A win is a win, my thoughts on the Duke game...

k9cane

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- OK, it wasn't a Mona Lisa but I'll take a solid win on the road on primetime vs a well-coached squad that will go to a bowl game anytime. Some quick random thoughts:

- First, my hats off to Dee Delaney, I dubbed him 'Dee-minus' last week but tonight, he gets an A. This is the guy that was advertised from the Citadel. Kudos for hanging in there and bouncing back.

- Early struggles again on defense in getting off the field and 3rd down conversions but this unit gained steam as the game went on and really got locked in. Despite some early busts, I thought early on they were much better in rallying to the ball and tackling in the open field( Darrion Owens and Sheldrick Redwine made some nice plays in the first half). No large YAC plays today given up when it mattered.

Speaking of the D, this was the unit we expected to see(especially in the second half) and Chad Thomas, who played his most complete game at the U, he was disruptive collapsing the pocket all night long and Joe Jackson was Joe Jackson. This is the unit we were all expecting in the pre-season. And when they are allowed to play downhill with leads they are suffocating and fun to watch. the LB trio finally had the type of game that lived up to the standards of what was expected of them

- Any question Malek Young is our best CB? Yeah, he'll get beat here and there but he is a real battler out there with speed. He'll only continue to get better, he's made a ton of strides from last year.

- Now, to the offense, geez, as I said last week, there will be a hit-and-miss quality to this unit and Malik Rosier and that was shown tonight. It can be as inconsistent as it is explosive. It's something we'll have to expect this season with both our QB and our overall unit.

- the Oline, yeah, not good. Donaldson had his 'welcome to college' moment vs a pretty stout Duke front, I even saw Gaynor get a few of his reps. What really frustrated me was the short-yardage run blocking again. They just cant get a solid push and for much of the game the run game was stuffed and this has to improve. Bottom line, the running game has to be able to take some pressure of Rosier who was giving me that Kenny Kelly in meltdown mode at East Carolina in 99 for much of the 3rd quarter.

- Why was Walton, who was already wobbled coming in, getting those last few carries, especially in light of how good Homer has been early on? I expect the Homer-run hitter to bust a lot of late big game runs vs fatigued defenses this season. Lets hope Walton is good to go next week.

-Ahmonn Richards, what really needs to be said. He'll leave UM with a bunch of records and as a top ten pick, barring injury

- And can we give 'Honey Nut' Berrios his due? Play him in the slot and let him do his thing. I still think he's underused, IMO, he should be the foundation of our short passing game. He's a really tough cover inside.

- Again, we missed a ton of practice time so things still may be a bit off-kilter for this squad and Richt realizes that( but you can tell how frustrated he was by the wasted timeouts, etc). But hey, 3-0 and they pulled away from a good team in the conference opener on the road on national TV. This team has a long ways to go but I can see a very good foundation being built here( I still think we need an infusion of Olineman or some of them to mature, and a bit more speed in the secondary)

Off to Tallahassee we go....
 
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Rosier running ability is going to be a huge difference maker vs FSU.

He needs to learn when to stay in the pocket though. There were several times where he bailed on the play too quickly and ended up getting minimal to negative yardage
 
FSU linebackers cant cover to save their lives Richt has to take advantage of that. We let duke off the hook most the time not taking advantage of it.
 
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agree but Malek Young has to turn his head around and locate the ball. he finally got called for a PI and he also missed a EZ int because of it.
 
Based on the reactions of this board we won on a last second field goal.

Yeah, just bounced in off the uprights. Richt seemed to have that look till the end too. Not a bad thing really. I don't want satisfaction to set in.
 
FSU linebackers cant cover to save their lives Richt has to take advantage of that. We let duke off the hook most the time not taking advantage of it.

Found it interesting that TE's were rarely targeted tonight. May not have been part of the game plan with a big picture purpose in mind
 
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we beat an undefeated conference opponent on the road by 25 in a game we were favored by 6. if you aren't ecstatic with this kind of win after sitting thru the shannon and golden eras you're insane.
 
Well, I knew you would focus on Rosier as the "inconsistent one". However, you admitted our OL performance especially in the second half was subpar, Walton was not healthy and wasn't himself, and on top of that their defense adjusted very well in the second half and Richt offense didn't. Yet, Rosier is the inconstant one. Serve the narrative very well. Congrats.
 
we beat an undefeated conference opponent on the road by 25 in a game we were favored by 6. if you aren't ecstatic with this kind of win after sitting thru the shannon and golden eras you're insane.

Glad we got the win no doubt, but the team seems to have this habit of letting teams hang around for longer than they need to. Also, Richt seems to take a minute to find his offensive playcalling rhythm. Maybe the team is still shaking off rust and trying to find its offensive identity while breaking in a new qb, but if the team isnt careful, legit teams like VT will eat our lunch.
 
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Get Walton and Richards 100% (which is not easy in the middle of the season) and the offense will look a lot better. And, I told you ****ers Berrios didn't suck.
 
For a QB who didn't have a running game to help him, Rosier has done a great job. Irrespective of his lack of production in the second half.
 
Honestly Walton's health will have the biggest determinant on our season from this point forth. when healthy he is a monster
 
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Duke is not a scrub. They beat 3 power 5 teams. Before tonight we beat none. All I want us to do is win the ACC games by any means

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
 
I think our poor run defense also deserves a mention. It was bad.

yeah it was getting gashed in the first half but again, in todays college football, you're going to give up something and a lot of teams will pile up yards in between the 20s. But in the red-zone they did a nice job of stiffening up.

Again, it's hard to hold a solid college offense to 6 points on the road, nowadays. I just like the fact they got better as the night went on

But there are certainly things to work on
 
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