Initial Impressions

[Techster]

And don't forget about GSouthern v. NCST ... who incidentally we should be very concerned about for all the same reasons.

Agree. I think Southern will be a tougher out than we would like. Guys on that team literally know our offense because of Monken coaching there. They're still trying to catch their roster up to FBS level, so attrition in the 4th quarter will play a factor. GT should win though...by how much I'm not too confident of.

 

[Declinometer]

It's not apple to apples. Wofford relies on scheme to level the playing field against teams with bigger, more athletic teams. They proved that against USCe and and ? (can't remember) very recently (not 30 yrs ago). Navy put a scare into tOSU just yesterday for the very same reason.

It's what we use to be competitive against bigger, stronger, faster teams, too, but you already knew that.

Let's not forget what fcs Georgia Southern did to Fla last year

Sry posted before reading all

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Wofford has 53 scholarship players compared to our 85 scholarship players. They're in a lower division than we are. We're in a Power 5 conference. We recruit FBS level athletes (or atleast I hope so) and they don't.

I really hope it's not an apples to apples comparison.

That's not what I meant by "not apples to apples." You tried to like it to App St/Mich which is not comparable outside of David vs Goliath. My point was specifically talking about outmanned option teams hanging with power house teams that were supposed to wipe the floor with them but were hard pressed just to win.

 

[GTech63]

Let's not forget what fcs Georgia Southern did to Fla last year

Sry posted before reading all

AND Wofford beat GS last year. Though admittedly early in the year. But never the less beat them.

 

[Declinometer]

Years ago I witnessed Georgia Southern going into the 4th qtr leading a Deon Sanders Fla State and also leading Auburn 17-3 at half time.

 

[Techster]

That's not what I meant by "not apples to apples." You tried to like it to App St/Mich which is not comparable outside of David vs Goliath. My point was specifically talking about outmanned option teams hanging with power house teams that were supposed to wipe the floor with them but were hard pressed just to win.

Except WE are an option team, and our defense practices against it.

But my original point is, GT should have been able to do what it wants against Wofford and our 1st teamers should have been checking out the girls in the stands by atleast 3rd quarter.

We did MUCH better offensively in the 2nd half, but there was still something to be desired. Like I said, I'll feel a lot better if we can improve our showing against Tulane.

 

[ATL1]

Mixed

Tale of Two Halves.
Positives.
JT showed poise after a string of bad plays in the 2nd Quarter. Going 8-8 in the 2nd Half and putting together back to back TD quick drives was very encouraging. He definitely impressed me with his arm strength, patients in the pocket, & his quickness. When we ran the TO JT made decisive decisions on the pitch and the Abacks made gains. The one to Snoddy stands out because while a lil dangerous it was one where JT just made a game play and those things are what separates guys from good players to game changers.
Smelter BEAST give him the ball more. He should be our Todd Gurley.
OLine kept JT clean
Aback rotation was nice no real plays blown up
No TurnOVERS !!!
Rook Looked good in the first half. Freshman got time to play.

Negatives
The DIVE was MIA. Very concerning. I know Wofford was stacking the box but there is supposed to be a separation of athletes when it comes to a Power 5 Conference Team & an FBS Team. We should be able to wear them down and push them down the field. Nope.
Defense
Poor angles, whiffs. Nealy had a tough outing despite leading the team in tackles specifically in the first half. We got little backfield penetration. We weren't disruptive nor did we control the line of scrimmage. Again there is supposed to be a separation of athletes when it comes to a Power 5 Conference Team & an FBS Team we should have been able to dominate them.

I'm not sure what to make of this game. An FBS team came to Bobby Dobb and made a game of it. I was encouraged by the bounce back after a what I'll just say a rusty first half. I would have liked to seen complete domination and hope to see that next week against Tulane. Tulane will be hyped for next week..

Let's Get It !!!

