Virginia Postgame

[yeti92]

Some of yall don't seem to have watched the game based on your comments.


Overall the score was closer than the game felt, I think largely due to the onsides kicks. It felt a lot more like the 48-27 score midway through 4th. Refs as usual were doodoo, UVA got away with some pretty blatant PI and holding that the commentators mentioned. We benefited from the roughing the passer call that was pretty flaky though.

Special teams - kickoffs were good. Jude Kelley should be ACC special teams player of the week for the back to back perfect onsides kicks and the fake onsides kick that got downed at the 4. punts were half turds and half good. punt returns, I don't know what we are doing there. Rey seems to never fair catch but just dances back and forth in place until he's tackled. FG/extra points, Cimaglia kicks everything low, but at least there was just the one miss tonight.

Offense - Receivers dropped several balls put right on the numbers. Line blocked fairly well all night, only one play I can remember Ryan Johnson got beat around the edge immediately. RB room was going off, we should have leaned on them a lot more and passed less. Sims threw some great passes, made some good plays with his legs, but at least 4 WTF throws, two of which got picked. If CPJ or CCG were coach, Yates would start over Sims because Sims turns the ball over too much. UVA has a poopoo defense, we could have run the ball every play and averaged 7yds/carry.

Defense - Not much positive to say. We did a decent job bringing pressure - even if it didn't result in sacks, Armstrong had guys hitting him as he threw and in his face a good bit of the time. Secondary was Downy soft all game though so it didn't matter what the d line did. If the secondary could have covered for more than 0 seconds we could have sacked Armstrong a lot, but they didn't. Lots of new guys got beat - King, Sims, Allen and several others got beat, Walker in particular was getting picked on for a while. Swilling getting turned around multiple times. The secondary generally seems to not know what the call is or what their responsibilties are on most plays. Lots of arguing and confusion at the snap, all year long. Linebackers were okay blitzing, but terrible in coverage. There was one pass play where 3 guys just stood there like their feet were cemented in place, no attempt to cover, blitz, anything, just frozen.

Run defense was non-existent. Like we expected them to run 0 times that game and practiced accordingly. This seems to be a trademark of Thacker - focus all preparation on stopping the opponent's strength, and completely ignore the weaker part of their game.

 

[first&ten]

Sims does have an insanely high ceiling, but you really need to account for how much of that production you’re looking at is in garbage time. The Pitt game was already over after our first 2 possessions because he threw 2 interceptions and one of them was a pick 6. He spent the rest of the game padding stats because Pitt had a huge lead

Against Duke (one of the worst teams we’ll play) be had a stretch where he went 3-12 with 2 interceptions. If it wasn’t for Duke’s anemic offense and terrible kicking game that stretch would’ve been enough to lose the game.

Tonight we were driving with the lead, looking to extend it, and Sims made a terrible read and pass that lead to an interception and subsequent UVA touchdown and we never sniffed the lead again after that.

Sims’ has incredible potential as a playmaker, and he can definitely do more things with the ball than any other QB on the roster. But his turnover issues are killing us. If Duke was any good at all we would’ve lost the last 3 games because of his bad decisions. If he learns to take care of the ball he will be special. But until then, he will continue to cost Tech valuable points, drives, and field position, and given our terrible defense that will lead to more losses.

The only option we have right now is just to hope Sims reigns in his turnover issues, because it’s obvious he is the best option back there, but if we’re going to win games he’s got to be better.

Good assessment of the entire team.

 

[UgaBlows]

And we got zero turnovers from UVA, that really, really hurt us. We were definitely trying to strip the ball from #99 every-single-time he had it and could not do it, he just kept cranking out yards.

Thacker needs to turn this around quick because this is just horrendously bad defense. With even a little defense we win this game going away.

 

[iceeater1969]

It’s because we have too many guys who are natural LBs playing safety. We don’t have near the speed we need for coverage on the back end. Swilling is decent in short/intermediate coverages, when he can try to jump routes, but when he has to run with someone on a go route or a deep ball he gets burned because he doesn’t have enough speed. He is usually outrun by a good 3-4 yards by the time the ball gets there.

