Notre Dame Postgame

[DvilleJacket]

Why can't we hit someone just over the middle when there cheating up like that? Not sure why we don't at least try to do this more? We didn't throw any sideline passes today as well.

 

[DrJacket]

Literally can't read this thread tonight. The drive back from South Bend and the game wasn't enough time away from it. This one hurt, but we've got a lot of season still ahead.

For those who didn't want to hear it-- we proved today we weren't as good a team as some folks thought. Let's hope we grow moving forward like we did last season.

Painful miss at a big national opportunity.

 

[ATL1]

JT missed a number of throws and honestly he didn't play well at all.
Even with the sloppy play GT had its chances. The Erin Joe hold was a killer. The JT fumble. The missed FG's . Shot in the foot.

Credit ND for bottling up the run and making GT one dimensional. Unfortunately couldn't execute that dimension. The garbage time touchdown made the score closer but this game was ugh. I hate losing.

 

[DawgCatcher]

Their O-Line with every man over 300 lbs was absolutely humongous, a WALL of humanity. They had big AND FAST athletic players on Defense. ND is a very talented team. Their O-Line allowed their new QB to sit back and relax and take all the time in the world to make his passing decisions. They completely had our number playing excellent assignment defense against the spread option almost the entire ballgame. Jaylon Smith of ND is definitely a future pro football player who will likely be a first-round draft pick. He is a phenomenal player. Our Defense showed improvement and did a yeoman's effort to keep us in the game, but against an O-line over 300+ lbs per player and without Offensive productivity from our Offense, they were getting gassed out there. Our passing game was virtually nonexistent. JeT never seemed to be settled in his passing game. With Summers injured, it was almost all but dead. Blocking by the lead backs was atrocious. You cannot run the option effectively without assignment blocking.

Hat's off to Skov for being a trooper and fighter to the bitter end and NEVER GIVING UP. He's setting a good example for the youngsters and the entire team. Hat's off to the team itself for not laying down and giving up, even when the game seemed all but lost after the 90-yd run by Prosise. There will be much to learn from this game for the Yellow Jackets. The season is early; do not count them out just yet. They will learn from their mistakes and improve.

 

[Josh H]

Simple Stat that explains the game. Third down conversions: At one point Tech was 0-8 with an average of 8.5 yards per 3rd down.

Tech did not win 1st and 2nd down. That's mostly up front. I really expected the veteran O-line to play better. On the edge, inexperience showed. Not for lack of effort or guts, just inexperience.

Butker missing field goals isn't why we lost (it didn't help). Joe's holding call didn't cost the game. Credit the defense that we were in the game enough for those plays to matter.

 

[Animal02]

Tough to say this, because the defense played so well most of the game...but the 90-something yard touchdown run seemed like a lay-down play by our D.

In hindsight, we actually could have had a chance att he win if that doesn't happen...

Proabably not, but still.. That play seemed like the one from the MTSU game...

My reaction in the stands was that at that point, the D sort of gave up, bit it was after what appeared to be giving up being down three scores in the fourth by punting the ball.

 

[gtpi]

if we were going to have a loss. this was the best place to have it. we now know which specific areas we need to work on. the freshman have now been introduced to the REAL speed of the game which should help us down the road.

it could be worse.

- a former top 5 team in auburn got creamed and lost to an inferior opponent last week.
- a top 10 team in usc got beat by stanford
- no 2 alabama is losing to miss 30-10 at home.

meanwhile we lost a winnable game even though we looked putrid on offense to a very good nd team in front of their home crowd.

winnable? had butcker made his kicks we would have been down 30-28. stats be damned. we managed to stay close for 3.5 quarters. if i had the option of winning the game or winning the battle of the stats. ill take the win every time.

 

[iceeater1969]

Just not our day. We played tentative. Defense was trying to keep everyting in front of them and not attacking. With a first game QB we should have brought the house often and tried to shake his confidence. I thought if we held them to 24 points or less we would win. I did not count of the offense laying just about a complete egg. Looked like the stage was just too big for this group this early in the year. Perhaps they had been reading how great we are and thought it would be no contest.

