Three Big Concerns

[SecretAgentBuzz]

Well, the third loss in a row certainly hurts. It hasn't been pretty. However, its never as bad as it seems. I still believe this is a good team, but we have run into three really good teams (especially on defense) in a row. Here are the serious concerns for this team:

1) Lack of mental preparedness. They just seem to have their minds somewhere else. Too many mistakes, too many penalties. This will kill any team's momentum.
2) Conditioning late in games. We seem to catch up some and then lose steam at the end. I know the travel schedule has been a beast, but we need to do better on closing out games well. This is probably directly effected by the next one...
3) Lack of depth. This seems to be a GT issue every year, and I believe this is our biggest weakness this year. We just don't have the depth to sustain injuries to our first team. Two of our three biggest areas of weakness (O-line and Secondary) are really playing poorly right now because the back-ups are just not getting it done. Our o-line has some good players, but guys who we thought would be back-ups are getting a lot of snaps and (to put it mildly) are getting killed. In the secondary, we have missed assignments and missed tackles, an we just don't have the talent on the d-line to counter that weakness. Don't forget that we lost our two starting safeties before the season even started (Holton and I. Johnson).

So, it is what is as. I expect the team to rally and I expect we will go to a bowl game again. As for the future, I expect that PJ will be retained, because a new coach is not going to be able to come in and change things quickly. PJ gets one more year and he better hope that things fall our way (few injuries, big recruiting year) if he wants to stay.

 

[John]

I'm concerned about the number of injuries we've had in the past three losses so agreed about the depth chart. However, I think we have been doing pretty well conditioning wise. I think the reason why we give up so many yards/points in the 4th quarter is because the game is already lost. The defense was doing pretty well up until the pick six. Conditioning on offense... no idea, it doesn't look conditioned from the start of the games...

Mental preparedness is huge. It's not even just about the penalties to me. We had at least three dropped passes where our guys had both hands on the ball. I have no idea how to fix that though. Maybe we need a sports psychologist.

 

[GTrob21]

My three areas


1) Coaching: I know its cool to pick on the Head coach, but OL is an abject disaster. Sewak has got to go. 5 years and this is what we are getting... This was supposed to be the best OL in JOhnson's tenure... There is something fundamentally wrong with the way we are coaching our OL.

2) Quarterbacks: Vad has now been in the system 3 years and looks lost. I personally think he was mismanaged and now his confidence is shot. This one falls directly on Coach Johnson.

3) Recruiting: We are recruiting to our scheme, but we can't run our scheme. See the problem... We have good players, but we don't have enough, and the good players we have aren't in the position to succeed.


Bottom line: We are a mediocre football team and will be as long as Johnson is our Head football coach

 

[bat_082994]

My three areas


1) Coaching: I know its cool to pick on the Head coach, but OL is an abject disaster. Sewak has got to go. 5 years and this is what we are getting... This was supposed to be the best OL in JOhnson's tenure... There is something fundamentally wrong with the way we are coaching our OL.

2) Quarterbacks: Vad has now been in the system 3 years and looks lost. I personally think he was mismanaged and now his confidence is shot. This one falls directly on Coach Johnson.

3) Recruiting: We are recruiting to our scheme, but we can't run our scheme. See the problem... We have good players, but we don't have enough, and the good players we have aren't in the position to succeed.


Bottom line: We are a mediocre football team and will be as long as Johnson is our Head football coach

I'm gonna agree with 1 and 3. I think the reason Vad looks so bad is because of the coaching and the O-Line. He made some pretty good passes yesterday. I'd be willing to give him another chance in a different, more pass-focused offense.

