Reasons to be optimistic!

[GTBandman]

If we don’t teach our QBs to look somewhere other than the primary receiver we are going to get three picks. The endzone interception was by the safety who just went right where he was looking and jumped the route. Doesn’t matter how strong your arm is. Even Pre-game warmups should practice this as routine and we don’t. We practice staring at the target from the get-go. That isn’t pro-style offense in any sense of the word and it isn’t that hard to fix immediately.

I’m optimistic we will fix it Saturday and cause the UNCheaters to faint from surprise!

 

[iceeater1969]

I cited yards/play rankings not points/drive.

I really think people are failing to appreciate that USF, Temple, and the Citadel are not power-house offenses.

Let's just look at Clemson's yard/play on offense:
vs. GT - 8.00
vs A&M - 5.72
vs Cuse - 8.62
vs Char - 7.28
vs unc - 5.43

The difference between us and Cuse is that they threw the ball more and better against them - 9.3 ypa for 42 att comp to 7.4 ypa for 30 att against us. Perhaps the reason for that is that they ran the ball 8.39 ypc against us (49 carries) versus 7.62 ypc (29 carries) against them.

By comparison, they averaged 6.89 ypc against us last year, 7.7 ypa, resulting in 7.27 ypp against us.

Thanks for presenting a clear reason or point of optimism.

I am optimistic because we are so bad now.

I think there are plenty of places to rain - how about a specific stand alone , thing that you see as just slightly positive.

 

[AE 87]

Thanks for presenting a clear reason or point of optimism.

I am optimistic because we are so bad now.

I think there are plenty of places to rain - how about a specific stand alone , thing that you see as just slightly positive.

I agree with CGC:
The juice crew never gives up. They are on the sidelines jumping and being energetic like elite teams apparently do. We have guys that are relentlessly positive going to our players on the sideline and passing on juice and energy. effort

 

[GTJake]

Optimistic = I'm not worried about the players, I think we will get the players.
Concerned = I'm more concerned about our Coaching staff gaining the experience to make the right game-plan and in-game decisions and coaching the players.
This is where I'm at right now from the early returns and small sample size of 4 games ... I'm not that concerned about 2019 W/L's.

 

[Skeptic]

If people want to put their head in the sand, there is no reason to take a picture.

We are #118 in ypp offense and #72 in ypp defense after playing 2 Gp5 and 1FCS in addition to CU.

Don't get me wrong. I'm optimistic about the future, but I'm not foolish enough to say we've seen enough on the field to give us reason for optimism. On the contrary, I think we should be optimistic because it's just so hard to believe that we'll stay this bad all season. Getting better every day; clear vision of where we're going to be; good teammates loving each other; relentless effort ...

actually, I would love to have that picture.

 

[alagold]

I;m pretty sure some unsuspecting team will wander onto GF this yr and get upset by us.When, don't know and it will take a bunch of better play.

 

[Jmonty71]

I guess we can look at it this way... We can't get much worse. So, there is nothing but an upswing coming. Until then, we will just get embarrassed game over game, this year.

 

[1939hotmagic]

You're right. We're clearly a shut down D, except for when we're not. We're #96 in 3rd down D.

Your outdated reference to "3rd down" has been reported to the appropriate authorities. "Money down" is the proper phrase per New Regime Newspeak.

 

[tech_wreck47]

I cited yards/play rankings not points/drive.

I really think people are failing to appreciate that USF, Temple, and the Citadel are not power-house offenses.

Let's just look at Clemson's yard/play on offense:
vs. GT - 8.00
vs A&M - 5.72
vs Cuse - 8.62
vs Char - 7.28
vs unc - 5.43

The difference between us and Cuse is that they threw the ball more and better against them - 9.3 ypa for 42 att comp to 7.4 ypa for 30 att against us. Perhaps the reason for that is that they ran the ball 8.39 ypc against us (49 carries) versus 7.62 ypc (29 carries) against them.

By comparison, they averaged 6.89 ypc against us last year, 7.7 ypa, resulting in 7.27 ypp against us.

My point of the post was to show why to be optimistic by subtracting Clemson. The other teams we have played are a lot closer in ability to what we will see the rest of the year compared to Clemson. Clemson was also our very first game under the new staff and we held them to under 200 yards passing with 2 int’s. I think that in its self is something to be optimistic about. It’s all about how you look at it though.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

I don’t get why folks say things about Graham about picks or making plays for the other teams. The guy has barely seen the field since leaving high school. I expect him to be rusty and to makes mistakes because he hasn’t been playing. If we had named him the starter from day 1 which was obvious he would have 16 quarters under his belt and the rust would be gone. But instead we’ve played this game with the QB’s and so we still haven’t scratched the surface of what Graham can do. I’m a South Georgia guy and Graham is a player, but like all play makers he has to be on the field to make plays.

