How do we get better at 3rd and long?

[DrJacket]

Have to admit that typically when we have third and long I don't think "we must make it or have to punt" I typically think "I hope we get at least most of it so we don't have to punt"
First and 15 didn't bother me as much this year either whereas last year a five yard penalty had me worried.

We were watching one of the NFL playoff games the other night. My wife is a late-arriving football fan, stoked mostly by the Yellow Jackets games we enjoy so much.

So, when one of the teams punted the other day on 4th and 2, she was yelling at the tv-- "WHY are they punting?! Why didn't they GO for it?!! Their coach must be a real WUSSS..."

 

[collegeballfan]

Here are the average yards per carry for this past season. 4th and 7 is not much of a problem.
Thomas 5.7
Days 5.9
Laskey 5.0
Perkins 9.0
Zenon 6.5
Snoddy 10.1
Hill 6.8
Bostic 6.1
Andrews 6.6

 

[DCSS]

The VT board had a thread on CPJs offense earlier this week. The original poster questioned if CPJ had hit his ceiling this year at #7 in the country or if we could actually contend for a title. A few mentioned that we could with a better defense. But most answered as you'd expect: "they'll run into defenses that will just flat out stop it." (As if other offenses don't have that problem).

But my favorite comment was from a guy who wrote a few paragraphs with an armchair breakdown of our offense. The clincher was "but when you get these option offenses into 3rd and long, they just look lost out there." I had myself a good laugh over that stemming from these stats being posted. People really will regurgitate what they read and hear like its fact without ever seeing it firsthand. That kid actually thinks he has a firm grasp of what's happening on the field.

The Hokies had trouble stopping us on 4th and long.

 

[33jacket]

...when we're already one of the best?

this is amazing....shows how well our O played this year....never even close to this in the past.

really call me guilty who would never think tech was the top 3 of this category under paul....in the past this was proven to be right...just shows what a QB and team buyin does!!!!!!

 

[Towaliga]

How can that be...."we're not built for 3rd and long!"

If I had a dollar for every time Pollack (along with nervous others)said that, I could afford better season tickets. But who am I to criticize him for such observations ? After all, he provides other insightful comments that only former players can proved such as "if he hadn't been tackled there, he probably would have picked up more yards" and "that dropped pass on third down hurt their momentum".

 

[AE 87]

this is amazing....shows how well our O played this year....never even close to this in the past.

really call me guilty who would never think tech was the top 3 of this category under paul....in the past this was proven to be right...just shows what a QB and team buyin does!!!!!!

Actually, it wasn't "proven right" in the past, obviously, since it happened this year.

However, even the games from the past didn't support the conclusion, imo. Time and again our past struggles on 3rd and long had to do with bad passing or dropped passes. CPJs scheme and play calling often resulted in open routes.

 

[33jacket]

Actually, it wasn't "proven right" in the past, obviously, since it happened this year.

However, even the games from the past didn't support the conclusion, imo. Time and again our past struggles on 3rd and long had to do with bad passing or dropped passes. CPJs scheme and play calling often resulted in open routes.

In the past statistically it did show that this offense wasn't good in 3 and long...this year disproved it. So now the past is no longer relevant as we have shown the capability in long distance we hadn't before. But before this year, the statistics showed it to be true. Maybe proven is the wrong term here, but 6 years of data on not great at 3rd and long is a strong trend.

As for your second point...GT is not the only team with open receivers missed and dropped passes. Many schemes have these issues...thats why we play the game. So to me thats a wash; while I agree we missed it many times in the past, we didn't execute. Period. This year we did, OL QB a big reason why.....but in NCAA football many fans can say...it was there...for us to execute etc etc

 

[dressedcheeseside]

It's pretty simple to see the difference guys, JT throwing and Smelter running routes and catching. We didn't have that combo the last 6 yrs and Smelter also got a lot better this year.