Notre Dame is a good team but not a great team. They will lose a few along the way. We are a good team but obviously not a great team. We can still rally and have a really good year but we will have to play with a lot more passion than we displayed today. I know Butker will always be a legend in GT football lore for the kick in Athens but damn if he did not throw water on any chance we had of getting any momentum. Bad day all around for the Coaching staff, players, fans and the program over all. No need to jump off the building but sure want ot beat my head against the building.

Go Jackets!

Watched the game with binocs from End zone - nose tackle and split dt left nothing close for 71 and he was lost. Blocking was totally vanilla. We headed in one direction but the guards could not cut off any pursuit. Took till second half till we pulled/ fold blocked. At end we had Bryan and klock getting lots of minutes.

No excuse for one on south end zone, but But kicker got nervous by the wind which was really gusty .

Punter has a scholarship? Every body has a bad day and he really did.

Coach did not rocket toss or swing pass till the end. Seemed puzzeling.

By end we were playing fast and that should give us hope.

i love these guys and we will finish strong.

 

[iceeater1969]

Just not our day. We played tentative. Defense was trying to keep everyting in front of them and not attacking. With a first game QB we should have brought the house often and tried to shake his confidence. I thought if we held them to 24 points or less we would win. I did not count of the offense laying just about a complete egg. Looked like the stage was just too big for this group this early in the year. Perhaps they had been reading how great we are and thought it would be no contest.

Notre Dame is a good team but not a great team. They will lose a few along the way. We are a good team but obviously not a great team. We can still rally and have a really good year but we will have to play with a lot more passion than we displayed today. I know Butker will always be a legend in GT football lore for the kick in Athens but damn if he did not throw water on any chance we had of getting any momentum. Bad day all around for the Coaching staff, players, fans and the program over all. No need to jump off the building but sure want ot beat my head against the building.

Go Jackets!

Watched the game with binocs from End zone - nose tackle locked down the middle and the wide split dt left nothing close for 71 to block and he was not effective.

Blocking was totally vanilla. We headed in one direction but the guards could not cut off any pursuit. Took till second half till we pulled/ fold blocked. At end we had Bryan and klock getting lots of minutes.

Field goals - No excuse for one on south end zone, but But kicker got nervous by the wind which was really gusty .

Punter has a scholarship? Not nice. Every body has a bad day and he really did.

Coach did not rocket toss or swing pass till the end. Seemed puzzeling.

By end we were playing fast and that should give us hope. We will finish well.

 

[ctcjb]

A couple of things:

- The number of TV timeouts that NBC takes is UNBELIEVABLE. The game really had no rhythm.

- Our WRs really lack the ability to get separation.

- I love CPJ as much as anyone, BUT I feel like sometimes, in the heat of battle, plays "slip" his mind. I know some on here would say this is blasphemy. There are plays in our playbook that I think might of helped out today, but were absent. I know we have a B back screen and B back draw in the system. Might that have slowed down the rush?? Would a wide receiver reverse have slowed down pursuit?

Frustrating day.

 

[MonroeJacket]

Felt a little bit like watching the OB against Iowa or the Peach Bowl against LSU. Our D showed up. Our kicking game was awful. We simply had no answers on O. Our 3rd down conversion was brutal.

Peach Bowl was def what I thinking. They were ready on the perimeter for the pitch. Flash backs.

 

[calvin forever]

From my view in the stands I wondered if we didn't commit enough to the Bback dive. Without delivering those body blows their defense flowed freely to our perimeter run game (we didn't keep them honest, so to speak). Did ND do anything in particular to discourage running between the tackles?

 

[GTech63]

QUICK OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE NOTRE DAME GAME


LINE PLAY Notre Dame’s opening series set the tone early in this game, even though Tech was able to get Notre Dame off the field fairly quickly. P.J. Davis was almost tackled on the first play which kept Notre Dame from a huge loss. That was one of two holding calls not called in the very first series.


