Tennessee Game 1

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Yomanser said:
I don't think 31-17 qualifies as "almost had us." Besides, I or someone else could easily argue that UVA's scheme set up those big plays since there was nobody to chase down the ball-carrier past the second level, rendering said strategy ineffective since it's foolhardy to expect to keep the offense in front of your defenders every single play of the game. I'm not going to do that, since I'm not very interested in going back and forth on this subject any longer, but the uncontested points I made above still remain. If that game strategy truly worked, then you would see everyone use it against us. The team that did use it against us lost 31-17. I think that by itself says enough
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I didn't mean to imply it's foolproof or it's "figuring out" the offense in a way. I'm just saying I think it gives some teams the best chance. I was at that game and it felt like we did literally nothing for most of the game...and the game was still in play late. 2-10 Virginia was down by 7 and had the ball with 5 minutes left. To me if a horrible team stayed in the game that long, they did a lot of stuff right.
 
alentrekin

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I wouldn't want to guess or commit too much one way or the other against CPJ -- the option neutralizes tactical guesswork, and CPJ will beat you strategically. But if I did guess, I would try to hold the center and target the mesh.
 
AE 87

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#15 Clemson tried crashing corners, effectively 9 in box in 2012 and TW picked em apart with passes. They abandoned that D strategy.

We scored 31 but gave up 40 something, more proof against TW as QB
 

Yomanser

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bwelbo said:
I didn't mean to imply it's foolproof or it's "figuring out" the offense in a way. I'm just saying I think it gives some teams the best chance. I was at that game and it felt like we did literally nothing for most of the game...and the game was still in play late. 2-10 Virginia was down by 7 and had the ball with 5 minutes left. To me if a horrible team stayed in the game that long, they did a lot of stuff right.
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Fair enough. I can certainly understand that view
 

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augustabuzz said:
Agree, but that is a lot to execute on every snap. You need to add: pray Johnson doesn't call midline or speed options,
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You,of course, realize that my post was facetious and TIC to boot. There is no magical formula but if you were to clone Sean Spence of Miami, Aaron Donald of Pitt, Luther Maddy of Virginia Tech, that safety at Duke and a couple of those Virginia Tech corners and throw in that big safety Virginia Tech had a few years ago that would just about do it. Would't hurt to have that defensive end at Miami, the one who played against us as a freshman in 2014 can't remember his name but he would be helpful also.
 
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alentrekin said:
I wouldn't want to guess or commit too much one way or the other against CPJ -- the option neutralizes tactical guesswork, and CPJ will beat you strategically. But if I did guess, I would try to hold the center and target the mesh.
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They did a of stuff right, or WE did a lot of stuff wrong. Over the years, and not just under Johnson, we have come out flat and seemingly unmotivated and struggle, often end up losing. IMO that sums up the UVA game last year, or at least what I remember of it.
 

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bwelbo said:
I would be really interested to test that theory. Because I suspect we would indeed air it out a few times, but I have never seen us air it out to any measurable percentage. There are so many times we have screens, slants and things wide open and we don't audible and call it.
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I agree with your last observation. I have always wondered because the receivers I saw open didn't just have a step or two on the D back. They were down in Macon, alone, waving for the ball when we threw to a receiver down a sideline. I concluded finally -- only took me nine years -- that the QB did not have the option to go to a progression: this is the target, throw him the ball, let him make a play. Wish somebody would ask Johnson that at his weekly TD club sessions.
 
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Sideways said:
2) Be sure that the tackles and middle linebacker play the dive. Try to get the tackles to slow down the center getting to the second level blocking the middle linebacker.
3) Pound it into the outside linebackers and safeties heads to play the pitch. Damn it don't get fooled by the eye candy.
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And this is why our O is so beautiful. If the DTs and MLB play the dive, and the OLBs and Ss play the pitch, a QB like MJ will pound you to death with 4-6 yard keepers (and the occasional breakthrough). A QB like JeT will exploit that seam you leave for homeruns.
 

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It's not the Xs and Os, it's the Jimmys and the Joes. I've come to appreciate that a lot more in watching @Longestday 's slo-mo play breakdowns. If we read the D correctly and block our correct assignments, then we have accounted for every defender in our offense regardless of opposing scheme. At that point, the only way for their D to win is to beat our guys one-on-one. Of course, making reads and executing the correct assignment is also part of the Jimmy/Joe discussion. This is not to say that opposing scheme is irrelevant. They can certainly try to take advantage of particular matchups. And they can also mix things up to try to muddle our chances of making good on reads/assignments. But there isn't a way to defend us that gives them a numbers advantage unless we fall down on the job.
 

