What do we know so far?

Oldgoldandwhite

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After a small sampling, I would say we are in the middle of the pack ACC wise. As of today, I would pick us third in the Coastal behind VT and a pick of about any 4. The SEC , ACC, and Pac 12 look to have a lock on 3 of the 4 spots. BYU and/or Notre Dame could upset the apple cart and leave at least two conferences on the outside looking in. The Big 10 will more than likely get shut out after their poor showing this week end. Louisville, VT, and Pitt look better than expected. FSU still the class of the conference, but the U may be worse than I thought. Of course things will change from one week to the next. Any thoughts???
 

OldJacketFan

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I honestly think it's too early to know where anyone outside the top 5 are. Clempson looks like crap one week and world beaters the next. Louisville like very good against duh u but are they good or is the u that bad? FSU is ahead by a wide margin in the ACC. NC is over rated, as usual, VT better than expected, Pitt who knows? Let's get to the midway point and see where we are.
 

Mack

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Based on what I have seen and its been fourty yrs since I coached but it looks like we are not in the category of VT,Miami or Clemson at present.Clemson played good first hafl vs the pups and did got away from the o plan and crashed.Miami is full of athletes but they can self destruct at a moments notice and VT is impressive offensive wise with the run and the pass.Take those three and we have to play to whip them.Throw in a couple of head cases like NCS and NC and who knows but I wonde just how good Pitt is.......if they are improved its going to be a year of ups and downs at the flats. Not saying we cant win all of them but man do we have to improve and play hard.
 

croberts

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864
We are very young. I am so glad that our season is set up like it is. Alot of us felt we needed the three games to get ready for the the conference schedule. It is a good thing we only need 1 win a week . It is also good that the games must still be played before going in the lost column.
 

alaguy

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We know we have a beaten a couple of average teams esp Tulane.
The best thing I've seen is that IF we concentrate ,we could have a pass attack enough to take pressure off run game.We should be able to free Smelter most anytime
The Def will struggle as was thought because of the DL but if no injuries could improve.Nealy is key if he plays well (like Tul)we can compete.
STs are ok.Having zero runbacks on KOs is nice.Missing short FGs is a bit disconcerting.Thankfully punting has not been an issue but come Vt it may be a big factor.
 

Animal02

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WRT to VT......yes they beat OSU in their house.......minus OSU's QB. The B10 in general seems to be weak........UM got shut out for the first time in 30 years, MSU could not keep up with the Ducks, Purdue lost to Central Mich. Northwestern lost to Northern Illinois, PSU struggled against Akron, Nebraska barely got by McNeese State,
 

Longestday

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What do we know...
  • GT is 2 and 0
  • GT beat Wofford by three scores...Wofford is known to give teams issues, limits possessions, and has practiced against our O
  • GT beat Tulane on the road by three scores, after fumbling on the first play, and giving up 7 points.
  • JT has shown he can pass, can be amped up, will take time to season
  • JT can run
  • Smelter can run and catch
  • Zenon is stepping up to fill the "AB void" with Perkins close behind.
  • All the ABs and WRs are blocking well
  • The OL is doing better than 2013
  • The defense did make a few sacks on Tulane
  • The defense did intercept 3 balls against Tulane
  • No scores for Tulane in the second half
  • The true freshman that are playing have made some good plays
 

jayparr

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What do we know...
  • GT is 2 and 0
  • GT beat Wofford by three scores...Wofford is known to give teams issues, limits possessions, and has practiced against our O
  • GT beat Tulane on the road by three scores, after fumbling on the first play, and giving up 7 points.
  • JT has shown he can pass, can be amped up, will take time to season
  • JT can run
  • Smelter can run and catch
  • Zenon is stepping up to fill the "AB void" with Perkins close behind.
  • All the ABs and WRs are blocking well
  • The OL is doing better than 2013
  • The defense did make a few sacks on Tulane
  • The defense did intercept 3 balls against Tulane
  • No scores for Tulane in the second half
  • The true freshman that are playing have made some good plays
Very nice Longest!!
 

redmule

Ramblin' Wreck
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664
I think Longestday is closer to the truth. We gift wrapped seven points 90 seconds or so into the game. After that, the score is 38-14 on the road.

I was sitting in the corner of the end zone, a much different angle from my seats in BDS, so that may affect my perspective on the game. What I saw was some of the more vigorous hitting we have done on D in a while. People seemed to be flying around, putting their bodies into the licks, playing quick, committing and not being tentative. I think the whirlpool at Tulane is getting some work tonight. We tackled much better than against Wofford. Except for the long pass play, we made Tulane earn their yards. Not allowing any points after the second fumble was huge. Three interceptions, one a pick six and one by a true freshman. Dare I hope that the D is beginning to take on Roof's personality a little? Good to hear Harrell's named on the PA system.

