Nc State Postgame

Root4GT

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,300
They are 2-5 in the ACC now. Their only ACC wins are over the two bottom dwellers not named FSU. Tennessee beat them by 41 when they had a good QB. They aren't a good football team. We were a big favorite for a reason.
We were a big favorite because some how we convinced many that King was a healthy QB. He is not. A healthy King makes our team MUCH better. He is not capable of playing QB right now which makes our offense a below average ACC offense. Philo played extremely under very difficult circumstances.

Three of our 5 Conferences wins have come with GT scoring with 22 or fewer seconds left in the game. Those are all great wins. We clearly could have lost all 3 games but we did not, we won all three. Our record 7-4 / 5-3 is very accurate for how we have played this season. Real progress is being made. We are a solid team but no where near a really good team.

We need to recruit or get from the Portal more high end players to move up College Football food chain!
 

slugboy

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,717
Height and Van Der Berg in the charts. Height had a heckuva game
IMG_0727.jpeg
 

MtnWasp

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,053
Exciting, competitive game.

I haven't followed NCSt much but I was impressed by their toughness. Their Freshman QB was shaky at the start of the game but when we allowed him to break contain he then settled down. He doesn't have the arm, but he plays like the old Philadelphia Eagles QB Randall Cunningham.

The NCSt defense was pretty stout. They stuffed our run game quite effectively and their pass coverage was pretty tight.

I am not a fan of the 3 man rush on the long field. I can understand it in Red Zone defense, but not on a long field. A 3-man rush against a dual threat QB on the long field should be a Capital Offense.

On live viewing, I think I counted 6 dropped passes: two by Hawes (one a big third down), the two biggies by Singleton, One (TD) by Avery and one by Chase Lane. Two would have been for touchdowns and one (the long play to Singleton in the first quarter) would have been down inside the 3.

Some of the drops were tough, contested catches, but the QB put the ball where the receiver could get two hands solidly on the ball. Had we caught even three of those six drops, the game would not have come down to the FG.

Yeah, Philo throws a hot ball, but the NCSt coverage was tight and those balls have to have zip. The dropped TD pass in the End-zone for the tipped INT, the QB has to put zip on that ball in that area of the field. Singleton was at the end of his route but looked around at the defense when Philo threw the ball. Got to keep your eye on the QB at the top of your route.

When Philo is in the game, we have gotten a look at our pass blocking, which is actually really good. I wonder how many points this O could have put-up with a healthy Haynes King?

I fully expect to hear that Haynes King will have his second shoulder surgery this off season and would not be surprised if this represents his last year as a QB at this level. Hope I'm wrong, but I don't see any QB controversy in the future over him.

Philo is a natural slinger. Without hesitation he can get balls through solid coverages into the hands of receivers. Hard to believe he can read a defense and deliver sweet balls like that given his experience level. Either he is going on raw instinct and that when the coaches give him stuff to think about is when we will see the hiccups or he is really that quick of a processor and we are looking at a future pro.

Birr is back, which is nice...
 

Root4GT

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,300
I would like to think that ACC replay officials would do that type of favor….
Yeah. I’d like to think that.

As for the on field crew…
I thought their spots (particularly for us) were really suspect all night.
I also thought NCSt got away with several holds on QB scrambles. Can’t rely on the refs to make every call, but there were at least a couple of big runs that shouldn’t have been.
I was also pretty ticked about one of our third downs late when it was clear that Haynes was releasing to the flat and NCSt defender just reached out and grabbed an eligible receiver so Philo had to eat it.
I’m guessing on tv replay I’ll see a couple we got away with but I think we overcame a little more than just our own obstacles.
Your bias is noted. It was a good play by the NCST defender on Haynes on the release. It was not a hold. He was in the backfield so he is fair game to be hit.

Singleton clearly pushed off on the long reception down the left sideline, college lets defenders and receivers get away with a lot.

How the Targeting call was reversed is still a mystery to me. GT fans would have gone ballistic had it been our player with the ball and an NCST player doing the Targeting had the call been reversed.

The officials were fairly decent last night!
 

minorityoption

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
124
Your bias is noted. It was a good play by the NCST defender on Haynes on the release. It was not a hold. He was in the backfield so he is fair game to be hit.

Singleton clearly pushed off on the long reception down the left sideline, college lets defenders and receivers get away with a lot.

How the Targeting call was reversed is still a mystery to me. GT fans would have gone ballistic had it been our player with the ball and an NCST player doing the Targeting had the call been reversed.

The officials were fairly decent last night!
I agree on both points (Efford and Singleton).
 

Josh H

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
399
Was at the game, and have not watched the replay on TV, so this is observation:

- What an emotional roller coaster. Stadium could feel the momentum swing in the 4th with the long NC State touchdown runs, especially that last one. Then a methodical drive by the offense to get the go ahead score. That's not *easy*, remember a Heisman candidate QB last week at Miami couldn't pull that off.
- Crowd was small but mostly energetic especially in the West stands. Student section was light early but filled in. Really wasn't *that* cold, Miami 2008 was certainly colder.
- Obvious Haynes King can't throw the ball downfield. Still, he looked angry at himself on the 1st drive when he threw it short to a double-covered receiver (Malik, I think) when he had a TE running to the end zone with no one around him. Hate to speculate but, if he needs surgery at some point he should consider shutting it down. NC State clearly hit their "run commit" button when he was in the game.
- The play where Malik got hurt looked like a horse collar live.
- Philo gets the ball to the receivers. They aren't always the best decisions - he threw into triple coverage at least three times, but each of those hit the receiver in the hands. One should have had us in range for a FG before the half. Two others should have went for 6. The long throw down the field to Singleton was a beauty - we have missed those 50/50 balls this year. He doesn't give up on plays easily either. By my count - I think there were six drops by the receivers.
- With that said - we seem to move *completely* away from the screen game when Philo is in. Maybe that's because he puts too much heat on the ball.
- Can't blame the NC state RB for getting the touchdown. Vs. Miami last week we were ahead, a knee ends the game. Who knows what happens if he goes down there. Could fumble the ball, could miss the FG on a windy day.
- You don't win a lot of games giving up 250+ on the ground. After making Miami one-dimensional last week, we regressed this week. That wasn't just 4th quarter yards either - that stat trend was there all game. NC State was slowly, but surely, recovering from the gift 7 they gave us.
- NC State got *way too many yards* to get them into field goal range. Good on the defense to not allow any more but obviously way too close for comfort
- I think the time out on the field goal might have hurt us. Wind looked to be somewhat calm or blow left to right. For the actual kick, it picked up considerably towards the up rights.

