#PittvsGT Postgame

[Techster]

We have a stable of really good RB’s. Unfortunately for Mason he is not built to succeed behind a bad line. I can see Mason getting drafted late and having a good pro career. He just can’t ground and pound at GT. Gibbs and Smith at least have the jukes to dance behind a bad line. Our OC is destroying these young QB’s and RB’s. Last year and this year are just empty reps. They aren’t learning on the job, they are just trying to survive. No progress is being made at all on offense.

You must have missed 2019 when he led the NCAA in broken tackles, had one of the best YAC ypc in college football, and was on of the highest graded RBs in the nation:

Georgia Tech running back Jordan Mason is criminally underrated

The ACC had a lot of NFL talent at running back with Cam Akers, Travis Etienne, and more. However, Georgia Tech running back Jordan Mason is a hidden gem.

www.profootballnetwork.com

Mason’s got some impressive stats behind him that exemplify his ability to create for himself. He broke a tackle on 44% of his rushes per Pro Football Focus, which was the best mark in the nation last year. In addition to that, he averaged 4.4 yards after contact, which was eighth-best in the nation. Much like Akers, Mason had to do a lot of the work himself behind a battered and bruised Yellow Jackets offensive line.

Who are college football's hidden offensive gems?

These playmaking college football skill players have flown under the radar heading into the 2020 season.

www.pff.com

Mason led the country in missed tackles forced per attempt with 0.44 and was eighth in yards after contact per attempt with 4.4. Most of those missed tackles were forced before the line of scrimmage, as Mason played behind one of the worst offensive lines in the entire country. Not one offensive linemen — whether he played one snap or 700 — graded above 60.9. There’s bad and there’s abysmal. This was abysmal. Mason’s 5.2 rushing yards per attempt is a modern miracle. Hopefully, Tech can shore up its front lines and Mason can showcase himself more than in 2019.

IMO, running behind a bad line probably suits Mason more than any RB we have because of his ability to power through contact. Unfortunately, Gibbs isn't that far behind Mason, AND Gibbs represents a far better passing threat.

Then you have Smith who has proven some naysayers wrong about his ability to be a power back. IMO, Smith had the toughest yards against Pitt. Smith is also probably the most explosive player at RB. IMO, he needs more touches.

It's neither here nor there, but I was thinking the other day how much rushing yards we would pile up in CPJ's old system with Gibbs and Smith at AB, Mason at BB, and Sims at QB. Obviously a fools errand to even think about, but sometimes when that Bourbon hits it takes your mind to funny places.

 

[GT_05]

It was the same terrible play calls he made against Clemson in the red zone. Have you seen the running stats? Who keeps calling these plays that get stuffed and loses yards? I know the OLine is bad. In that case you don’t call plays where Sims and Gibbs just stand 6 yards behind the line deciding who keeps the ball. Patenaude did some good play calling but it’s like he doesn’t believe in himself enough to keep doing it. I would have thrown way more of the short passes like the ones to Carter and had Sims roll out. In other words, play to our strength which is speed in space. He turns Sims into a statue when thats not what he is good at. The turnovers from the pocket are no longer random. We have 2 years worth of data that shows Sims in the pocket is not the way to go. Use his legs to get away from the OLine. We’ll see the same thing against BC and VT.

Is it just me or do you also want to see the QB under center when we are on the one yard line? In the Clemson and Pitt game, the QBs led a hasty retreat from the goal line from the shotgun.

 

[CuseJacket]

I have called his running style cute previously, but not as as a pejorative statement. I say it in the same way you or others might call him elusive or shifty. I think his balance of speed and ability to change direction is higher use to the team than straight up the middle bruising and bouncing through contact.

He is more dangerous in space than anyone else in the room (save maybe 2KTae) so I only mean I would rather the balance of his carries be outside the tackles. Sure he has to run some interior stuff to keep defenders honest but grinding him through the middle when the lanes aren’t there seems wasted possessions and runs the risk of hurting him IMHO.

I appreciate you and understand where you're coming from.

To ground my reply:
1) Grinding anyone through the middle when lanes aren't there isn't a good idea.
2) We're not calling the "lanes not there" play.
3) I prefer everyone in space, including Mason, with the opportunity to make guys miss or run over smaller dudes.

Now of course everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and it certainly makes sense that Mason is better in the trash for a variety of reasons. But you also can't just assign everyone one role and expect defenses to not account for that.

