#DUKEvsGT Postgame Discussion

[TooTall]

I'm still not sold on Thacker, but maybe it would help Coach Thacker if CGC would leave the defense to him to coach. And yes I know some of y'all will say he was a great defensive coordinator at Miss state and UF , but b** L**** was coach of the year the year before he came to Tech and how did that work out.
So CGC needs to be the Head coach and lets see if coach Thacker can be our defensive coordinator we need him to be at Tech. Maybe we would be surprised that he is good,

Ummm Thacker made the call over the headset that all coaches listen to. After it went in, CGC was questioning it. And it worked out for us.

Happens every game at every level in every sport. A player does or asst. coach says something "unconventional" and it works out for the team. Remember CPJ telling Austin to leave the ball alone after the block? Howd that work out for us?

I do believe that CGC mentors Thacker, but as far as holding him back in anyway, I havent come across any reason why you would think he does.

 

[Ibeeballin]

Easy there. Coach said fielding the sideline kick wasn’t a mistake. Which begs the question...did we make mistakes on the two subsequent kicks that he let go out of bounds?

A mistake would would imply that he was misguided in his actions of fielding it OOB with result getting it at 35.

It looked like he was over coached and he knew the rule so well that common sense went out of the window that he forget to execute getting OOB before touching it.

 

[chris975d]

Dontae Smith is explosive, he’s got to get more touches somehow.
Gibbs is a monster. The entire running backs room is tremendous.
JP is a Beast.

The DLine played well overall. The DE’s played well especially Dominick. Curry had a good game. The secondary played its best game all year. I thought they played very well.

Still not a disciplined team and I hope to see this team really tighten up in that area. Just being fundamentally sound and disciplined would have yielded this team at least two more wins.

Smith is my favorite RB to watch actually. That man seems like he’s at full speed the moment he touches the ball. Runs hard and is fast as hell.

 

[Scubapro]

Before I say anything else, really glad for team and coaches that we got this one put in the win column.

Pros - our RB's, including our QB, doing some work. Some of the O line played well tonight. Curry had an absolutely great game. Domineck did as well. Kickoff coverage was mainly good.

Cons - WAY too many penalties. 3 turnovers is too much. 2 extremely boneheaded ST plays in the first half. AND, what happened to Harvin? Was he hurt in any of the "fun" activities? Or, was it something else?

Anyway, props to CDP on a good game. We are still mainly a running team, and those yards on the ground felt good.

I still dont see CDP progressing. I think we were sacked four times in the first half due to trying to run nothing but deep routs. Everyone says Simms holds on tho the ball for too long....thats coaching...If the D shows man and the receivers dont get separation ...dont wait...run the ball. BTW Shawn Jones talked. a lot about this during his time playing.
There is never any rhythm or systematic approach on O. The running game is good, with Gibbs it tough NOT to be good. but too many times the D had the play read before the snap and threw us for a loss. I guess I am the only one who remembers the shotgun formation and handing the ball off five yards deep in the end zone.
I think the D is coming along well. Thacker will be really good once he gets a few more seasons under his belt.
The placekicking is much improved...by a mile.

 

[Milwaukee]

This is the sort of thing that’s stupid. Smith did not make the right call fielding that ball on the kick. If Collins truly feels that way and is coaching our players to do that then we are going to continue to make dumb mistakes for 7 years or until he gets fired.

Our coach does this crap of not trying to tear a guy apart after a mistake. Fine, but you can also just say, “look, he’s a freshman and made a mistake. We practice these things and will discuss it internally to correct.” That’s not tearing a guy apart. Instead he says this stuff and sounds like an idiot. Then it happens again and again throughout the year with player and coaching mistakes...and you start to wonder...is this guy putting on a show to protect his staff and players, or is he just stupid?

View attachment 9515

Huh? That’s absolutely the right decision, it’s a high football IQ play. He just didn’t execute it.

 

[CuseJacket]

 

[plangineer]

Can anyone explain why that kickoff where Duke's receiver didn't call a fair catch, waited, called one, picked up the ball at the 2, ran and got tackled in the endzone, wasn't a safety? Are safeties not allowed during kickoffs?

 

[orientalnc]

Huh? That’s absolutely the right decision, it’s a high football IQ play. He just didn’t execute it.

I agree. You cannot let the free ball land and hope it goes out of bounds. The mistake was a lack of awareness re the sideline. I wonder what the coaches would say their policy is relative that type of play.

 

[Ibeeballin]

I still dont see CDP progressing. I think we were sacked four times in the first half due to trying to run nothing but deep routs. Everyone says Simms holds on tho the ball for too long....thats coaching...If the D shows man and the receivers dont get separation ...dont wait...run the ball. BTW Shawn Jones talked. a lot about this during his time playing.
There is never any rhythm or systematic approach on O. The running game is good, with Gibbs it tough NOT to be good. but too many times the D had the play read before the snap and threw us for a loss. I guess I am the only one who remembers the shotgun formation and handing the ball off five yards deep in the end zone.
I think the D is coming along well. Thacker will be really good once he gets a few more seasons under his belt.
The placekicking is much improved...by a mile.

lol of course you don’t. There is no help for you. CDP opening script great and we left at least 14 points on the field. We got sacked bc our C and Defoor got abused like some cheap liquor.

 

[CuseJacket]

I still dont see CDP progressing. I think we were sacked four times in the first half due to trying to run nothing but deep routs. Everyone says Simms holds on tho the ball for too long....thats coaching...If the D shows man and the receivers dont get separation ...dont wait...run the ball. BTW Shawn Jones talked. a lot about this during his time playing.
There is never any rhythm or systematic approach on O. The running game is good, with Gibbs it tough NOT to be good. but too many times the D had the play read before the snap and threw us for a loss. I guess I am the only one who remembers the shotgun formation and handing the ball off five yards deep in the end zone.
I think the D is coming along well. Thacker will be really good once he gets a few more seasons under his belt.
The placekicking is much improved...by a mile.

