Postgame: ND 31-GT 13

[takethepoints]

Went to the game, despite my longstanding dislike of MBS. It takes longer to get where you are going and it is harder to get out of then any other stadium in my experience. The old stadium (Old? They tore it down about half way through its useful life.) was vastly superior, imho; especially in seating and egress. But I digress. What about the game?

• With a healthy King Tech could have won this game. We sorely missed his running today; part of what makes the team work is his ability to run the option and his superior speed. Pyron did his best - and he did alright - but the team was not the same with him at the helm. Part of that is probably due to lack of experience with big games, but that does make a difference.

• And now you know why the run game didn't work very well today. Well, that and a few of the common mistakes when you have someone new calling signals. Also, where were the QB power plays? When you have a new QB on the field, he's a strong runner, and slow developing plays have less chance against a good run D, you run the QB. Or, at least, that's what I would have done. It's probably all that watching Army htis year.

• The Mr. Hyde of the special teams showed up again today. Why should there have been a bad snap on a field goal try? There shouldn't have been. There were a couple of low punts too. And why did we keep running the ball back once they suddenly woke up to find Singleton returning KOs? True, he came close to breaking a couple, but it got worse as time went on.

* I don't have anything to say much about the D. They were worn down as the game went on, but they played pretty well. Leonard suddenly looked like his old self today after being in hibernation for most of the year. He gave us fits when he was at Puke and that continued today. The main reason we had D trouble, however, was our trouble on O.

• Oh, and the refs sucked.

Well, let's hope that King is ok for Miami. They are not as good as their record, imho, and with King healthy or even 85% Tech can beat them.

 

[Thwg777]

I’m guessing we’re about a 5 pt underdog to VT, 15 pt underdog to Miami, 5 pt favorite to NCST, and 24 pt underdog to u(sic)ga. Roughly 1.2 wins is the expected average outcome over the next 4 games.

 

[GaTech4ever]

Well, you've successfully cherry picked the worst moments. We had some good ones, too, and we hung in with #12 until the fourth quarter.

I think what’s making it hard to stomach is the numerous self-inflicted wounds when it was the game we’re supposed to be locked in the most. It’s the best team we played, and we played them without our starting QB or MLB. You gotta help the guys out. You just can’t hurt your team over and over by messing up the little things - whether you’re a coach or a player.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

You guys who believe ND is some kind of juggernaut are crazy. They are an above average team and that’s it. Our team from the Gasparilla Bowl would beat the team we are today by 2 touchdowns. No improvement at all this season so far. But, at least we beat UNC.

 

[Root4GT]

interesting that Navy and Army are probably there 2 toughest remaining games.

Yea who would have guessed that before the season with FSU and USC on their remaining schedule. ND is physically superior to both Army and Navy. How they deal with the Academy offenses will decide the game. ND will score on both.

 

[Tech93]

Our team looks off this year and undisciplined. We’ve had way too many false starts the past two games. Too many missed tackles and our D backs never play the ball. Pyron is not as quick as King in the run game. We haven’t had a downfield pass game all year which hurts badly. ST is horrible. I thought we’d be better than last year, especially on offense so it’s disappointing but I’m starting to get used to us being an average to below average football team.

 

[AugustaSwarm]

I think we've all forgotten what a pass rush even looks like. Yet another game with no sacks. The combination of poor tackling and no pass rush from DL is killing us. When we blitz, we don't sack the QB and they dump it off. We miss the tackles and give up the conversion.

 

[Root4GT]

Our team looks off this year and undisciplined. We’ve had way too many false starts the past two games. Too many missed tackles and our D backs never play the ball. Pyron is not as quick as King in the run game. We haven’t had a downfield pass game all year which hurts badly. ST is horrible. I thought we’d be better than last year, especially on offense so it’s disappointing but I’m starting to get used to us being an average to below average football team.

This team is similar to last year's team overall. An average college football team. The defense is better. Gone are the explosive offensive plays for the most part. Not sure why. King may have been dinged up for a while. It's very hard to score TDs when you need 12+ play drives to score. That has been our MO for most of our TDs.

