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This has been a long day in front of the tube for me. My wife is just rolling her eyes. Once the outcome is known, I can relax a little but it still was a very exciting game. I give GSU credit for playing hard and not quitting, EVER. For those who think GSU is a large step below the opposition we are likely to face this year, I beg to differ after having watched again. They have some team speed and the guys on the interior can play. Their #40 MLB is a real good player. I like them a little more as an offensive team than defensive, but I'll save that for my next segment. My feeling is that GSU will go on to have a successful season in their league. I won't say the same about Tulane. GSU lined up with a front 4 and then a second 4 about 4 yards back in an umbrella behind the DL. They kept 1 safety in the middle about 9-10 yards back who reacted early to AB motion all day. He wasn't that concerned about the pass at all. That essentially puts 9 in the box and the corners on an island. The outside backers (more like nickel backs) picked up our ABs quite well on their releasing routes compared to most teams. They really never veered from this alignment unless we put a receiver in the slot. Every once in a while they would fake or come on an A gap blitz, but not more than 3 a half or so. I don't think there were any half time adjustments other than just getting a little more familiar with what we were trying to do.
I think we played well on offense for the most part. There were more mistakes in the second half (duh) and a little less fire from the guys up front, until that last drive that is. I'll start with the offensive line.
The big guys came out popping and playing crisp during the early going. There were just some critical errors and whiffs in the second half that stalled things. It wasn't always OL who were responsible for a play breaking down, but it did happen a fair amount. I would say Griffin played his worst game overall. He made some good blocks but he also released into the second level only to let his assignment (the tackler) run right by on a couple unsuccessful plays. He also failed to pick up his guy on a scissor block (which we did a fair amount of) resulting in a loss. He is good in pass pro though. Mason always plays well and today was no exception. He got a lot of movement and was quite productive missing very few plays. We got to see a lot of Joe and Devine yesterday and I thought they both did well. IMHO Joe has won the LT job outright based on how he played. He is just tougher than Chamberlain and has a nastier streak. I thought he was more effective despite this being one of Chamberlain's better games. Devine played really well too. To me it is a little less clear if he should be starting over Braun. In any case, there is absolutely no reason he shouldn't be playing some. I like Devine over Braun in terms of handling the guy in front of him and getting movement. Shamire would sometimes just drive guys back like we were watching "the blindside". He comes off the ball surprisingly hard and is a very aggressive kid in addition to being large. However, I like Braun better pulling and blocking in space. In terms of pass protection it is hard to beat Shamire. Braun had one of the worst oops moments in pass protection of the day. I'll say this, in goal line situations, or any time we are pulling the splits in and just drive blocking, or running a pass heavy two minute, I would go with Shamire. I don't have much to say about Burden today. There wasn't much remarkable. Marshall got some time and did OK too.
The WRs had a very good day. I can't say enough about Smelter. He just loves playing football, every part of it. He cracked back on a lot of blocking assignments today, especially the tosses (with the play side AB taking the WR) to great effect. He is just physical. Once again he had a few huge catches / plays that were difference makers. Unfortunately there were some poorly thrown balls coming his way yesterday too, negating potential back shoulder catches. Waller made the toughest catch I have ever seen him haul in. This one along the sideline to convert a long first down. He had to battle for the ball and get a foot down while getting hammered out of bounds. Good for him. His TD catch was the play call of the day. I guess CPJ saw the corners firing on toss motion and decided to run that one on goal to go situation. Nobody home. Oooops!
Laskey and Days played well. Laskey hits the hole quickly and is a good receiver. His blocking is coming on although he doesn't go low as well as he should. My biggest criticism is how high he runs. There were several runs yesterday where he ran unabated 4 yards beyond the LOS before being engaged by a LB only to get stoned for zero extra yards. This is happening because he is making it too easy for the tackler to get up underneath him and get leverage. In those situations he should lower his pads better, make solid contact, and barrel for a couple extra, even if going to the ground. It is unusual to see a FB getting stood up in that area of the field never to go down nor gain extra yards either. It seems to happen regularly with him. With that said, he had a good day overall and had a huge part in the win.
