Welp. UCF 27 - GT 10

[85Escape]

I don’t , but see it was at about 5 minutes to go in the 3rd Q. 4th and 3 from the 5, McDuffie rushed for —1.

I looked a lot like a belly option, but I'm pretty sure it was a straight inside zone of some type.

 

[Treb1982]

Really proud of the players with all the issues swirling in our program. They played hard today. Effort was there and defense did good job overall. Simple mistakes, poor ST play, and penalties ultimately cost us. Watching Thomas' reaction after his targeting call I couldn't help but feel bad. I know this losing gets to all of us as fans but I couldn't imagine working as hard as they do and not seeing results.

 

[85Escape]

Really proud of the players with all the issues swirling in our program. They played hard today. Effort was there and defense did good job overall. Simple mistakes, poor ST play, and penalties ultimately cost us. Watching Thomas' reaction after his targeting call I couldn't help but feel bad. I know this losing gets to all of us as fans but I couldn't imagine working as hard as they do and not seeing results.

I agree. Way better effort from the players overall. In fact, it may be time for them to "Try less harder"...I feel like trying so hard might have contributed to the mistakes. I know when I played competitive tennis that when I tried really hard is when I would make a bunch of unforced errors. Only when I focused in and reached a sort of zen state did my talent really shine through. Okay, 'shine' is way too generous. Maybe I should say my talent would peak out of the shadows

 

[SandySpringsJacket]

We moved the ball well in between the 20 yard lines but the lack of a ground game makes it impossible in the red zone. You have to be able to get 3-4 yards on the ground in the red zone.

But the real problem is the unforced mistakes with key penalties and special teams. One small example: late in the 2nd quarter, we make a nice pass deep into UCF territory when it was 7-6. If we do not get a penalty for a blocker downfield, we probable score at least 3. But instead, we get backed up, have to punk, it gets blocked……

 

[SandySpringsJacket]

In post game , nate says he loves cgc and he was

Best play of the GT season. I mean this absolutely literally. Had we come back and won, it would go down as one of best effort plays in GT history
McCollum is my new favorite Jacket

Nate, Charlie, and Ace deserve a better fate. Those guys have as much heart as anybody we have had in a long time. I really hope we get some wins just for them this year. And BTW, that was a terrible targeting call on Charlie.

 

[highlands GT fan]

We moved the ball well in between the 20 yard lines but the lack of a ground game makes it impossible in the red zone. You have to be able to get 3-4 yards on the ground in the red zone.

But the real problem is the unforced mistakes with key penalties and special teams. One small example: late in the 2nd quarter, we make a nice pass deep into UCF territory when it was 7-6. If we do not get a penalty for a blocker downfield, we probable score at least 3. But instead, we get backed up, have to punk, it gets blocked……

Very slow progress

 

[GT33]

The blocked punt returned for TD was devastating.
The untimely penalties on 3rd down gave them scores.
McCollum’s hustle to get back to strip the ball cannot be commended enough.
I saw effort today, but… too many mental mistakes.

I do wonder what the thoughts were on 3rd and 4th for 9 yards and we ran short plays.

On 4th and was it 3? And we lined up under center with B back and A backs. We didn’t drive block. I don’t get it.

Oh my, 4 punts blocked in 4 games. Is nobody watching game tape or see what's going on live either up in the boxes or on the field?

Penalties were dumb & then we dumbed down by being trciked the same way 3 or 4 more times?? I lost count.

McDuffie ran his *** off on that play. He came from the opposite side of the field. Guessing he ran 110 yds to that guy's 75. He gave everything he had on that play. That's a great kid that hustles his *** off when we're playing like we are.

Too many behind the line pass plays & running sideways on a short field. Not sure what Long was thinking. We're not that team. Man up and run at them with your most punishing RB.

That 4th & 3 where we had Dontae and McDuffie in the backfield. Your options were run Sims, run Dontae, run McDuffie or some weird lay you practiced 5 times in order of probable likelihood of success. You picked your 3rd best option (and it's not even close) & I have to believe the entire OL did not understand the blocking being called because they all did the same thing and it seemed crazy live. Did they think everyone was going to chase Sims and Dontae leaving McDuffie untouched?

