Canegrad89
Recruit
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2017
- Messages
- 1,149
Here are the easiest changes that can be made to put on much better showings the rest of the season:
1) Adapt to Your Personnel & Pass the Ball: With a depleted OL, WE DO NOT HAVE THE PERSONNEL TO ESTABLISH THE GROUND GAME. Mario said in his post-game presser that Jacurri was chosen to replace TVD against FSU because they wanted to establish the run game & be in short yardage 3rd downs. We simply don't have the horses to do that currently. It did not work & will not work this season as we don't have the horses for that style of play. Result: Three (3) points. In the modern era of CFB, that's not going to work. Clemson & Pitt are for sure going to boatrace us (40+ to 3), if we don't adjust fast to the personnel we have. The OL (with Rivers hurt & Zion not playing) is a shadow of what it should have been. There's no shame in adjusting schemes based on the personnel you have available -- it's actually the smart thing to do. Our offense was fun to watch & produced serious yardage when TVD was allowed to implement some of Lashlee's scheme against UNC (496 yards) and had freedom to throw the ball & find the open man. The offense was even more productive in terms of points scored (in short periods of time) when Jake was allowed to throw heavily against MTSU in an attempt to bring us back from a big deficit. THERE'S THE SINGLE BEST SOLUTION ON OFFENSE. Look at the entire season & see when you were the most productive. It is unequivocally when the QBs were allowed to pass the ball (without being handcuffed & overly concerned about INTs). The number of points we scored in those games proves this. It is unequivocally the case (as BCC should not count). Jacurri is our best runner at the QB position by a wide margin. We tried to establish the run against FSU when TVD went out (again, Mario said it in his presser) and we got 188 yards & three (3) points. Prioritizing the run is not going to work this season. In the future (with a strong OL) it will be a different story -- BUT NOT THIS SEASON. Got to adapt or you'll "die on the hill." TVD needs to heal properly or he could have a career-ending injury. One hit is all it would take. He should not be playing. Jacurri is a great competitor & great runner & should be used in certain packages but he needs at least a yr to hone his craft before starting (or being the primary back-up). Start Jake. Give him an even scoreboard to start with. Improve the blocking for him. DO NOT REIN HIM IN. By playing overly cautious & "in a phone booth" that will give you UVA results & guarantee losing by a wide margin against Clemson & Pitt (as we won't be able to keep pace on the scoreboard). While it may seem counterintuitive, let him play freely like he's coming in with a big deficit (MTSU) and don't force him to throw into loaded boxes. That seems like the intelligent thing to do (short, easy, low-risk passes) but it's the opposite. It's forcing him to throw into double coverage & leading to INTs as there are too many bodies in the area of his first read. While it may seem "craxy", let him have freedom to scan the field & find the open man. That will minimize turnovers. Only play receivers & TEs that consistently get open & catch the ball. It's easy to point the finger at Jake but I see WRs out there going through the motions, not getting open & not defending their QB when he makes a bad throw (fight to bat the ball down). If things break down, Jake should have a super simple "bail-out" plan: (i) dump it off to a RB or TE; (ii) run it; or (iii) throw it away hard enough that it could hit the benches (in the direction of one of our players). I'd rather have Jake air it out & score 28-35 pts with 1-2 INTs than go into a shell, score less than 10 pts & lose 45-3 to Clemson & Pitt. Wouldn't 45-31 be much more respectable? Wouldn't at least having a chance to win at least one of remaining games be a good thing? Or, should we go ultra conservative to avoid INTs & end up with total yardage in the 150-180 range, total points less than 10 & no chance to win? Scoring a bunch of points may let us beat GTech instead of going 0-3 the next 3 games. Playing ultra conservative ball to avoid mistakes will only guarantee one thing: LOSING...AND BY A WIDE MARGIN. EXHIBIT A: FSU GAME (45-3). That's a 42 point margin of victory. Largest ever in this series. For anyone that disagrees with this, how did going ultra conservative work out for us? It didn't against FSU. It didn't against ATM. Against any team with a pulse, it's a losing strategy. We've seen that movie & it is a disaster.
2) Only Play Our Best Blockers on Offense: EVERYONE ON OFFENSE NEEDS TO BLOCK FOR JAKE & JACURRI. Period. Dom, Khalil & our best blocking RBs need to make sure Jake has sufficient time to get the ball out. The OL needs help. It's heavily depleted. There's no shame in admitting that. GOT TO PROTECT THE QB & GIVE HIM TIME TO THROW. This is what will give us a puncher's chance to stay in the remaining games & maybe even win one. We'll get absolutely boatraced by Clemson & Pitt, if we don't give the QB time to throw (and he's under significant duress every play). That's what Jake has had to deal with virtually every down when he's come in way behind on the scoreboard. Give him some protection & a fair chance to show what he can do. Anyone that doesn't block effectively on offense should ride the pine. This needs to become a mindset.
