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Wow. That was a hard film to watch, not because we executed poorly, well, not as poorly as we have been, but rather, because we had sooo many chances to steer the outcome in our favor. In general, I would say we did a much better job of executing the basics and looked more like a cohesive team. We just left some plays out on the field that would have won the game for us.
I would say UNC was the third best defense we have faced so far. They presented a worthy challenge, but we just aren't ready as an offense to capitalize on everything that was there. They played pretty vanilla 4-3 with the deep MLB, pretty much like we would see from VT or last week at DUKE. They kept it simple and just ran a lot of the normal stuff. I think they made it a priority to force us to get the ball to the edge, where we might be a little short athletically. I saw some A-Gap blitz and fake blitz. I saw some cross charge and actually a fake cross charge where the LB ran at the dive (forcing the keep) and then just ran right past Skov to the QB, surprising him and blowing up the play. Pretty risky, but it worked. Had the read been missed and the give happened, Skov might still be running. They fired CBs a couple times, but not a lot. This was the safe defense that was content to slow us down. There were no players that "stood out" to me like the last couple of weeks. Maybe #10 at MLB. He flowed pretty quickly some times and was a good tackler.
I'll start with the ABs. The guys we have out there starting right now are the guys who are most ready to play. They are, but they are just not athletic enough to be the guys carrying the load against big and fast teams. The lack of speed at the position yesterday was palpable and prevented some big gains or explosion plays. I have been tough on IW, especially for his blocking recently. I have to give the kid props. He played his best game to date. He timed his blocks better and got better angles while helping many plays succeed. With the ball in his hands he was just a step slow to get a corner or take it to the house up the seam like BS, TM, or QS would have. He made respectable gains on several plays. The problem was, there was more to get, if you know what I mean. CL is another, who played well yesterday. He is developing, but he is also not an "explosive" player who the defenses fear. He gets the job done. We need weapons at this position but we are just getting it done. MLD was a breath of fresh air and second-hand smoke all at the same time. He obviously is the best athlete on the field for us at AB yesterday. He needs to keep playing, but he left some blocks out there and made some bad choices. There were some really good blocks too. Don't get me wrong. It was just a mixed bag. Clearly, he is a guy we need to get going to give us a lift. LG made his debut there. That was a surprise. However, there really wasn't enough snaps to form any kind of opinion.
At BB, things are not progressing the way I really expected. I like the way Skov protects the ball and runs physically, but there is really no vision or cutting to his game just yet. I still have vivid memory of a play in the south RZ where we went unbalanced left and pulled TB on the play. We had the entire left side of the field sealed off. The handoff lead PS right towards Trey's back. If he cuts outside off the handoff, like I believe a seasoned BB would have (we saw it from SD last year) that play scores. Instead, it went straight into the teeth of the defense. It just seems to me that we aren't actually finding the creases or the weak points in the D enough on the dive plays. MA made a couple of nice vision related cuts when he was in. However, there weren't enough carries to amount to anything. I understand we have to get moving forward fast at the position, but we just have to be able to put a foot in the ground sometimes and change direction.
It is really hard for me to comment on the WRs. The broadcast was so zoomed in all the time that they out of the screen unless the ball came to them. It appeared they got shucked by defenders a little less. I only saw one screw up communication-wise between WRs and ABs on who to take. It blew a play up, but it was a single play.
I felt like the OL played better. I really do. We got to the second level better and disrupted things out there better. We dumped some guys on their heads or at least nudged them off their path with greater frequency. For the most part we made good blocks on the interior. SD looked better scooping back side and both OTs had a better game IMHO. If it was a situation where the DL wasn't worried about getting low, I think we got the best of them. In goal line, we let them get under us again, plus I am not so sure we executed those plays right. If we can't do the QB follow any better than that, a straight sneak or FB dive would be better. We need a good bit of practice time coming up devoted to goal line IMHO. It aint working. We are not the lower team up front and we are not timing the plays right.
At QB, JT played better, but he made some soph slump type of mistakes too. No QB makes good throws every play, but he missed two pretty simple throws that had "big gain" written all over them. His critical fumble needed to be a pull pitch in one motion. His hesitation allowed the LB to get a hand in there. I thought he missed a couple pitch reads (needed to gett he ball out there) but did better at turning up field without dancing around as much. I don't know how the QBs are coached to run the QB follow at the goal line, but it seems to me that you can't try to run into the pile ahead of, or beside, your BB, not without a gaping hole that is. By now, that play is no surprise to defenses and they are hell bent on stuffing that gap. They are committing everything they have to each side of center and we are oblidging them. On those plays we always have a motioning AB. Why? It seems to me a pitch is pretty much always there and we NEVER take it. Yesterday, we could have faked the follow and floated a pitch out there to nothing but green grass.
We were good enough on offense yesterday to win a lot of games, just not this one. The entire game was right there on a platter for us if we just didn't shoot ourselves in the foot at critical moments. I think we controlled the game and the clock like it needed to be in order to win. Unfortunately, the defense didn't help as much yesterday, and when we needed to bail them out, we just didn't step up. That sequence of failed 3rd and 4th and goal from the 1, and the following fumble after forcing the punt from the EZ will live in infamy. If we are honest, we all knew UNC would score some. They did. However, we got the lead early and just needed to answer a few times along the way to maintain a gap. Like everybody here and the kids in the locker room, I am disappointed with the loss. However, I think the level of play on our part was better and it is something to build on. Let's just get some of our guys back on the field.
