GT VT Post Game

[cpf2001]

Buster is an excellent OC. He designs his O around the players he has. King is a versatile player who has trouble seeing the field and throwing into coverage, but an excelent runner. Buster designed an O with short safe passes and an option running game. When King get's hurt ( which game), the O has went south. With Philo next year we will have a much different O. Get off Buster's back. We're lucky to have him.

Would you take this year King or last year King? IMO we took a significant step back offensive-philosophy wise to get more (statistically) efficient and ball-control-oriented.

We’re missing a good number of passing TDs from last year, not just reducing INTs.

 

[gtchem05]

As is the case every year, with each game, we learn a little more about the team. Here's what one, mostly ignorant, fan has gleaned:

- We aren't as good as I thought we might be after game 1 (and FSU is way worse than I thought they were at the time).

- Haynes King almost certainly isn't leaving early for the NFL and Zach Pyron isn't the QB of the future (though will always appreciate his dedication and grit). I hope King can get in another game or two this year, but am mainly looking forward to a fully-healthy HK next season. Philo is the future beyond that assuming we pay him enough not to get poached. He sees the field well and throws accurately and on time. May not be quite the runner as King, but I believe Buster Faulkner is more than capable of adjusting the scheme for this (just not suddenly in the 4th quarter of the VT game after game-planning and practice repping with Pyron in mind).

- We're a good rushing football team, but many of our opponents have game-planned to stop our run daring us to throw the ball wide or downfield. We did this well enough against FSU and Duke, but not against Syracuse, Louisville, Notre Dame, and Virginia Tech. A healthy HK opens up the run game because of the added threat for him to run and because he is an adequate low-to-mid-range passer. Philo will force opposing defences to respect the downfield passing attack more and open up the run that way. Injuries to the RBs haven't helped, but we haven't lost our run game. It will be back.

- The pass blocking this season is better than it has been since before CPJ was here. Still room for improvement, but trending in a good direction. The ability of HK to pass quickly and move well certainly help the sack numbers.

- The defense as a whole, particularly the DL, keeps improving. Granted, they didn't really have anywhere to go but up. However, they forced 10 punts against VT! Our offensive ineptitude gave VT tons of possessions and good field position, yet the defense still gave up only 21. This gives me some optimism for the remainder of the year and more so for 2025.

- I'm not confident enough to call my shot against Miami like one clairvoyant poster did last year after the Bowling Green loss, but winning that game is not out of the question. Miami is probably not as good as their W-L record would indicate, and they are due for a slip-up. Hopefully that happens against us.

 

[Bogey]

So you disagree that when it is clear the starting RB is playing hurt and the next up guy is #5 on the depth chart that won't impact the running game! Seriously!

You actually think GT has talented depth to overcome key injuries at several key positions to play at the same level as the starter would? Seriously!

Reality is reality. It was very clear yesterday we were a poor offense without our starting QB and a RB group that was playing hurt or absent from the game.

If my reality posts hurt your feelings than use the ignore button. All the GT is going to roll in Blacksburg this week posts before the game knowing our injury status were simply absurd.

Hurt my feelings, don't flatter your self. I don't take your stuff seriously.

 

[MonroeJacket]

Not true at all - you, and many others here, just focus on the stuff that is true but you don't want to hear. As I recall I said at VT would be a very tough game for GT to win. In the score poll I picked VT to win in the 7-13 range. I missed that barely.

Look, GT has some very good football players. However, not enough to win without our starting QB who has been great for the better part of 2 years. Lost of folks on this site said his backup would be just as good and we would not miss King because they had memories of the backup playing one good game 2 years ago. What world are they living in? Seriously! I think that was obvious the past 2 games.

Our lead RB is clearly not fully healthy. Do yo see the burst and lateral cuts he plays with when healthy, I don't? It's clear he is not close to 100%. Credit to Haynes for giving his all Of course when he come out we are down to the #5 RB. I repeat #5 running back!

CBK and staff have taken a program that was one of the worst in the FCB and made it competitive with all but the top tier ACC teams in 2 years. GT simply lacks the quality depth to win when key players are out" King and Efford are 2 very key players as in Haynes. That is reality. It's not hard to see. It's unfortunate but it is reality!

The improvement on defense this season jumps off the screen. Many of this board constantly trash our DBs. I have never done that as their play this season has been pretty good overall. They have missed some tackles, sure but all DBs do that at times. The DL until yesterday had not gotten much pressure on opposing QBs which makes it simply impossible to cover receivers for 4-5 seconds or more. We saw yesterday when the DL really gets fairly constant pressure on the opposing QB how much better the the DBs play looks. That is football 101!

