Is GT keeping up with the ever changing landscape of college football?

ChicagobasedJacket

Jolly Good Fellow
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I hate Georgia. I hope they never win another national championship. Their fans are arrogant and entitled. But, Georgia is absolutely in that top tier of teams right now. This thread is about the changing landscape of college football right? Well, in the current landscape, Georgia is top tier. This isn’t the early 2000s or 90s anymore where Georgia’s goal of winning a NC was an unrealistic pipe dream based on their tradition. Georgia spends the most money in the nation on recruiting, they have had the number 1 recruiting class in the country for 3 years in a row, they’ve played for their conference championship 3 years in a row, they’ve played in a NY6 game 3 years in a row, and they’ve played for a NC in that span.

I said it in another post, but 1980 is irrelevant in today’s college football landscape. It’s nothing but a way for rival fans to talk down about Georgia. Florida had only won 1 national championship before the Tebow years, did that make their expectation of winning it every year unreasonable? Clemson’s only title came in 1981 before their rise to dominance. Is it unrealistic for them to believe they’re going to win the natty every year now?

Right now, the top tier of teams are
  • Ohio State
  • Alabama
  • Georgia
  • Clemson
  • Oklahoma
The next tier is
  • Oregon
  • Utah
  • Florida
  • Auburn
  • LSU
  • Michigan
  • Notre Dame
Odds are, Georgia will absolutely play in the CFP at least one more time in the next 5 years.

Sadly, I have to agree with your entire post. They have the money to spend and are spending it. I like where we are headed though. Hopefully, we can serve as a spoiler for them in the next couple of years
 

JacketOff

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Sadly, I have to agree with your entire post. They have the money to spend and are spending it. I like where we are headed though. Hopefully, we can serve as a spoiler for them in the next couple of years
Yeah, I hope we can at least be a thorn in their side. Maybe steal away 1-2 of their prized recruits a year, win 1 out of every 3-4. I find it interesting that South Carolina has proven to be their kryptonite. USCe went 5-5 against uGA over the decade. Against other rivals, UGA went:
  • 6-4 vs. Florida
  • 7-3 vs. Auburn (8-3 if you count 2017 SECCG)
  • 8-2 vs. Tech
  • 8-2 vs. Tennessee
South Carolina took advantage of the terrible Dwag teams from 2009-2012, going 3-1. Tech went 0-4 against those teams. Who knows how much different things would be if we won the ‘09 game. Winning in ‘10 would’ve ended their bowl streak, and probably sent Coach Richt packing. But, as an old friend used to say, it is what it is.
 

JacketOff

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Terrible is #15 in 2011 & #5 in 2012. Serve up some of that crap for GT please.
:rolleyes:
Pardon me. I forgot that 2012 was the year they played the de facto national championship against Bama in the SEC championship. Had it mixed up with 2013. Either way. From 2009-2016, Georgia had some very beatable teams. South Carolina was a program on the rise, and took advantage of it. Tech didn’t. USCe beat some of the better teams uGA had throughout the decade too, Tech had multiple chances to and didn’t. The specific years really don’t matter that much
 

ugacdawg

Georgia Tech Fan
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30
South Carolina took advantage of the terrible Dwag teams from 2009-2012

I don’t know if I’d say terrible, but definitely underachieving. And 2010-2013 were also the best years in the history of USCe football, led by Steve Spurrier who was a pretty darn good coach and always had the Dawg’s number. They won 11 games 3 years in a row I think during that span.
 

LibertyTurns

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I don’t know if I’d say terrible, but definitely underachieving. And 2010-2013 were also the best years in the history of USCe football, led by Steve Spurrier who was a pretty darn good coach and always had the Dawg’s number. They won 11 games 3 years in a row I think during that span.
Underachieving for mutt football is normal. One things you can be counte
And, of course, that was the game where we were most successful offensively. And where Graham showed what he can do. If our OC decides to call games in ways that exploit our actual talent and that give us a chance to win, then, with improved OL play, a revamped WR crew, and a slightly improved D, we very well might. Win, that is.

Problem = I saw no indication of an actual direction on O last year. We seemed to switch ideas from game to game, trying to find a winning formula. I'm not sure what was behind this (I suspect it was mainly Ol injuries, but that's just me) , but it needs to change tout suite. We need to settle on a way to run the O and run it that way. If Collins and co. want to run the RPO, they need to run it. If they want to run a regular shotgun spread with occasional double options and some RPO (I think this would win more), they need to run it. If I see one more season where the O is running around like a chicken with its head cut off, there'll be trouble. And I won't be the only one making it.