I thought the ABs had their moments, both good and bad. There were some huge plays and some bungles as well. It seems to me that the other guys are executing the basics of their position better than Bostic. For whatever reason he seems to be caught by surprise a lot and looking silly, whether blocking, receiving, or running. Andrews was a mixed bag. Snoddy inexplicably ran to the outside, right into the leverage of the CB and into the boundary on a check down throw by JT on a critical 3rd down play. The guy was correctly trying to take away the outside and force him into pursuit, but there was no pursuit in the area. If he cuts inside there, he gets the first down and the entire game may have been different. Perkins' injury did not look good. His ankle / knee bent up underneath him in awkward fashion on that tackle. I am hoping for the best, but I wouldn't be surprised if he needed a little time (meaning a game or two) to recover after that. Could be a bit of a sprain. I thought GSU did a really good job of picking up the ABs on their routes. There wasn't a lot of space to hit those wheel routes (if that is indeed what we call them). Deon Hill ran a great delay / drag route on the last play. I have no idea what the safety was trying to do. He looked like an outfielder trying to deke a baserunner pretending he was going to catch the ball. He took himself out of the play. I don't know if he takes down Hill there short of the sticks or not by playing it right and I don't want to know. I am just thankful he didn't.
Last, but not least, I'll talk about JT. I think he played the best game at QB we have seen in a long while. The only one that comes close is the TW VAD combo at UNC a couple years ago. It is hard to describe the sheer number of plays that he made yesterday. He turned ordinary 5 yd plays into 20 yard plays getting separation from would be tacklers that other players simply don't get. He turned busted plays into first downs with his feet. He fought for extra yards and played through some big hits without ever turning the ball over. He got the ball moving forward quickly on the option and forced commitments before devastating pitches. He made some huge important throws for critical conversions and or TDs (4). Most importantly, he made the plays at the biggest times when they HAD TO BE MADE especially at the end. We haven't really had that either. The funny thing is, I am saying all this while he still left some plays on the field! He had a couple overthrows, rushed throws, and just plain misfires on a couple back shoulder throws to Smelter that were money in the bank had he gotten them there. I think I saw him cut the wrong direction once. I feel a kind of pressure to compare him to some other loved QBs in the game, but you know what, he is really one of a kind and I am glad we have him on our team. He will face some challenges this season and all the games aren't bound to be perfect, I'm sure. But some of those plays he makes are simply breathtaking. I don't know how else to say it. He is elevating those around him. The game is played faster now and better now. He is the catalyst. That poor number 40 must be having #5 NIGHTMARES right now. He is a good player, but JT managed to avoid him several times at huge points in the game. Two of them, in fact, on the last drive. First was the scramble for a first down on about a 15 yard run where #40 was just licking his chops isolated and unblocked right in front of him. The last was the miracle side step before the decisive throw. 95% of starting QBs in FBS don't even get a chance to get that throw off. There are many tests ahead for this kid and I am sure they won't all be A's. Regardless of how you may feel about the quality of the opponent ( I see them as average in the FBS landscape, better than the worst teams in each power conference and possibly better than most teams in theirs) this was a CHARACTER win where a first year starter put his team on his back. He has a lot of future games to grow and get better. The tools are finally there in a GT QB. Just think, he has 3 out of possibly 40 or so starts under his belt. Where do you see him around start number 20, 30 or 40?
I think we played well on offense for the most part. There were more mistakes in the second half (duh) and a little less fire from the guys up front, until that last drive that is. I'll start with the offensive line.
The big guys came out popping and playing crisp during the early going. There were just some critical errors and whiffs in the second half that stalled things. It wasn't always OL who were responsible for a play breaking down, but it did happen a fair amount. I would say Griffin played his worst game overall. He made some good blocks but he also released into the second level only to let his assignment (the tackler) run right by on a couple unsuccessful plays. He also failed to pick up his guy on a scissor block (which we did a fair amount of) resulting in a loss. He is good in pass pro though. Mason always plays well and today was no exception. He got a lot of movement and was quite productive missing very few plays. We got to see a lot of Joe and Devine yesterday and I thought they both did well. IMHO Joe has won the LT job outright based on how he played. He is just tougher than Chamberlain and has a nastier streak. I thought he was more effective despite this being one of Chamberlain's better games. Devine played really well too. To me it is a little less clear if he should be starting over Braun. In any case, there is absolutely no reason he shouldn't be playing some. I like Devine over Braun in terms of handling the guy in front of him and getting movement. Shamire would sometimes just drive guys back like we were watching "the blindside". He comes off the ball surprisingly hard and is a very aggressive kid in addition to being large. However, I like Braun better pulling and blocking in space. In terms of pass protection it is hard to beat Shamire. Braun had one of the worst oops moments in pass protection of the day. I'll say this, in goal line situations, or any time we are pulling the splits in and just drive blocking, or running a pass heavy two minute, I would go with Shamire. I don't have much to say about Burden today. There wasn't much remarkable. Marshall got some time and did OK too.
