective but the players know that's how it's called now.



Oh I have no doubt they gave us a makeup call after the questionable PI call.

I feel we got another make up call for the defensive delay of game. First time I ever remember seeing 2 of those in a single game.

 

[LongforDodd]

Was it just me from my vantage point last night, or did King have issues holding the ball firmly four or five plays last night. On at least three plays, I remember thinking it looked like he was about to drop the ball.

So what if a LB rushes to the LOS to time the snap for a blitz and has to quickly hold up. Can that not be done?

 

[SandySpringsJacket]

They were senior and grad student seats when I was there. Great seats. Back then the students would start stomping and create a stadium rumble during important downs. They are very steep and no hand rails for older fans though.

I was at the game in the West stands. It was weird to see the upper north almost completely full while the upper east were so empty. I wish they could redirect those people to the upper east. That has to be a bad look on TV.

 

[stinger78]

Dook-GT replay coming up on ACCN.

 

[slugboy]

So did the S blow it by blitzing, too, or a blown coverage?

Or blown communication? You usually don't leave a guy in zone coverage like that during a blitz, though. No way for me to know how many players were supposed to blitz through the A gap, but I'm sure that was blown coverage, and there's no one else in the zone where Tatum was. I think everyone else was in man coverage.

 

[RonJohn]

So what if a LB rushes to the LOS to time the snap for a blitz and has to quickly hold up. Can that not be done?

I assume you were responding to a post about the delay of game penalty instead of my statement that it looked like King was bobbling the ball a few times.

LBs can blitz and try to time the snap. The issue is if someone is on the DL and they make a jerking motion like they are starting to rush. Some teams did that with the entire line several years ago, but it is now a penalty. It is the same penalty as a defensive player clapping or yelling the snap word to try to get the offense to false start.

 

[LongforDodd]

I assume you were responding to a post about the delay of game penalty instead of my statement that it looked like King was bobbling the ball a few times.

LBs can blitz and try to time the snap. The issue is if someone is on the DL and they make a jerking motion like they are starting to rush. Some teams did that with the entire line several years ago, but it is now a penalty. It is the same penalty as a defensive player clapping or yelling the snap word to try to get the offense to false start.

Oh. I replied to the wrong one.

Can the DL shift over like they used to against us and CPJ?

 

[yeti92]

On the punts-the dook kicker is one of best in US,he kicked high so they got coverage and catching at 10 keeps it from being downed maybe at one--I'm just happy he didn't try to run with it

Catching at the 10 is a risk of muffing the punt and having it recovered by the other team for an easy TD. Get away from the ball when it's that close to your own endzone and hope it takes a favorable bounce.