Notre Dame was kept from scoring in their subsequent series but there was a blatant holding on a 14 yard run. In Notre Dame’s 3rd series there was holding on a 2nd and 14 play.


Well into the first half it became clear that “NFL caliber” offensive linemen do two things really well. They hold their positions and do not allow penetration, even though they do not get a great deal of push. They are physical enough that they can get away with holding against less physical players. P.J. Davis especially had to be tired after this game since he was held repeatedly while trying to fight through blocks.


On JT’s long touchdown run that was called back due to Tech holding it was clear to me that this hold was no more egregious than many of Notre Dame’s holds which were not called. This is not to play the refs, this is not to make excuses, it is simply an observation. The Notre Dame line was one of the best I have ever seen and that allowed them to get away with things. To me it points up the fact that holding is just part of the game now if you are an elite level lineman. Holding without getting caught, that is.


TECH’S SKILL POSITIONS Justin Thomas proved that he still has a lot to learn. This was not going to be a game in which Notre Dame gave up a lot of big plays. He needed to play within the offense and take what they were giving. I wonder if playing Alcorn State and Tulane gave him a false sense of his ability. On one play in particular, which I think was emblematic, Justin saw the pitch man covered and three other players bearing down on him. He faked the pitch and then tried to juke the first tackler. What he needed to do was plant his foot, shift to high gear and grab the 3 yards Notre Dame was giving him. Instead he tried to make a bigger play than was available to him.


TECH’S TEAM VIBE It was frustrating to watch Tech for several reasons. As mentioned above players often tried to do too much on offense rather than taking the positive yards and waiting to “get ‘em next time.” Had Tech played within itself they still might not have won but it would have been a lower scoring game for Notre Dame because Tech would have held the ball longer.


Not sure if this was a strategy or just poor field leadership but Tech had a malingering attitude about getting ready for the next play on offense. Way too many times JT was just getting under center with as little as 8 seconds left on the play clock. This occurred over and over again leading to having to call time out on several occasions. Not sure why we did not see the Tech from the recent past which hustled to the line and giving the offense 28 seconds or more to go through their reads.


NOTRE DAME’S NEW RECORD SETTING 91 YARD TOUCHDOWN For what it is worth Jabari was held not once but twice on that play. It is unclear to me if he could have slowed the runner down if he could have gotten to the gap but a penalty would at least have erased the TD.


TECH BEAT THEMSELVES FOR MOST OF THE GAME Notre Dame fans will no doubt feel they put a whipping on us. I do not see it that way. Perhaps Notre Dame would have won the game regardless but we were at team out of sync for most of the game. We clearly are not clicking yet as a team, seemed unusually tight at times and played the kind of game we played against Duke last year. Missed field goals, bad punts and fumbling the ball were just some of the symptoms.


When the game was out of reach Tech staged a comeback not dissimilar to the way we did against Duke last year. Perhaps Notre Dame let off the gas but Tech players suddenly looked like they had nothing to lose and played loose. Even the side line looked relaxed and players began to smile.


This game was an important lesson for the team. Wish it had turned out differently but this is why you line up and play the game.

I agree with you on the holds on PJ Davis, I also wondered why so many 2 seconds to snap ball. I wondered if refs starting clock faster. Would agree with all your comments on holding being part of game and seldom called anymore. Seems it is called only if a defender is pulled down.
Good teams over come these things. If our O had been a little more productive and consistent, the D was keeping us in the game.
There will be more of this next week at Duke. Need to shake this off and get ready to take the Coastal. Start a 9 game run.

 

[jeffgt14]

Blocking was totally vanilla. We headed in one direction but the guards could not cut off any pursuit. Took till second half till we pulled/ fold blocked. At end we had Bryan and klock getting lots of minutes

This is what makes me wonder if Klock s should be playing more. Shaq pulling was a huge part of our game last year and Shamire just doesn't look too be capable of it.

