Thoughts going into UVA week

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

I see your point. But we don't have any Mr. Hendersons no matter what scheme we're running. Or, for that matter, any Phillip Wheelers, K. Michael Halls, Chris Reises, Dawon Landrys, Kenny Scotts, Joe Anoais, Gary Guytons, Darrell Robertsons, Dennis Davises or Vance Walkers.

Bingo

 

[Wrecking Ball]

Wasn't the BC OL holding like crazy in that game? Didn't they get flagged a bunch of times but got away with a ton more? I think I remember the OL's even admitting it in the press.

Yep. The more things change the more they stay the same. I bet Roof would look a lot better if the other team's OL didn't maul our DL when they do manage to get pressure.

 

[Wrecking Ball]

I've always thought Tenuta was to D like CPJ is to O, and Tenuta's high energy D would have been even better with limited possessions and an offense that could put other teams in pass to catch up mode.

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

Chris Reis was 6'1 204, a 3 star.
Pat Clark was 5'10 175, 2 star who spent a lot of time at QB and WR before quickly shuttling to DB his last two years and starring (I thought it took decades to teach a position? IIRC Tenuta coached DBs himself.)
Anoai was 6'3 240, a 3 star.
Joe Gaston (solid backup and sometimes starter) was 6'0, 205, a 2 star.
KaMichael Hall was 6'1, 205, a 3 star.
Adamm Oliver was 6'4 235, a 3 star.
Avery Roverson was 6'2, 190 (played at 210 or so), a 3 star.
Kenny Scott was a stud, a 4 star at 6'1, 178.
Wheeler was 6'2, 215, a 3 star.
Travis Chambers was 6'1 215, a 2 star.
Guyton was 6'4, 220 - a 2 star.
Djay Jones was 6'2, 186, a 2 star (played at 220).
Jamal Lewis was 6'0 175, a 2 star (played amazing at safety.)
Even Darryl Richard was a 3 star.
Robo was 6'5, 215, a 3 star (developed into a beast).
Vance Walker was 6'2 255, a 2 star.
Jahi Word Daniels was 5'11, 160, a 3 star.
Michael Johnson was 6'7, 215, a 3 star.

@dressedcheeseside

Luther Maddy was a 2 star coming out.

 

[jeffgt14]

Here's the drive chart for that BC game. Regardless of the yards. Look at the number of drives we held BC to 3 and out or 1 first down. Then look at our offensive drives.

http://espn.go.com/ncf/drivechart?gameId=272580059

 

[vamosjackets]

Wasn't the BC OL holding like crazy in that game? Didn't they get flagged a bunch of times but got away with a ton more? I think I remember the OL's even admitting it in the press.

Yep.

 

[Wrecking Ball]

Here's the drive chart for that BC game. Regardless of the yards. Look at the number of drives we held BC to 3 and out or 1 first down. Then look at our offensive drives.

http://espn.go.com/ncf/drivechart?gameId=272580059

FIVE 3 and outs. FIVE. Have we had five all year this year?

 

[daBuzz]

Exactly. Tenuta held Matt Ryan to 24 points with his least talented D at Tech. BC scored a lot more on other teams, including more talented teams. Tenuta held BC SCORELESS on 8/12 possessions.

Well, being technical, it could have been 31 points if BC had wanted to score. BC got the ball down inside our 10 yard line at the end of the game and decided to run out the clock, rather than running up the score.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

CPJ's got a system that can utilize guys who are good athletes though most aren't elite and give them a numbers advantage so that they can succeed and be very productive. And, he teaches the heck out of it so that they develop well within that system to get better at what they're asked to do. We need to be able to do that on the other side of the ball too. I say that with a high level of confidence that you agree with it. And, I think most would. We all agree more than we let on.

I think we'd be better with Tenuta coaching the D, but he left on his own accord. Like GOL he packed his bags for South Bend. He had a unique system and he found guys that fit it to a T, very much like CPJ on O.