The WRs had a very good day. I can't say enough about Smelter. He just loves playing football, every part of it. He cracked back on a lot of blocking assignments today, especially the tosses (with the play side AB taking the WR) to great effect. He is just physical. Once again he had a few huge catches / plays that were difference makers. Unfortunately there were some poorly thrown balls coming his way yesterday too, negating potential back shoulder catches. Waller made the toughest catch I have ever seen him haul in. This one along the sideline to convert a long first down. He had to battle for the ball and get a foot down while getting hammered out of bounds. Good for him. His TD catch was the play call of the day. I guess CPJ saw the corners firing on toss motion and decided to run that one on goal to go situation. Nobody home. Oooops!
Laskey and Days played well. Laskey hits the hole quickly and is a good receiver. His blocking is coming on although he doesn't go low as well as he should. My biggest criticism is how high he runs. There were several runs yesterday where he ran unabated 4 yards beyond the LOS before being engaged by a LB only to get stoned for zero extra yards. This is happening because he is making it too easy for the tackler to get up underneath him and get leverage. In those situations he should lower his pads better, make solid contact, and barrel for a couple extra, even if going to the ground. It is unusual to see a FB getting stood up in that area of the field never to go down nor gain extra yards either. It seems to happen regularly with him. With that said, he had a good day overall and had a huge part in the win.
I thought the ABs had their moments, both good and bad. There were some huge plays and some bungles as well. It seems to me that the other guys are executing the basics of their position better than Bostic. For whatever reason he seems to be caught by surprise a lot and looking silly, whether blocking, receiving, or running. Andrews was a mixed bag. Snoddy inexplicably ran to the outside, right into the leverage of the CB and into the boundary on a check down throw by JT on a critical 3rd down play. The guy was correctly trying to take away the outside and force him into pursuit, but there was no pursuit in the area. If he cuts inside there, he gets the first down and the entire game may have been different. Perkins' injury did not look good. His ankle / knee bent up underneath him in awkward fashion on that tackle. I am hoping for the best, but I wouldn't be surprised if he needed a little time (meaning a game or two) to recover after that. Could be a bit of a sprain. I thought GSU did a really good job of picking up the ABs on their routes. There wasn't a lot of space to hit those wheel routes (if that is indeed what we call them). Deon Hill ran a great delay / drag route on the last play. I have no idea what the safety was trying to do. He looked like an outfielder trying to deke a baserunner pretending he was going to catch the ball. He took himself out of the play. I don't know if he takes down Hill there short of the sticks or not by playing it right and I don't want to know. I am just thankful he didn't.
Last, but not least, I'll talk about JT. I think he played the best game at QB we have seen in a long while. The only one that comes close is the TW VAD combo at UNC a couple years ago. It is hard to describe the sheer number of plays that he made yesterday. He turned ordinary 5 yd plays into 20 yard plays getting separation from would be tacklers that other players simply don't get. He turned busted plays into first downs with his feet. He fought for extra yards and played through some big hits without ever turning the ball over. He got the ball moving forward quickly on the option and forced commitments before devastating pitches. He made some huge important throws for critical conversions and or TDs (4). Most importantly, he made the plays at the biggest times when they HAD TO BE MADE especially at the end. We haven't really had that either. The funny thing is, I am saying all this while he still left some plays on the field! He had a couple overthrows, rushed throws, and just plain misfires on a couple back shoulder throws to Smelter that were money in the bank had he gotten them there. I think I saw him cut the wrong direction once. I feel a kind of pressure to compare him to some other loved QBs in the game, but you know what, he is really one of a kind and I am glad we have him on our team. He will face some challenges this season and all the games aren't bound to be perfect, I'm sure. But some of those plays he makes are simply breathtaking. I don't know how else to say it. He is elevating those around him. The game is played faster now and better now. He is the catalyst. That poor number 40 must be having #5 NIGHTMARES right now. He is a good player, but JT managed to avoid him several times at huge points in the game. Two of them, in fact, on the last drive. First was the scramble for a first down on about a 15 yard run where #40 was just licking his chops isolated and unblocked right in front of him. The last was the miracle side step before the decisive throw. 95% of starting QBs in FBS don't even get a chance to get that throw off. There are many tests ahead for this kid and I am sure they won't all be A's. Regardless of how you may feel about the quality of the opponent ( I see them as average in the FBS landscape, better than the worst teams in each power conference and possibly better than most teams in theirs) this was a CHARACTER win where a first year starter put his team on his back. He has a lot of future games to grow and get better. The tools are finally there in a GT QB. Just think, he has 3 out of possibly 40 or so starts under his belt. Where do you see him around start number 20, 30 or 40?
" Little did I know ...