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YJMD said:
It's not the Xs and Os, it's the Jimmys and the Joes. I've come to appreciate that a lot more in watching @Longestday 's slo-mo play breakdowns. If we read the D correctly and block our correct assignments, then we have accounted for every defender in our offense regardless of opposing scheme. At that point, the only way for their D to win is to beat our guys one-on-one. Of course, making reads and executing the correct assignment is also part of the Jimmy/Joe discussion. This is not to say that opposing scheme is irrelevant. They can certainly try to take advantage of particular matchups. And they can also mix things up to try to muddle our chances of making good on reads/assignments. But there isn't a way to defend us that gives them a numbers advantage unless we fall down on the job.
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"If we read the D correctly and block our correct assignments, then we have accounted for every defender in our offense regardless of opposing scheme."

So much this. If you watch the Clemson game, just to use an example where our offense just got blown up, a great majority of the plays should have resulted in positive yardage. We just had multiple defeated blocks each play. Its like guys are ready to cut block and the defender does just a touch of a shift step and now our guy is just laying on the ground useless. Suddenly there are 2-3 defenders in open space coming at us. The plays work and the scheme works. If we can get our guys to just do a better job of at least causing some level of interference, we'd be a lot better off. That's one thing that makes 4* and 5* defenders so good - their ability to defeat blocks. When I watched the Clemson game over a few times, I didn't so much see missed assignments as just defeated blocks.
 
Milwaukee

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One thing I've noticed that bothers the TO is blitzing from random spots, not just firing corners but actually sending backers from different spots. Most teams practice for the TO by "staying disciplined" and "playing assignment football". When defenses attack towards us rather than play assignment football it causes some trouble. Flipside is one wrong guess with a blitz from the wrong spot and we gash you bigtime.

If I was a DC against us I'd blitz all day long and take my chances. If you sit and read and try to play assignment football we're going to beat you eventually, as long as we don't shoot ourself in the foot.
 
PBR549

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YJMD said:
It's not the Xs and Os, it's the Jimmys and the Joes. I've come to appreciate that a lot more in watching @Longestday 's slo-mo play breakdowns. If we read the D correctly and block our correct assignments, then we have accounted for every defender in our offense regardless of opposing scheme. At that point, the only way for their D to win is to beat our guys one-on-one. Of course, making reads and executing the correct assignment is also part of the Jimmy/Joe discussion. This is not to say that opposing scheme is irrelevant. They can certainly try to take advantage of particular matchups. And they can also mix things up to try to muddle our chances of making good on reads/assignments. But there isn't a way to defend us that gives them a numbers advantage unless we fall down on the job.
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That's what makes this offense so good. It's not completely reliant on Jimmy and Joes like alot of others. We don't have to block everyone to be effective. If someone has way better players there is nothing you can do but our O gives us a chance. Defense is another story. Most offenses are designed to exploit weaknesses in personel. That's what gets us in trouble. I'm staying optimistic this year.
 

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Milwaukee said:
One thing I've noticed that bothers the TO is blitzing from random spots, not just firing corners but actually sending backers from different spots. Most teams practice for the TO by "staying disciplined" and "playing assignment football". When defenses attack towards us rather than play assignment football it causes some trouble. Flipside is one wrong guess with a blitz from the wrong spot and we gash you bigtime.

If I was a DC against us I'd blitz all day long and take my chances. If you sit and read and try to play assignment football we're going to beat you eventually, as long as we don't shoot ourself in the foot.
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That's why I like the Dive and QB follow with MJ against Clemson. I think with their elaborate blitzes we can make some yards up the middle. Hell we barely had 100 yards of offense last year and Mills had 95 himself.
 

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bwelbo said:
That's why I like the Dive and QB follow with MJ against Clemson. I think with their elaborate blitzes we can make some yards up the middle. Hell we barely had 100 yards of offense last year and Mills had 95 himself.
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If we're going to get Clemson this would be the best year for it. Not saying we couldn't do it otherwise, but this is the best time. Their defense, though, is going to be first rate again with a better linebacking corps and an outstanding D line. (They are one of the teams that practice against this offense year-round. Two days in fall devoted to it alone.) Offensively obviously down with losing Watson but they think that January enrollee freshman QB from Indiana, I think, is going to be a really good one, and early. Lot of competition there for QB and maybe a position switch in the offing.

But meanwhile, speaking only competitively, I want to kill Tennessee. Run 'em out of that stadium and off ESPN. Just us out there at the end. I hope they are thinking knees, ankles, hips, all joints below the waist in other words.
 
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