Then there is actual data, plus footage, plus yesterday's truck stick. I particularly like the 2nd play in the video, among other up the middle highlights.



I suspect, though am too ignorant to know, that the idea was to crease Pitt who was selling out. Get by first wave and gone. But I only watched live in person, with other distractions, and have yet to watch the replay.

 

[GTBandit22]

I don’t understand how you think Gibbs can’t run with power. He had one play where he broke 4 tackles to gain 3 yards. Kid has amazing power for the speed/shiftiness he also possesses

 

[danny daniel]

Man, I re-watched a good chunk of the game on youtube and it looks a lot more evenly matched than what the scoreboard would reflect. We moved the ball well on them but just had a lot of crucial mistakes and Kenny Pickett can just make plays. Their OL was really good at holding off the pressure (and yes, literally holding many of the times) and when some pressure would get to Pickett he was really good at evading it getting out of the pocket and making an excellent throw for chunks of yardage. There was obviously some broken coverage but there were also many times where the ball was just thrown perfectly.

That holding call on Gibbs' TD run was a backbreaker. Obviously the game of hypotheticals is a futile one but so is posting on a message board about football results . If we were able to score a TD after Gibbs' long catch and run and then not get dinged with holding on that Gibbs TD run that's another 14 pts. Take away the pick 6 and we'd be at 35-28 in the 3rd instead of 42-14. Then have Pickett miss on just 1 or 2 throws and that's a tie ball game. But none of that happened and the offense seemed impotent in the red zone. Really wish they did more with the QB run game when we were that close.

Hope the team can bounce back and put on a show against Duke, get a win and get into the bye week. Coming out of the bye week we definitely have a chance to go on a run if things click. UVA, VT, Miami, BC, ND all look to be good games.

I agree with you in that except for the second Q we played competitively and the game was much better than the score. I also elevated my opinion of Sim's play. He was pretty good. Just fixing the terrible first and goal performance and the penalties in the red zone will make us a much better team.

 

[takethepoints]

You know what's funny about how much I disagree with Point #1? When Gibbs trucked a Pitt defender yesterday I was trying to recall which poster called him "cute" and assumed that play might settle things and this wouldn't come up again. Then you posted this to remind me today.

I say that as a colleague and fan and not to get under your skin. You are entitled to your opinion and I appreciate different points of view. I just think this "cute" and "slot receiver" take is so wrong. If anything, I'd say a different play call mix is more appropriate. Shifting his position doesn't make sense to me.

I hear you and I disagree with you as much as you disagree with me. Gibbs is a good RB, but our two best are Mason and Smith. Why waste talent like his when you could put it to use in the open field? "Trucking" a defender while putting up - let me check - -10 yards rushing isn't proof of too much of anything. Oth, catching 6 passes for 125 yards is, to me at least, good evidence that Gibbs is in the wrong position. I know the coaches probably told him he would be the star RB for 4 years and are loath to go back on that, but …

I know some of you are absolutely determined that Gibbs is an RB and nothing else. Go ahead and believe it; it is no skin off of either of our noses. Tech's record won't be any worse, but it could be better.

 

[7979]

It amazes me that 90% of the posts here at the Swarm are about our offensive short-comings....we gave up 50 pts...I believe our issues are, as they always have been in the post Dodd era, on defense... GT hasn't been "good" on defense 5 times in the past 50 years....
But... to join the discussion, I will offer my opinion on the offense in general, the OL specifically....
The players we have are the players we have.....including the OL guys... they are busting their ***, doing the absolute best they can do on every play.. if they are not "good" then we must work around this reality...
So...what are the choices? How do we maximize 2021?
#1... Running plays....QB under center, two backs.... OL plus TE blocks down, lead RB kicks out...QB keepers off edge.... run sprint draw as if it was 1973....inside traps (I know, it didn't work on goal line vs Clemson) but tighter trap with our RBs will work....
#2 Passing plays...TE stays in or releases very late...OL steps down, protects inside gap and Sims drops, then steps up to throw.. force pressure to come from outside only... sprint out QB with OL reaching and hinging backside.. let inside receivers run upfield and wide-outs (occasionally) stop cut across underneath....
#3 I am for playing our freshmen...especially our OL freshmen...
Unfortunately for us, 2021 is getting ready for 2023.....

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Crowd looked very light on TV was it even half capacity?

