Offseason Media 2024

Thwg777

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On another tangent, Phil Steele says we have the 4th (I think that’s right) hardest schedule in the nation.

You are correct. I have the book.

1-5 are UF, UCLA, USC, GT and UH.

Stanford, UVA and free shoes are 10-12 as the next most difficult ACC team schedules.

ACC teams with patsy schedules are Tarholes (69), VPI (67), NCST (63) and Syracuse (60).
 

g0lftime

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You are correct. I have the book.

1-5 are UF, UCLA, USC, GT and UH.

Stanford, UVA and free shoes are 10-12 as the next most difficult ACC team schedules.

ACC teams with patsy schedules are Tarholes (69), VPI (67), NCST (63) and Syracuse (60).
SMU only really tough game on paper is FSU and maybe Louisville. They play most of the bottom half of the ACC rated teams. They could be ACC champs. In reality I think they will find the ACC tougher than many outsiders think it is.
 

Thwg777

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561
SMU only really tough game on paper is FSU and maybe Louisville. They play most of the bottom half of the ACC rated teams. They could be ACC champs. In reality I think they will find the ACC tougher than many outsiders think it is.

Astute remark.

SMU is the patsiest of all ACC at 76. I missed them since my brain isn’t yet rewired to accept all these bum schools.
 
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stinger78

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Don't know about them now, but they were once a proud member of the old SWC with Arkansas, Texas, TAMU, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, and Rice.
 

roadkill

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That our schedule is backloaded ;)

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Our offense sputtered a lot last season. A strong and consistent passing attack with some solid possession receivers could have really helped. If we lead the league in passing, it could be just from not sputtering like last season.

It usually takes us some time to figure out the offense. Hopefully, we’re faster students this season.

On another tangent, Phil Steele says we have the 4th (I think that’s right) hardest schedule in the nation.
There’s always room for improvement. But I wouldn’t describe an offense that nearly doubled its previous year’s scoring output, led the league in rushing and was 3rd in total offense, as “sputtering a lot”. Our offense struggled more against elite defenses (Clemson and UGA) as would most. Our low offensive production in the Miami game had weather as a factor, yet we certainly didn’t sputter on the last drive.

Now if you want to include interceptions in the sputtering category, I’m on board.
 

slugboy

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There’s always room for improvement. But I wouldn’t describe an offense that nearly doubled its previous year’s scoring output, led the league in rushing and was 3rd in total offense, as “sputtering a lot”. Our offense struggled more against elite defenses (Clemson and UGA) as would most. Our low offensive production in the Miami game had weather as a factor, yet we certainly didn’t sputter on the last drive.

Now if you want to include interceptions in the sputtering category, I’m on board.
We also failed to convert a lot of series. It wasn’t just interceptions. We had big plays, but we weren’t very efficient.

BC had a terrible defense. We threw picks and fumbled, but we punted a LOT. There were plenty of games where we punted a lot.

We had three turnovers against Bowling Green, but we also had
3 plays, 8 yards, punt
3 plays, -1 yards, punt
5 plays, 8 yards, downs

8 plays, 32 yards, punt
8 plays, 62 yards, downs

If the offense hadn’t gone ice-cold for several series in a couple of games, we’d have had a much better record. Eight plays for 32 yards happens; repeated three and outs against a middling G5 team is sputtering.

Our run game was occasionally really good, but sometimes AWOL. Same with our passing game, except it was more frequently AWOL.

If you look at offensive efficiency, we were somewhere from the 42nd to 49th most efficient team. That gives you games like Bowling Green and BC


 

billga99

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We also failed to convert a lot of series. It wasn’t just interceptions. We had big plays, but we weren’t very efficient.

BC had a terrible defense. We threw picks and fumbled, but we punted a LOT. There were plenty of games where we punted a lot.

We had three turnovers against Bowling Green, but we also had
3 plays, 8 yards, punt
3 plays, -1 yards, punt
5 plays, 8 yards, downs

8 plays, 32 yards, punt
8 plays, 62 yards, downs

If the offense hadn’t gone ice-cold for several series in a couple of games, we’d have had a much better record. Eight plays for 32 yards happens; repeated three and outs against a middling G5 team is sputtering.

Our run game was occasionally really good, but sometimes AWOL. Same with our passing game, except it was more frequently AWOL.

If you look at offensive efficiency, we were somewhere from the 42nd to 49th most efficient team. That gives you games like Bowling Green and BC


I think the philosophy changed in the second half of the season to be much more run oriented. I think that changed our offense for the better and made King more of a threat. Be interesting to see which approach they take at the beginning of this year.
 