Our Special Teams cost the Defense two defensive stops by falling for the Fake Kicks. Our defense simply is not good enough to have to go back out and stop an offense again after they just successfully did so.

WE had 2 Interceptions against us. Two ND first downs on Fake Kicks and botched 2 less than 40 yard FGs.

Basically that is 6 turnovers in a game. No chance to win playing that way.

 

[jgtengineer]

I think we've all forgotten what a pass rush even looks like. Yet another game with no sacks. The combination of poor tackling and no pass rush from DL is killing us. When we blitz, we don't sack the QB and they dump it off. We miss the tackles and give up the conversion.

We should have had 2 sacks tackling was the issue today.

 

[Techwood Relict]

I think we've all forgotten what a pass rush even looks like. Yet another game with no sacks.

As a Falcons homer to go with my Yellow Jacket fandom, the lack of pass rush feels uncomfortably familiar......

 

[Backstreetbuzz]

As always, it’s a combination of things. ND is stronger, faster and quicker than we are, particularly on the OL and DL. However, our coaching is also sub par. You cannot out physical a team that is significantly superior to you. Our pass offense, be it slants, over the middle or long is basically non-existant. We have got to get some receivers open.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I wonder if we’re not practicing tackling anymore at this point in the season. We’re pretty banged up. whatever it is we suck at it.

 

[GaTech4ever]

I wonder if we’re not practicing tackling anymore at this point in the season. We’re pretty banged up. whatever it is we suck at it.

PFF’s early calculations show 5 of our 12 missed tackles against ND were by our starting linebackers. Worst tackling grade since FSU in 2022 (again still their early calculation - will be revised over the next 2 days).

Kyle Efford has missed 3 tackles all season.

 

[FredJacket]

What am I missing? I guess its what to expect a few hours after a loss. But really... how is the season going? The program?

If you'd have told me before season started that after 8 games...
- 5 wins
- 3 losses to teams with a combined 15-5 record
- Unbeaten at Bobby Dodd

I'll take it. The trend is positive.

 

[57jacket]

What was the score of the last game we played against ND? Compare it to this please.
On the QB runs you could see several times where King's speed would have made a big difference.
We are making progess, but it is going to take another year or two to accumulate the DL / LB we need.
Regarding the OL pass protection, Pyron held the ball too long and/or the called plays were too long developing.
Why do we never call quick slants over the middle? Lack of a pass catching TE?
Buster does the best he can with the talent he has. The D played to their ability. The ST sucked!

 

[jgtengineer]

What was the score of the last game we played against ND? Compare it to this please.
On the QB runs you could see several times where King's speed would have made a big difference.
We are making progess, but it is going to take another year or two to accumulate the DL / LB we need.
Regarding the OL pass protection, Pyron held the ball too long and/or the called plays were too long developing.
Why do we never call quick slants over the middle? Lack of a pass catching TE?
Buster does the best he can with the talent he has. The D played to their ability. The ST sucked!

ND was doing a good job taking away the inside release all night. Pyron had a few very ill advised throws into that. They were determined to not let the "look" concept RPO beat them.

 

[Gold1]

wtf is wrong with this dude?

 

[Bogey]

I am not trying to be an *** but how would you feel if you can only make it to one game a year because of how expensive it has become and that was what you saw?

Someone with any sense of college football and such a big desire to see us matchup well with our opponent would not have picked this game to attend. Our players played hard all game against an opponent who has much more overall speed, size, and talent than us. You have no appreciation of the effort our kids displayed last night.

 

[stinger78]

I hear you. I said the same thing right before kickoff. But the units that were left played pretty poorly. It’s just hard to take too many positives away from this one. Easily the worst game played this year.

Against easily the best team. Yes, that other team does impact the way you play. Watch any of the UGAg-UTA game last night?

 

[stinger78]

I don't think you're taking into proper account the team on the other side of the ball. It's the best team we've played all year. That was a probable playoff team.

Folks that say this… I wonder if they ever even played competitive sports. You can have the right call, with near perfect execution, and the other team can still out execute or make a play and shut you down. There are two teams on the field. Both of them are making plays. Far more often than not the better team will make more plays.