People have ripped our OLs pass protection. What games do they watch? The OL has been pretty solid on pass protection all year. King never gets sacked and a good bit of that is his ability. Yesterday the OL was very good in Pass Protection with 2 backup QBs playing. VT knew we were throwing the ball almost exclusively in the latter part of the 3rd quarter and the whole 4th quarter yet both QB had solid protection against a DL that had racked up the sacks this season and had the Conference sack leader as one DE position.

Just take off the Gold Colored Glasses and look at GT's football team realistically. We are an average ACC team overall this season as we were last season. Our offense can be good with a fully healthy QB1 and RB1. We have neither a healthy QB1 or RB1. We do not have healthy / experienced depth at either position to carry the offense. That is as clear as it can be!

Against Miami our chances to win are very low regardless of who plays for us. Miami has too many very good offensive players and a QB who is playing as the leading Heisman candidate. Against NCST we are peer teams. GT needs to be healthy for that game! That is the game to get us Bowl eligible. UGA is clearly on a different level than GT is now. That is not a knock on GT. UGA has lost, what, one regular season game in 4-5 years? They are better than virtually every other college team. That sucks but it is reality.

Yesterday was frustrating for sure. We had normally very reliable receivers drop some very catchable balls. Unfortunate for sure but #8 and #9 are good college receivers. It happens. QB #2 had a very bad day. Disappointing, sure, unexpected, not really. Basing expectations on 1 game 2 years ago is not realistic. Last week was a better gage and QB2 struggled.

Getting to a Bowl Game this season has always been my hope. That hope is still alive. We need some key players to get healthy to achieve that goal.

I agree with it all. If we have no injuries, I think this squad is good for about 7-8 wins with this schedule, and we’re in every game. If we’re without King alone, we don’t win many games. Our current injury situation? We’re prob a 2-3 win team. We just don’t have the depth. I think our ones can hang with anyone. After that it gets hairy fast.

Can we bring in the depth?

A lotta folks think 2025 is our year to make some good noise, but I always thought this was the year, not next year, with our roster not taking injuries into account. I thought we’d be better this year, then drop off next year.

We’re guaranteed to lose some important seniors this year, but I’m gonna go ahead and let y’all know, we’re gonna lose some important pieces who have eligibility left as well. So don’t be shocked. Can Key and Batt and Co mitigate that? We’ll see.

 

[Techwood Relict]

Which of our final games are we not going to play to stay at 6-5?

Like game management, math is hard. All those Calculus classes be damned......

 

[Sugar3ThousandPounds]

Would you take this year King or last year King? IMO we took a significant step back offensive-philosophy wise to get more (statistically) efficient and ball-control-oriented.

We’re missing a good number of passing TDs from last year, not just reducing INTs.

Big time agree. In 7 (nearly) full games, King’s TD/Int/Yds line this year is 8/1/1,568. 13 game pace of 15/2/2,912. Last year he threw for 27/16/2,842.

Big drop in interceptions is great, but we’re also missing out on almost a full passing TD per game. Yardage is about the same, but without digging into the #’s it seems like a decent chunk of that has come in garbage time/hectic comeback mode when the opposing D has been in prevent (4th quarters of Syracuse and Louisville games).

If King is back and healthy for the last 3 games, I’d rather let him be a gunslinger and live and die by his arm and legs then rely on our execution being perfect for prolonged, methodical, drives down the field

 

[UgaBlows]

Not true at all - you, and many others here, just focus on the stuff that is true but you don't want to hear. As I recall I said at VT would be a very tough game for GT to win. In the score poll I picked VT to win in the 7-13 range. I missed that barely.

Look, GT has some very good football players. However, not enough to win without our starting QB who has been great for the better part of 2 years. Lost of folks on this site said his backup would be just as good and we would not miss King because they had memories of the backup playing one good game 2 years ago. What world are they living in? Seriously! I think that was obvious the past 2 games.

Our lead RB is clearly not fully healthy. Do yo see the burst and lateral cuts he plays with when healthy, I don't? It's clear he is not close to 100%. Credit to Haynes for giving his all Of course when he come out we are down to the #5 RB. I repeat #5 running back!

CBK and staff have taken a program that was one of the worst in the FCB and made it competitive with all but the top tier ACC teams in 2 years. GT simply lacks the quality depth to win when key players are out" King and Efford are 2 very key players as in Haynes. That is reality. It's not hard to see. It's unfortunate but it is reality!

The improvement on defense this season jumps off the screen. Many of this board constantly trash our DBs. I have never done that as their play this season has been pretty good overall. They have missed some tackles, sure but all DBs do that at times. The DL until yesterday had not gotten much pressure on opposing QBs which makes it simply impossible to cover receivers for 4-5 seconds or more. We saw yesterday when the DL really gets fairly constant pressure on the opposing QB how much better the the DBs play looks. That is football 101!