 

[bat_082994]

Well, the third loss in a row certainly hurts. It hasn't been pretty. However, its never as bad as it seems. I still believe this is a good team, but we have run into three really good teams (especially on defense) in a row. Here are the serious concerns for this team:

1) Lack of mental preparedness. They just seem to have their minds somewhere else. Too many mistakes, too many penalties. This will kill any team's momentum.
2) Conditioning late in games. We seem to catch up some and then lose steam at the end. I know the travel schedule has been a beast, but we need to do better on closing out games well. This is probably directly effected by the next one...
3) Lack of depth. This seems to be a GT issue every year, and I believe this is our biggest weakness this year. We just don't have the depth to sustain injuries to our first team. Two of our three biggest areas of weakness (O-line and Secondary) are really playing poorly right now because the back-ups are just not getting it done. Our o-line has some good players, but guys who we thought would be back-ups are getting a lot of snaps and (to put it mildly) are getting killed. In the secondary, we have missed assignments and missed tackles, an we just don't have the talent on the d-line to counter that weakness. Don't forget that we lost our two starting safeties before the season even started (Holton and I. Johnson).

So, it is what is as. I expect the team to rally and I expect we will go to a bowl game again. As for the future, I expect that PJ will be retained, because a new coach is not going to be able to come in and change things quickly. PJ gets one more year and he better hope that things fall our way (few injuries, big recruiting year) if he wants to stay.

In regard to 3: I always feel like when I watch GT play, the only positions they really shuffle in and out are AB, BB, and WR, but I feel like I rarely see many substitutions on Defense. I noticed a few more last night, but I still feel like I haven't seen a whole lot. Am I just imagining things or is that the case?

 

[Tempest_12]

BYU was definitely playing a hurry up type of offense. There wasn't a whole lot of opportunities to sub people in and out.

 

[CuseJacket]

During the offseason CPJ asserted that we are as good 8-85 as we've ever been; we're just missing the playmakers that constitute the top 7. Doesn't that mean depth shouldn't be such a concern?

I'll give the benefit of the doubt on the safeties since we're into our third string. But what about the OL? What about the rest of the secondary, minus Jemea? I expect solid depth to show out better than they have against better competition.

 

[ATL1]

This is Vad's first year as starter and he just faced some very tough opponents in VT, Miami, & BYU. Two of them on the road & all three have very sound defenses, one may be the best defense in the country, so it goes without saying he would struggle. You have to take your lumps with a new QB sometimes, it's very apparent he's no Johnny Manzell or Winston, but those offenses aren't designed like CPJ's and I'm not sure if CPJ has put the kid in the best position to succeed in the first place. In the end, it's what's best for the team, maybe JT is a better option, let's see. I have my doubts however.

 

[IronJacket7]

1 - Offensive line is our biggest problem right now... Not what QB we go with. I think Vad or JT are both good choices.

2 - Our defense has gotten gashed in the 1st half of everyone of our games. But 2nd half is a different story. And our offense's poor execution and 3 and outs has put our defense in some bad situations.

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

We just lost to 3 teams that are better than us. We beat 3 teams that we are better than. 6 and 6 looks like a likely outcome with 7 and 5 being best case and 5 and 7 being worst case. In any case nothing to write home about. Might as well try to enjoy the next 6 games. We can not get out of playing them and we just might get better as we go along.

GO Jackets!

 

[ToddM]

I truly believe we will win the next 3 games, as we should. If we do that's 6 wins, Ala A&M is on the schedule and it counts, so that should be win # 7. Pull out one against Ga or Clemson and it's an 8 win season.

Ga has major problems on defense and that team may be getting ready to implode so there is always hope there. As long as Clemson keeps winning I think it increases our chances against them, we shall see

 

[AE 87]

We just lost to 3 teams that are better than us. We beat 3 teams that we are better than. 6 and 6 looks like a likely outcome with 7 and 5 being best case and 5 and 7 being worst case. In any case nothing to write home about. Might as well try to enjoy the next 6 games. We can not get out of playing them and we just might get better as we go along.

GO Jackets!

Unfortunately, this looks right. Imo, cpj's system gives us a chance to beat better talent, but we need to focus and execute. We haven't done that much at all this year. We now have to beat Syr, Pitt, and UVA with Bama AnM to get bowl eligible.