#PittvsGT Postgame

[roadkill]

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.....

I'm not giving our defense a pass by any means, but they didn't give up 50 points. That's an easy hot take when you just look at the score. The offense gifted, from an EPA perspective, at least 10 points directly via two picks. After our D forced a punt on Pitt's first possession, our offense went INT, INT, TD (maybe Pitt's D was getting tired of going right back on the field since they were scoring so fast), then 3 & out X3. At that point, our D was getting fatigued and all the momentum was on Pitt's side. Also, it appeared that Pitt's strategy of O-line holding (actually, tackling) and taking their chances on ref calls was working well in the first half, effectively negating our athletic D-line and linebackers despite their success in the prior two games. I don't know if someone spoke to the refs at halftime, but it's an interesting correlation that Pitt got 3 holding calls in the second half to go with their 10 points, vs none in the first half when their offense scored 35.
That game was a failure of all phases at both the individual play execution level as well as at a macro level of coaching, planning, etc. It's natural to want to assign responsibility for the loss to a single major issue, but there's plenty of blame to spread around for this loss.

 

[CuseJacket]

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.

We're not on the same planet yet, let alone in the same ballpark. Not expecting to convince you of much, but more data can't hurt.

1. YPC in a single game is not worth a meaningful level of engagement on “best RB”. I suspect you’d agree. Gibbs averaged more YPC than Mason last year (5.2 vs. 4.3). Does that mean Gibbs was better than Mason last year? Obviously you have different thoughts there.
2. Are you prepared to make the case that Smith and Mason would have earned more yardage on the same 10 carries yesterday that Gibbs got? RBs do not run the same plays nor face the same defenses. I've watched most opponents’ pregame media. Opposing coaches and players generally speak about Gibbs. Defenses are keying on him. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. We saw it happen yesterday. It is not coach speak.
3. Gibbs caught those passes as a RB, not as a WR. One could argue that makes the case stronger for RB.
4. I posted a response to Midtown above with more data. Here's the shortcut. Summary: Gibbs led the nation in broken tackles per rush. Mason had sufficient carries to qualify for the ranking.

Conjecture below, I am still interested in your take on 1-4 above.

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.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

I’m not buying this one bit. We have not played a team currently ranked. We’ve played 5 games against a bunch of also rans and are 2-3. How is that a hard schedule so far? By the end of the season we probably will have faced 3 teams ranked in the top 25 - UGA, ND, and Clemson.

 

[CuseJacket]

I’m not buying this one bit. We have not played a team currently ranked. We’ve played 5 games against a bunch of also rans and are 2-3. How is that a hard schedule so far? By the end of the season we probably will have faced 3 teams ranked in the top 25 - UGA, ND, and Clemson.

Well Northern Illinois has exceeded many expectations at 3-2. Unfortunately it’s in part because they played us.

 

[stech81]

What was that screaming in the background?

Well he did sound more like a coach maybe he can turn this around

 

[LongforDodd]

I’m not buying this one bit. We have not played a team currently ranked. We’ve played 5 games against a bunch of also rans and are 2-3. How is that a hard schedule so far? By the end of the season we probably will have faced 3 teams ranked in the top 25 - UGA, ND, and Clemson.

This is an interesting thought to take note of at the end of the year but I think Pitt and maybe VT will be there. And maybe UNC. BC has a chance too at 5 weeks into the season.

 

[stech81]

I’m not buying this one bit. We have not played a team currently ranked. We’ve played 5 games against a bunch of also rans and are 2-3. How is that a hard schedule so far? By the end of the season we probably will have faced 3 teams ranked in the top 25 - UGA, ND, and Clemson.

not so fast on that Clemson in the top 25 and maybe not ND , what I'm I thinking if ND was 6-6 they still would be in the Top 25

 

[MidtownJacket]

We're not on the same planet yet, let alone in the same ballpark. Not expecting to convince you of much, but more data can't hurt.

1. YPC in a single game is not worth a meaningful level of engagement on “best RB”. I suspect you’d agree. Gibbs averaged more YPC than Mason last year (5.2 vs. 4.3). Does that mean Gibbs was better than Mason last year? Obviously you have different thoughts there.
2. Are you prepared to make the case that Smith and Mason would have earned more yardage on the same 10 carries yesterday that Gibbs got? RBs do not run the same plays nor face the same defenses. I've watched most opponents’ pregame media. Opposing coaches and players generally speak about Gibbs. Defenses are keying on him. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. We saw it happen yesterday. It is not coach speak.
3. Gibbs caught those passes as a RB, not as a WR. One could argue that makes the case stronger for RB.
4. I posted a response to Midtown above with more data. Here's the shortcut. Summary: Gibbs led the nation in broken tackles per rush. Mason had sufficient carries to qualify for the ranking.