3) Only Play Our Most Dependable Receivers on Offense: 85%-90% of targets should go to Colbie, Mallory, X, Ladson, Skinner & Brantley (with 10%-15% to Brashard, Jacolby, & others). Cannot waste a single down throwing to WRs that don't fight to get open, cannot get open & don't catch the ball consistently. Know your personnel & throw to the best & most dependable players only. Against FSU, Colbie & X had 4 catches for ~40 yards in aggregate. The short throws to Colbie didn't give him a chance to do what he does best & certainly didn't get him in space. The rest of our top targets weren't really utilized at all. I see too many WRs going through the motions, not getting open, not using their bodies effectively & not blocking downfield. Gattis is failing because he's going ultra conservative & trying to play football in a phone booth to avoid mistakes. The problem is that ultra conservative style is completing choking the offense off as opponents can load the box & leave us zero room to operate. It also kills the run game. The proof is in the pudding: 188 yds & 3 pts. This season is in the tank. Pass the ball, have some fun & score some pts. This is miserable...and it cannot get much worse than 3 pts. I'd rather score 20 with 1-2 INTs than score 3 lousy pts. Jake will improve if: (i) he's protected; (ii) isn't coming into the game down by 2 TDs and (ii) he's allowed to play freely (not in a phone booth with a turnstile of an OL and "one arm tied behind his back"). Show something good to recruits.
4) Change the Personnel at LB Significantly: James Williams should help the team out & play at LB for the remaining games this season. It doesn't have to be a permanent move as there'll be some young talent & Portal talent helping next yr. Our LBs are too slow & constantly running themselves out of position or caught up in the wash. Trotting the same personnel out there is not working. FSU gashed us. We badly need some athleticism & physicality at the position. We need much more speed too. When things aren't working, mix it up. It can't get worse. We knew FSU would key on running it & we couldn't stop them after seeing it for 4 straight qtrs. The same plays over & over. Be creative. Look at your whole roster. DJ Williams played FB & LB. Dan Morgan moved from FB to LB (and became one of the most decorated LBs in CFB history). Warren Sapp moved from TE & became a HOF player at DT in CFB & the NFL. Think outside the box. I'd try a bunch of combos from a pool of: James Willliams, Gil, Khalil Brantley (could definitely shed blocks & is physical so play him both ways), Bissainthe, Keontra, Caleb & DJ Ivey (he's simply not fast enough to play CB but would have decent speed as a LB). Not only are most of our LBs slow but they aren't tackling well either. Skinner could be intriguing as well as an OLB. Fairly thin but a freak athlete that can run with a huge wingspan. The tackling on Defense is brutally bad again. Get the best athletes in at the LB position, put them in zones & keep it super simple for them so they can play at full speed. We need some resistance in the middle of the field. I literally can't think of one PBU or INT by a LB this season in coverage so put them in zones & make stopping the run the #1 priority. Let's get athletes in there that can run & tackle & have them play fast to stop running games. It would be a huge improvement. Excluding sacks, an avg FSU team ran the same plays repeatedly for about 260-270 yards. Mix it up. It cannot get worse. Note: this is merely a stop gap measure to shore up the run D this yr.
5) Teach Form Tackling: The coaches need to do a better job of teaching form tackling. It should be made a priority in every practice. No more sticking a shoulder in. Most of the run yardage is coming after initial contact. Opponents are bouncing off the shoulder shrugs. Players should ride the pine if they're not going to wrap up using form tackles. If we get the right mix of personnel at LB & teach form tackling, this D would improve dramatically. It's just not that hard & it's mind boggling that this isn't being done.
6) Certain CBs Should Give WR Additional Cushion in Man Coverage: Ivey is a great kid & tremendous representative for us. However, he simply doesn't have the speed to cover WRs one-on-one. He had zero chance on that deep ball. There's so much film on these coverage busts by our DBs now that this will be a recurring theme...unless DJ either moves to LB or is taught to keep his man in front of him at all times with a 5-7 yard cushion. I'd rather he give up a non-scoring chunk play instead of a TD (because there's always still the chance of limiting the score to 3 pts or getting a turnover. By leaving a cushion, maybe he'd be able to make a better play on the ball if it's overthrown or coming back to it instead of being left in the dust with no chance to catch up or make a play. Build in some cushion when playing man now that this has happened repeatedly this season?
These are simple adjustments that are all possible now to dramatically improve the performance of this team. A week of solid practice implementing these concepts could yield a massively improved product on the field. These are the only answers to our woes for the remainder of this season...other than letting Gattis go & having Ponce take over play-calling for the rest of the season. Any other ideas?