 

[99in99]

I don’t get why folks say things about Graham about picks or making plays for the other teams. The guy has barely seen the field since leaving high school. I expect him to be rusty and to makes mistakes because he hasn’t been playing. If we had named him the starter from day 1 which was obvious he would have 16 quarters under his belt and the rust would be gone. But instead we’ve played this game with the QB’s and so we still haven’t scratched the surface of what Graham can do. I’m a South Georgia guy and Graham is a player, but like all play makers he has to be on the field to make plays.

He should've received more PT last season - it's bizarre why he didn't see the field more. We had at least 2 games he could've seen significant PT.

 

[iceeater1969]

I agree with CGC:
The juice crew never gives up. They are on the sidelines jumping and being energetic like elite teams apparently do. We have guys that are relentlessly positive going to our players on the sideline and passing on juice and energy. effort

Mocking is not pretty but since its the best u can do , it will have to do

 

[AE 87]

Mocking is not pretty but since its the best u can do , it will have to do

What part of my post is an inaccurate representation of what CGC said in his last presser?

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

With all the downers around I figured I’d give reasons to be optimistic.

Defensive stats (minus Clemson since that’s not the competition we will see the rest of the year)

PPG allowed: 20.33 (including 10 points off of turnovers in our own red zone)
YPG allowed: 305.33 (including overtime against Citadel)

Our defense can keep us in games if the offense can clean some things up.

On offense we finally may have a QB who can do what CDP wants to do. We seemed to have an identity this past game on offense and actually moved the ball. If it wasn’t for some simple mistakes that can/should be cleaned up we could have score 21+ points. I think we showed the ability to score on offense, we just can’t really afford mistakes at this stage in the transition.


As far as the schedule goes, most every team we play has not looked that good. This actually seems like a good year for a transition.

Anyone else got reason for optimism?

Can we omit stats from the Citadel game also since we won’t be seeing that competition again this year either?

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

You're right. We're clearly a shut down D, except for when we're not. We're #96 in 3rd down D.

That’s money down not 3rd down. Get with the program already sheesh.

 

[FLTech]

With all the downers around I figured I’d give reasons to be optimistic.

Defensive stats (minus Clemson since that’s not the competition we will see the rest of the year)

PPG allowed: 20.33 (including 10 points off of turnovers in our own red zone)
YPG allowed: 305.33 (including overtime against Citadel)

Our defense can keep us in games if the offense can clean some things up.

On offense we finally may have a QB who can do what CDP wants to do. We seemed to have an identity this past game on offense and actually moved the ball. If it wasn’t for some simple mistakes that can/should be cleaned up we could have score 21+ points. I think we showed the ability to score on offense, we just can’t really afford mistakes at this stage in the transition.


As far as the schedule goes, most every team we play has not looked that good. This actually seems like a good year for a transition.

Anyone else got reason for optimism?

I actually think this is one of the beater defenses I have seen but and there’s a bit.. we haven’t played anyone decent except for clemson

 

[Stinger21]

I know there have been a lot of disappointments and irritable moments up until this part of the season. Y’all just hold on, things will get better! If you can’t notice the improvements and realize that this is going to be a process, then I do not know what to tell you. We all knew this year wasn’t going to be too much fun. We all knew we were going to take our licks. But guess what, each and everyone of you keep coming back week after week hang in there fellas and all this will be worth the ride in the long run!

 

[jeffgt14]

We got this guy Not Sure...

 

[iceeater1969]

I agree with CGC:
The juice crew never gives up. They are on the sidelines jumping and being energetic like elite teams apparently do. We have guys that are relentlessly positive going to our players on the sideline and passing on juice and energy. effort

dancers "like elite teams apparently do- a clear falsehood to set up your mocking.

 

[BCJacket]

This year was always going to suck. It has sucked worse at times than I thought going in. The injuries on the OL were exactly where we could least afford them.

But, what I saw yesterday was what I expected this season to look like. A not very good team got beat by a more talented team. Unlike some other games, we didn't beat ourselves.

There are a lot of areas for improvement, but we get a little improvement in some of them and we could be an ok team, then a decent team, then a good team... Graham can be a P5 shotgun QB. If we get him a little protection and experience, he'll be just fine. Brown and Sanders are legit receivers. Our secondary is solid. (I know they got almost 600 yds, but they ran 98 plays.)

Let me repeat - this year was always going to suck. But now it looks like next year's team will have a ton of young talent with experience, Graham at QB1, (Yates at QB2?), Cooper and Lee back as RS Srs to shore up the line, Clayton at DE, Camp back and Ezzard eligible to bolster the receiving corps. Oliver at a skill position? And some really exciting Fr who can compete for playing time.

We should look at this year as a mulligan. One long scrimmage to get experience and practice and learn for the future. Enjoy the good moments, shake your head at the flubs. The transition is hard, but we shouldn't be this bad again for a very long time.