Conjecture below, I am still interested in your take on 1-4 above.

Appreciate the responses @CuseJacket - also want to be clear I am not advocating for moving Gibbs out of the RB room to a full time slot guy.

I am more saying it was frustrating watching us call him up the middle through gaps that weren't opening all day. Seeing him held to -10 yards was the effect of bad play calling IMHO more than his ability. You're right the coach doesn't call a "miss your block" play but by the 3rd quarter we should have seen that it just wasn't there on the day.

Coaches often use something to show it and then set up future plays but I just didn't see that in the game. I didn't mind previous staff doing the "integrity play" of a gut punch dive over and over to keep defenses honest - but when it isn't there and we don't seem to be setting up something off of it then we run the risk of frustrating our players. Coaches don't care, and rightly so, about our head space while watching the games but I would hate to loose the buy in from players from them knowing their being asked to do something that just isn't working.

That said, I agree 100% I was happy to see Gibbs getting involved in the pass pro as it has been an area of his game that people on this board have called out as a weakness (fairly or not, I loved seeing his get that pop in there).

 

[g0lftime]

Without the ability to run the ball it gets really hard to score consistently in the red zone. Pile up lots of yards passing but get FG's instead or fail to score altogether if playing catchup.

 

[TruckStick]

Without the ability to run the ball it gets really hard to score consistently in the red zone. Pile up lots of yards passing but get FG's instead or fail to score altogether if playing catchup.

It doesn't help that a majority of our runs are up the middle into the heart of defensive lines ready to take it on. Our best runs are outside but we seem to call plays inside "just to change it up"

 

[FlatsLander]

I'm not giving our defense a pass by any means, but they didn't give up 50 points. That's an easy hot take when you just look at the score. The offense gifted, from an EPA perspective, at least 10 points directly via two picks. After our D forced a punt on Pitt's first possession, our offense went INT, INT, TD (maybe Pitt's D was getting tired of going right back on the field since they were scoring so fast), then 3 & out X3. At that point, our D was getting fatigued and all the momentum was on Pitt's side. Also, it appeared that Pitt's strategy of O-line holding (actually, tackling) and taking their chances on ref calls was working well in the first half, effectively negating our athletic D-line and linebackers despite their success in the prior two games. I don't know if someone spoke to the refs at halftime, but it's an interesting correlation that Pitt got 3 holding calls in the second half to go with their 10 points, vs none in the first half when their offense scored 35.
That game was a failure of all phases at both the individual play execution level as well as at a macro level of coaching, planning, etc. It's natural to want to assign responsibility for the loss to a single major issue, but there's plenty of blame to spread around for this loss.

Our Defense gave up 49 if you count the end of the game where Pitt's backup offense had 1st and goal from the 2 and kneeled to end the game.

 

[tsrich]

Our Defense gave up 49 if you count the end of the game where Pitt's backup offense had 1st and goal from the 2 and kneeled to end the game.

I have a feeling Pitt could have scored more in the second half if they kept their intensity and played starters the whole game. Our D didn't have a way to stop their passing game

 

[bobongo]

Our D didn't have a way to stop their passing game

If we had an offensive line, we could have slowed it down with ball control and offset their success in the air by scoring. But we don't, so we couldn't.

 

[bobongo]

Appreciate the responses @CuseJacket - also want to be clear I am not advocating for moving Gibbs out of the RB room to a full time slot guy.

I am more saying it was frustrating watching us call him up the middle through gaps that weren't opening all day. Seeing him held to -10 yards was the effect of bad play calling IMHO more than his ability. You're right the coach doesn't call a "miss your block" play but by the 3rd quarter we should have seen that it just wasn't there on the day.

Coaches often use something to show it and then set up future plays but I just didn't see that in the game. I didn't mind previous staff doing the "integrity play" of a gut punch dive over and over to keep defenses honest - but when it isn't there and we don't seem to be setting up something off of it then we run the risk of frustrating our players. Coaches don't care, and rightly so, about our head space while watching the games but I would hate to loose the buy in from players from them knowing their being asked to do something that just isn't working.

That said, I agree 100% I was happy to see Gibbs getting involved in the pass pro as it has been an area of his game that people on this board have called out as a weakness (fairly or not, I loved seeing his get that pop in there).

Yeah, getting him in space somewhat and throwing to him out of the backfield made sense and it worked. Running him up the middle with our offensive line was just wasted plays.

 

[awbuzz]

Money down = Bankrupt

... Pitt loved it. Link

 

[awbuzz]

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.....

O line freshman did play and were some/most of the problem on the failures... Mostly they played due to injuries elsewhere

 

[Pointer]

Clemson ain't all that so probably not as difficult as some thought originally.

 

[cthenrys]

... Pitt loved it. Link

Live by the hype machine die by the hype machine. Makes us just look silly.