God we needed that. (POSTGAME THREAD GT 26 - PITT 21)

[bobongo]

Some of you don’t like From The Rumble Seat. If you don’t, then just ignore this link:

Georgia Tech Football: Pitt Advanced Stats Review - Offense

Did a coaching change improve Tech’s offense? Well........

www.fromtherumbleseat.com

(Defense should be coming soon).

I did post some of the numbers from Bill Connelly here:
Post in thread 'Today in Analytics...'
https://gtswarm.com/threads/today-in-analytics.13496/post-902010

We were great on turnovers, good on the ground, had some big plays, had a solid defense, and were awful passing. Yes, Pitt has a really good defense, but it's not all them. We really need to improve our passing game. We need to improve our running game too, and our play calling, but our running game is a lot better than our passing game.

One of my favorite plays was one of Pitt's screen passes. We did a great job reading the screen out to the right side of the field and blew up that part of the play, but Pitt had a pressure relief receiver behind the line about 8-10 yards away near the center, and they threw to that guy. We need better "plan B" options on our plays.

View attachment 13249

"I know there are a lot of Jeff Sims believers on Twitter, especially in pockets of the analytics community, but given his struggles this season and his underlying metrics (-0.21 EPA/dropback, 34% success rate, 3.96 yards/dropback), it’s hard to recommend that he continue to start at quarterback.

...given an interim head coach and seven games remaining in the season, it seems like Tech has an opportunity to get more tape on all of its available quarterback options so that whoever’s in charge next spring (whether parts of the offensive staff are retained or not) can make a more educated decision."

I don't agree that Sims needs to be replaced as starter, but it might be time to get Sims' backup(s) on the field for a series or two to see what they can do.

 

[CEB]

Some of you don’t like From The Rumble Seat. If you don’t, then just ignore this link:

Georgia Tech Football: Pitt Advanced Stats Review - Offense

Did a coaching change improve Tech’s offense? Well........

www.fromtherumbleseat.com

(Defense should be coming soon).

I did post some of the numbers from Bill Connelly here:
Post in thread 'Today in Analytics...'
https://gtswarm.com/threads/today-in-analytics.13496/post-902010

We were great on turnovers, good on the ground, had some big plays, had a solid defense, and were awful passing. Yes, Pitt has a really good defense, but it's not all them. We really need to improve our passing game. We need to improve our running game too, and our play calling, but our running game is a lot better than our passing game.

One of my favorite plays was one of Pitt's screen passes. We did a great job reading the screen out to the right side of the field and blew up that part of the play, but Pitt had a pressure relief receiver behind the line about 8-10 yards away near the center, and they threw to that guy. We need better "plan B" options on our plays.

View attachment 13249

Yeah... I was thinking about this yesterday and I guess this is as good a place as any to post my thoughts. I’m thrilled with the outcome and a lot of what I saw Saturday especially given all that is going on around the program but I can’t shake the feeling that we’ve seen this before...
So is this the start of something different, or just game 4?

Two years ago, game 4, we had a Lville team that had been ranked for a couple of weeks. They lost to good Miami and Pitt teams prior, but the Cards seemed legit. We lit up the scoreboard and played better than we had seen at any other time under Collins so far. It was surprising. Maybe we had turned a corner... it felt different.... It wasn’t. We got whacked in our next three and lost 5 of 6 down the stretch.
Last year, game 4, a good, 21st ranked UNC team coming to town. Potent offense and presumably the best QB we would see all year. Offense came ready to out score the Heels and the defense played like they didn’t want the offense getting all of the attention. Closest thing to a complete game we had seen and against a GOOD opponent to boot. This certainly seemed like a turning point... it wasn’t. We lost 7 of 8... the last couple in disgusting fashion.
This year... game 4, ranked Pitt team, on the road. No offensive fireworks but STELLAR performance on D, great effort, relatively mistake free. Solid, impressive win. Different intensity, different attitude, different result. Surely this is different.... right?
Pitt missed so many opportunities I can’t tell. Aside from the dropped picks, I don’t think they fielded a punt cleanly all night. When we were consistently going three and out, Pitt never flipped the field. Credit our defense here, but every punt was a penalty and no return.
What WAS different; I told my son when we gave Pitt the ball with 2:30ish left in the second qtr that I was 100% certain they would drive the field, score and repeat on the first drive of the 3rd. We let them score quick and responded by running NO clock and Pitt really had a chance to put up more points in the FIRST HALF. Punt return went near midfield.... but wiped out by a penalty. Charlie T was a huge lift to the D to start the 3rd (not to diminish how good the D was all night) and the turnover was monstrous.
Bad: Pitt had 3 “2-minute” drives and they were 3-3. That’s the only thing they did well all night. We got beat deep on ALL of them. If we’re dropping 8, that just CANT happen.
Good: we showed a lot of heart and responded each time Pitt made something good happen. I hope that’s a sign of good things to come.
TLDR? Obviously this is a lot of words that essentially say we have to wait and see. Someone convince me this is INDEED different.