 

[Wrecking Ball]

It's true. I think we could have done more to keep him. I think he and CPJ would have been a much better version of Beamer/Foster.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

It's true. I think we could have done more to keep him. I think he and CPJ would have been a much better version of Beamer/Foster.

He wanted the head job bad. The only way we could have kept him would have been to give him that. I wonder if he was between jobs when we hired Groh?

 

[jeffgt14]

For those that say Tenuta can’t make adjustments, here’s the UVA game that same year. Virginia went down the field easily and scored twice the first two possessions. The rest of the game our D shut them down with the only offensive TD they got being after a fumbled punt on our own 26 yard line in the 4th Quarter that cost us the game. There’s a very good chance we would’ve won without that fumble.

http://espn.go.com/ncf/drivechart?gameId=272650258

 

[Wrecking Ball]

For those that say Tenuta can’t make adjustments, here’s the UVA game that same year. Virginia went down the field easily and scored twice the first two possessions. The rest of the game our D shut them down with the only offensive TD they got being after a fumbled punt on our own 26 yard line in the 4th Quarter that cost us the game. There’s a very good chance we would’ve won without that fumble.

http://espn.go.com/ncf/drivechart?gameId=272650258

00:21 1 00:55 UVA 39 3 1 Punt
12:29 2 02:22 GT 20 5 8 Punt
08:56 2 01:30 UVA 21 3 6 Punt

I WOULD KILL TO SEE 3 drives in a row where the other team runs a combined total of 14 plays and has only 4 minutes of possession time. We would never let them recover.

Edit to say, look at these 10 drives in a row for UVA

00:21 1 00:55 UVA 39 3 1 Punt
12:29 2 02:22 GT 20 5 8 Punt
08:56 2 01:30 UVA 21 3 6 Punt
04:50 2 03:16 UVA 1 9 31 Punt
00:05 2 00:05 UVA 39 1 -12 End of Half
15:00 3 01:23 UVA 23 4 25 Fumble
11:45 3 01:10 UVA 29 3 -1 Punt
07:48 3 01:11 UVA 20 3 4 Punt
04:22 3 02:40 UVA 27 7 44 Interception
12:47 4 03:45 UVA 9 8 22 Punt

 

[vamosjackets]

Dramatic much. There's a big difference in being under the radar and not good. I can't figure out what you're trying to say. I'm saying they were all very good college players. I think you agree with that. To say it's all due to their "college development/coaching" is extremely unfair to them. I'd say it was a damn fine job in recruiting and an indictment of the star system.

Was thinking about it more, and to be fair, there are some key ingredients for even CPJ's recipe to work for offense. He can take some less heralded guys, who aren't elite but who are good athletes and they can succeed greatly in offensive production. But, if he had lost his top 75% of QB talent this year to attrition and had to start Matthew Jordan or maybe even a walkon, where do you think our offensive production would be? Or what if we'd lost 75% of our top OL talent and had mostly 2nd and 3rd string OL out there ... shoot, even just losing Smelter/Waller would make a big difference when it comes to the actual outcome of our games.

If CPJ didn't have a QB who could make some plays, or 3 out of 5 OL who couldn't get it done, what do you get? We've seen the O struggle too and for similar personnel reasons. Would it be making excuses or would it be real, rational reasons that all have an answer to where the needed change can be accomplished in the near future without changing scheme or staff?

 

[Wrecking Ball]

I don't want another staff change (except maybe DB coach) unless it's Tenuta, which ain't happening, so let's just fix it or make it work til we get reinforcements.

 

[vamosjackets]

OK, good talk guys... think we're all in the same chapter now.

Now, as far as Tenuta goes, my last thought is that I hope we beat the brakes off of him Saturday so as to make UVA fans have this same debate next year. Let's Matt Ryan his butt.

