GSU game thread

yeti92

Helluva Engineer
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3,186


Looks like Zach Gibson may not be the starter?

I see three familiar names on that list - Zach Gibson, Kenyatta Watson, and Joshua Black who I believe was one of the 2 OL commits CPJ had for 2019 before TFG dropped them and he ended up at Louisville. Looks like he played in 12 games at Louisville last year, so I'm guessing came to GSU for a grad degree.
 

Golden Tornadoes

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
837
Don't want to be negative but how unbelievably unprepared Gibson looked against UVA is probably the biggest red mark during Key's tenure as interim/HC. They knew Sims was hobbled from the injury against Duke in OT and Gibson was so hard to watch that it was almost like the coaching staff hadn't anticipated a scenario in which he would potentially play. It was very strange. Maybe the moment was just too big for Gibson but I suspect he did not get nearly as many reps with the first team running up to the game as he should have.
To play devil's advocate:

Was Gibson's deer in the headlights play really a product of a lack of preparation on Key & Co.? Or was it Gibson not getting himself ready to get put into the game?

I'm no D1 athlete, but you have always got to be ready when your number is called. To be one of those "back in my day" guys, when I was in high school, our starting center on the basketball team went down with an ankle injury at the end of the game. He was considered a "gametime decision" throughout the entire week, but I took it upon myself to prepare as if I would be starting (assistant coaches had already given me the heads up I was next in line). Guess what? Said starting center was a DNP for the next 4 games and we went 4-0 because I was ready when my number was called.

As much as it is on the coaching staff to prepare the team, it's also on the individual player to go the extra mile and make sure he is doubly prepared. Mind you, Gibson was the starter at Akron before he transferred to Tech. He passed for over 1,200 yards and 10TDs the season before he came to us. It's not like he hadn't prepared to start a game before. It really was baffling to watch in real time as he had been known to protect the ball and spread the field at Akron.
 

apatriot1776

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
728
A couple of thoughts:

1) We will speed up the tempo this game. We saw 7 possessions last game against FSU. Reducing the number of possessions and winding the clock narrows the gap between teams - even in the case of a blowout, it keeps the game closer. In the end, we converted a TD in the second quarter where FSU couldn't (turnover on downs + FG), we prevented mistakes on our ensuing possessions, and that was the ball game. Running at a higher tempo helps expose any talent disparity and I believe we are closer to FSU than Ga St in that department.

2) Listening to the opponent media, Georgia State thinks that they have the film advantage because we have opened the playbook. We have not. We ran 52 plays last game, and more than half of that was just blast, counter, outside zone, veer, qb counter, qb draw, wr screen. I have plenty of confidence that we have enough up our sleeves if Ga St or Syracuse get testy.

3) The 2s and 3s will play plenty this game but would have played whether we're healthy or not. Jamal Haynes only had 13 touches last game. 7 receivers played and 19 players recorded a tackle. Efford, Harvey, Powell-Lee, and Tatum played almost the full game, but otherwise on defense Biggers, LaMiles Brooks, Yondjouen, Height, Scott were off the field for at least 20 plays. We have depth and we'll use it every game, even FSU.
 

g0lftime

Helluva Engineer
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6,051
I was reminded recently of the early-season Dolphins/Patriots game in 2008 where the Dolphins revealed the Wildcat formation with tons of success. I'm wagering they practiced it all training camp and were fine to lose their first two games without it just to surprise their biggest opponent with it. Not saying Dell McGee creates a new offense innovation in this game but there are a lot of wildcard/unpredictable aspects to this matchup. Allegedly they plan to play up to 4 QBs - I trust Santucci/Key can adjust to whatever gets thrown at them but I'm an eternal underestimator and this isn't a guaranteed win in my book.
Santucci made a masterful adjustment after the first TD. He started loading the box and brought the safeties up. FSU never really adjusted and only had success with their last drive on 2 4th down passes. He showed one coverage and then rolled the coverage at the snap at least once that I saw.
 

slugboy

Moderator
Staff member
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11,726
Santucci made a masterful adjustment after the first TD. He started loading the box and brought the safeties up. FSU never really adjusted and only had success with their last drive on 2 4th down passes. He showed one coverage and then rolled the coverage at the snap at least once that I saw.
I think you and I have different definitions of loading the box. We only have six in the box in this shot (maybe just five—the DE is lined up outside the tackle box), and the linebackers are pretty deep. Most of the second half, we looked like this.

We blitzed a lot though. We rolled coverages.

IMG_0379.jpeg
 

Ibeeballin

Im a 3*
Messages
6,082
He’s at least good enough that Chaney can make him dangerous for our game—or whoever the starter is.

Ga State has film on us. We have none on them. They have a new coaching staff, new scheme, and new players.

Zebra stripes do not change much

We have film on Sherrer as DC at Tennessee

Same with Cheney
 

Ramble1885

proud sidewalk fan
Messages
2,004
Location
Atlanta
Yes. I'll take a one point win any day of the week. Good seasons are built on close wins.

I definitely do not - repeat, not - take GSU lightly. They were a solid team last year and probably will be again.
If you look at soak of our better seasons of the 21st century we had close wins against cupcake teams. UCF 2000, Gardner-Webb 2008, G Southern 2014.
 

ThatGuy

Helluva Engineer
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1,028
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Evergreen, CO
WE sould take this game ok.Of course that's what fsu thought.Can you say "trap".They have being preparing for us for 6mos.
This is what keeps running through my mind as well.

FSU didn't take us seriously. They had already notched a win in their record, and IMO were looking forward to not even the rest of ACC play - but all the way to the ACC Championship Game. They listened to the narrative from their school, from their fans, from Reddit and other discussion boards, and from the media that they were better than the rest of the ACC, and that they were "back." Winning was accepted as manifest destiny, simply because they are FSU.

They overlooked us to our detriment.

I hope Key has been beating that comparative drum over and over. That it's not the level of talent on the team that matters - it's the level of effort, commitment, and toughness. That after the win in Ireland, for this game we're at risk of being FSU, and Georgia State being us.

I imagine he has, and that the team has gotten the message - but there's a lot of "rat poison" going around. And it's hard to not think back to all those stressful moments in winning seasons, or those awful moments where we lost to a team we shouldn't have lost to. Fingers are crossed, and excited to watch the game Saturday (delayed, as I'll be on a family trip to Mesa Verde). Go Jackets!
 

slugboy

Moderator
Staff member
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11,726
This is what keeps running through my mind as well.

FSU didn't take us seriously. …

They overlooked us to our detriment.
What makes you think that?

It was their opening game, to an international audience.

They knew we had a pretty good offense, that was really good at running the ball. They had all summer to get ready. The next game is BC, who gave them a hard time last season, but should be beatable. We weren’t a trap game.

On defense, it’s the same coordinator and DL coach who gave them fits last season until they knocked out Duke’s QB.

They knew we were dangerous. They saw last year’s Miami game.

If there’s anything, they thought they’d run on us all day, and they were surprised when the defense bowed up—but they should have been expecting that based on our DC. The DL was much better than last year.

We flat out just beat them.
 
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