Syracuse Post Game

[bobongo]

I don't think we can take from one loss, a conference game on the road to a probably underrated team to mean that we're in serious trouble. You can pull out all the stats and argue this and that but too much is made about what Syracuse did against Ohio. It was their first game of the season, and usually teams get their biggest improvement between games one and two. Also, as I understand it Syracuse has a lot of transfers who probably played better as a team against Tech than Ohio. Just stepping back and looking at the big picture, I don't see reason for dismay. We're 2-1 which is about what we expected at this point in the season. There's always reason for concern, but insufficient reason to become pessimistic over one loss, on the road in the conference, by a field goal. Our course has not changed from the upward trajectory we were on. We're still on it.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I think it's better to bank on a 3rd down stop but a lot of people seem to forget we still had another set of downs to get a stop and we didn't

Lol they would have been 2nd and 22 from their own 14 yard line. If they throw an incomplete pass on 2nd and 22 we still have 3 timeouts if they hit a 12 years pass they are right back where they were and D would still have to make a 3rd and 10 stop. It’s was a terrible decision to play for an extra timeout when you don’t even have the ball yet.

2nd and 22 from their own 14 yard line would make even a gunslinger like McCord pause and might make him nervous. I would have brought the house on the next play and see just how much composure he had with Efford or Tatum coming at him full steam. Might not have worked but 3rd and 22 with an incomplete pass would have been sweaty palms time for Syracuse.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Man I won’t get over this one for at least two weeks.

We were out coached. Their coordinators outsmarted ours. Period.

Took us too long to throw the ball around. I understand the need to run the ball, but we had no creativity when it was obvious to everyone (except Faulkner obviously) that we couldn’t run it in this team.

I truly don’t understand our dedication to the bubble pass. Also, why are we not putting the ball in Boyd’s hands more? I thought Faulkner wasa TE guy. Boyd looks like he could be a weapon.

Santucci needs to do some self reflecting also. Way too committed to cover 2 and way to committed to “keeping the play in front” . Meaning… nowhere near aggressive enough.

Overall defense did NOT cost us the game. Our offense never got rolling.

A ton to learn from but hopefully they figure it out within the next two weeks. We have to open the playbook up, Trust king to throw the ball when needed, get aggressive on D, and find some freaking urgency in our 2 minute offenses!

Oh, GREAT JOB SPECIAL TEAMS! #GoJackets

We are not the only ones throwing the bubble screen. It seems like, (probably not but I am given to hyperbole anyway) every game I watched had bubble screens being thrown usually unsuccessfully. I don't get it either unless coordinators think it makes them look smart.

 

[awbuzz]

Well as the saying goes, If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, wouldn't it be a Merry Christmas?
"If" x (accept penalty and replay down) doesn't guarantee y (the D would stop them).

All of the Monday morning quarterbacking is wonderful if all of the "ifs" and "buts" became candy and nuts. Granted, some people would say that they didn't like certain portions of the candy or they were allergic to nuts.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I don't think we can take from one loss, a conference game on the road to a probably underrated team to mean that we're in serious trouble. You can pull out all the stats and argue this and that but too much is made about what Syracuse did against Ohio. It was their first game of the season, and usually teams get their biggest improvement between games one and two. Also, as I understand it Syracuse has a lot of transfers who probably played better as a team against Tech than Ohio. Just stepping back and looking at the big picture, I don't see reason for dismay. We're 2-1 which is about what we expected at this point in the season. There's always reason for concern, but insufficient reason to become pessimistic over one loss, on the road in the conference, by a field goal. Our course has not changed from the upward trajectory we were on. We're still on it.

We are not in "serious trouble" just facing the same dilemma as a lot of teams with capable offenses that look like gangbusters for long stretches but ultimately undone by poor defense. The difference between the "Haves" in college football now and the "Have nots" (that's us) is DEFENSE.

 

[AugustaSwarm]

We left SOOO many opportunities on the field yesterday.
It’s not as if we were outclassed. O was sluggish, which was surprising.

By the way on the two big plays everyone is over analyzing…

The 2nd down play where the chop block was committed; the ball nearly hit Burrell in the back of the head. He had a good game overall, so no knocking him, but if he finds that football, it’s a pick 6 and all that follows is irrelevant.

On the 3rd down completion immediately following that, we had a DE in McCords face and the DT (I think) had his arms around McCords waist. Our DB was draped on the receiver too… ball was perfect and catch was not easy. Cuse made a clutch play

I think we were outclassed in the first half - specifically our offense. Their D bowed up and physically dominated the LOS. They were all over our OL and we struggled to get any push on the LOS.

McCord is a stud. In the second half, we did change things a bit and began to blitz more often and/or more effectively. But McCord was really good. I'm not sure that we could have schemed things any better vs a QB that was so on point.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Well as the saying goes, "If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, wouldn't it be a Merry Christmas?
"If" x (accept penalty and replay down) doesn't guarantee y (the D would stop them).

All of the Monday morning quarterbacking is wonderful if all of the "ifs" and "buts" became candy and nuts. Granted, some people would say that they didn't like certain portions of the candy or they were allergic to nuts.