My guess is just north of 30k

Lower West Stands were full, but you can't see that on TV.

I was at the game. Lower West and Lower East were fairly well represented. Upper west was barren as was upper east. Upper north past the Gold Zone was pitiful. South stands have been empty all season long.

Just saw the "announced" attendance was 36,383 for the game. That's tickets sold. I can tell you for certain that at least 10-15 STHs that sit near me weren't there even though they were "tickets sold." We likely had right at 30k at the game. As fans, that's pitiful.

 

[GTBandit22]

I think you aren’t seeing much about the defense because we watched the game. We tried bringing 5 and 6 and we tried bringing 3. We covered receivers for 8 seconds then the ninth he would sling it to a guy sliding who would catch it. Besides the long pass that beat Carpenter, I don’t think we had many busted coverages. We just came up against a front 5 and QB who decimated us. Can’t scheme against that. Modern college football regularly sees teams, even Alabama, give up 30.

When you get into a shootout, best not shoot yourself too

 

[swampsting]

What was that screaming in the background?

Narduzzi got a paper cut reaching for the box score.

 

[swampsting]

That holding call on Gibbs' TD run was a backbreaker. Obviously the game of hypotheticals is a futile one but so is posting on a message board about football results . If we were able to score a TD after Gibbs' long catch and run and then not get dinged with holding on that Gibbs TD run that's another 14 pts. Take away the pick 6 and we'd be at 35-28 in the 3rd instead of 42-14. Then have Pickett miss on just 1 or 2 throws and that's a tie ball game. But none of that happened and the offense seemed impotent in the red zone. Really wish they did more with the QB run game when we were that close.

Kipling didn't put that many ifs in.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I think you aren’t seeing much about the defense because we watched the game. We tried bringing 5 and 6 and we tried bringing 3. We covered receivers for 8 seconds then the ninth he would sling it to a guy sliding who would catch it. Besides the long pass that beat Carpenter, I don’t think we had many busted coverages. We just came up against a front 5 and QB who decimated us. Can’t scheme against that. Modern college football regularly sees teams, even Alabama, give up 30.

When you get into a shootout, best not shoot yourself too

We had a few busted coverages, but what I saw from my seats (need to verify on video) was that Pickett was amazing at picking up the blitz and hitting the short throw for a gain before the cover guy could get there. I seem to remember seeing this several times when the CBs would blitz. The ball would get to the receiver right before the safety help arrived.

 

[SecretAgentBuzz]

Explain how its the OC fault?

By not teaching our OL how to hold like Pitt's.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

You must have missed 2019 when he led the NCAA in broken tackles, had one of the best YAC ypc in college football, and was on of the highest graded RBs in the nation:

Georgia Tech running back Jordan Mason is criminally underrated

The ACC had a lot of NFL talent at running back with Cam Akers, Travis Etienne, and more. However, Georgia Tech running back Jordan Mason is a hidden gem.

www.profootballnetwork.com

Mason’s got some impressive stats behind him that exemplify his ability to create for himself. He broke a tackle on 44% of his rushes per Pro Football Focus, which was the best mark in the nation last year. In addition to that, he averaged 4.4 yards after contact, which was eighth-best in the nation. Much like Akers, Mason had to do a lot of the work himself behind a battered and bruised Yellow Jackets offensive line.

Who are college football's hidden offensive gems?

These playmaking college football skill players have flown under the radar heading into the 2020 season.

www.pff.com

Mason led the country in missed tackles forced per attempt with 0.44 and was eighth in yards after contact per attempt with 4.4. Most of those missed tackles were forced before the line of scrimmage, as Mason played behind one of the worst offensive lines in the entire country. Not one offensive linemen — whether he played one snap or 700 — graded above 60.9. There’s bad and there’s abysmal. This was abysmal. Mason’s 5.2 rushing yards per attempt is a modern miracle. Hopefully, Tech can shore up its front lines and Mason can showcase himself more than in 2019.

IMO, running behind a bad line probably suits Mason more than any RB we have because of his ability to power through contact. Unfortunately, Gibbs isn't that far behind Mason, AND Gibbs represents a far better passing threat.

Then you have Smith who has proven some naysayers wrong about his ability to be a power back. IMO, Smith had the toughest yards against Pitt. Smith is also probably the most explosive player at RB. IMO, he needs more touches.

