Initial Impressions

[DenverJacket56]

I thought the oline looked much improved and JT looked in control and throws a really nice ball. As always, CPJ called plays based on what their D gave us. Abacks looked sharp and quick. As for the D, we are extremely weak at the safety spots. I've never been a fan of IJ. Way too soft IMO. We also look to be slow at LB, except for PJ. Overall, I think we played well against an option team that looked very polished. They will have a good year in FCS. You gotta know this is what other teams and fans think and say about us and our offense, when we make their D look so bad.

 

[DenverJacket56]

My bad, PD not PJ!

 

[thwgjacket]

You take one play away, one, and it's 38-12 and everyone would be saying our D looked good and we played well. Two things, give their kicker credit for being a stud and just sit back and enjoy JT. Dude is going to stud out this year. If we had run the ball all day people would be saying that we can't throw and because we're unbalanced we can't win. We finally get a balanced offensive performance and everyone wants to complain. Haters gonna hate. But more importantly truth like rain, don't give a damn who it fall on, and JT is the truth. JT has a stronger arm than Cole Stoudt, check the tape and you'll see.

 

[Bule]

I can't in my mind say that the D looked good if we take the one stupid play away. Yes, the final score would be better and I generally thought the D did look good in the first half, but I don't think they looked like they could stop wofford at all in the second half. Maybe they were gassed from the heat because it seemed we weren't substituting much at all. This is what worries me most this season is the depth seems very thin in some areas on defense.

On the other hand I really thought the offense is going to be the best we have had since The Dwyer, nesbitt, Baybay years. It may even end up being better in the end because of OL talent, depth at A back, and JTs development as he gets more experience. I cannot possibly see how someone could walk away from this game without feeling encouraged about the potential of this offense this year. Some people are just looking for excuses to b!tch and moan (ahem...atomic). We would have had 500 yards running today if that's what the D have us , but they challenged our passing game and man , in the second half, we didn't disappoint. It did take JT a bit to settle his nerves but once he did , he looked even sharper than I thought he would look. And Smelter could easily be the third best WR we have had leave GT after megatron and Baybay.

 

[Papa Doc]

The score is this game was the tale to two teams. THWGJACKET is right, one less play and everyone breathes easier. The O played well and has potential for being even better. Lots of upside there. We'll need them to reach their full potential for being a potent O. Problem is, the one play we didn't make on D is the one the D repeatedly never seems to make. From my vantage point, you can see the middle of our D being knocked around pretty much all day. Big, gaping holes that better FBS running backs turn into 15 and 20 years runs rather than the 5 and 10 yard runs given up yesterday. When I see visiting teams driving toward the South end zone and our guys making tackles are diving for ankles and have the backs of the jerseys facing me, it's not good. I think CPJ teams are 34 & 4 (?) when we score 33 points or more. We may need to average 40 points this year to get back to 7 wins.

 

[bke1984]

I didn't read all six pages, so I'm sorry if some of this has already been said, but here are my thoughts...

• This was a first college start for a ton of guys on our team. That probably explains the slow start in the first half. If you look at the halves separately, we won 10-9 in the first and 28-10 in the second...not that bad
• It felt like it was about 120 degrees out there. I've been going to games at BDS since the mid-90's, but I've never been at a game that hot. '98 against Boston College was close, but not like this. Fans were having a hard time staying in the stands, so imagine what the players were going through down on the field. That kind of heat can tend to slow players down a bit...especially when you don't have a ton of depth to rotate in and out (i.e. on the offensive and defensive lines). I'm a bit worried about the weather for the Tulane game next week (more for me than the players!)
• I'm worried about our interior offensive line. I need to watch the film, but it looked like their assignments were breaking up the B-back option most of the time rather than the end. Tough to tell at game speed, but it was a bit troublesome
• Not sure what our defensive strategy was...seemed like we just lined up in a straight 4-3 man and tried to read the option without being aggressive. That translated into long Wofford drives due to an inability to stop 4-5 yard gains...kind of scary given that two other teams on our schedule runs some of these sets (Georgia Southern and Clemson). I would have expected us to be a bit strong against triple option plays since we scrimmage against it during Spring and Fall camps so much
• I was a bit disappointed that we didn't cover the spread at first as well, but given the speed of the game it would have been pretty tough. 3 hours, 4 minutes for a televised game is FAST. We scored on every possession but three (if you toss out the victory formation possession). Most points we could have possibly scored would have been 63 with TD's on every possession...tough to expect that in any game, especially one with a bunch of new starters in that sort of weather
• We can't be missing 31-yard field goals. No real excuse there

All in all I think we played OK, we got a bunch of guys experience, and a win is a win is a win.