We have way too many breakdowns in zone coverage week after week. I really question our coaching for the S/CB/LB on zone coverages, because there is always someone out of position or guys running wide open. I don’t understand why we keep trying to run 3 man rush and drop 8 into zone when they still complete every pass with ease. I’d rather us bring 5-6 guys every play and play man coverage with a safety over the top. At least make them earn it.

Also, Tackling was extremely poor tonight. Lots of bad angles taken and tons of arm tackling and just trying to throw shoulders at people and not wrapping up. Painful to watch 99 drag 3-4 of our guys every play and watch people just try and throw a shoulder at him and fall down after.

99 is as fast as gt #1.
If it was flag football we would stop them. They all think they are the guy to get forced fumble. CGC made a big deal about that as a measurement.

 

[Oakland]

I just don't think Thacker meshes well with the program. He had two weeks to get this defense prepared. Surely Collins can see this is hampering his vision and goals for this program. Collins and Stansbury need to talk.

 

[Pointer]

Apathy is strong today

 

[Papa Foxtrot]

Collins and Stansbury need to talk.

Hopefully, they already are...

 

[FredJacket]

Apathy is strong today

Welcome to the club... come on in... what can I get you to drink?

 

[Ibeeballin]

Sims needs to be graded on the INT that was negated by the penalty too. Bad throw, lucky call. He also threw 3-4 other passes that would have been picked off by a halfway decent defense. He’s got great upside, but his tendencies to turnovers will continue to limit our ability to succeed.

He got slapped in the head. Of course, it was going to be not as accurate.

If you are going to grade the non INTs, grade the drops of Kalani and McGowan that were perfect throws

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

Other things I liked - we did not shoot ourselves in the foot offensively with the silly false starts. Yes, there was a hold (or two) but that happens to everyone. The OL looked more cohesive. No silly timeouts or general confusion getting plays in. General organization and game management looked better (of course it was after a bye week) to my untrained eye. Outside of Pitt, we are looking competitive throughout 4 quarters with the UNC's and Uva's of the world. Yes, these are not top tier teams but you have to crawl before you walk. The process is slow but I do see overall improvement at a steady albeit slower than we all would wish for pace. Of course the weakneses are obvious and glaring and have been mentioned throughout this thread.

The fact that we are complementing basic football 101 type stuff that should have occurred week 1 of year 1 shows where we really are. So what you’re saying is when we actually follow the rules of the game and the coach does things that middle school coaches do (like actually calling plays within the play clock) we can be within 10 points of other unranked mediocre teams.

 

[GTBandit22]

That was historically bad defense. They got like 90% of their possible yardage including a drive to end half.

Any discussion about sims or the offense is secondary and really trivial compared to giving up 600 yards through 3 quarters.

 

[LibertyTurns]

The only issue I had with the offense was Sims INT when we had been running it down their throats. Yes it was threw Sims that made a bad decision and threw the pic but AGAIN Run the ****ing ball.

WE WERE GASHING THEM. It’s our strength and Sims picks have been the weakness. Run the ****ing ball.

Someone tell me our average yard per rush this game. Higher than 3.3? I’m guessing yes.

We averaged 7.9 ypc rushing. Take away the 71 yd Gibbs TD and we’re still averaging 6 ypc. That’s the sign of a stout running game. Sims started out hot averaging 15 ypa the first 2 drives. Before the late game surge where we netted about 110 yds on 10 passes, Sims’ ypa was down to something like 4.8. Ended up at 6.8 ypa.

We came out with a pretty good game plan, were getting all our weapons involved. Had the French off-balance with some variety in play calling. French got a couple of scores and all of a sudden we got mental issues, plus we go back to hiding Mason and Smith on the sideline.

It’s almost like someone’s sitting upstairs yapping in G’s ear telling him, hey we’re not passing enough or Gibbs hasn’t had a carry in 3 possessions give him the ball, etc instead of using what’s working. Pretty damn frustrating to watch.