"No progression" is a pretty strong take in light of averaging 7.4 yards/play for the entire game, along with 7 offensive touchdowns. I agree there were bad plays. That happens every game with every coach.

 

[Ibeeballin]

Can anyone explain why that kickoff where Duke's receiver didn't call a fair catch, waited, called one, picked up the ball at the 2, ran and got tackled in the endzone, wasn't a safety? Are safeties not allowed during kickoffs?

Forward progress

 

[stech81]

Ummm Thacker made the call over the headset that all coaches listen to. After it went in, CGC was questioning it. And it worked out for us.

Happens every game at every level in every sport. A player does or asst. coach says something "unconventional" and it works out for the team. Remember CPJ telling Austin to leave the ball alone after the block? Howd that work out for us?

I do believe that CGC mentors Thacker, but as far as holding him back in anyway, I havent come across any reason why you would think he does.

I really have no idea if CGC butts in on defense. All I'm saying is tell Thacker what you want in a coaches meeting and let him call the defense. I don't know what happens at practice but if you want the players to trust your DC than he needs to make the calls.
To be honest Coach O'leary also was a very good DC but was too involved with the defense when he was the Head coach. The coach that works with the players at practice needs to be the onr that calls the plays if you don't let him than you picked the wrong coordinator.
and really the Austin thing was not the same thing first it was a player and second he was saying it to himself out loud.

 

[crl85]

Can anyone explain why that kickoff where Duke's receiver didn't call a fair catch, waited, called one, picked up the ball at the 2, ran and got tackled in the endzone, wasn't a safety? Are safeties not allowed during kickoffs?

They said his forward progress stopped at the 1. This happened right in front of me. He ran into the end zone on his own. Forward progress isn’t reviewable so we were S.O.L.

With this call, and the call where we tackled the UCF running back 12 yards behind the line, and they walked it up to a 1 yard loss, we have had awful luck regarding forward progress calls this year.

 

[orientalnc]

Can anyone explain why that kickoff where Duke's receiver didn't call a fair catch, waited, called one, picked up the ball at the 2, ran and got tackled in the endzone, wasn't a safety? Are safeties not allowed during kickoffs?

The officials ruled the first contact was made outside the endzone, so he got forward progress to the one.

 

[stech81]

Forward progress

Forward would explain it but he was not hit by a Tech player he stepped back , I could watch it again but I remember him going back without being hit till hw was in the end zone.

 

[JacketOff]

i jUsT dON’t SEe CDP MAkinG proGrESs


Just say you don’t like any of the coaches and go.

 

[plangineer]

Thanks everyone! That makes sense, plus 7 > 2 so it all worked out in the end.

 

[Silk3]

Hope Gibbs is ok. Hammys are tricky so hoping hes not done for the year. Good to see the W. Funny if we lost this would be a 20 page thread.

 

[slugboy]

The good:

• Curry
  • Linebackers overall did pretty well
• Kicking game (really)
• The right side of our OL was creating holes and getting a good push
• Running back by committee. When they’re all good, it’s a thing of beauty.
• Defense looked to be on the same page, especially offense and defense. It looked like players were hitting the right holes and moving faster (though there was still some hesitation out there)
• Tre didn’t get his number called often, and I think it’s because he played well. I’ll have to look at the recording.
  • We also have some young guys in the secondary. The light is about to come on for some of them.
• Good play on the DL, including DT.

The bad:

• Multiple unsportsmanlike penalties. Kicking off after 15 yard penalties is no fun. I haven’t checked, but I think we lost the field position battle.
• Punting game. Kent did his job, but we lost the field position contest.
  • Duke’s punter hit a 70 yard punt. Ouch.
• Injuries (hopefully minor)
• The mesh between Sims and Dontae Smith. This caused multiple fumbles.
• Duke’s fake punt. Slick play on their part.
• The left side of our OL was having a rougher day, mainly DeFoor. Maybe it was just a rough matchup and that DT seemed like he was having a monster game.
• A couple of defensive plays with miscommunications—mainly in zone coverage. Some of those might have been good play design by Cutcliffe, but the end results looked bad.
• The slants. (FWIW, a lot of people were blaming Curry, but usually it was someone else’s assignment). The best cure I know for the quick slant is for the DC to detect it and crush the wide receiver until the Duke WRs get alligator arms.
• Backup QBs never got time.
• We never solved Duke’s screen pass

The ugly:

• Fielding a punt on our two yard line and fumbling it into the end zone for a Duke TD.
• Catching a kickoff out of bounds, but really being inbounds (Doh!)
• Giving up a safety

The bizarre:

• Getting a defensive touchdown after kicking off after a safety and getting the motherlode of all rolls.
• We knocked Duke’s QB out of the game. The next snap went through the backup’s hands and rolled for about 15 yards or so (not sure of the exact count, but it’s the longest fumbled snap I’ve seen in a while)

Other stuff:

• Duke seems to use play action well. Somehow, we’re not getting the freeze out of play action that Duke did. We’re running more of an RPO, but wouldn’t you still want Duke to bite on the run, then hit them over the top with a mid-range pass? For some reason, that’s not happening.

 

[orientalnc]

While I am cognizant of the bizarre reality that exists this season, I hope we can cool it with the fire Collins rhetoric. It was Duke, not Miami or UNC, but the win last night was a clear message that Collins still has the trust of the players and that performance showed progress toward being a meaningful program again. Jeff Sims is the QB and David Curry played his tail off. We have NC State, Pitt, and Miami (maybe) just ahead and a chance at a winning season. Thanks to the players and coaches all!