On To Louisville

HurricaneJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,638
Yeah, there is no comparing our respective schedules. And if FSU is playing like an average G5, then GSU is playing above average after beating an SEC team last weekend.

Our 5th game, 3rd conference game, and 3rd "road" game in 5 weeks. Versus 3rd game and 1st conference game, all at home. The schedulers did us no favors (do they ever?) as far as player wear and tear goes.

We are the only FBS team with this type of front-end-loaded schedule AFAIK.
Unfortunately have an equally loaded back end too
 

GT_B

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
654
So I finally watched a good bit of the UL vs Jax st game since I hadn’t seen any of their games so far.

Some thoughts on their offense:
Positives:
-They have 3 RBs who are quick and run hard. They are a downhill running team. Didn’t see a lot of counter or zone runs, just pretty much straight forward.
-the QB is decent, he doesn’t do anything spectacular, but he made good throws here and there. Didn’t see him run pretty much at all, but managed the game well. He did have 2 throws that were lobbed up for grabs that should have been intercepted, one was, but the DB stepped on the sideline coming down.
Negatives:
-Jax state was able to get pressure quite a bit with blitzing off the edge/delayed blitz/bringing an extra guy
-Jax st is not great defensively, their DL was small and had a hard time stopping the run. A few times their DBs just fell down in coverage and gave Louisville an easy big play or TD. Hard to tell how good they are on offense yet.

-UL does have pretty good skill position guys at RB and the WR transfer from Bama is pretty good.

Thoughts on their Defense:
-they tackle pretty well in space, didn’t see a ton of missed tackles
-with that said, they really struggled with QB draws, designed QB runs, and rush lanes, Jax st QB ate their lunch on the ground a lot of the game and ran over a few of their LBs and DBs. That dude runs hard.
-Jax st also had success on some quick slants for pretty big plays.
-for those who didn’t know (like me) rich rod is now coaching Jax st and they run super up tempo offense and were quickest per play team in the country last year. I don’t know if we plan to run up tempo in this game but they had some success with it.

-overall I think UL has some decent speed on defense, they tackle pretty well, but unless drastically improved this week, HK might have a lot of success on the ground with QB draws and zone read pulls.

They seem like a solid team with good skill position guys, I think we will put up points though. Definitely a winnable game, but we need the defense to tackle well and scheme our blitzing well and we’ll have a good shot.
 

4shotB

Helluva Engineer
Retired Staff
Messages
4,777
Jackson Caudell (SI) discusses GT-Louisville below. Bill Connelly's SP+ predicts a Louisville win at 35-23. Hope our guys can prove this wrong!!

Looking at this article, here is what I noticed - Vols-Sooners, LSU-UCLA, and Mich - USC. Love these kind of out of conference matchups (although not sure if USC is in the B10 this year or not). Shout out to Bama going to Wiscy as well last week, maybe a by product of the expanded playoffs??? Not really sure as the schedules are made so far in advance.
 

Sheboygan

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,082
Location
Oostburg Wis. ( It's DUTCH !)
So I finally watched a good bit of the UL vs Jax st game since I hadn’t seen any of their games so far.

Some thoughts on their offense:
Positives:
-They have 3 RBs who are quick and run hard. They are a downhill running team. Didn’t see a lot of counter or zone runs, just pretty much straight forward.
-the QB is decent, he doesn’t do anything spectacular, but he made good throws here and there. Didn’t see him run pretty much at all, but managed the game well. He did have 2 throws that were lobbed up for grabs that should have been intercepted, one was, but the DB stepped on the sideline coming down.
Negatives:
-Jax state was able to get pressure quite a bit with blitzing off the edge/delayed blitz/bringing an extra guy
-Jax st is not great defensively, their DL was small and had a hard time stopping the run. A few times their DBs just fell down in coverage and gave Louisville an easy big play or TD. Hard to tell how good they are on offense yet.

-UL does have pretty good skill position guys at RB and the WR transfer from Bama is pretty good.