Jackets are 1-0!!! See y'all in New Orleans!!!

 

[Lexjacket]

My musings from the game yesterday.....

IT WAS HOT!!!

We sat next to a table of Wofford fans at the Varsity (very nice folks). One of them was a former Wofford lineman (he was HUGE and was consuming 5 'heavy dogs' with 2 orders of onion rings and 2 orders of fries), he warned us not to take this game for granted, that Wofford was a well coached team, that their quarterback was quick and shifty and they would give us a game. He was right.

IT WAS HOT!!

I think a game like this was much more useful and instructive to Tech as they begin to PROGRESS into this season. Games like Elon last year teach a team nothing except overconfidence and complacency. Tech got a valuable lesson in perseverance in adversity that was worth the $250,000 payday to Wofford.

IT WAS HOT!! (must have been 110 on the field with the heat index, brutal)

Changing my seats from 228 to 207 was a really good move, great view of the game, panoramic vista of Atlanta skyline, nice neighbors, and a breeze.

It was a win and wins are always good. The team which includes our coaches need encouragement not critical nitpicks. A college football season is a work in progress, its hard to win a college football game. I know any type of perceived struggling or bad play brings out the CPJ haters who spend the whole season looking for something, anything to vent their hatred of our coach. The nastiness and vitriol doesn't help, it reminds me of smelly farts that kind of put a damper on people having a good time.

IT WAS HOT!! but I had a great time and a lot of fun, some of you guys should try it (you'll like it)

 

[Declinometer]

Great points by all posters. Just want to add that all of the receivers, including A backs, caught the ball very well. P Davis will end up being the middle LB

 

[SidewalkJacket]

Something to get excited about: teams are going to start having to game plan for Smelter. And when it shows in their DEF approach, CPJ will recognize. Whether we can execute to exploit that or not remains to be seen. But I think the passing game to the ABs will become HUGE if teams start paying extra attention to DS. Will also open up aspects of the run game if they start rolling coverage, etc

 

[SidewalkJacket]

Also, very encouraging to not have any ball security issues with new C and QB and having to adjust pitch relationships based on speed of QB, etc

 

[GTNavyNuke]

VT took a while to get it together against William & Mary. UNC took a while to get it together against Liberty. NCState eked out a win over Ga Southern. GT took a while to dominate Woffard.

In these games, it took a while for bigger, stronger and faster to come forward.

Most teams had rough spots - lead story on ESPN - No Team Is Invincible http://espn.go.com/college-football...owboys-shows-anything-happen-college-football Why should we be any different?

 

[Buzztheirazz]

lulz.

I was going to post the exact same response!
Hahaha

 

[Lexjacket]

I was going to post the exact same response!
Hahaha

What means that(lulz)??

 

[jwsavhGT]

What means that(lulz)??

Lots of laughs (I had to look it up)

 

[Atomic Jacket]

So what you are saying is... If they put all 11 defenders in the box, and we couldnt run worth a damn, but we threw for 600 yards.. That they ran the offense better? If you were to say they ran the ball better, your statement may have some validity to it. But last time I checked... Offense is running and passing. Also... as others have stated already, Snoddys "reception" should have been recorded as a rush, since it was a pitch play. So that sort of takes your point and smashes it to pieces. Get a grip dude. Its football season... Enjoy it while it lasts.

No, I did not say they ran the offense better. I said they ran the option better. Please, guys, please. I know I sound like a broken record, and I apologize for that, but if you choose to respond to me, all I ask is that you read carefully before you respond.

