Something else to keep in mind that PJ pointed out in the post-game presser: our skill guys aren't making plays either when they have the ball. In particular, when asked about the B-Backs he said that they aren't finding the creases that DO show up. Yes, our OL has been playing very weird. But we've also got 3 new B-Backs, one of whom is a "bull in a china shop", another who dances too much, and a third who can't stay healthy, but is possibly the best of the bunch.
I do apologize in advance for the commercial, but GT Bob does such a good job with these videos that he deserves a few bucks for his hard work.
GT Final drive vs. UGA
Despite Laskey bobbling the ball, watch how many times he cuts to find a crease. And not picking on Skov, but I get the feeling he probably would've lowered his head and just rammed into Perkins' back ... again, due to years of training to just put his head down and bull forward. By his own admission he said he is a contact-oriented runner.
But I feel this whole series demonstrates what we did so well last year vs. what we are not doing well this year.
The sequence of plays from the Laskey belly play go
Belly Left
Rocket Left
Dive Right (it's subtle, but watch his cut after he gets the ball)
Rocket Right (note the cut back inside, despite the play being designed to go outside)
Belly Right (from Heavy Right formation)
The companion play to the Belly is the Rocket Sweep. Note the last two plays go Rocket Right and Belly Right. On the Belly play Justin reverse pivots, extends his arms as if he's tossing to Perk, but gives to Laskey. Perk carries out the fake catch and the OLB and CB fire up to stop him ... except ... oops ... Laskey has the ball inside for a TD.
So why aren't we running Rocket Sweep to set up Belly? It's a good question. Maybe PJ just isn't confident enough to run it with young A-Backs and WRs. He's said that if something doesn't look good in practice he won't call it in a game (makes sense to me). Maybe in practice we look like this:
(note the whiffs by the inside WR and the A-Back on the OLB - credit to the back for outrunning guys):
Rocket Sweep almost blown up
Notre Dame certainly has the athletes on defense to bring the ball carrier down, and even Duke has upgraded its talent recently. At the level we play, I seriously doubt there's anyone in the league other than perhaps Wake Forest that we can just flat-out outrun.
tldr; our OL isn't playing well, but the skill guys aren't helping.