 

[MWBATL]

It is virtually impossible for me to root hard for a team that gives up nearly 50 points to any offense with a pulse, can't stop a MAC team from a game-winning 4th quarter drive running it down our throat, and frankly looks as bad as any defense during the CPJ era (and that's saying A LOT). As far as I am concerned, we really haven't gotten better than the version of GT that was playing in CPJ's last 2 years at the helm. We play decently for short spurts, then get manhandled for 2 and 1/2 or 3 quarters, then have another late spurt. What CGC has done so far...has been hard to watch. I'm glad I focused on the Braves last night. And sad that I have only attended one game this year. As much of a fanatic as I have historically been for GT sports, when you lose me, you've lost exactly the type of fan you need to retain.

 

[Scubapro]

The fact that we are complementing basic football 101 type stuff that should have occurred week 1 of year 1 shows where we really are. So what you’re saying is when we actually follow the rules of the game and the coach does things that middle school coaches do (like actually calling plays within the play clock) we can be within 10 points of other unranked mediocre teams.

OUCH.
Well, we only scored 27 until ~2:30 in the 4th. The offense looked better but still didn't score.
UVa's D was ranked in the 90s. We still have a problem on offense.
The onside kicks, that was a fun surprise.
Not sure what the strategy is on punt returns. Each time we field the punt there seems to be two tacklers in position.
The defense is...well...just plain bad. CDP should buy Thack breakfast since everyone will be looking at the D and not the O.
Part of this is the "tackle the football to create turnovers" plan. Thack and Geoff seemed to be excited about this with the idea we needed to lead the country in turnovers. This has made our tackling skills non existent. We need to do nothing this week except work on tackling fundamentals.

 

[Ibeeballin]

OUCH.
Well, we only scored 27 until ~2:30 in the 4th. The offense looked better but still didn't score.
UVa's D was ranked in the 90s. We still have a problem on offense.
The onside kicks, that was a fun surprise.
Not sure what the strategy is on punt returns. Each time we field the punt there seems to be two tacklers in position.
The defense is...well...just plain bad. CDP should buy Thack breakfast since everyone will be looking at the D and not the O.
Part of this is the "tackle the football to create turnovers" plan. Thack and Geoff seemed to be excited about this with the idea we needed to lead the country in turnovers. This has made our tackling skills non existent. We need to do nothing this week except work on tackling fundamentals.

You talk as if UVA was playing a prevent defense after 2:30, so I’m not sure the point of your minimizing post

 

[jayparr]

The atl chart instead of a true depth chart is very bad idea especially for the way thacker is subbing so many players, and the players on is lost. Some players are not getting comfortable on the field with so much subbing!

 

[LibertyTurns]

And sad that I have only attended one game this year. As much of a fanatic as I have historically been for GT sports, when you lose me, you've lost exactly the type of fan you need to retain.

It’s really sad at the games. We’re lost easily half the diehard fans in my section, if not more. Not sure if it was the schedule starting off with a couple 1AA teams, then game 3 was at the Benz. I’d have thought after Unc, the Pitt attendance would have been better, but didn’t materialize. We may have already lost too many core fans. My family is seemingly the only one in my section actually rooting for the team. Seems like everyone around me just wants an end to the misery.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

Apathy is strong today

I dont care enough to care about your comment

 

[jayparr]

He got slapped in the head. Of course, it was going to be not as accurate.

If you are going to grade the non INTs, grade the drops of Kalani and McGowan that were perfect throws

McGowen would have scored!

He got slapped in the head. Of course, it was going to be not as accurate.

If you are going to grade the non INTs, grade the drops of Kalani and McGowan that were perfect throws

Mcgowen would have scored no way no!

 

[Scubapro]

You talk as if UVA was playing a prevent defense after 2:30, so I’m not sure the point of your minimizing post

Then read it again. We only had 27 points late into the 4th quarter.