 

[alaguy]

the Tenuta game I REALLY liked was the beatdown we put on notre Dame up there. SWEET! they had no Ryan --nor plan

 

[GT Man]

1. Tenuta was terrible at making adjustments. They were non-existent.
2. Tenuta had some beasts on D. More to work with.

Personally I like how opportunistic our defense had been. I think we will get better under roof

 

[awbuzz]

Let's just beat the snot out of UVA and enjoy Homecoming weekend.

@vamosjackets - love this - "my last thought is that I hope we beat the brakes off of him Saturday so as to make UVA fans have this same debate next year. "

 

[Mack]

Tenuta: I think Tenuta is one of the actual bonafide defensive coordinators out there. Would've loved to have kept him here at GT. I always wonder what could've been had we kept him .... wow, what a thought. Think about a great defense going with our offense all these years.

UNC scored 28 on UVA. It has appeared to me that UNC has an offense to be reckoned with. We have a bad defense, but their offense made our defense look like air. Against other teams, I thought our defense had a chance, but against UNC, it wasn't a matter of having a chance, it was a matter of how many plays will it take. So, UNC scoring 28 against them, I believe, confirms both that UNC has a good offense and that UVA has a good defense.

Where Tenuta's defense excels is at stopping traditional offenses. He will shut down a power run game and give heavy, effective pressure against their play-action game. His MO is to stop what the offense is good at and if they're going to beat you, make them do it left handed (he preached this to us), and that is a good philosophy. As far as I can see, if he's got an achilles heal, it's the non-traditional offenses. His defenses are so geared to stop what most offenses do, that they will struggle to play a different kind of game. We've had good success against them the last 2 years. He had trouble with WVU in the gator bowl, and with Oregon. Now, most DC's have trouble with these (and our) offense, so that's not just a Tenuta problem. I think he will come up with some kind of good game plan against us. But, what our offense does is it turns Tenuta's philosophy against he defense. It dictates what the defense can do. The defense can't do what it's good at (which is blitz pressure, pressure, pressure, aggressive), it will have to beat us left handed, it will have to focus on assignments. But, I do believe his defense will be a bigger challenge than we've seen the last 2 weeks against UNC and Pitt. I think he will do everything he can to try to make JT have to beat us with his arm. He will take some chances as well to try to make things happen. I wouldn't be surprised to see their defense be as effective as a VT or Duke against us, though I think we're much better offensively now than we were against VT. Hopefully Synjyn continues to be a workhorse and not fumble.


Chance at a defensive revival: I remember feeling this way about our defense during Groh's last weeks. I remember when Kelly took over thinking that there was little chance we could get any better. I thought that there were too many personnel issues back then, just like I'm thinking now. I do think the big difference between then and now is the crazy attrition we've had on the DL, but I'm still wondering if there is any way we could see some semblance of a defensive revival over the last part of this year the way we saw it that year under Kelly. 33Jacket and others are adamant that the defense SHOULD be better. I have argued against that point, saying that there's no way you can expect better when you have those kinds of losses on the DL in the offseason. BUT, I was wrong back in '11 and I hope I'm wrong now. I still disagree with them that the source of our defensive ineptitude is Roof's head being up his rear, but I'm going to go ahead and change my mind and side with them that our defense CAN be better. I'm sure Roof is looking for answers, and I'm hoping he finds something this week; or at least before we get to Ugag. If he finds something, anything that can shore up our DL and/or create pressure, something that could just at least make the offense do something they don't want to have to do to beat us, we still have a chance at being a great team rather than just a great offense.

When Kelly took over, he changed us from a 3-4 to a 4-3 because it fit our personality better. I wouldn't mind seeing the inverse happen in this case and go to a 3-4 to minimize the impact of the DL, put your best 3 DL out there and get more athleticism on the field in the form of LB's and/or DB's in the back 8 (rather than back 7) and just send people from everywhere.

Like the idea of the fourty three but feel we need to send a backer very often....JT when he was at tech ran lot of dogs but of course we didnt cover well in secondary and folks would screen us to death........just think if we dog more we send a agressive spirit to the team that we mean bidness