People have ripped our OLs pass protection. What games do they watch? The OL has been pretty solid on pass protection all year. King never gets sacked and a good bit of that is his ability. Yesterday the OL was very good in Pass Protection with 2 backup QBs playing. VT knew we were throwing the ball almost exclusively in the latter part of the 3rd quarter and the whole 4th quarter yet both QB had solid protection against a DL that had racked up the sacks this season and had the Conference sack leader as one DE position.

Just take off the Gold Colored Glasses and look at GT's football team realistically. We are an average ACC team overall this season as we were last season. Our offense can be good with a fully healthy QB1 and RB1. We have neither a healthy QB1 or RB1. We do not have healthy / experienced depth at either position to carry the offense. That is as clear as it can be!

Against Miami our chances to win are very low regardless of who plays for us. Miami has too many very good offensive players and a QB who is playing as the leading Heisman candidate. Against NCST we are peer teams. GT needs to be healthy for that game! That is the game to get us Bowl eligible. UGA is clearly on a different level than GT is now. That is not a knock on GT. UGA has lost, what, one regular season game in 4-5 years? They are better than virtually every other college team. That sucks but it is reality.

Yesterday was frustrating for sure. We had normally very reliable receivers drop some very catchable balls. Unfortunate for sure but #8 and #9 are good college receivers. It happens. QB #2 had a very bad day. Disappointing, sure, unexpected, not really. Basing expectations on 1 game 2 years ago is not realistic. Last week was a better gage and QB2 struggled.

Getting to a Bowl Game this season has always been my hope. That hope is still alive. We need some key players to get healthy to achieve that goal.

Great post man! I thought our DB’s had their best game

 

[forensicbuzz]

To me, this was our worst loss of the season. Syracuse and Louisville were on our level and we could have won either or both. We competed but lost. Notre Dame was was way better and we would lose to that team almost every time. But I think we would have beaten VT handily had our best offensive player and best defensive players not been injured. There were passes that King would have made and there were numerous instances where there was open field and King would have made big yards.

Losing doesn’t disappoint me; it’s unfortunate that our backups weren’t able to take advantage of the opportunities we had. I was disappointed with the play of the backups.

 

[bobongo]

Who would have thought at this juncture in the season the DC would be in better spot than the OC? Defense had been the best unit two weeks running. The D has gotten better as the season goes.

Yeah, we were confident of the offense and dubious about the defense. Thigs have turned out the opposite. It's our defense keeping us in these games.

 

[roadkill]

Losing doesn’t disappoint me; it’s unfortunate that our backups weren’t able to take advantage of the opportunities we had. I was disappointed with the play of the backups.

Besides Pyron having a rough day, which other backups disappointed? Jamal averaged 2.6 ypc, Carrie 4.1. Philo did not disappoint considering the game situation he was put in. Canion came in and had a couple of nice catches. TE performance was mixed, they had some catches but missed some blocks. Defense probably played their best game of the season.

 

[Lil G]

Philo was putting it in the BASKET on some of the long balls. I think a bunch of those is our only shot at winning a shootout vs Miami.

 

[stinger78]

Big time agree. In 7 (nearly) full games, King’s TD/Int/Yds line this year is 8/1/1,568. 13 game pace of 15/2/2,912. Last year he threw for 27/16/2,842.

Big drop in interceptions is great, but we’re also missing out on almost a full passing TD per game.

Why? Look no further than the percent completion, sacks, and INT numbers. The offense this year is predicated on the idea of quick, short, high-percentage passes and running the ball. It smacks you in the face.
Do we think our WRs know this? Certainly. Do we think it influences how they run those routes play after play after play? Might have an impact on how well we can throw those routes?

 

[cpf2001]

Why? Look no further than the percent completion, sacks, and INT numbers. The offense this year is predicated on the idea of quick, short, high-percentage passes and running the ball. It smacks you in the face.
Do we think our WRs know this? Certainly. Do we think it influences how they run those routes play after play after play? Might have an impact on how well we can throw those routes?

Yeah, I think committing to a worse-for-our-personel scheme has hampered our ability to do anything else because we are deep in the season but have far fewer practice and game reps.

Give me an extra pass TD but also an extra INT every game and I’m going to take that every day as a non-top-5 team.

 

[stinger78]

Yeah, I think committing to a worse-for-our-personel scheme has hampered our ability to do anything else because we are deep in the season but have far fewer practice and game reps.

Give me an extra pass TD but also an extra INT every game and I’m going to take that every day as a non-top-5 team.

The problem is we now can’t pass for a TD inside the red zone. If we can’t run it, we attempt to kick FGs.