 

[AUFC]

There is a reason no coaches advocate for this wishy washy back and forth QB strategy. You need to be completely sure your starter isn’t going to get you a victory before you pull him.

Jeff wasn’t good on Saturday and missed some passes he’s historically made in his sleep, but when his arm is on and he combines it with athleticism, he’s our best shot to win. Both Collins and Key realize that, or else the guys who watch him daily would have replaced him by now.

Besides, even if his arm wasn’t great on Saturday, he still had his legs and made a lot of great plays on the run to get us multiple first downs. If those plays weren’t replicated by his backup, do we still win that game? Jeff will bounce back against Duke.

 

[Steverc]

Is it true that if you are substituting in defense, you can hold your sub on the sideline until the play clock gets to one second and force the offense to call time out? Why don't teams do this on every substitution?

 

[slugboy]

Is it true that if you are substituting in defense, you can hold your sub on the sideline until the play clock gets to one second and force the offense to call time out? Why don't teams do this on every substitution?

No.

The rule is that the defense has a chance to counter offensive substitutes. The offense can’t run their subs in with less than 10 seconds and force the defense into “too many men” or a personnel mismatch.

If the offense doesn’t sub, then they can snap anytime after the ball is spotted

 

[RonJohn]

Is it true that if you are substituting in defense, you can hold your sub on the sideline until the play clock gets to one second and force the offense to call time out? Why don't teams do this on every substitution?

The actual rule:

When Team A sends in its substitutes, the officials will not allow the ball
to be snapped until Team B has been given an opportunity to substitute.
While in the process of substitution or simulated substitution, Team A is
prohibited from rushing quickly to the line of scrimmage with the obvious
attempt of creating a defensive disadvantage. If the ball is ready for play, the
game officials will not permit the ball to be snapped until Team B has
placed substitutes in position and replaced players have left the field of play. Team B must react promptly with its substitutes.

I believe the officials have been allowing something in the range of 10-15 seconds for the defense to react, send in substitutes, and remove the subbed player from the field. The big problem occurs if the offense sends in substitutes with less than 20 seconds on the clock, and definitely if they sub in with 15 or less on the clock. If the offense sends in substitutes with 25-30 seconds on the clock, there will not be any issue.

 

[JacketFan137]

There is a reason no coaches advocate for this wishy washy back and forth QB strategy. You need to be completely sure your starter isn’t going to get you a victory before you pull him.

Jeff wasn’t good on Saturday and missed some passes he’s historically made in his sleep, but when his arm is on and he combines it with athleticism, he’s our best shot to win. Both Collins and Key realize that, or else the guys who watch him daily would have replaced him by now.

Besides, even if his arm wasn’t great on Saturday, he still had his legs and made a lot of great plays on the run to get us multiple first downs. If those plays weren’t replicated by his backup, do we still win that game? Jeff will bounce back against Duke.

almost no teams in football bring in multiple qbs over the course of the game unless it’s a very niche playcalling situation where you see taysom hill/tebow/trey lance in 2021 come in to run a gimmick play

the idea of sims sitting a series or 2 to learn like some people suggest is just not happening any time soon and would be embarrassing and amateur from the staff.