I would say UNC was the third best defense we have faced so far. They presented a worthy challenge, but we just aren't ready as an offense to capitalize on everything that was there. They played pretty vanilla 4-3 with the deep MLB, pretty much like we would see from VT or last week at DUKE. They kept it simple and just ran a lot of the normal stuff. I think they made it a priority to force us to get the ball to the edge, where we might be a little short athletically. I saw some A-Gap blitz and fake blitz. I saw some cross charge and actually a fake cross charge where the LB ran at the dive (forcing the keep) and then just ran right past Skov to the QB, surprising him and blowing up the play. Pretty risky, but it worked. Had the read been missed and the give happened, Skov might still be running. They fired CBs a couple times, but not a lot. This was the safe defense that was content to slow us down. There were no players that "stood out" to me like the last couple of weeks. Maybe #10 at MLB. He flowed pretty quickly some times and was a good tackler.
I'll start with the ABs. The guys we have out there starting right now are the guys who are most ready to play. They are, but they are just not athletic enough to be the guys carrying the load against big and fast teams. The lack of speed at the position yesterday was palpable and prevented some big gains or explosion plays. I have been tough on IW, especially for his blocking recently. I have to give the kid props. He played his best game to date. He timed his blocks better and got better angles while helping many plays succeed. With the ball in his hands he was just a step slow to get a corner or take it to the house up the seam like BS, TM, or QS would have. He made respectable gains on several plays. The problem was, there was more to get, if you know what I mean. CL is another, who played well yesterday. He is developing, but he is also not an "explosive" player who the defenses fear. He gets the job done. We need weapons at this position but we are just getting it done. MLD was a breath of fresh air and second-hand smoke all at the same time. He obviously is the best athlete on the field for us at AB yesterday. He needs to keep playing, but he left some blocks out there and made some bad choices. There were some really good blocks too. Don't get me wrong. It was just a mixed bag. Clearly, he is a guy we need to get going to give us a lift. LG made his debut there. That was a surprise. However, there really wasn't enough snaps to form any kind of opinion.
At BB, things are not progressing the way I really expected. I like the way Skov protects the ball and runs physically, but there is really no vision or cutting to his game just yet. I still have vivid memory of a play in the south RZ where we went unbalanced left and pulled TB on the play. We had the entire left side of the field sealed off. The handoff lead PS right towards Trey's back. If he cuts outside off the handoff, like I believe a seasoned BB would have (we saw it from SD last year) that play scores. Instead, it went straight into the teeth of the defense. It just seems to me that we aren't actually finding the creases or the weak points in the D enough on the dive plays. MA made a couple of nice vision related cuts when he was in. However, there weren't enough carries to amount to anything. I understand we have to get moving forward fast at the position, but we just have to be able to put a foot in the ground sometimes and change direction.
It is really hard for me to comment on the WRs. The broadcast was so zoomed in all the time that they out of the screen unless the ball came to them. It appeared they got shucked by defenders a little less. I only saw one screw up communication-wise between WRs and ABs on who to take. It blew a play up, but it was a single play.
I felt like the OL played better. I really do. We got to the second level better and disrupted things out there better. We dumped some guys on their heads or at least nudged them off their path with greater frequency. For the most part we made good blocks on the interior. SD looked better scooping back side and both OTs had a better game IMHO. If it was a situation where the DL wasn't worried about getting low, I think we got the best of them. In goal line, we let them get under us again, plus I am not so sure we executed those plays right. If we can't do the QB follow any better than that, a straight sneak or FB dive would be better. We need a good bit of practice time coming up devoted to goal line IMHO. It aint working. We are not the lower team up front and we are not timing the plays right.
At QB, JT played better, but he made some soph slump type of mistakes too. No QB makes good throws every play, but he missed two pretty simple throws that had "big gain" written all over them. His critical fumble needed to be a pull pitch in one motion. His hesitation allowed the LB to get a hand in there. I thought he missed a couple pitch reads (needed to gett he ball out there) but did better at turning up field without dancing around as much. I don't know how the QBs are coached to run the QB follow at the goal line, but it seems to me that you can't try to run into the pile ahead of, or beside, your BB, not without a gaping hole that is. By now, that play is no surprise to defenses and they are hell bent on stuffing that gap. They are committing everything they have to each side of center and we are oblidging them. On those plays we always have a motioning AB. Why? It seems to me a pitch is pretty much always there and we NEVER take it. Yesterday, we could have faked the follow and floated a pitch out there to nothing but green grass.
We were good enough on offense yesterday to win a lot of games, just not this one. The entire game was right there on a platter for us if we just didn't shoot ourselves in the foot at critical moments. I think we controlled the game and the clock like it needed to be in order to win. Unfortunately, the defense didn't help as much yesterday, and when we needed to bail them out, we just didn't step up. That sequence of failed 3rd and 4th and goal from the 1, and the following fumble after forcing the punt from the EZ will live in infamy. If we are honest, we all knew UNC would score some. They did. However, we got the lead early and just needed to answer a few times along the way to maintain a gap. Like everybody here and the kids in the locker room, I am disappointed with the loss. However, I think the level of play on our part was better and it is something to build on. Let's just get some of our guys back on the field.