Final thoughts: Enjoy the win. We've endured some bad years of GT football and some very unlucky years (2015 comes to mind) so when the ball falls our way, cherish it. Think the staff is building something special.
 

kg01

Get-Bak! Coach
Featured Member
Messages
15,334
Location
Atlanta
Your bias is noted. It was a good play by the NCST defender on Haynes on the release. It was not a hold. He was in the backfield so he is fair game to be hit.

Singleton clearly pushed off on the long reception down the left sideline, college lets defenders and receivers get away with a lot.

How the Targeting call was reversed is still a mystery to me. GT fans would have gone ballistic had it been our player with the ball and an NCST player doing the Targeting had the call been reversed.

The officials were fairly decent last night!

While I agree, in general, fans don't acknowledge how difficult it is to referee a high level sport. Your pushback on that premise is equally skewed.
 

MtnWasp

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,053
Singleton clearly pushed off on the long reception down the left sideline, college lets defenders and receivers get away with a lot.
I don't think it was so clear. While tracking the ball, a receiver will "feel" the defender with his off arm. If the defender is at an arm's length from the receiver, then the receiver's arm will be fully extended.

The announcers were making it sound like that just because a receiver's arm is extended that it must be offensive pass interference. That is wrong. The receiver can feel the defender without pushing off.

The officials called the game consistently. they allowed hand play between receivers and defenders. I think that part of the game was officiated quite well.

Good no call.
 

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
Messages
11,111
I don’t think that’s a fair comparison. We had the lead when Singleton slid. Not sure the coaches would agree with you. I could be wrong though.
I think you’re right. Anything can go wrong on a field goal attempt from bad snaps, bad holds, to blocks. You don’t risk leaving points on the field by purposely giving up a touchdown. Besides, we were having trouble moving the ball for much of the 4th quarter. Take the lead and let your defense win the game.

On a related note, I thought both coaches called a fine game. Good chess match between two injured teams.
 

Ramble1885

proud sidewalk fan
Messages
2,002
Location
Atlanta
OKAY now that I've processed how the hell we actually pulled that out, here's my thoughts.

-Thank goodness Beck isn't known for his legs. He CAN run but not like what we saw last night from Bailey. That said why did we not put a QB spy on him after his second TD?
-Decent crowd for our standards considering the cold weather and weeknight. Crowd was loud and team fed off of it.
-Philo is the FUTURE. We have King's successor.
-Ironic that my last GT football game before I leave for college is a one point win.
 

AlabamaBuzz

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,051
Location
Hartselle, AL (originally Rome, GA)
Got my new TV up and running in time to see that last 5 minutes - most of which were just absolutely painful. I told my wife that leaving them 17 seconds was too much. :D (I've seen what our defense is capable of giving up late in games for many, many years) There is absolutely NO WAY a D should give up a pass 25-30 yards downfield in that situation. We are extremely fortunate that the FG missed - the wind was trying to blow it back into the uprights.

With that said, I'm proud of the team - Philo did great for such a young guy. He's probably going to get a whippin' in 8 days, but maybe our O line will be able to protect him. He will not be able to run unabaited as much against the UGAG D - he will need to get down not to take bone crushing hits. I really appreciate Haynes King trying to give us what he's got, but against good D's, I don't know how he can be effective with no downfield passing threat.

The team will either finish 7-5 or 8-4, and 7-5 was what I believed our ceiling was this year. I thought 6-6 would probably be where we landed, so very happy with 7 wins.

Building on this, I absolutely hope we are able to significantly improve our front 7 on D this off season, and I also hope we can find Philo some more weapons, including a bruising running back with size.
 

Ash

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
783
Glad to sit in the cold for a win. I really thought we had the game handled until we didn't. And I thought we were going to lose on a FG (before the TD).
The game was like the rest of the season for me...some awesome plays that make me think we can beat anyone, then terrible series where we look like we have never practiced. It's up and down, glad we ended on an "up".

Still concerned about our offense (running game) for next week. But overall...we are better off than I expected to be at this point.
 

TooTall

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,344
Location
Vidalia
I think someone wrote the article before our last touchdown and then failed to edit check after we won.

Saw that too. Oh well, we won and that's all that matters.

Some of yall are bringing up the close wins, just know that we would've lost those games in years past. Steady improvement in learning how to win.

That 3 hour ride home was so much better than it could've been.

Turn the page... and welcome to Hate Week!
20200508_231729.png
 

Root4GT

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,300
Definite progress. If King doesn’t go down we likely have another W at VPI and are sitting at 8-3.
As Red said we have 3 games we scored the winning points in the last 22 seconds of the game. I bet that is the most of any college team this year. We easily could have lose 1-3 of those games. 7-4 is a good record for this team. All teams have injuries, we are no different as we have injuries. Football is a physical game.
 
Top