 

[Declinometer]

I agree with you on the holds on PJ Davis, I also wondered why so many 2 seconds to snap ball. I wondered if refs starting clock faster. Would agree with all your comments on holding being part of game and seldom called anymore. Seems it is called only if a defender is pulled down.
Good teams over come these things. If our O had been a little more productive and consistent, the D was keeping us in the game.
There will be more of this next week at Duke. Need to shake this off and get ready to take the Coastal. Start a 9 game run.

Wasn't a fan of changing the pace of our regular offense..ie running the play clock down. Also, I don't think I've seen as many "check with me" calls from the line of scrimmage.

 

[Declinometer]

A couple of things:

- The number of TV timeouts that NBC takes is UNBELIEVABLE. The game really had no rhythm.

- Our WRs really lack the ability to get separation.

- I love CPJ as much as anyone, BUT I feel like sometimes, in the heat of battle, plays "slip" his mind. I know some on here would say this is blasphemy. There are plays in our playbook that I think might of helped out today, but were absent. I know we have a B back screen and B back draw in the system. Might that have slowed down the rush?? Would a wide receiver reverse have slowed down pursuit?

Frustrating day.

Quality post! I hope we never play on NBC (ND network) again! We have various counter plays but the only one I remember seeing was the counter option.

 

[GTHOSCHTON]

One note on the game that I haven't seen is the way they slow played the QB gave time for them to get off blocks which were bad and pursuit to get to ball carrier ....they could then commit to stoping dive with 2 to 3 players and scrape the rest .... Our timing was off for sure wondered if a load block on man responsible for QB would have helped

 

[Techster]

Brian Kelly mentioned he would have two levels of "protection" against JeT, and you could see it on option plays as the safeties would shoot to him and another defender would shoot to the pitch man. This is where a pass play off the triple where the play side AB and WR leaving their blocking assignment would slow the defender's read because they need to make sure JeT isn't passing. Of course, we don't have those plays...it's kind like a packaged run/pass option play Oregon and Baylor uses a lot.

JeT played had as bad of a game as I've seen him play since he became "the man". Of course, you could tell the chemistry with his WRs aren't there yet. Losing Smelter and Waller HURT this game. There was one play where JeT was scrambling and instead of breaking to the endzone, Jeune tried to block his guy because he thought JeT was taking off. JeT even motioned him to break up the field into uncovered space. At the same time, JeT needs to hit open guys. Guys were open, like the first long pass to Searcy. You don't get many chances against good defenses, so when you get them you have to hit them.

Also, JeT is noticeably thicker this year. I think getting bigger has affects his quickness and explosiveness. He's still quick and explosive, but he's not at the tier he was last year. He's still trying to pull spin and jukes in the backfield he got away with last year, but is getting caught this year because the short space quickness and explosion is no longer there.

Haven't seen the tape yet...was fortunate enough to make the game, but those were my early impressions.

 

[SidewalkJacket]

Never posted after a loss in my life, and usually hesitant to even read a message board. So thankful for this site and how objective and supportive we are for the most part.

No team goal is out of reach after yesterday. In my heart I don't believe we are a CFP team (and I had let myself wonder), but that won't take away from my enjoyment of this season. I never enjoyed a GT season as much as I did last year, and it had back to back losses to Duke and UNC! I hate ND, but give them credit. They are a good D. I don't think they're great in pass D, but that didn't hurt them against us, of course. This loss will look much better on a late season resume than the two we had mid season last year.

Others have rehashed the game already, but my main concern is those injuries. They will determine my outlook on the rest of the season. I'm hopeful for good news but have a bad feeling. Still, all goals are still in reach. The ACC is ours for the taking if we improve over the next couple of weeks. I was proud of the D yesterday, and don't think we'll face another WR like Fuller all year.

Beat Dook and UNC and I'll see you guys at Clemson!

 

[Longestday]

My two inputs is the defense is better and we pushed to hard on offense. The guys wanted the big play so bad that they missed the 3.5 yard gain. Plant the foot and commit. Cannot say that enough, plant the foot and commit.

JT and the O loosened up and started making plays at the end.