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Got bored on an off day.
With all the discussions across the board regarding Emory and the D line etc. Thought I would look back on our biggest game last year and presumably this upcoming season and offer some fodder for conversation
My takeaways
1. I have said on the board that outside of the kickers themselves ST has been a weakness. We had two plays in this game that hurt us on ST. Early in the game Restrepo failed to field a put at the 12 that was downed inside the 1. This is on Restrepo but it's the coaches' job to make sure he doesn't make that mistake. That play flipped the field and made it difficult for us in the first quarter. Late in the game poor punt coverage allowed a plus athlete in Coleman to make a game impacting play. It's reasonable to chalk that up to 1st round talent (is anyone on their current roster this caliber?) On the plus side we were prepared for a surprise onside kick to start the second half and recovered it. Borregales is a beast.
2. Chunk plays hurt us in this game. Benson had a few big-time plays for them. Safeties let a slant go for 60 yds and James Williams seemed to be a step behind the screen game and did not finish these plays with intensity. It seemed he was making the tackle on every TE or RB screen but just loving the guys to the ground or out of bounds. Screens slow down a pass rush but knocking the ever-loving **** out of guy is what slows down the screen game. I just want our safeties to ******* hit somebody. I didn't really see much of that in this game or most of the season. It was almost like if Williams got beat on a play his frustration would prevent him from focusing on finishing violent when he got to the ball carrier.
3. We played 3 down lineman most of the game. Hunte, Taylor, and Bain were our best 3. Harvey, Lichtenstein, Deen were up after that. They were mixed up a bunch but that is a pretty weak 6-man rotation at the end of the day. We were still pretty **** good against them and that was with a lot of Corey Flagg behind them. The 2024 front 7 as currently constituted would have changed the outcome of that game.
4. We ran the ball on them very effectively. Chaney had 80 yards in the 2nd Q alone!! Fletcher looked great. We struggled on interior blitzes especially delayed. Kalen DeLoach was a problem for us in the first half.
5. They picked on Damari Brown with their bigger WR. He had good coverage most of the time but struggled finishing and tackling. Technique tackling was an issue for him a couple times but overall, not bad for true freshman playing against old, big WR in Coleman and Wilson.
6. TVD did make a couple nice back shoulder throws to get us out to midfield before just throwing it away on a 4th and 10. Emory made his heroic sacrifice at the 20 yd line but for those discussing Emory in other threads he didn't really have us driving for the win. TVD did play his part in that scenario; he didn't come in and throw away the game immediately.
Final Take
We are better at QB, WR, RB, DL, LB, CB, K through portal and/or experience compared to 2023. Last year we just didn't have enough elite older guys to really match their elite guys blow for blow. George did his best.
I'm not sure they have any offensive players on their current roster to match the talent of Bell, Coleman, Benson, Wilson, or Travis. They will be lucky if they have two guys at that level. They are expected to be down at the skill positions on offense. Their O-line returns but we fared well against them with way less talent in the front 7. Their O-line also benefited from some very talented players making plays around them when **** broke down.
O-line for us is a push, maybe slightly worse but probably better since 3/5 of the line is returning and depth is improved.
We are worse at safety presumably. IMO what we got from the safety position last year (especially against FSU and last 40 secs of GT) wasn't all that special. Williams was equivalent to what we got from Taylor, some flashy plays that showed his potential but a lot of uninspired plays as well. Kinchens was far less consistent than his AA year and didn't make any game changing plays in the condensed film against FSU. If Kinchens and Williams make a game changing play or two, we win the game. Unfortunately, they were more of a liability out there than an advantage.
So can the new guys step in, just be consistent and not give up the chunk plays. Can they play with more composure. If they do, I don't expect FSU to be able to move the ball consistently on us. Looking at what FSU brings to the table on D this year I'd expect us to have similar success at a minimum. The match up looks to shape up very well for us if we are healthy on gameday.