Thoughts on their Defense:
-they tackle pretty well in space, didn’t see a ton of missed tackles
-with that said, they really struggled with QB draws, designed QB runs, and rush lanes, Jax st QB ate their lunch on the ground a lot of the game and ran over a few of their LBs and DBs. That dude runs hard.
-Jax st also had success on some quick slants for pretty big plays.
-for those who didn’t know (like me) rich rod is now coaching Jax st and they run super up tempo offense and were quickest per play team in the country last year. I don’t know if we plan to run up tempo in this game but they had some success with it.

-overall I think UL has some decent speed on defense, they tackle pretty well, but unless drastically improved this week, HK might have a lot of success on the ground with QB draws and zone read pulls.

They seem like a solid team with good skill position guys, I think we will put up points though. Definitely a winnable game, but we need the defense to tackle well and scheme our blitzing well and we’ll have a good shot.
 

Sheboygan

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,082
Location
Oostburg Wis. ( It's DUTCH !)
We will struggle unless we can develop a consistent pass rush with our DL. Shedding blocks is a weakness as well as speed off the edge. Several of our starters on the DL have very sub-par technique ( not mentioning any names- watch the film ).
Our O will need to have few turnovers and control TOP for us to have a chance. Just my 2 cents.
 

TampaBuzz

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,125
Looking at this article, here is what I noticed - Vols-Sooners, LSU-UCLA, and Mich - USC. Love these kind of out of conference matchups (although not sure if USC is in the B10 this year or not). Shout out to Bama going to Wiscy as well last week, maybe a by product of the expanded playoffs??? Not really sure as the schedules are made so far in advance.
I will give you LSU/UCLA as OOC. The others...nope. Oklahoma joined SEC along with Texas. USC is in the BIG.
 

roadkill

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,689
So I finally watched a good bit of the UL vs Jax st game since I hadn’t seen any of their games so far.

Some thoughts on their offense:
Positives:
-They have 3 RBs who are quick and run hard. They are a downhill running team. Didn’t see a lot of counter or zone runs, just pretty much straight forward.
-the QB is decent, he doesn’t do anything spectacular, but he made good throws here and there. Didn’t see him run pretty much at all, but managed the game well. He did have 2 throws that were lobbed up for grabs that should have been intercepted, one was, but the DB stepped on the sideline coming down.
Negatives:
-Jax state was able to get pressure quite a bit with blitzing off the edge/delayed blitz/bringing an extra guy
-Jax st is not great defensively, their DL was small and had a hard time stopping the run. A few times their DBs just fell down in coverage and gave Louisville an easy big play or TD. Hard to tell how good they are on offense yet.

-UL does have pretty good skill position guys at RB and the WR transfer from Bama is pretty good.

Thoughts on their Defense:
-they tackle pretty well in space, didn’t see a ton of missed tackles
-with that said, they really struggled with QB draws, designed QB runs, and rush lanes, Jax st QB ate their lunch on the ground a lot of the game and ran over a few of their LBs and DBs. That dude runs hard.
-Jax st also had success on some quick slants for pretty big plays.
-for those who didn’t know (like me) rich rod is now coaching Jax st and they run super up tempo offense and were quickest per play team in the country last year. I don’t know if we plan to run up tempo in this game but they had some success with it.

-overall I think UL has some decent speed on defense, they tackle pretty well, but unless drastically improved this week, HK might have a lot of success on the ground with QB draws and zone read pulls.

They seem like a solid team with good skill position guys, I think we will put up points though. Definitely a winnable game, but we need the defense to tackle well and scheme our blitzing well and we’ll have a good shot.
Your impressions mirror mine after I watched the condensed game. I did think UL defense struggled to tackle the Jax St. QB and seemed slow doing it, but again I only saw successful offensive plays which tend to make defenses look bad. We definitely should try some QB runs if we are willing to risk it. Of course, that could be an area that UL has worked on fixing over the last two weeks.
 

iceeater1969

Helluva Engineer
Messages
9,450
On the ourlads louisville depth chart - all 5 of 6 of wr 2 deep are 6'2"ish ( Gt all under 6 ft except for #1 who sits), OT are 6'5-6'7. Qb is 6'5"
Louisville has large players on offense!
 