 

[MonroeJacket]

The actual rule:

I believe the officials have been allowing something in the range of 10-15 seconds for the defense to react, send in substitutes, and remove the subbed player from the field. The big problem occurs if the offense sends in substitutes with less than 20 seconds on the clock, and definitely if they sub in with 15 or less on the clock. If the offense sends in substitutes with 25-30 seconds on the clock, there will not be any issue.

Thanks for explaining this. I was livid when WE had to burn that timeout because THEY was taking too long. We did it to them on back to back plays real late when they were trying to score, so…

 

[Skeptic]

OL Coach and head coach are different gigs. As a OL Coach you have to answer to the head coach. I just hope he learned a lot during the time he worked with Saban.

Ah, yes.

There is no chance.

I get what you are saying -- excessive exuberance and all that -- but if they play the game, there is always a chance. Otherwise why bother?

 

[WreckinGT]

"I know there are a lot of Jeff Sims believers on Twitter, especially in pockets of the analytics community, but given his struggles this season and his underlying metrics (-0.21 EPA/dropback, 34% success rate, 3.96 yards/dropback), it’s hard to recommend that he continue to start at quarterback.

...given an interim head coach and seven games remaining in the season, it seems like Tech has an opportunity to get more tape on all of its available quarterback options so that whoever’s in charge next spring (whether parts of the offensive staff are retained or not) can make a more educated decision."

I don't agree that Sims needs to be replaced as starter, but it might be time to get Sims' backup(s) on the field for a series or two to see what they can do.

Miami is dealing with a similar situation as Van Dyke has been struggling this year. They benched him during the MTSU game. They have named him the starter for next week but one would imagine he is on a pretty short leash. I'm not sure why our QB can never come out of the game no matter how bad he is playing. It actually could help him.

 

[bobongo]

Jeff will bounce back against Duke.

Hope so.

 

[MidtownJacket]

I take issue with the notion FTRS floats about our running game. Key talked about the idea of body blows and how they begin to cumulatively build against a D. I think that is what we saw with Hall. It is like the old Integrity Play with pummeling a rotation of BBacks against the interior DLine and LBs to soften them up. Miss a read, we house call you; make the read, you get a few hundred pounds of impact for your trouble. Over and over and over again. Getting run into isn't run, and run over even less so.

 

[Techster]

"I know there are a lot of Jeff Sims believers on Twitter, especially in pockets of the analytics community, but given his struggles this season and his underlying metrics (-0.21 EPA/dropback, 34% success rate, 3.96 yards/dropback), it’s hard to recommend that he continue to start at quarterback.

...given an interim head coach and seven games remaining in the season, it seems like Tech has an opportunity to get more tape on all of its available quarterback options so that whoever’s in charge next spring (whether parts of the offensive staff are retained or not) can make a more educated decision."

I don't agree that Sims needs to be replaced as starter, but it might be time to get Sims' backup(s) on the field for a series or two to see what they can do.

Whoever wrote that bolded part isn't living in this world.

1. Coaches and players see what goes on in practices. If someone was clearly better than Sims, or just as good as Sims but less turnover prone, that QB is probably playing. These coaches are playing for potential jobs (whether at GT next year, or another school). There is zero loyalty to Sims at this point. Key wants this job, and I'm sure Long wants to stay at GT if possible. The best way to achieve that for both is to win games, and for Long specifically, the offense to perform. Loyalty to Sims even if he's playing poorly and hurting the team doesn't help either...or the team.

2. I can 100% guarantee you that none of the coaches give a crap about getting any of these players tape to help out the next staff. That's not their job, nor should it be their concern. Their job is to coach the players up now, put the best guys on the field, and win. That's it.

 

[JacketFan137]

I take issue with the notion FTRS floats about our running game. Key talked about the idea of body blows and how they begin to cumulatively build against a D. I think that is what we saw with Hall. It is like the old Integrity Play with pummeling a rotation of BBacks against the interior DLine and LBs to soften them up. Miss a read, we house call you; make the read, you get a few hundred pounds of impact for your trouble. Over and over and over again. Getting run into isn't run, and run over even less so.

yeah “establishing the run” is old school and the analytics hate it but i do think there’s a lot of merit in the idea of wearing down an opponent

 

[JacketFan137]

Whoever wrote that bolded part isn't living in this world.