Go away Buzz. All this arguing is what makes it fun to be a fan. Its like that old Charlie Brown cartoon where he is playing cops and robbers with his buddies and Lucy observes that he really likes the game and Charlie replies I hate the game its the arguing I like (arguing about whether someone is down from a shot or not)

 

[roadkill]

If you don't know which one it is, you either already have it on ignore, or it is so well camouflaged that you can't tell.

Or I have the OP on ignore, which works just as well.

 

[AugustaSwarm]

This was us:

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

“95% of the time.”

You see the problem, right?

What happened in the other 5% of cases? You apparently assume that those represent wrong decisions. Perhaps they do, perhaps they don’t. I’ve heard many a coach say over the years that sometimes you make a decision because you know where you are in the game at that moment. Those circumstances are sometimes unique and are outside the regular metrics. You clearly disagree, and I appreciate your thoughtful opinions about this, but just want you to understand that some of us think this was that 5% situation. Our defense was gassed and asking them to get one stop on 3rd and long seemed a more reasonable ask than asking them to stay on the field longer with the other team either running clock or forcing you to use timeouts. It didn’t work so that makes it easier to say it was the wrong decision but that, in my mind does not guarantee that the other decision would have worked better.

I understand Stinger but disagree. 2nd and 22 from your own 14 will give any quarterback pause especially if the other team brings the blitz.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

For those having excessive meltdowns this weekend I'd like to suggest that you look into a few games from prior Tech seasons.

1990 - North Carolina / Virginia Tech
1998 - Boston College
1999 - Virginia / Wake Forest
2000 - UCF
2008 - Gardner Webb / Virginia
2009 - Wake Forest
2014 - Georgia Southern / Duke / North Carolina

There are some tight wins and questionable losses (and even a tie) in there, yet we managed to have some awesome seasons in the process. Just chill out and watch what happens.

That is a measured and optimistic take but ignores the fact that all of those teams were a lot better than this one.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Assuming we best VMI the Louisville game will show us whether or not we have solved some matchup problems or whether we just don’t have the personnel this year to compete at a higher level.

I don't believe we do have the necessary personnel but maybe they will bounce back against Louisville. I just don't think a team with a porous defense can be labeled as being at a "higher level".

 

[yeti92]

16 of McCord's 32 completions were for 10+ yards, and 7 of those were 20+ yards. I don't see any reason to think McCord is suddenly going to be scared having two downs to complete a pass or two he'd been completing all game.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

16 of McCord's 32 completions were for 10+ yards, and 7 of those were 20+ yards. I don't see any reason to think McCord is suddenly going to be scared having two downs to complete a pass or two he'd been completing all game.

He might be scared if on 2nd and 22 he sees Efford coming at him full bore...that should frighten any quarterback. I would have taken the penalty put them on the 14 and brought the house on second down.

 

[bobongo]

Ok. So do we just shut up and let this board go dormant? What must we do?

I mean, that’s a great list of examples to bear in mind, but can we not discuss opinions on what happened yesterday? Please?

No one should suggest that - only to point out the other side of the coin, the bright spots as well. After a win, the deficiencies are minimized. After a loss, the deficiencies are magnified. After Saturday, we'll be 3-1 and on schedule. But by all means we should feel free to discuss our team warts and all.

 

[roadkill]

He might be scared if on 2nd and 22 he sees Efford coming at him full bore...that should frighten any quarterback. I would have taken the penalty put them on the 14 and brought the house on second down.

Ok, I’ll play.
If we bring the house, McCord simply bails to his checkdown, who scoots away for a 17 yard gain because we had no one covering him. Meanwhile, another 5-10 seconds run off the clock before Key can call a timeout…see how this works?

Edit to add: I didn't factor in the increased odds of us getting a roughing the passer call after "bringing the house" down on McCord.

 

[bobongo]

He might be scared if on 2nd and 22 he sees Efford coming at him full bore...that should frighten any quarterback. I would have taken the penalty put them on the 14 and brought the house on second down.

He completed a lot of passes under pressure. Stood cool and got rid of it in the nick of time. I do agree we should have applied more pressure though, at all costs. But there's hardly any strong indication it would have worked.

 

[g0lftime]

The coaches have seen where we have deficiencies. Good coaches will make improvements. Let's hope we see them. The last 2 qb's got the ball out pretty quick and we gave the receivers space. I hope we can tighten that up.

 

[GT33]

Key always bets on our team. I wouldn't expect him to change. He bet the D could get a stop on 3rd & 10. If it worked out, he's a freaking genius because we likely win the game.

I would have blitzed hard on that play as we almost got an INT a couple plays earlier. The call to decline the yards and take the incomplete to me was the least questionable part of that play, our defensive play call on 3rd & 10 was weak. I'm not sure we were ready with all the dickering around on accepting or declining the penalty.

 

[Techfan02]

I think we were outclassed in the first half - specifically our offense. Their D bowed up and physically dominated the LOS. They were all over our OL and we struggled to get any push on the LOS.

McCord is a stud. In the second half, we did change things a bit and began to blitz more often and/or more effectively. But McCord was really good. I'm not sure that we could have schemed things any better vs a QB that was so on point.

Looking at first half vs 2nd half we played better D