Spring Game Postgame Thread

GTRambler

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My impressions:

It was OK. Not much difference from the spring games of several other teams that I’ve watched on TV this spring. Our team, offensively, now looks a lot like just about everyone else.

Only one big difference, though; our “new” offense showed every play operating from the gun, whereas the spring-game UGA and Clemson offenses showed more multiplicity with more looks and formations from both under center and gun.

I suspect this is by design at this stage early in the installation process, as Patenaude probably wanted to introduce and focus on the basic building blocks of his system first, with the emphasis on passing. However, the lack of plays from under center concern me. But I think — and I hope — the running game will not be overlooked, as every team should first have a strong running game to make its passing more effective.

Pass protection was good at times and poor at other times. There was a general lack of consistency in this area, especially when in the gun on every play. However, the run blocking looked good, especially during the first two quarters. I think run blocking remains a strength of the OL, and should not be minimized.

Wide receivers looked very good across the board. I think we are in excellent shape there. In fact, I’m excited about that!

I had expected to see a bit more from the slotbacks, but perhaps the plays just didn’t happen to develop and go their way much.

All of the running backs looked good, especially Mason, Malloy (sp.?), and Howard. I like our team’s depth and talent there, and I believe Patenaude would be wise to focus more in the fall on the development of a sound and strong running attack, to better complement the run-blocking abilities of the offensive line.

At QB, it’s apparent Lucas Johnson has won the starting job. James Graham looked good early in the game, and a bit more skittish later in the game, likely due to a combination of his pass protection breaking down and his receivers being covered. But Graham showed electric wheels when he was able to run with the ball. His TD run was a thing of beauty! Some designed quarterback keeps and read-option plays from under center would make Graham a dangerous threat, and should not be overlooked in future game plans. Lucas Johnson has good abilities in these areas, too.

A big surprise, to me, was the play of that other QB, a left-hander named Lantz (sp.?), who threw some very nice balls from the gun to open receivers for good yardage. And we didn’t even see what Tobias Oliver could do in the new system, as he was held out due to injury. I love our depth at quarterback!

Defensively, lots of holes remain. Oh, gee. Our team is sorely lacking up front along the DL and at MLB. Even though the defense as a whole was limited to a handful of basic calls, it still remains a work in progress along the DL and interior linebackers.

All of the DBs looked much better, though, and in general they tackled much better than they did last year. I view this as a big improvement.

Finally, if I had a suggestion to make to Coach Collins, I would recommend that he send his OC Patenaude and OL Coach Key to Ralph Friedgen’s house for two weeks, to pick his brain on how to implement a potent multiple run-pass offensive system.

That wraps it up for me. And I’m just a fan, certainly not an expert, and not a coach.
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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You can’t take anything away from this game. It was an infomercial for recruits which featured the change in offensive mentality. Hence, all the passing and lack of defense. That is what was needed for Collins in his rebranding effort. We will run the ball a lot more in actual games. I’m very impressed with Collins attention to detail in his rebranding campaign.
 
Dustman

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wesgt123 said:
Some observations from my mother. She is one who is still much attached to CPJ, and not handling change well. The following seasons are going to be interesting from her lolllll

Comments from mom:

-We’re like Miami now
-They played that rock music that you would like the whole time the band wasn’t playing
-What’s the 404? Nobody I asked knew
-It’s boring football again. Just passing and running

I tried to talk her off her ledge, but it was no use. This is gonna be fun lol she also thinks our coach danced around with the players like “Mark Richt did with his thugs.”
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Did she call you from the Marta train? I think I was sitting behind her.
 
Milwaukee

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wesgt123 said:
Some observations from my mother. She is one who is still much attached to CPJ, and not handling change well. The following seasons are going to be interesting from her lolllll

Comments from mom:

-We’re like Miami now
-They played that rock music that you would like the whole time the band wasn’t playing
-What’s the 404? Nobody I asked knew
-It’s boring football again. Just passing and running

I tried to talk her off her ledge, but it was no use. This is gonna be fun lol she also thinks our coach danced around with the players like “Mark Richt did with his thugs.”
Click to expand...

Your mom sounds a lot like @Animal02 , @dressedcheeseside, @takethepoints , and @gtrower. LMAO. This is gonna be a fun 4 or 5 year stretch at the least, or is it 7? Either way, I'm stocked up on popcorn! I wonder if we can get those 5 together on a podcast or something for all of our listening pleasure.
 

RyanS12

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Milwaukee said:
If I'm DP I don't know why you seriously wouldn't keep a package of our flexbone with a whole bevy of plays. The players know it, it's smash mouth, and can come in handy. Especially in short yardage since it looks like he may not ever go under center (of course this was just a scrimmage and they didn't wanna show a ton of looks). We were ridiculously vanilla on D and very much so on O as well. We don't want too much tape to be out on us. But why not incorporate a flexbone package with Tobias under center, Benson/Howard/Griffin at BB, and Griffin/Cottrell/Jarrett at AB for certain situations. It would be a great opportunity imho. 2, 3, 4 times a game in short yardage situations. Would give defenses absolute fits after scheming for the spread read option 4 wide attack all game.

Maybe I'm overthinking it. But I wanna see us under center and able to play some power football. You can't win against the big boys going 4 wide and trying to run the ball in short yardage situations from the gun.

Time will tell. I want a true multiple offense. I'm not going to be happy if we never go under center and try to run the zone reads EAST/WEST style running attack without attacking the line of scrimmage. I think it would be super cool to Paul and he could even consult just on a small package of plays. That's how you leverage everything you have at your fingertips, Geoff. Paul can still help us imo.
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I’m with ya on this. I love the new look but if we could throw in some variation of the 3O in the playbook, especially since the kids know it, we could be very dangerous on offense this year.
 
Milwaukee

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MonroeJacket said:
Yea...no. Those were the slickest gold tops we’ve EVER worn besides 2006. And don’t outline the numbers with navy. I think the white block numbers on gold, no stripes, no nothin’. Classy.

Gotta wear white pants though.
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Completely agree, I mentioned this in the post game thread. Those jerseys were FIRE. White pants and you can either rock the Gold hat or the White hat and it will still look great. Why am I so blessed?
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

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wesgt123 said:
Some observations from my mother. She is one who is still much attached to CPJ, and not handling change well. The following seasons are going to be interesting from her lolllll

Comments from mom:

-We’re like Miami now
-They played that rock music that you would like the whole time the band wasn’t playing
-What’s the 404? Nobody I asked knew
-It’s boring football again. Just passing and running

I tried to talk her off her ledge, but it was no use. This is gonna be fun lol she also thinks our coach danced around with the players like “Mark Richt did with his thugs.”
Click to expand...
Hell, they played that rock music even when the band was playing. Makes no sense.
 
Dustman

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wesgt123 said:
I’m not sure if she took MARTA this time, but she has before. And it’s possible she called my brother lol did you overhear those exact comments?
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I was sitting near an older couple that called their son from the train, asking about the 404.
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

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wesgt123 said:
Not enough gold, too much gold. Make your mind up, old man:rolleyes::ROFLMAO:
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Generally speaking, regardless of the color, unis with the same color jerseys and pants don't look good. I didn't like blue on blue, and not just because it was blue, and I don't like gold on gold. The white team's unis looked much better, because of the contrast between the jerseys and pants, plus the numbers were outlined on those white jerseys.
 
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