Tech favored over Duke

Sarrick

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
818
My problem is this…are we really going to judge improvement by being able to not jump offsides and being able to make a 30 yd field goal? Those types of things should be a given and should not be fluid between coaching staffs. We need to start scoring in the red zone on offense and forcing punts on defense. We had a flash, but one game is not a pattern. We need to develop a pattern.


Overall, I agree. We definitely aren't where we want to be. I want this team to be in the conversation every year because I love this program and I really want it to succeed. So it's frustrating to see the losses that we feel like could have been wins and it is even more frustrating getting our butts kicked out of our stadium. But for how young of a team we are, its hard to stay consistent. Lets see what team shows up tomorrow, we could use a big win.
 

bke1984

Helluva Engineer
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3,143
I mean, we've spent the last two seasons jumping offsides and missing 30 yard field goals. So...yeah. Not doing that is by definition an improvement.

I understand this team is not where a lot of fans want us to be. But the counter argument is that were one 2-pt conversion away from beating NIU, and one or two plays from being the ones to ruin Clemson's streak. We got beat by a Pitt team that by all accounts is pretty dang good.

2-3 IS an improvement so far. Bowl eligibility is still on the table, however unlikely. I don't like lowering our bar, but this team is light years ahead of last year, and the year before that. If we continue to get better each season, that's a good thing.
Yeah I hear you. Like I said, I do think we’ve improved. Just feels like the bar is set pretty low right now. The things we are improved on should have been a given at the start…but IIWII at this point.

I actually think Pitt might be the best team in the ACC right now. And it’s not like we didn’t get blown out at times under any of our last three coaches when we had a pretty good team. So let’s see where we end up.
 

orientalnc

Helluva Engineer
Retired Staff
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9,338
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Oriental, NC
I am not sure which team is advantaged by rain, but we will find out soon. I will be leaving home in hour and it's raining. The radar and official forecast are not looking good.
 

Heisman's Ghost

Helluva Engineer
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4,397
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Albany Georgia
Fine you wanna go that route? Sure I'll play ball.

Yes 2 wins and 3 losses is a "sign of improvement." We aren't even halfway through the season and we have almost matched our win total for each of the past 2 seasons.

Turnovers:
We were 125th last year in turnovers given up last year with 25 (in 10 games). Almost halfway through the year (5 games), we've given up 5.
We forced 18 turnovers last year (10 games), we are currently at 8 turnovers. We are 1 turnover behind where we were last year. Not that much different.

Offense:
2020: currently averaging 389.9 y/game with 5.64 y/play
2021: currently averaging 395 y/game with 5.87 y/play.

I like the points per drive stat better but I can't find that one at the moment

Defense:
2020: currently giving up 459 y/game with 5.86 y/play
2021: currently 361.0 y/game with 5.31 (yards per play).

Penalties:
2020: 89 penalties through 10 games (8.9 per game)
2021: 27 penalties through 5 games (5.4 per game)

Kicking:
Don't have stats on this but anything is better than what last years was. Brent can actually kick a field goal and Gavin Stewart has kicked it out of the endzone on kickoffs more times than I can count

So what does this tell us:

  • Our offense might not have improved in moving the ball as much as we like, but we are not hurting ourselves nearly as much as last year.
  • While creating almost the same amount of turnovers, our defense is doing a lot more to limit how much the opposing team moves the ball
  • Our penalties were 125th/127 last year in bad. We are now 37th. We are not hurting ourselves as much as last year.
  • We can trust ourselves to actually put a kicker on the field to get us points.

Granted, there are still a ton of things we can improve on: red zone offense, forcing more turnovers, getting more pressure on the QB to name a few. But to say we haven't improved at all is such a terrible take.
Statistics mean nothing compared to wins and losses. "Play ball" with that. Offense is going great between the 20s just like last year. The defense is still not getting push up front just like last year. We are still irrelevant in the ACC much less nationally, just like last year. Win today at Duke and then win the next one and I will be suitably impressed but I am still holding to my preseason prediction of 4 wins this season which would be improvement over last year.
 

Heisman's Ghost

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,397
Location
Albany Georgia
I am not sure which team is advantaged by rain, but we will find out soon. I will be leaving home in hour and it's raining. The radar and official forecast are not looking good.
I think we would be as Duke has been turnover prone the last couple of years and the rain will slow down their star running back.
 
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