But I expect the staff knows that. We'll see what they decide to do.
I actually wished we would have gone to a RPO because we had the skillsets to be more effective that whatever it was we were trying to run. I watched the USF and Miami games condensed versions and we weren’t running RPO in either of those games either outside of possibly 3 plays and that’s being charitable so I’m thinking we never ran RPO at all during the year except for maybe a handful of plays. Maybe we’ll make the transition this year but with the OL transfers I’m guessing more of the same.
 

jgtengineer

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Underachieving for mutt football is normal. One things you can be counte

I actually wished we would have gone to a RPO because we had the skillsets to be more effective that whatever it was we were trying to run. I watched the USF and Miami games condensed versions and we weren’t running RPO in either of those games either outside of possibly 3 plays and that’s being charitable so I’m thinking we never ran RPO at all during the year except for maybe a handful of plays. Maybe we’ll make the transition this year but with the OL transfers I’m guessing more of the same.

RPO only works if you can throw a slant. We really only ran those concepts with Lucas.
 

LibertyTurns

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How are y'all sure there is or isn't an RPO called?
I re-watched the game tape and in an RPO the OL run blocks, the QB has the “option” of handing off to a RB or throwing. The advantage in college is you get 3 yds downfield from the LOS before the OL is offsides unlike the Pros where it’s 1 yd. The QB is supposed to “read” the defender (normally safety or LB) and if he comes up to defend the run the QB would throw (ostensibly behind the defender that has vacated his position), or if the “read” stay put hands off for a run. You can usually tell most easily by watching the tackles. If they’re pure pas blocking, it’s not an RPO. The receivers should also be running routes. If they’re run blocking, again it’s not an RPO. We were rarely run blocking on passing plays.
 

YJMD

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I re-watched the game tape and in an RPO the OL run blocks, the QB has the “option” of handing off to a RB or throwing. The advantage in college is you get 3 yds downfield from the LOS before the OL is offsides unlike the Pros where it’s 1 yd. The QB is supposed to “read” the defender (normally safety or LB) and if he comes up to defend the run the QB would throw (ostensibly behind the defender that has vacated his position), or if the “read” stay put hands off for a run. You can usually tell most easily by watching the tackles. If they’re pure pas blocking, it’s not an RPO. The receivers should also be running routes. If they’re run blocking, again it’s not an RPO. We were rarely run blocking on passing plays.

More specifically on a run play if the handoff occurs or if the QB runs instead of passing, how would you know if an RPO is called? I can understand if you can see all receivers and all are blocking with no actual route run. But unless the QB passes while the line is run blocking, how would you know that he didn't have the option and read (correctly or not) run instead?
 

jgtengineer

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More specifically on a run play if the handoff occurs or if the QB runs instead of passing, how would you know if an RPO is called? I can understand if you can see all receivers and all are blocking with no actual route run. But unless the QB passes while the line is run blocking, how would you know that he didn't have the option and read (correctly or not) run instead?

It depends on the type of RPO. Most of the time in college its really easy to tell based on the QB's eyes. If they are watching the backside backer you are looking at an RPO in most cases. If they aren't its usually just a handoff. If they are watching the safety's its a designed play action.
 

LibertyTurns

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More specifically on a run play if the handoff occurs or if the QB runs instead of passing, how would you know if an RPO is called? I can understand if you can see all receivers and all are blocking with no actual route run. But unless the QB passes while the line is run blocking, how would you know that he didn't have the option and read (correctly or not) run instead?
The pass blocking techniques on a pure pass play are very different than a run play. If you watch the line on an RPO the OL will typically be blocking across the LOS whereas on a pass play the OL should use one of the techniques below, at least this is what I hope we’re teaching our OL. If there’s a better, simpler reference out there anyone has feel free to share.

https://www.sbnation.com/2016/11/25...best-offensive-linemen-joe-thomas-tyron-smith


Sent from my iPhone
 

YJMD

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The pass blocking techniques on a pure pass play are very different than a run play. If you watch the line on an RPO the OL will typically be blocking across the LOS whereas on a pass play the OL should use one of the techniques below, at least this is what I hope we’re teaching our OL. If there’s a better, simpler reference out there anyone has feel free to share.

https://www.sbnation.com/2016/11/25...best-offensive-linemen-joe-thomas-tyron-smith


Sent from my iPhone

My question was more if they run the ball, how do you know it was an RPO? @jgtengineer provided a good response. I doubt we were doing anything fancy to not recognize that the QB was reading, at least after the snap. Since our line struggled, we may have felt that trying to pass off the RPO or take any extra time reading the play exposed us to risk of tackle for loss or interception influenced by pressure.
 