On Offense if Thomas stays healthy, the TO may achieve escape velocity later this year. We seem to have more of an attitude of "set the ball down and let's play". Again, the lack of hesitation just like on D seems to be much better. I think that's an indicator of confidence. Boomergump has hit the nail on the head that Thomas will force the rest of the team to play faster. Zenon seems to have figured that out. It think we ran a little more TO in this game. That's probably Johnson not putting too much on Thomas too early. Let Thomas and the rest of the O settle in with called plays, and add more TO as the game and season progresses. We have been talking about Thomas for three years, so we forget he was a Sophmore starting his first game on the road this week. He was a little shaky in the first quarter last week before settling down, and that seems to be what happened again this week. Maybe he has to get hit a couple of times to get into the flow. I loved the draw play. Get him in middle of the field one-on-one on a linebacker, and good things will probably happen. I thought Johnson used Byerly well, also.

On the OL. Looks like the move of O'Reilly to guard is a done deal. Marshall did OK in his first game from what I could tell. No bad exchanges, and quick off the ball. Good spot to get the backup center some experience. Best guess is that Johnson and Sewak are aiming to get at most two to three other OL some playing time until we get some more games under our belt. Burden and Griffin are first year starters. They need to jell with Mason and Braun. Don't throw too many new faces into the mix yet.

Blocking on the perimeter has been very good, much much better than the last couple of years. Combining that with Thomas getting us to the corner quicker will put a smile on Laskey's face. The rocket toss is back, and with the horde of A backs we have, I think we are going to see some gassed linebackers on opposing teams in the 4th qtr.

Special teams block a punt, make a pressure FG right before half, get lots of touchbacks, have no problem with our punt. Return game still needs work and missed a short FG. I'd say B+ for a grade.

The overall high effort, hard hitting, good conditioning, lack of confusion and few penalties will usually keep you in a game. We didn't panic when we had early turnovers and fell behind. People continued to play within the system, got on top, and then buried the opponent when they made a couple of mistakes.

One last observation since Tulane sells beer at their stadium. We DO NOT want to allow alcohol sales in BDS based on the reaction around me of our Super Negative fan base after just a couple of beers to the early turnovers. Had we been losing in the 4th qtr given the number of beers consumed on a very hot day, there would have been trouble. Ask yourself, would you want to be in BDS next week with our intoxicated fans if we lose to GSU or after the uga game last year? I love my bourbon at the tailgate, and after the game, but it is best if we leave it out of the stadium until we win more consistently or our fans mature.
 

GTpdm

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I love my bourbon at the tailgate...

Not possible to give this enough likes. When we win, it's victory-bourbon; when we lose, it's misery-bourbon—but win or lose, there's bourbon at the post-game tailgate. (But no bourbon before the game—that's bad ju-ju!)
 

jeffgt14

We don't quite suck as much anymore.
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At this point last year, Auburn had survived Washington State at home by 7 points and beat an outmanned Arky State team by a mere 38-9 margin.
Oh yeah, they were picked 6th in the West in the aggregate rankings.
Long story short, we don't know ****e from shinola yet
Thank you!
 

GT_B

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
640
I will say this...

Normally when we open the season up with 3 inferior opponents and we win very easily in blowouts, really doesn't seem to mean anything, because we've ended seasons really bad after breeze starts.

Maybe since we will prob have 3 dogfights and not so pretty games to start this year, this team might be battle tested early and might surprise us in their fight and pull out some tough games in ACC play this year.

Seems to be my silver lining in not looking so hot to start off the season. Team will not take anything for granted.
 
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We are very young. I am so glad that our season is set up like it is. Alot of us felt we needed the three games to get ready for the the conference schedule. It is a good thing we only need 1 win a week . It is also good that the games must still be played before going in the lost column.
Yes, many said the schedule played right into our hands. We have been slow to start under CPJ, and I think the option offense takes some time to get everyone on the same page. I am disappointed in the defense so far, but we do have another game and essentially two full weeks of practice available to continue to improve. We have been fortunate with the injuries. If we can clean-up some turnover issues that would help. Unfortunately Tulane and Va Tech are on completely different planets. It could be a shock to our system in Blacksburg -everything from the speed of the game, to the crowd involvement, to the ferocity of the hitting. Still, it is better to have the 3 games to prepare than not. I think we will show up against Va Tech. Winning is another subject.
 
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