It's neither here nor there, but I was thinking the other day how much rushing yards we would pile up in CPJ's old system with Gibbs and Smith at AB, Mason at BB, and Sims at QB. Obviously a fools errand to even think about, but sometimes when that Bourbon hits it takes your mind to funny places.

I love Mason. He just can’t catch a break at GT due to our OLine. He’ll be a surprise NFL back.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

Is it just me or do you also want to see the QB under center when we are on the one yard line? In the Clemson and Pitt game, the QBs led a hasty retreat from the goal line from the shotgun.

I want us to run plays that have a much higher chance of success than the ones that haven’t worked in 2 plus seasons. Every good team can do more than 1 thing on offense. But for some reason our last 2 offensive coordinators (Johnson and Patenaude) just refuse to expand their arsenal. Why can high school teams run huddle/hurry up/shotgun/under center yet for a decade and a half GT hasn’t been able? It makes you realize just how good Ralph Friedgen was. His offense kept the defense so off balance and it was beautiful.

Yes, when you have an athletic QB who is 6’3”, 215 and you have 4 chances to score from inside the 5 yard line then yes, go under center and push him in. How many times have we seen Belichek run that same play with 2 RB’s and the man in motion just shoving Brady across the line. Saban does it all the time. It’s not complicated. We know the snap count and they don’t. The fact we stay shotgun tells me all I need to know about this staff. No different than watching us under center on 3rd and 20’s for a decade. I’m sure it will work against Duke and we’ll be back. Then we’ll play an average team and get stuffed.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I want us to run plays that have a much higher chance of success than the ones that haven’t worked in 2 plus seasons. Every good team can do more than 1 thing on offense. But for some reason our last 2 offensive coordinators (Johnson and Patenaude) just refuse to expand their arsenal. Why can high school teams run huddle/hurry up/shotgun/under center yet for a decade and a half GT hasn’t been able? It makes you realize just how good Ralph Friedgen was. His offense kept the defense so off balance and it was beautiful.

Yes, when you have an athletic QB who is 6’3”, 215 and you have 4 chances to score from inside the 5 yard line then yes, go under center and push him in. How many times have we seen Belichek run that same play with 2 RB’s and the man in motion just shoving Brady across the line. Saban does it all the time. It’s not complicated. We know the snap count and they don’t. The fact we stay shotgun tells me all I need to know about this staff. No different than watching us under center on 3rd and 20’s for a decade. I’m sure it will work against Duke and we’ll be back. Then we’ll play an average team and get stuffed.

I am giving my old fogey nature away but it really makes me nervous to be in shotgun inside the five. The defense is already bunched up and crowding within a couple of yards of the los. It only takes one two defenders penetrating to mess up the whole play.

 

[stech81]

I am giving my old fogey nature away but it really makes me nervous to be in shotgun inside the five. The defense is already bunched up and crowding within a couple of yards of the los. It only takes one two defenders penetrating to mess up the whole play.

I hate it also, but we ain't the only team to do it

 

[Jacket20]

I would have thought any of our RBs would have atleast broken off a few long runs by now regardless of the pitiful blocking up front. I saw Gibbs
Saturday run up the middle and hit a wall every single time.

 

[GT_05]

I want us to run plays that have a much higher chance of success than the ones that haven’t worked in 2 plus seasons. Every good team can do more than 1 thing on offense. But for some reason our last 2 offensive coordinators (Johnson and Patenaude) just refuse to expand their arsenal. Why can high school teams run huddle/hurry up/shotgun/under center yet for a decade and a half GT hasn’t been able? It makes you realize just how good Ralph Friedgen was. His offense kept the defense so off balance and it was beautiful.

Yes, when you have an athletic QB who is 6’3”, 215 and you have 4 chances to score from inside the 5 yard line then yes, go under center and push him in. How many times have we seen Belichek run that same play with 2 RB’s and the man in motion just shoving Brady across the line. Saban does it all the time. It’s not complicated. We know the snap count and they don’t. The fact we stay shotgun tells me all I need to know about this staff. No different than watching us under center on 3rd and 20’s for a decade. I’m sure it will work against Duke and we’ll be back. Then we’ll play an average team and get stuffed.

Well, while we are at it…

It seemed to me that Pitt was timing the snap off of Sims pre-snap actions. The time between his first and second claps were nearly the same and the ball was often snapped right after the second clap. If the D wasn’t keying in on that, he must have another tell.

 

[Lotta Booze]