Going Forward

Boomergump

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3,281
I hope all of the talk about what kind of season record we expect to have is over. As far as I am concerned we have one game left, UNC. We need to treat next weekend like it is the Super Bowl. It is the ONLY game for me. I am not worried about the bowl streak. I am not worried about the Coastal. I am not worried about FSU, CLEM, or UGAg.

We have a focus problem and we have an execution problem. We need to get that fixed. End of story.

Some may wonder if our OL is any good. Well, of course they are. Mason didn't block everybody by himself. He may have provided some leadership that is missing, but the other guys played well against good teams last year too. They are the same people. I don't know exactly what is going on, but I don't like the looks on our OL's faces when CPJ was reading them the riot act on the bench. Some of these guys are NOT buying what he is selling and it is driving me nuts. Our body language is terrible. One kid was actually smirking. You have to be kidding me. Our pride is being challenged and we are smirking on the side line. Unbelievable!

I have seen it so many times as a coach what can happen when things come too easily, like our first two games. Not enough reps overall and no pressure reps of any kind for the starters. Then, boom, we are in tough contests and we aren't ready.

I am sure we are capable. I question whether we have the heart or the focus.
 

B Lifsey

Helluva Engineer
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1,380
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Barnesville, Georgia
Are we trying to use same blocking technique as last year? OL was driving DL back last year. This year it seems we are back to flopping around on the ground after diving for their feet. Do we still have that coach that was splitting time on OL and helping Sewak? Forget his name...
 

bke1984

Helluva Engineer
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3,444
I'm definitely disappointed with the last two weeks, but I'm still hopeful we will turn things around. The back-to-back losses last year had me feeling about the same, with the exception that our offense only looked bad in one of the two games.

The good news is that the UNC defense should be a much easier test than the last two weeks. It won't matter much if we keep up he execution we've seen recently though.

Offensive line has some serious issues. We can't get any push in he middle right now, which is the basis for many of my scheme arguments at the moment.
 

awbuzz

Helluva Manager
Staff member
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12,104
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Marietta, GA
Each game needs to be focused on as if it is the SEASON.

On offense if we can get players to execute the blocks then we should have 8 good seasons over the next couple of months. Then we can let post season fall where it may.
 

Wrecking Ball

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
694
If we REALLY have smirking OL, time to start the freshmen/RS freshmen and get them experience for next year's run when we will have veteran skill players.
 

elwoodgt

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
136
Well. This is not new territory for Coach Johnson. He will get it corrected. It took two losses to wake up last year too. Remember after Carolina last year, when we were all convinced the defense would drag us down with them?
 

gtg936g

Helluva Engineer
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2,142
My two cents:

Our guys know the young players at the skill positions are making mistakes. When you have an area where mistakes are expected then everyone's focus slips. I have seen that many times. A well performing team holds themselves to a high standard. No one wants to be the "worst" member of a team.

This all comes down to leadership within the team. If they can't challenge themselves and push each other, the best the team can be is mediocre.

I may not have any measurable coaching experience on the football field, but I have put together high performing teams.
 

Tech93

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,240
The defense gave us every chance to win. I was worried going into the season about our backs and WRs and this needs to get sorted out. Defenses are going to keep playing us like this until we have an answer. Yes, the OL does not look great but you cannot expect them to hold back 8 guys every play. CPJ is going to have to start dialing up some quick passes on the edge or slants to Jeune. We also have to hit the edges quicker at A back and the blocking at A back and WR needs to improve. I think Skov is trying but I am not sure he is the answer at B back. Do not know why Marcus Allen had a good spring and then ends up on third string. He seems to have better vision to get down field when he is running the ball. CPJ has a lot of work cut out for him. We may very well not have the personnel to work with as he keeps alluding to about the "younger guys", but he is going to have to try to figure something out maybe with a couple of different formations, some different wrinkles on play calling, and really figuring which players need to be out there...right now I do not see anyone on Offense that has 1st string sewed up. And special teams...that's a whole other story. Could be a long season guys.
 

cmathis

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
177
... One kid was actually smirking. You have to be kidding me. Our pride is being challenged and we are smirking on the side line. Unbelievable! ...

"Just punch him in the face" comes to mind. I don't care if he's one of our best on the OL, that kid should have been benched then and there. If he's disrespecting the coach like that, he doesn't deserve to play.
 

GTonTop88

Helluva Engineer
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2,013
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Gibson, GA
Look at it this way. Last week we played pretty bad against a really good team. Turning the ball over and having a bad day on special teams with missing FGs and punting terribly. We give up a few big plays that solidified the outcome of the game. We make those very makable FGs and don't get that holding call on the TD and we're in good shape dispite being anemic on offense.

This week we pretty much gave them 21 points off of special teams, PITIFUL. The offense was pretty much anemic again not being able to block on the perimeter again is killing us but we still were in this game despite being stopped on 4th down a couple of times and turning the ball over twice.

The past two weeks we have played as bad as I've seen in a couple of years, but if we take care of business on special teams and we are in a great position to be 4-0. We need a confidence boost this week where we are playing with the lead and not behind the 8 ball the whole game. We have had nothing but momentum killers the past two games whether it be a turnovers or getting pushed off of on 3rd and 20 for a TD or giving up a HUGE play on special teams. The backfield we'll get better as the year goes on, we can't just beat ourselves while they are in the process.
 

ybeenormal

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
426
Are we trying to use same blocking technique as last year? OL was driving DL back last year. This year it seems we are back to flopping around on the ground after diving for their feet. Do we still have that coach that was splitting time on OL and helping Sewak? Forget his name...
I saw the same. Our o line men weren't even taking a step before they were flat on the ground with the d line man just stepping over them and making a play
 

91Wreck

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
356
It wasn't the lineman that kept calling dive play after dive play. Maybe that is why he was smirking. No, he shouldn't have disrespected the coach like that, and yes, he should have been benched for doing it. But maybe someone needed to point out the futility of calling the same play over and over when we aren't seeing much success with it. I am sure that lineman felt like he was on crazy pills ;)
 

orange14

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
138
This was a winnable game - and we had our chances - but at crunch time we failed miserably. We couldn't even get 2 yards - against dook. Normally, I would think that we Would indeed get better. But the players getting experience keep getting hurt. Then we start the learning curve all over again. We might have gotten Taquan hurt - it remains to be seen (in any event we won't know until the last minute next week). Saw Skov chipped up and again with Allen limping off field.
I hate to say something like this but, if the rest of them don't start playing better, JT will try to do too much and he will get hurt. That will finish us. He has had to make some tough runs, endure body slams because no one put a hat on a charging defensive player, and,with the way we are throwing the ball all over the ground, he has had to make some wild dives to recover the ball. That will not have a good outcome.
I was afraid of this before this week, knowing that we were close to barely enough depth at both running back positions. We would be ok, but at the rate we are losing backs....
 

DvilleJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,681
We are hurting big time not having Laskey or Days right now. Skov isn't a RB, he is FB and doesn't how to run in open space. I would like to see Bryan play more since we burned his shirt. Some of those Lineman clearly didn't want it today.
 
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