Augusta_Jacket

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A perfect late season example is the Syracuse Game. We started off the game going TD, 3/5 punt, 3/8 INT, TD, FG in the first half. We scored a TD immediately to open the 3rd qtr to build a 24-3 lead. Then we sputtered hard: 1 play fumble, 3/-3 punt, 6/10 punt, 3/5 punt before finally scoring a TD on a 9/75 5:19 drive to pretty much salt the game away. A lot of our games were like this. The O would be blazingly hot and then sputter for a quarter.
 

JacketOff

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SMU only really tough game on paper is FSU and maybe Louisville. They play most of the bottom half of the ACC rated teams. They could be ACC champs. In reality I think they will find the ACC tougher than many outsiders think it is.
SMU is 2-11 against P5 teams dating back to 2016, including 0-3 last year. There is also a massive difference in playing P5 teams every week rather than just a couple of times a year. UCF found that out last year, and I’d argue UCF was a stronger program moving to a weaker conference. They went 3-6 in the Big 12 after not having a losing conference record since 2015, their only losing record in the American after they joined in 2013. UCF was also 7-5 against P5 opponents since 2017 (of course 2 of those wins are against Geoff Collins).

SMU may eventually get to a point where they’re competitive year-in year-out with the top half of the ACC, but I find it hard to believe that will happen next year, or even in 2025 barring some wild portal moves.
 

g0lftime

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A perfect late season example is the Syracuse Game. We started off the game going TD, 3/5 punt, 3/8 INT, TD, FG in the first half. We scored a TD immediately to open the 3rd qtr to build a 24-3 lead. Then we sputtered hard: 1 play fumble, 3/-3 punt, 6/10 punt, 3/5 punt before finally scoring a TD on a 9/75 5:19 drive to pretty much salt the game away. A lot of our games were like this. The O would be blazingly hot and then sputter for a quarter.
That Syracuse game was strange. Their QB wasn't even a regular at that position and yet we seemed to really struggle to win that game. It was a lot closer than I expected and everyone knew the coach was a lame duck.
Maybe the team rallied for him but it was a lot tougher than I thought.
 

roadkill

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We also failed to convert a lot of series. It wasn’t just interceptions. We had big plays, but we weren’t very efficient.

BC had a terrible defense. We threw picks and fumbled, but we punted a LOT. There were plenty of games where we punted a lot.

We had three turnovers against Bowling Green, but we also had
3 plays, 8 yards, punt
3 plays, -1 yards, punt
5 plays, 8 yards, downs

8 plays, 32 yards, punt
8 plays, 62 yards, downs

If the offense hadn’t gone ice-cold for several series in a couple of games, we’d have had a much better record. Eight plays for 32 yards happens; repeated three and outs against a middling G5 team is sputtering.

Our run game was occasionally really good, but sometimes AWOL. Same with our passing game, except it was more frequently AWOL.

If you look at offensive efficiency, we were somewhere from the 42nd to 49th most efficient team. That gives you games like Bowling Green and BC


Appreciate your detailed response. I may be looking at our offense through the golden haze of comparison with prior seasons where Shanahan got a serious workout.

As for Bowling Green, yes overall they were indeed a “middling G5 team”. But if you look at their season defensive stats, they were actually quite good and we probably underestimated them.

We lost that game for several reasons, the most significant being giving up 38 points to a below-average G5 offense. Key thought so too and demoted Thacker as a result. Our offense did sputter, but take away the 3 turnovers and we have a good chance of winning.

My gut feeling which may not be supported by stats is that had Haynes King just been average in interceptions (6-8 for the season), we could have gone 9-3 instead of 7-5.
 

slugboy

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Appreciate your detailed response. I may be looking at our offense through the golden haze of comparison with prior seasons where Shanahan got a serious workout.

As for Bowling Green, yes overall they were indeed a “middling G5 team”. But if you look at their season defensive stats, they were actually quite good and we probably underestimated them.

We lost that game for several reasons, the most significant being giving up 38 points to a below-average G5 offense. Key thought so too and demoted Thacker as a result. Our offense did sputter, but take away the 3 turnovers and we have a good chance of winning.

My gut feeling which may not be supported by stats is that had Haynes King just been average in interceptions (6-8 for the season), we could have gone 9-3 instead of 7-5.
In the three-win seasons, I wouldn’t call our offense sputtering—that implies that it’s hot and cold. It was just cold.
 

AUFC

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A perfect late season example is the Syracuse Game. We started off the game going TD, 3/5 punt, 3/8 INT, TD, FG in the first half. We scored a TD immediately to open the 3rd qtr to build a 24-3 lead. Then we sputtered hard: 1 play fumble, 3/-3 punt, 6/10 punt, 3/5 punt before finally scoring a TD on a 9/75 5:19 drive to pretty much salt the game away. A lot of our games were like this. The O would be blazingly hot and then sputter for a quarter.
Wake Forest last year was a nauseating finish. We owned that game on both sides of the ball and they came within 20 yards of tying the game late.
 
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