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

You know it's hard to win a college football game. We are like 90% plus of every team that plays the game. If we don't play our best we are apt to lose any game on our schedule. On the other hand, if we do play well, we are capable of beating any team on our schedule. The constant struggle is to find consistency in your game day performance. We looked tight in the first half. We played defense in the contain mode and not the attack mode and that more or less set the tone for the entire game. We gave up most all 3rd down conversions and that kept Wofford in the game and our offense at bay. I think with time and experience our defense will be able to shift more to the attack mode. Right now our coaches only trust certain players on defense and I think their schemes and strategies are based on the hope of containment and limiting rather than aggressive attacking and turning the ball over. Hopefully that will shift over the next several games. On offense I think PJ was being super cautious in the first half. I think he was telling JT when to keep it and when to give it up on most plays. I also think JT missed a lot of reads when perhaps he truly had the choice to make. The second half was much improved with finally recognizing that Wofford was ignoring the pass and selling out for the run. In other words we started taking what they were giving us. I was impressed with JT's throwing accuracy in the second half. I was also impressed with our ability to convert several crucial third down and fourth down plays to keep the ball and eventually seperate from Wofford. Smelter is an awesome talent, perhaps one of the top ten offensive talents in America. He will definitely be joining Calvin and BeBe playing on Sundays. The O line was not dominate but did provide much improved pass protection when needed so I think we can build on their initial effort.

In summary we are going to go as far as our players and coaches are capable of taking us assuming they will continue to improve and play with great effort and desire. We will be in a lot of close games this season and if we learn how to win we can still have a special season.

Go Jackets!

 

[GTJake]

The Dive MIA ... talent gap or not, 5 can't block 8. My optimism is based on what happened in the 2nd half = passing threat that defenses have to worry about and will cure stacking the box !

 

[ATL1]

The Dive MIA ... talent gap or not, 5 can't block 8. My optimism is based on what happened in the 2nd half = passing threat that defenses have to worry about and will cure stacking the box !

I'll remember that the next time I see it in a game. Oh I did already last night Jawja vs Climpson.

 

[UgaBlows]

Not being able to establish the Dive worries me too more than the rest of our issues, yes they sold out to stop it but i truly thought pregame that we would be able to jam it down their gullet anyway

 

[TampaGT]

It look like another scrimmage in terms of scheme. It did not look at like we varied that much off of the basic stuff. They gave CU and Cocks a hard fought game 2 and 3 yrs ago. I think this might actually have been a good thing. It brought the kids back down earth and show them they have to be at top of their game at all times. When I was playing college baseball we would sometimes would go through the motions and make games harder than normally should have been. We got the W did some good things and now the coaches will be on their a@# and the message should hit home with the players. Where as if the game was not as tight, the message would go in one ear and out the other.

 

[croberts]

What I get from the game and peoples comments is that we all see what we want to see. If you can't stand this offense then you think Wofford is better than we are at running the option and want to take pj down a notch. If you think he is the answer then you find very little to be concerned about. This is my turn. Reality is the offense needs three games under their belt before taking on conference games . Jt is the best looking QB that I have seen under center for pj. Quick release and very very quick feet. Line is playing with first year starter at center and very young across the front. We do not have a stud at B-back . We can't make a good strong kid a great back through wishing it so. The wide outs are better as a group than any we have had under pj. Some would remind me that Bay-Bay and Hill were here together. A good point. As a whole, I think the O will be fine. The defense may be another story. We were very vanilla and Wofford is not a fun team to play. This is not Elon. On the down side , Nealy looked bad on several plays. Both Johnson and Golden show us why we should wonder if they should be watching from the sidelines . It looks like they only play flag football. Please hit someone! The DL is young and depleted . Does anyone think we are playing so many true fresh this year because we were returning so many studs on that side of the ball! In all, not upset about results or play yesterday. Not surprised by any negatives. Mostly surprised by the play of our quarterback and the next nfl receiver from tech. When you are not what you want to be on the defensive side of the ball, you stunt and do things to confuse your competition and if you are lucky you will help make up for your physical shortcomings and youth. If things don't go we'll it will be more about 2 poor recruiting classes than anything else. I love the young kids just wish did not need to burn the redshirt on so many and had better classes for those two years. This has been addressed by the aa and staff changes and hope those two classes don't kill us this year.