LibertyTurns

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My question was more if they run the ball, how do you know it was an RPO? @jgtengineer provided a good response. I doubt we were doing anything fancy to not recognize that the QB was reading, at least after the snap. Since our line struggled, we may have felt that trying to pass off the RPO or take any extra time reading the play exposed us to risk of tackle for loss or interception influenced by pressure.
We didn’t run RPO hardly at all. It’s probably more the reason we struggled than anything else. We became 1 dimensional and got punished for it. Defenses like offenses like we ran last year. It’s like hunting for a ribeye at the supermarket.
 

Scubapro

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We didn’t run RPO hardly at all. It’s probably more the reason we struggled than anything else. We became 1 dimensional and got punished for it. Defenses like offenses like we ran last year. It’s like hunting for a ribeye at the supermarket.
Well, to be fair go watch Coastal Carolina on you tube and let me know how much RPO they ran when Dave was there calling the plays.
 

LibertyTurns

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Well, to be fair go watch Coastal Carolina on you tube and let me know how much RPO they ran when Dave was there calling the plays.
Not that it really matters what he ran elsewhere but maybe it could shed some light into his offensive philosophy. The videos I found were at bad angles so it was hard to see the line play. Do you have a decent link to Coastal videos?

I did stumble across an article from his old HC at Coastal where he predicted before the season started that he’d leverage the offense’s existing running game at GT & lean on that heavily early on, then gradually incorporate passing off that foundation.
 

Scubapro

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Not that it really matters what he ran elsewhere but maybe it could shed some light into his offensive philosophy. The videos I found were at bad angles so it was hard to see the line play. Do you have a decent link to Coastal videos?

I did stumble across an article from his old HC at Coastal where he predicted before the season started that he’d leverage the offense’s existing running game at GT & lean on that heavily early on, then gradually incorporate passing off that foundation.
Thats my point about gaining insight to his coaching and game planning from looking at his games at CC. You can find a few of his games with a youtube search.
What bothers me is his play calling at CC was similar to what we witnessed last year. Our defense and special teams will need to be spectacular to keep our head above water
 

LibertyTurns

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Thats my point about gaining insight to his coaching and game planning from looking at his games at CC. You can find a few of his games with a youtube search.
What bothers me is his play calling at CC was similar to what we witnessed last year. Our defense and special teams will need to be spectacular to keep our head above water
Well this year’s a different year. I don’t think it’s debatable that he’s got more of the pieces he desires than he had the year before. We should see improvement. I’m always hopeful. I can’t change the coach so I have to hope the light comes on, we find the 4 leaf clover or the horseshoe, sun shines on the dog’s butt, or some combination of hard work, skill and luck coalesces on The Flats, etc.
 

HouseDivided

Jolly Good Fellow
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If they are disappointed in their season(s) because they failed to reach their goal, I would suggest that their expectations are unrealistic and they need to rethink them for the sake of their own mental health. They are not in the very select (less than half dozen) group of teams that compete, and expect to compete, for national championships on a regular basis...teams like Bama and OSU and OU. They won one. Just like BYU, Maryland and Arkansas.

I wasn't disapointed this year because I didn't get the Lamborghini Aventador for Christmas this year. But yet I wanted one. It's about realistic expectations imo if you want a happy life.

I'd argue differently. They were a blown coverage away 2 years ago from winning a natty (thank god they went full retard) and the last 2 years have been in the SECCG as a virtual play-in game for the playoffs. They have been in contention after the regular the season each of the last 3 years. Their expectations (assuming they are what we both think they believe them to be) are pretty in line and reasonable.
 

VintageWreck

Jolly Good Fellow
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Well this year’s a different year. I don’t think it’s debatable that he’s got more of the pieces he desires than he had the year before. We should see improvement. I’m always hopeful. I can’t change the coach so I have to hope the light comes on, we find the 4 leaf clover or the horseshoe, sun shines on the dog’s butt, or some combination of hard work, skill and luck coalesces on The Flats, etc.

Liberty.

You are sharp and interject some good humor at the appropriate times.
 
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