 

[techfan#14]

I didn't get to watch the game unfortunately or maybe not unfortunately. Seemed from Stat line and listening to play by play we moved the ball really well to utterly struggle in the red zone. Seems to be a trend this year especially. Are the play calls terrible or literal crap execution. I at this point am not in favor of a interim chip long coaching job. Give it to Turner or Tillman...

 

[bobongo]

I didn't get to watch the game unfortunately or maybe not unfortunately. Seemed from Stat line and listening to play by play we moved the ball really well to utterly struggle in the red zone. Seems to be a trend this year especially. Are the play calls terrible or literal crap execution. I at this point am not in favor of a interim chip long coaching job. Give it to Turner or Tillman...

It's the OL.

 

[techfan#14]

I don't disagree with the OL issue but someone with more knowledge explain how we can possibly not be able to field a mildly functionable OL. I know recruiting hasn't been stellar there but Jesus can we not coach someone into at least being an average P5 player. Or let the younger guys have a shot...

 

[SandySpringsJacket]

We moved the ball well in between the 20 yard lines but the lack of a ground game makes it impossible in the red zone. You have to be able to get 3-4 yards on the ground in the red zone.

But the real problem is the unforced mistakes with key penalties and special teams. One small example: late in the 2nd quarter, we make a nice pass deep into UCF territory when it was 7-6. If we do not get a penalty for a blocker downfield, we probable score at least 3. But instead, we get backed up, have to punt, it gets blocked……

 

[steebu]

I looked a lot like a belly option, but I'm pretty sure it was a straight inside zone of some type.

Here's the play in question:



I obviously don't know the specifics of how/why it was implemented, but it's supposed to look like this:



So it's basically the same play - yes, there's nuance like the pulling guard, but here's where CPJ's acumen as a playcaller comes in. The previous 3 plays were Rocket Toss, Zone Dive, Rocket Toss, then this belly dive. I believe we had run Rocket Toss on two other plays during the drive, so the outside defenders are starting to key on the toss. If you watch the replay carefully, both the playside CB and OLB jump to the outside to take away the toss, leaving Laskey a clear path to the end zone. In fact, it worked so perfectly that poor Shaq Mason (#70) had no one to block and just jogged into the end zone with Laskey.

The head scratcher to me is we never showed this formation the entire game, never ran a toss ... so what are you hoping to accomplish here? This isn't NCAA 14 The Video Game where randomly calling plays works ... you call plays to set up other plays, the most basic example being you run to set up play action. If you watch the replay, nobody on the defense shifts, nobody gets out of position, nobody does anything to indicate that they were fooled by the tail motion or the reverse pivot by Sims. So ... why?

The cynic in me will say CGC reads these boards and saw the thread, "The reports of the TO's death have been grossly exaggerated" and told Chip Long, "Hey, we need to run something that looks like Paul Johnson's old offense to satisfy the option nerds. Make sure we run it at an elite level with lots of juice. Or at least at a high level." I recall having a discussion with Ballin' on this board about Patenaude's offense and how Lincoln Riley's power run game is predicated on Zone Read with the backside G/T pulling to lead the RB, and how we didn't do that. Literally, two weeks later our offense started running plays with the backside G/T pulling and it went nowhere and we rarely saw it again. I remember thinking at that time, "Whu ... do they really read the boards?"

 

[flygtfly]

I don't disagree with the OL issue but someone with more knowledge explain how we can possibly not be able to field a mildly functionable OL. I know recruiting hasn't been stellar there but Jesus can we not coach someone into at least being an average P5 player. Or let the younger guys have a shot...

He's had 3 years of recruiting and the use of the portal! No reason excepting coaching IMO as to why we are so bad.

 

[RonJohn]

I was surprised by the number of GT fans at the game yesterday. Until the fourth quarter, there were lots of people and they were pretty loud.

