Defense vs.Duke vs. Defense vs. GT

[bxcanesbomber]

What if duke beats gt this week?

Certainly possible. It won't mean much of anything. Duke was rated higher in preseason. Georgia Tech is headed in our direction this time last year, to a record they don't deserve. When the crash comes, it will be ugly and ongoing.

Duke had a lousy scheme in our game. I have no idea why everybody assumes only Canes coaches make mistakes and everybody else is perfect. Watching from the stands I can't remember any team in recent years that challenged us less than they did, failing to take advantage of any weakness. They started the game with forced line drives into the ground. Followed by a series of comically low percentage deep lobs down the sideline. As soon as those plays unfolded you could see they had maybe 1 foot margin for error. Early in the game they had a guy open down the right sideline on that play and missed him. Apparently that frustrated them to such extent they went back to it again and again. The Canes were allowed to get off the field without doing much at all.

I talked to two Duke fans down the ramp leaving the stadium. Neither one was crushed or particularly surprised. Both said they had bad feelings coming into the game because the team was generally lackluster in the first four games against pathetic opposition, and it often looked like the offense was scoring more points than it deserved. As I've emphasized countless times, even the garbage calls work against those terrible opponents, which is why you can't put any stock in the trends or results.

I watched the Georgia Tech game twice the past two nights. Our outside linebackers were worse than I realized during the game itself. Raphael Kirby was baffled and ineffective. He was gesturing early in the game, blaming others. Meanwhile, he was either frozen in his tracks or taking the wrong angle. They were getting to the perimeter undisturbed largely because our outside backers had terrible instincts. I would have tried Jermaine Grace in greater dosage. He had one nice aggressive play, just like Kamalu flashed once against Nebraska, earning higher playing time going forward. Kirby didn't commit to anything all night until the crucial 4th and 3 play in the red zone, early fourth quarter. He raced forward and attacked the B back. Nice tackle. He took him fully to the ground. Minor problem in that Justin Thomas kept the ball. Once Kirby vacated the right flank we were stuck with nothing but Deon Bush out there, and Tracy Howard backpedalling into the end zone. Easy touchdown.

McCord is too small to be playing down. That's another theme that shows up every game against a running team. His strengths are nullified. He'll fit better against a finesse team like Cincinnati, with all the passing.

You seem well informed, so honest opinion players or scheme?

 

[caneaddict]

Golden has always had the notion that you play only the guys against GT that have played against them before and seen it. One of his many phucking retarded preconceived notions. Of course there are anomalys like Chad Thomas, who is such a freak that even Grohlden wont bench him. So that led to a lot of Olsen Pierre and very little Hertolou (I believe hertolou could been a big disruptive force at the point of attack), that also led to a lot more fentress than Carter, and not seeing Grace until he realized his strategy was pure garbage and started his minor adjustments.

The other thing that they abandoned that worked great against Duke was showing that blitz up the middle with Grace.. That led the Duke center to crap his pants and blow a couple snaps. I think showing that blitz coulda altered GT's oeration and definitely get them out of the dive and force them out side quite predictably. Al doesn't know how to use playmakers like Grace who are massive disruptors...

 

[dg151]

Pierre had a great game against GT and Huertelou was largely ineffective when he was on the field. He doesn't have the lateral agility to excel against them and his hand usage wasn't great.

A blitzes against GT are fairly pointless, and we sent OLB blitzes into the B gap around 40% of the time. Grace was in the 2nd series of the game.

 

[Coach Macho]

Totally different offense.

Requires different approach.

 

[caneaddict]

Pierre had a great game against GT and Huertelou was largely ineffective when he was on the field. He doesn't have the lateral agility to excel against them and his hand usage wasn't great.

A blitzes against GT are fairly pointless, and we sent OLB blitzes into the B gap around 40% of the time. Grace was in the 2nd series of the game.

how da ***** did pierre have a great game?

 

[dg151]

He had 10 stops, including 7 that were 3 or less yards. That's a really good game for a defensive tackle. Don't recall any of the big FB runs being on him either.

 

[caneaddict]

He had 10 stops, including 7 that were 3 or less yards. That's a really good game for a defensive tackle. Don't recall any of the big FB runs being on him either.

10 stops? you mean tackles? or 10 plays he stopped trying?

 

[dg151]

Tackles. Which is when you get the guy with the ball on the ground, in case you didn't know what that word meant.

 

[Dynasty]

"Everyone" was excited after Duke? Speak for yourself bro.

Also the best way to defend the option is to play the 4-3 over, which is a front we don't play. But people need to stop getting carried away by beating freaking Duke and their horrible center-QB exchange.

Excellent point. And that's the really sad part about our defensive issues. The modern day 43 defense was built in Coral Gables. While the core philosophy was centered around athleticism and speed, folks often forget that a key principle was the BDSD rule.