1) Adapt to Your Personnel & Pass the Ball: With a depleted OL, WE DO NOT HAVE THE PERSONNEL TO ESTABLISH THE GROUND GAME. Mario said in his post-game presser that Jacurri was chosen to replace TVD against FSU because they wanted to establish the run game & be in short yardage 3rd downs. We simply don't have the horses to do that currently. It did not work & will not work this season as we don't have the horses for that style of play. Result: Three (3) points. In the modern era of CFB, that's not going to work. Clemson & Pitt are for sure going to boatrace us (40+ to 3), if we don't adjust fast to the personnel we have. The OL (with Rivers hurt & Zion not playing) is a shadow of what it should have been. There's no shame in adjusting schemes based on the personnel you have available -- it's actually the smart thing to do. Our offense was fun to watch & produced serious yardage when TVD was allowed to implement some of Lashlee's scheme against UNC (496 yards) and had freedom to throw the ball & find the open man. The offense was even more productive in terms of points scored (in short periods of time) when Jake was allowed to throw heavily against MTSU in an attempt to bring us back from a big deficit. THERE'S THE SINGLE BEST SOLUTION ON OFFENSE. Look at the entire season & see when you were the most productive. It is unequivocally when the QBs were allowed to pass the ball (without being handcuffed & overly concerned about INTs). The number of points we scored in those games proves this. It is unequivocally the case (as BCC should not count). Jacurri is our best runner at the QB position by a wide margin. We tried to establish the run against FSU when TVD went out (again, Mario said it in his presser) and we got 188 yards & three (3) points. Prioritizing the run is not going to work this season. In the future (with a strong OL) it will be a different story -- BUT NOT THIS SEASON. Got to adapt or you'll "die on the hill." TVD needs to heal properly or he could have a career-ending injury. One hit is all it would take. He should not be playing. Jacurri is a great competitor & great runner & should be used in certain packages but he needs at least a yr to hone his craft before starting (or being the primary back-up). Start Jake. Give him an even scoreboard to start with. Improve the blocking for him. DO NOT REIN HIM IN. By playing overly cautious & "in a phone booth" that will give you UVA results & guarantee losing by a wide margin against Clemson & Pitt (as we won't be able to keep pace on the scoreboard). While it may seem counterintuitive, let him play freely like he's coming in with a big deficit (MTSU) and don't force him to throw into loaded boxes. That seems like the intelligent thing to do (short, easy, low-risk passes) but it's the opposite. It's forcing him to throw into double coverage & leading to INTs as there are too many bodies in the area of his first read. While it may seem "craxy", let him have freedom to scan the field & find the open man. That will minimize turnovers. Only play receivers & TEs that consistently get open & catch the ball. It's easy to point the finger at Jake but I see WRs out there going through the motions, not getting open & not defending their QB when he makes a bad throw (fight to bat the ball down). If things break down, Jake should have a super simple "bail-out" plan: (i) dump it off to a RB or TE; (ii) run it; or (iii) throw it away hard enough that it could hit the benches (in the direction of one of our players). I'd rather have Jake air it out & score 28-35 pts with 1-2 INTs than go into a shell, score less than 10 pts & lose 45-3 to Clemson & Pitt. Wouldn't 45-31 be much more respectable? Wouldn't at least having a chance to win at least one of remaining games be a good thing? Or, should we go ultra conservative to avoid INTs & end up with total yardage in the 150-180 range, total points less than 10 & no chance to win? Scoring a bunch of points may let us beat GTech instead of going 0-3 the next 3 games. Playing ultra conservative ball to avoid mistakes will only guarantee one thing: LOSING...AND BY A WIDE MARGIN. EXHIBIT A: FSU GAME (45-3). That's a 42 point margin of victory. Largest ever in this series. For anyone that disagrees with this, how did going ultra conservative work out for us? It didn't against FSU. It didn't against ATM. Against any team with a pulse, it's a losing strategy. We've seen that movie & it is a disaster.
2) Only Play Our Best Blockers on Offense: EVERYONE ON OFFENSE NEEDS TO BLOCK FOR JAKE & JACURRI. Period. Dom, Khalil & our best blocking RBs need to make sure Jake has sufficient time to get the ball out. The OL needs help. It's heavily depleted. There's no shame in admitting that. GOT TO PROTECT THE QB & GIVE HIM TIME TO THROW. This is what will give us a puncher's chance to stay in the remaining games & maybe even win one. We'll get absolutely boatraced by Clemson & Pitt, if we don't give the QB time to throw (and he's under significant duress every play). That's what Jake has had to deal with virtually every down when he's come in way behind on the scoreboard. Give him some protection & a fair chance to show what he can do. Anyone that doesn't block effectively on offense should ride the pine. This needs to become a mindset.