 

[ibeattetris]

The head scratcher to me is we never showed this formation the entire game, never ran a toss ... so what are you hoping to accomplish here? This isn't NCAA 14 The Video Game where randomly calling plays works ... you call plays to set up other plays, the most basic example being you run to set up play action. If you watch the replay, nobody on the defense shifts, nobody gets out of position, nobody does anything to indicate that they were fooled by the tail motion or the reverse pivot by Sims. So ... why?

The cynic in me will say CGC reads these boards and saw the thread, "The reports of the TO's death have been grossly exaggerated" and told Chip Long, "Hey, we need to run something that looks like Paul Johnson's old offense to satisfy the option nerds. Make sure we run it at an elite level with lots of juice. Or at least at a high level." I recall having a discussion with Ballin' on this board about Patenaude's offense and how Lincoln Riley's power run game is predicated on Zone Read with the backside G/T pulling to lead the RB, and how we didn't do that. Literally, two weeks later our offense started running plays with the backside G/T pulling and it went nowhere and we rarely saw it again. I remember thinking at that time, "Whu ... do they really read the boards?"

Maybe if this had been the first time all year we showed the formation to really catch them off guard, but even then, we have used it twice. Two times in this game, we made complete alignment changes and the defense looked completely prepared for it.

I would have loved to hear why CGC thought implementing flexbone looks was the correct decision this year, or if was Chip Long's decision.

 

[GT33]

I was surprised by the number of GT fans at the game yesterday. Until the fourth quarter, there were lots of people and they were pretty loud.

Yes, we had a decent show out, but we were hard to find with all the gold around us.

I'm glad Sims played better as he had family there. He obviously couldn't make some plays when it counted, but it wasn't an Ole Piss type outing for him.

 

[Suavehouse]

Oh my, 4 punts blocked in 4 games. Is nobody watching game tape or see what's going on live either up in the boxes or on the field?

Penalties were dumb & then we dumbed down by being trciked the same way 3 or 4 more times?? I lost count.

McDuffie ran his *** off on that play. He came from the opposite side of the field. Guessing he ran 110 yds to that guy's 75. He gave everything he had on that play. That's a great kid that hustles his *** off when we're playing like we are.

Too many behind the line pass plays & running sideways on a short field. Not sure what Long was thinking. We're not that team. Man up and run at them with your most punishing RB.

That 4th & 3 where we had Dontae and McDuffie in the backfield. Your options were run Sims, run Dontae, run McDuffie or some weird lay you practiced 5 times in order of probable likelihood of success. You picked your 3rd best option (and it's not even close) & I have to believe the entire OL did not understand the blocking being called because they all did the same thing and it seemed crazy live. Did they think everyone was going to chase Sims and Dontae leaving McDuffie untouched?

The protection is not bad it’s on the punter himself. He’s taking too many steps forward making it easy for the punt to be blocked. I watched the replay of all ;blocked punts 3of 4 are on the punter.

 

[GT33]

The protection is not bad it’s on the punter himself. He’s taking too many steps forward making it easy for the punt to be blocked. I watched the replay of all ;blocked punts 3of 4 are on the punter.

It sure looks like that but if that's the issue you keep putting that guy back out there to screw us? I like Ireland as much as the next guy, but how many punts did this kid have over there before making the trek to Atlanta?

 

[RonJohn]

The protection is not bad it’s on the punter himself. He’s taking too many steps forward making it easy for the punt to be blocked. I watched the replay of all ;blocked punts 3of 4 are on the punter.

If every blocked punt is on him, then who is keeping him as the punter?

We run a nonstandard punt formation, we have had consistent confusion among the blockers and with the direction of the punt. There are more issues with our punt team than simply the punter.

 

[ibeattetris]

It sure looks like that but if that's the issue you keep putting that guy back out there to screw us? I like Ireland as much as the next guy, but how many punts did this kid have over there before making the trek to Atlanta?

He punted for us last year, and we didn't have this problem. How is this on the punter alone, when the same guy wasn't getting blocked last season?