TechPhi97

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
727
Location
Davidson, NC
Defense is still an issue for us, according to FEI. Those numbers ignore the game against VMI, but we're 22nd in Offense and 98th in Defense (opponent adjusted). The data backs up what people have said on here:
1) We "held" FSU down in points, but it was still high based on points per possession (only 7). Our defensive points per possession is ranked 100th
2) Giving up a lot of yards, even to weaker opponents - we saw this against FSU and GA State. We are 110th in Available Yards percentage
3) Our yards per play given up is our "bright spot" - but we are still 79th.

This isn't shocking to anyone, I'm sure. The VMI performance gives us some hope, but there's a reason that FBS/FCS matchups are excluded from the data. I think keeping VMI under 60 yards through the 3rd quarter was a positive signal. We shall see.

UL has presented similar to us - strong offense with a weaker defense, but they are getting the benefit of the doubt in FEI right now. I'm assuming this is based on prior year performance. The defense definitely has the opportunity to improve, I hope we see the momentum from VMI carry forward.
 

CPJacket

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
67
Their leading tackler from last year's game at the Benz transferred to Cincy. Other than that, they appear to have many of their starters back. My impression of their defensive abilities this year is based on a condensed game that only shows successful plays by each offense. However, they allowed the Jax State QB to run for over 100 yards and had trouble tackling him. They still managed to limit scoring to a pair of TDs.

I expect with a week off the Louisville coaches will have time to address some of their shortcomings in advance of our game.
We learned from the SU game not to take games against weaker opponents at face value. Just like us, they don't show their real def/off. They will play us totally differently.
 

Rzunz

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
141
So I finally watched a good bit of the UL vs Jax st game since I hadn’t seen any of their games so far.

Some thoughts on their offense:
Positives:
-They have 3 RBs who are quick and run hard. They are a downhill running team. Didn’t see a lot of counter or zone runs, just pretty much straight forward.
-the QB is decent, he doesn’t do anything spectacular, but he made good throws here and there. Didn’t see him run pretty much at all, but managed the game well. He did have 2 throws that were lobbed up for grabs that should have been intercepted, one was, but the DB stepped on the sideline coming down.
Negatives:
-Jax state was able to get pressure quite a bit with blitzing off the edge/delayed blitz/bringing an extra guy
-Jax st is not great defensively, their DL was small and had a hard time stopping the run. A few times their DBs just fell down in coverage and gave Louisville an easy big play or TD. Hard to tell how good they are on offense yet.

-UL does have pretty good skill position guys at RB and the WR transfer from Bama is pretty good.

Thoughts on their Defense:
-they tackle pretty well in space, didn’t see a ton of missed tackles
-with that said, they really struggled with QB draws, designed QB runs, and rush lanes, Jax st QB ate their lunch on the ground a lot of the game and ran over a few of their LBs and DBs. That dude runs hard.
-Jax st also had success on some quick slants for pretty big plays.
-for those who didn’t know (like me) rich rod is now coaching Jax st and they run super up tempo offense and were quickest per play team in the country last year. I don’t know if we plan to run up tempo in this game but they had some success with it.

-overall I think UL has some decent speed on defense, they tackle pretty well, but unless drastically improved this week, HK might have a lot of success on the ground with QB draws and zone read pulls.

They seem like a solid team with good skill position guys, I think we will put up points though. Definitely a winnable game, but we need the defense to tackle well and scheme our blitzing well and we’ll have a good shot.
In recent years Jax State (and Troy) built pretty strong teams getting players culled out by Bama, and to a lesser degree Awburn. They had some 4* guys for sure.
 
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