3) Only Play Our Most Dependable Receivers on Offense: 85%-90% of targets should go to Colbie, Mallory, X, Ladson, Skinner & Brantley (with 10%-15% to Brashard, Jacolby, & others). Cannot waste a single down throwing to WRs that don't fight to get open, cannot get open & don't catch the ball consistently. Know your personnel & throw to the best & most dependable players only. Against FSU, Colbie & X had 4 catches for ~40 yards in aggregate. The short throws to Colbie didn't give him a chance to do what he does best & certainly didn't get him in space. The rest of our top targets weren't really utilized at all. I see too many WRs going through the motions, not getting open, not using their bodies effectively & not blocking downfield. Gattis is failing because he's going ultra conservative & trying to play football in a phone booth to avoid mistakes. The problem is that ultra conservative style is completing choking the offense off as opponents can load the box & leave us zero room to operate. It also kills the run game. The proof is in the pudding: 188 yds & 3 pts. This season is in the tank. Pass the ball, have some fun & score some pts. This is miserable...and it cannot get much worse than 3 pts. I'd rather score 20 with 1-2 INTs than score 3 lousy pts. Jake will improve if: (i) he's protected; (ii) isn't coming into the game down by 2 TDs and (ii) he's allowed to play freely (not in a phone booth with a turnstile of an OL and "one arm tied behind his back"). Show something good to recruits.
4) Change the Personnel at LB Significantly: James Williams should help the team out & play at LB for the remaining games this season. It doesn't have to be a permanent move as there'll be some young talent & Portal talent helping next yr. Our LBs are too slow & constantly running themselves out of position or caught up in the wash. Trotting the same personnel out there is not working. FSU gashed us. We badly need some athleticism & physicality at the position. We need much more speed too. When things aren't working, mix it up. It can't get worse. We knew FSU would key on running it & we couldn't stop them after seeing it for 4 straight qtrs. The same plays over & over. Be creative. Look at your whole roster. DJ Williams played FB & LB. Dan Morgan moved from FB to LB (and became one of the most decorated LBs in CFB history). Warren Sapp moved from TE & became a HOF player at DT in CFB & the NFL. Think outside the box. I'd try a bunch of combos from a pool of: James Willliams, Gil, Khalil Brantley (could definitely shed blocks & is physical so play him both ways), Bissainthe, Keontra, Caleb & DJ Ivey (he's simply not fast enough to play CB but would have decent speed as a LB). Not only are most of our LBs slow but they aren't tackling well either. Skinner could be intriguing as well as an OLB. Fairly thin but a freak athlete that can run with a huge wingspan. The tackling on Defense is brutally bad again. Get the best athletes in at the LB position, put them in zones & keep it super simple for them so they can play at full speed. We need some resistance in the middle of the field. I literally can't think of one PBU or INT by a LB this season in coverage so put them in zones & make stopping the run the #1 priority. Let's get athletes in there that can run & tackle & have them play fast to stop running games. It would be a huge improvement. Excluding sacks, an avg FSU team ran the same plays repeatedly for about 260-270 yards. Mix it up. It cannot get worse. Note: this is merely a stop gap measure to shore up the run D this yr.
5) Teach Form Tackling: The coaches need to do a better job of teaching form tackling. It should be made a priority in every practice. No more sticking a shoulder in. Most of the run yardage is coming after initial contact. Opponents are bouncing off the shoulder shrugs. Players should ride the pine if they're not going to wrap up using form tackles. If we get the right mix of personnel at LB & teach form tackling, this D would improve dramatically. It's just not that hard & it's mind boggling that this isn't being done.
6) Certain CBs Should Give WR Additional Cushion in Man Coverage: Ivey is a great kid & tremendous representative for us. However, he simply doesn't have the speed to cover WRs one-on-one. He had zero chance on that deep ball. There's so much film on these coverage busts by our DBs now that this will be a recurring theme...unless DJ either moves to LB or is taught to keep his man in front of him at all times with a 5-7 yard cushion. I'd rather he give up a non-scoring chunk play instead of a TD (because there's always still the chance of limiting the score to 3 pts or getting a turnover. By leaving a cushion, maybe he'd be able to make a better play on the ball if it's overthrown or coming back to it instead of being left in the dust with no chance to catch up or make a play. Build in some cushion when playing man now that this has happened repeatedly this season?
These are simple adjustments that are all possible now to dramatically improve the performance of this team. A week of solid practice implementing these concepts could yield a massively improved product on the field. These are the only answers to our woes for the remainder of this season...other than letting Gattis go & having Ponce take over play-calling for the rest of the season. Any other ideas?
You really wrote all that after last nite?! Bro they mailed it in, gear up for off season championship, season is OVER