Quality Losses

YJMD

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It's amazing to think how close we are to a top 5-10 ranked team. But really we've been in this general vicinity a lot of times. We're not good enough to separate and expect to win those close games consistently.
 

takethepoints

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6,096
I really think this comes down to the weather. All the focus in the world can't fool Mother Nature.

If we have dry fields in the games we lost in heavy rain, we lose to Clemson (probably). But even that game might have been contestable on a dry field. Oth, if we played all these teams again now on a dry field, we'd probably lose to both Clemson and da U; Miami has a lot of confidence these days and that counts.

And one thing about the wet: it hurts our O, but it hurts our D more. We depend a lot on speed, stunts, and blitzes to make up for our continuing lack of size on the front four. That's harder in a pouring rain. And, of course, when you are passing the ball, a wet field favors the O; the WRs know where they are going and the DBs can't cut or recover as easily. In my playing days, the DCs (to use modern terms) I played under hated the rain for just that reason.

Good news = NOAA says no rain on Saturday. Hope that holds up.
 
Madison Grant

Madison Grant

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Animal02 said:
And that had little to nothing to do with focus.
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What was it then? Did you watch that game? UVA kept up the intensity and were bouncing up and down on the sideline even when they were down 2 tds. They willed their way past us. You have to match the intensity and focus of your opponent, and we didn't in Charlottesville. We expected them to die like UNC and Pitt, and they hit us back in the mouth. Lesson learned. Don't lose your FOCUS in that situation when a team is at home, has played terrible a couple of weeks in a row, needs to beat you to get to 6 wins, and obviously has gotten motivated for you. UVA was viewing us as a redemption game.
 
UgaBlows

UgaBlows

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Animal02 said:
It has little to do with focus. Endurance and depth are the primary issues. Also size of our DBs
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YES! Winning, and go-ahead Touchdowns thrown against us vs. UT, UM, and UVA were well defended but out of reach by our short DB's.
 

Animal02

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Madison Grant said:
What was it then? Did you watch that game? UVA kept up the intensity and were bouncing up and down on the sideline even when they were down 2 tds. They willed their way past us. You have to match the intensity and focus of your opponent, and we didn't in Charlottesville. We expected them to die like UNC and Pitt, and they hit us back in the mouth. Lesson learned. Don't lose your FOCUS in that situation when a team is at home, has played terrible a couple of weeks in a row, needs to beat you to get to 6 wins, and obviously has gotten motivated for you. UVA was viewing us as a redemption game.
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Anybody that thinks players and or coaches "lose focus" in a close game like that is just foolish.
 
LibertyTurns

LibertyTurns

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Animal02 said:
Anybody that thinks players and or coaches "lose focus" in a close game like that is just foolish.
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They’re teaching all this BS in business school and it’s trickling its way down to sports message boards now.

How about if we want to win more we start improving something so the margin of error is greater every game and your chances of losing decrease?
 

Oldgoldandwhite

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What is a quality loss? Is it almost losing? Is it almost winning? Almost having a touchdown?
I guess Alabama had a quality loss to Clemson last year?
 

Sideways

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LibertyTurns said:
They’re teaching all this BS in business school and it’s trickling its way down to sports message boards now.

How about if we want to win more we start improving something so the margin of error is greater every game and your chances of losing decrease?
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UGA was "focused" Saturday night and got run slap dab over by the Plainsmen.
 
Madison Grant

Madison Grant

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Animal02 said:
Anybody that thinks players and or coaches "lose focus" in a close game like that is just foolish.
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Losing focus makes a close game out of what was a 15 point lead. Ex, taking a bad risk and throwing a dumb pick = losing focus. Getting sloppy on coverage technique and getting beat = losing focus. No need to insult people and call them 'foolish'. Hopefully, the players and coaches are not so full of pride that they are not able to critique themselves. Losing focus happens all the time and leads to dumb mistakes. If not, what the hell is CPJ doing when he's chewing someone's butt on the sideline?
 
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