 

[takethepoints]

I didn't watch the game except for the last quarter. I listened to some at my granddaughter's soccer game. (They lost; my GD says, correctly that many of her teammates don't know where to be or what to do out there.) But I do have some impressions:

• Many here may remember that I said that once Philo got onto the field it would be hard to take him off. Sure enough. He can make the throws. The ball really comes out of his hands too; Herzlich remarked (exclaimed, actually) twice about how fast the thing was traveling when Philo threw. I think that accounts for some of the drops; our WRs were used to a softer throw. The young man can lift one long too. His throw to Singleton was right on the money and what Tech can expect in the future.

• I don't think that the fonts here dismissing Pyron are correct, however. That'll come down to the next few weeks, imho. Zac's game against ND was actually pretty good against one of the best Ds in the country. Like I've also said, spring is going to be interesting, provided both Pyron and Philo are still at Tech.

• The game came down to not being able to run effectively. If the run game had been more established, we would have scored multiple times. But … it wasn't. Neither was VT's, but they had shorter fields and Dromes was just good enough.

• Btw, this is the second game in a row where a healthy Haynes King could have given us a victory. The Buster/Weinke O is tailored for him and doesn't work as effectively without him. Tech won the stats battle easily against VT; imagine what the results would have been with King out there. With him at the helm against Miami, I like our chances.

• And the main reason for that was a lights out performance by the D. They did their job and the O, crippled as it was, could not do theirs. A similar performance against da U and we are in position to win. As was pointed out above, the D seems to get better every game. And that's without Efford. Get him back for Miami and who knows?

Well enough from someone who didn't see the whole game.

 

[forensicbuzz]

The problem is we now can’t pass for a TD inside the red zone. If we can’t run it, we attempt to kick FGs.

That's kind of a circular argument. We run the ball mostly inside the 20 and have been hugely successful. Why throw the ball when you don't need to? I think the ratio of TD to FG inside the 20 is 4:1, which is probably as good as almost anyone in the country. The idea that we can't throw the ball in the redzone isn't supported by the facts. That we don't throw the ball in the redzone is supported by the facts. Correlation is not causation.

 

[iceeater1969]

VT didn't blitz Philo as much as I would have expected. UM would likely challenge a freshman more than VT. Philo has the tools to be really good but he is a freshman. He is probably 18 or 19. HK is at least 23 and 5th year in college. What happens if HK comes back for another year? At least one of the backups leaves. Pyron must be fairly close to graduation. He can play somewhere next year or go to GT graduate school and compete again for the qb spot.

Haynes King has been diagnoised by gtswarm and Kelly at Rivals as so unable (due to secret nagging injury- that finally got so bad he had to come out ) to complete long passes for the whole year and this fault has throttled that our offense.

Why did they play him if injured?
(He had zero int on short, medium and long passes just like they asked- 23 gunslinger king is obidient system get it to play maker king.
Will this nagging injury, that became acute, ruin his chances to play next year.

Should they play him again against miami and uga. Pre ND Vt there were plenty who were confident that 2 or 3 qb could accurately complete long passes. Now that we clearly need him, can we shift and demand he be ready - don't be a sims and take care of your injury.

After unc here was the word
"he will be ready - its ride or die with ga tech".
King can be the gunsliger and play 3 solid games?
Now
"If the defense shows up we have a good chance".

 

[billga99]

The future will not get brighter until the defense is much better. It may have improved though I am skeptical, but for this team to become a respected 8,9. or 10 game winner it all starts with both lines especially the defensive line. Shuffling skill position players around will not get it done.

In today's College Football World, holding a team to 21 points is average or above average. Obviously you can make the point that VT was very conservative based on our lack of offense. But today's outcome was primarily due to lack of scoring by our offense.

 

[GT7378]

Zach had an uncharacteristically bad game today, hopefully he can shake it off and improve the next chance he gets. The offense as a whole started out effective outside of drive stopping mistakes, but just got worse and worse as the game went on.

Glad to see Birr make both field goals, need to get him back making them all.

Key had more wtf clock management moments.

Defense played well. Tackling was improved, did a good job shutting down their star RB. Great job of getting VT in 3rd and long and then defending it. Our run D is easily the best most consistent part of our team this year which is surprising to say the least.

Somebody else needs to field punts besides Shelley.

As for the PR , Is he not being coached as to what to field vs. get away from? or just not too bright?

 

[billga99]

You are correct. If Paul had been open minded about the Pistol he may have won big time.

Obviously Navy got killed yesterday. But they do run both the traditional 3O and out of the shotgun. It is interesting that very few comments were made about our vanilla offense last year when things were going much better than this year. I don't think it is scheme. However being more creative on play calling and obviously not having so many key injuries would help.