1. Coaches and players see what goes on in practices. If someone was clearly better than Sims, or just as good as Sims but less turnover prone, that QB is probably playing. These coaches are playing for potential jobs (whether at GT next year, or another school). There is zero loyalty to Sims at this point. Key wants this job, and I'm sure Long wants to stay at GT if possible. The best way to achieve that for both is to win games, and for Long specifically, the offense to perform. Loyalty to Sims even if he's playing poorly and hurting the team doesn't help either...or the team.

2. I can 100% guarantee you that none of the coaches give a crap about getting any of these players tape to help out the next staff. That's not their job, nor should it be their concern. Their job is to coach the players up now, put the best guys on the field, and win. That's it.

key made a kicking change immediately and had other RBs more involved in the rotation. doesn’t seem like he is too loyal to any guys in the squad. seems like he just wants to put out the best guys

 

[BleedGoldNWhite21]

I think Sims’ overwhelming athletic ability combined with our inconsistent offensive line is why he still has a such a strong grasp on the starting job. Sims gives us a chance when the OL breaks down.

 

[g0lftime]

yeah “establishing the run” is old school and the analytics hate it but i do think there’s a lot of merit in the idea of wearing down an opponent

Works if you can avoid 3 and outs while trying to wear down the DL plus brings secondary up to help run support. We have put Sims into too many third and long situations. He has scrambled for first downs due to his running ability.

 

[Techster]

key made a kicking change immediately and had other RBs more involved in the rotation. doesn’t seem like he is too loyal to any guys in the squad. seems like he just wants to put out the best guys

I was listening to Key do an interview with a radio station yesterday. He said one of the first things he did was get together with Jason Semore, discuss the personnel changes that needed to be done on special teams (specifically punt team), and what needed to change in terms of schematics. Lo and behold, that's the best our punt team looked all year.

I agree. Key will do what he needs to do to help this team. His loyalty will be to the team, not any players. I'm sure he's looking over the Pitt tape and making suggestion about personnel and scheme with all the coaches. This is another week for them to get better...and if the Pitt game is a sign, I expect us to play better against Duke than we did against Pitt. Doesn't mean we'll win, but incremental improvement is what Key has preached since he took over, and we saw incremental change against Pitt...and it led us to a win.

 

[Techster]

I think Sims’ overwhelming athletic ability combined with our inconsistent offensive line is why he still has a such a strong grasp on the starting job. Sims gives us a chance when the OL breaks down.

One thing I give Sims credit for, at least last game, is that he's finally using that athleticism as a weapon. I've preached for the longest time that Sims needed to be used like a weapon...his legs and ability to make defenders miss should scare the living daylights out of defenses. If I'm Key, I'm telling Sims "Look, we're going to use your arms, but we're also going to ride your legs to a bowl game. I know you can do it, and this team is behind you 100%."

 

[bobongo]

Whoever wrote that bolded part isn't living in this world.

1. Coaches and players see what goes on in practices. If someone was clearly better than Sims, or just as good as Sims but less turnover prone, that QB is probably playing. These coaches are playing for potential jobs (whether at GT next year, or another school). There is zero loyalty to Sims at this point. Key wants this job, and I'm sure Long wants to stay at GT if possible. The best way to achieve that for both is to win games, and for Long specifically, the offense to perform. Loyalty to Sims even if he's playing poorly and hurting the team doesn't help either...or the team.

2. I can 100% guarantee you that none of the coaches give a crap about getting any of these players tape to help out the next staff. That's not their job, nor should it be their concern. Their job is to coach the players up now, put the best guys on the field, and win. That's it.

Absolutely agree. They ought to do everything they can to win now, period. But to that end, they might consider getting the backup(s) some playing time to see what they can do. Practice and game conditions are two different things. I'm hoping we can at least get a sufficient lead to do that late in the game, if not before.