With all the discussions across the board regarding Emory and the D line etc. Thought I would look back on our biggest game last year and presumably this upcoming season and offer some fodder for conversation
My takeaways
1. I have said on the board that outside of the kickers themselves ST has been a weakness. We had two plays in this game that hurt us on ST. Early in the game Restrepo failed to field a put at the 12 that was downed inside the 1. This is on Restrepo but it's the coaches' job to make sure he doesn't make that mistake. That play flipped the field and made it difficult for us in the first quarter. Late in the game poor punt coverage allowed a plus athlete in Coleman to make a game impacting play. It's reasonable to chalk that up to 1st round talent (is anyone on their current roster this caliber?) On the plus side we were prepared for a surprise onside kick to start the second half and recovered it. Borregales is a beast.
2. Chunk plays hurt us in this game. Benson had a few big-time plays for them. Safeties let a slant go for 60 yds and James Williams seemed to be a step behind the screen game and did not finish these plays with intensity. It seemed he was making the tackle on every TE or RB screen but just loving the guys to the ground or out of bounds. Screens slow down a pass rush but knocking the ever-loving **** out of guy is what slows down the screen game. I just want our safeties to ******* hit somebody. I didn't really see much of that in this game or most of the season. It was almost like if Williams got beat on a play his frustration would prevent him from focusing on finishing violent when he got to the ball carrier.
3. We played 3 down lineman most of the game. Hunte, Taylor, and Bain were our best 3. Harvey, Lichtenstein, Deen were up after that. They were mixed up a bunch but that is a pretty weak 6-man rotation at the end of the day. We were still pretty **** good against them and that was with a lot of Corey Flagg behind them. The 2024 front 7 as currently constituted would have changed the outcome of that game.
4. We ran the ball on them very effectively. Chaney had 80 yards in the 2nd Q alone!! Fletcher looked great. We struggled on interior blitzes especially delayed. Kalen DeLoach was a problem for us in the first half.
5. They picked on Damari Brown with their bigger WR. He had good coverage most of the time but struggled finishing and tackling. Technique tackling was an issue for him a couple times but overall, not bad for true freshman playing against old, big WR in Coleman and Wilson.
6. TVD did make a couple nice back shoulder throws to get us out to midfield before just throwing it away on a 4th and 10. Emory made his heroic sacrifice at the 20 yd line but for those discussing Emory in other threads he didn't really have us driving for the win. TVD did play his part in that scenario; he didn't come in and throw away the game immediately.
Final Take
We are better at QB, WR, RB, DL, LB, CB, K through portal and/or experience compared to 2023. Last year we just didn't have enough elite older guys to really match their elite guys blow for blow. George did his best.
I'm not sure they have any offensive players on their current roster to match the talent of Bell, Coleman, Benson, Wilson, or Travis. They will be lucky if they have two guys at that level. They are expected to be down at the skill positions on offense. Their O-line returns but we fared well against them with way less talent in the front 7. Their O-line also benefited from some very talented players making plays around them when **** broke down.
O-line for us is a push, maybe slightly worse but probably better since 3/5 of the line is returning and depth is improved.
We are worse at safety presumably. IMO what we got from the safety position last year (especially against FSU and last 40 secs of GT) wasn't all that special. Williams was equivalent to what we got from Taylor, some flashy plays that showed his potential but a lot of uninspired plays as well. Kinchens was far less consistent than his AA year and didn't make any game changing plays in the condensed film against FSU. If Kinchens and Williams make a game changing play or two, we win the game. Unfortunately, they were more of a liability out there than an advantage.
So can the new guys step in, just be consistent and not give up the chunk plays. Can they play with more composure. If they do, I don't expect FSU to be able to move the ball consistently on us. Looking at what FSU brings to the table on D this year I'd expect us to have similar success at a minimum. The match up looks to shape up very well for us if we are healthy on gameday.
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