I have no issues with the passing performance yesterday. My issue is that a team of lesser talent was able to run a better option game than we were able to, even with our advantage of having a coach who is considered a master of the triple option. Look, Wofford's passing game was virtually non-existent. Yet they were able to match and exceed our performance in rushing. That should tell you something. That, in and of itself, is telling. Had we not had the passing game available to loosen up the Wofford defense, we would have been stuffed in the running game. Wofford did not have a passing game to loosen up our defense. Yet they were still able to exceed our performance in total yards rushing, and more importantly, yards per carry. That's disturbing, guys.

 

[Animal02]

No, I did not say they ran the offense better. I said they ran the option better. Please, guys, please. I know I sound like a broken record, and I apologize for that, but if you choose to respond to me, all I ask is that you read carefully before you respond.

I have no issues with the passing performance yesterday. My issue is that a team of lesser talent was able to run a better option game than we were able to, even with our advantage of having a coach who is considered a master of the triple option. Look, Wofford's passing game was virtually non-existent. Yet they were able to match and exceed our performance in rushing. That should tell you something. That, in and of itself, is telling. Had we not had the passing game available to loosen up the Wofford defense, we would have been stuffed in the running game. Wofford did not have a passing game to loosen up our defense. Yet they were still able to exceed our performance in total yards rushing, and more importantly, yards per carry. That's disturbing, guys.

It is not like our 1st string D practices against our 1st string O every day. I have to believe that the majority of camp for the D was spent looking down the road at future opponents, and they used the one week prep time this week to prepare for Wofford. In a sense, you see what all other defenses go through preparing for our O, and how frustrating it can be, even when you "know" the offense.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

It is not like our 1st string D practices against our 1st string O every day. I have to believe that the majority of camp for the D was spent looking down the road at future opponents, and they used the one week prep time this week to prepare for Wofford. In a sense, you see what all other defenses go through preparing for our O, and how frustrating it can be, even when you "know" the offense.

Did we try much gap blitzing like we saw so much of in Spring?

 

[AE 87]

I'm a big fan of stats, but you have to understand them to use them. Two plays matter in the stats used by @Atomic Jacket.

Wofford's 92 yard run which was not an option and Snoddy's 65 yrd reception which was. That being said, his stats do hold if he wanted to just say rushing game. However, we were able to go to passing game and be more vanilla in rushing so I'm not sure the point holds.

We were the much better team in every aspect throughout the game. Suggesting otherwise is silly imo. Yet, we were not as good as most, incl coaches, expected. Suggesting otherwise is also silly imo.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I'm a big fan of stats, but you have to understand them to use them. Two plays matter in the stats used by @Atomic Jacket.

Wofford's 92 yard run which was not an option and Snoddy's 65 yrd reception which was. That being said, his stats do hold if he wanted to just say rushing game. However, we were able to go to passing game and be more vanilla in rushing so I'm not sure the point holds.

We were the much better team in every aspect throughout the game. Suggesting otherwise is silly imo. Yet, we were not as good as most, incl coaches, expected. Suggesting otherwise is also silly imo.

I'm with you on this, but after rewatching the game, Wofford did what we wanted to do, use the run game on early downs and get that 4 to 5 yard average on those early downs. They set up a lot of 3rd and shorts, probably more than we did, but not looking at the stats. They were also much more productive on the dive.

 

[redmule]

So, if the other guy plays 11 in the box and you get a thousand yards passing and decent rushing numbers while you play straight up defense giving up no passing yds but some rushing, that means you suck at the option. Ok! If the game is decided by yds rushing rather than points scored, you are right. If CPJ had lined up and went smash mouth the entire second half, don't you think the rushing numbers would have been different for both teams. Of course then you could post about how we can't pass even against a Wofford. Instead, he guts them with passes, rests his offense most of the second half, gives his qb confidence in his arm, and let's Tulane know their safeties have to stay back. I am ecstatic at the passing numbers. If we are down in the second half now, we can come back. Opposing db's can't cheat. We have a two minute offense. We can go no huddle, and pass. News flash. If you can pass, you don't have to run the option perfectly to be even more successful. Maybe we didn't run the option to your standards because we've been working on passing more because we have a qb with a gun and really good wide receivers. I'll take that as an improvement.