 

[Yoda]

I was really impressed by Zenon. He's a great receiver out of the backfield.

 

[Pj4prez01]

I was concerned after watching the game in person, but went back and watched the film today, and though we played really well.

I think everyone is overblowing this game. Our defense struggled with the option and Stargell and the mlb need to play better, but overall the d played well for a first game. I thought the other 3 dlinemen and merriweather played well, especially gotsis.

I don't even think this was a tale of two halves. I thought both sides of the ball played well in the first. I was really impressed with the o line, particularly burden and chamberlain. Griffin struggled in the 4th qtr. the O line got a good push the whole game, Thomas made a couple bad reads in the first half but did better in the second. There was a counter option to the short side in the first half snoddy could have scored on if JT pitched it.

I thought laskey played really well running and blocking.

This wasn't going to be a blowout due to the offenses playing. The b back wasn't going to do well against that defense. Wofford focused on stopping the middle and tried to contain JT, and forced the pitch man to beat them.

The only thing I wasn't impressed with was bostic blocking.

The best thing about today was all the mistakes this year are very fixable. I would much rather the o line not get to the second level fast enough, which they didn't, than not be able to beat there man, which they did consistently.

And I think JT will continue to improve as the year goes on and he gets more comfortable. The D had plenty of tackles for loss, and if the mlbs played better the score would have been worse.

 

[niel9533]

I have a question for those of you at the game. On TV I never heard the steam whistle - not once and that is one of my favorite bits to a home game on 1st downs and scores... Was it "just missed" by me or was it not used? I hate the thought of never hearing that whistle again.

Re: the predicted point-spread; c'mon guys. This was the first game of the season so the betting spread was based purely on conjecture and historical suggestion - no game-time evidence available. We won - that is the bottom line. I liked what I saw in the second half - especially JT. What CPJ has been saying about Justin's quick release came through in spades.

On another note I wonder what Vad Lee is thinking today.......saw much of that ugly game for J. Madison.

 

[danny daniel]

Anyone else find it interesting Snoddy got the first carry of the season? He didn't look that comfortable on the toss to the edge. However on the long play he had, he made a nice catch on the pitch- which is great considering his hands were a question in the past.

It was a nice catch and long run. I pull for Snoddy and hope he does well. However, his lack of field vision cost him a touchdown. If he cuts left at around the 25 yard line the one closing defender (that knocked him out of bounds) is dead in the water as (1) he cannot stop and change directions fast enough and (2) there is a blocker on his heals to easily screen him off. This was about the same situation Milton had last year on his pick six where he was running the sideline and then cut back on the closing defender leaving him hopelessly in space only waving his arms as Milton sped to 6 points. Overall, however, Snoddy's performance was an upgrade and helped us win the game.

 

[niel9533]

It was a nice catch and long run. I pull for Snoddy and hope he does well. However, his lack of field vision cost him a touchdown. If he cuts left at around the 25 yard line the one closing defender (that knocked him out of bounds) is dead in the water as (1) he cannot stop and change directions fast enough and (2) there is a blocker on his heals to easily screen him off. This was about the same situation Milton had last year on his pick six where he was running the sideline and then cut back on the closing defender leaving him hopelessly in space only waving his arms as Milton sped to 6 points. Overall, however, Snoddy's performance was an upgrade and helped us win the game.

..looked to me like Snoddy thought he could out run that defender - I was thinking cut inside, too.

 

[slugboy]

The only part of the offense that I question today is why didn't establish the dive a little better than we did. I will be looking closely at that during film study tomorrow.

I heard CPJ say that "the middle was clogged", which makes me wonder why the pitch wasn't more effective. Looking forward to hearing about the film study.

 

[LongforDodd]

I have a question for those of you at the game. On TV I never heard the steam whistle - not once and that is one of my favorite bits to a home game on 1st downs and scores... Was it "just missed" by me or was it not used? I hate the thought of never hearing that whistle again.

....

Are you talking about the real boiler steam whistle or the imitation whistle broadcast on the PA system?