astabooty
Redshirt Freshman
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2013
- Messages
- 370
The title is a bit of a joke, but the state of our team is not nearly as bad as many of you want it to be. Let's start first with our boy D'Onfrio and the D. People seem to believe our defense is as helpless this year as it was last. The truth is we are doing much better than last year.
1st Half Against Louisville:
In the first half our D held Louisville to 7 points. That lone touchdown was scored on a 93 yard drive where it appeared like "No D" was trying to give up points. That drive was inexcusable, no arguments there. If you look at the other drives of the first half, however, you will see that Louisville's offense was stifled:
View attachment 25439
3 & out
Terrible drive
3 & out
Forced fumble and recovery on the 1st play
10 play, but only 32 yard drive that resulted in a PUNT
4 play, but only 26 yard drive that resulted in a PUNT
and then a 3 play, 14 yard drive with the half ending.
Anyone who objectively looks at our 1st half and compares it with last year's D can see we played much, much better. What D'Onfrio was doing on that second drive...only the lord knows. And yes, there were some terrible plays by the coach too (10 men on the field...and also not stacking the line on a 4th down), but as a whole we played a very solid half defensively.
2nd Half Against Louisville:
To really get a feel for our defense in the 2nd, you gotta put it next to our offense's production (offense italicized):
View attachment 25440
3 & out on offense
Forced fumble and recovery on the 1st play
From Louisville's 8 yard line, the offense can only muster 1 yard and a FG
6 play, but only 24 yard drive that resulted in a PUNT
3 & out on offense
*by this point the offense was limp **** and really set up the defense to fail*
Touchdown Louisville (drive started on their own 49)
4 play drive resulting in an INTERCEPTION
Field goal Louisville (drive started on the 50)
*by this point game was over*
Louisville Defensive Assessment:
The 31 points (24 scored against the defense) does not accurately portray how well the defense played.
Offense Against Louisville:
The coaches (Golden and Coley) set us up for failure. They showed zero confidence in Kaaya and set him up to fail. They consistently ran Duke into a stacked box. They abandoned play action. They refused to spread the field to create space for Duke. They refused to call plays that would cover for the right side of the OL. They ignored the glaring opportunities to attack Louisville with screens.
Even by their own standards, this was a terribly coached game offensively. The players do not deserve blame here.
View attachment 25442
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FamU Game (Positives)
Let's be real, not too much can be read into our performance against a team of FamU's quality. With that said, there were positives to take away. Yes, positives!
1) Coach Coley was not his predictable self. That's not just compared to the Louisville game, that's compared to last year. Coley ran way more formations. He ran Duke to his strengths and even passed to him (called back due to a dumb penalty). He showed faith in Kaaya.
2) This was Kaaya's first real game. He spread the ball around. He made good decisions. His two interceptions weren't bad decisions or horrible throws. The first INT should have been thrown a yard or two closer to the sideline, but the DB made a great play and Herb didn't do enough to fight for the ball. The second INT was a slightly overthrown pass that bounced off the TE's hand right to a defender.
3) Duke went for 97 yards on 9 carries. Yearby went for 95 yards on 14 carries.
4) The offense performed well in the first half. 28 points and we left quite a few on the field. Unlucky INT while we were driving. Goudis with a missed FG. And someone fumbled - I don't remember that drive. Help anyone?
5) Defense forced nine 3 & out's. Defense forced two fumbles. Defense gave up 114 total yards, only 25 rushing yards, and 0 points (last year Savanna St rushed for 139 against us).
6) A lot of depth players got burn.
*2nd half was lackluster. Yearby looked good, but that was about the only offensive positive in the half. It would have been nice to see Golden have more of a killer instinct, but at the same time, it was obvious the team knew the game was won by the start of the 3rd quarter.
FamU Game (Negatives)
1) Special Teams: Goudis and the bad snap.
2) DB's (Howard in particular) looked like they need some work.
3) Our offense still sucked on 3rd down conversions
4) Lack of killer instinct in the 2nd half.
View attachment 25443
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Two game overview:
Offensively there was nothing to say about the Louisville game other than the coaches called one of the worse games ever. Against FamU the coaches and players were much improved, but again, that was against FamU. It's really hard to say what our offense is right now or to determine the quality of our offense. If the coaches get out of their own way, could we be any good? Maybe. Are the coaches capable of doing that? Not sure.
Defensively, no one is saying D'Onfrio is the next Charlie Strong. No one is saying our defense is going to be up to Nick Saban's standard, but a blind man could see how much better we look this year compared to last.
DL: From what we've seen so far Calvin Heurtelou and Courtel Jenkins are upgrades from last year. Our entire d-line looks better than last year. Chick and Kamalu look good.
LB: Perryman's gonna Perryman. Beast near the line or tackling in space, not so great in coverage. Thurston Howell, III is playing solid as ****. And it looks like Grace should take over the 3rd spot and make a strong contribution.
CB: Other than Howard, I think the players are playing up to their quality. The scheme definitely could be improved though (more press, more nickel so a LB isn't covering the slot). For the quality we supposedly have at DB, though, I think we need to improve.
S: Best safety group we've had in some time. Bush and DC are organized, reliable, and playing sound. Jamal is adding quality depth.
With all that said, who the **** knows how this season is going to turn out. The only games I would put money on is us beating Arkansas St and FSU beating us.
1st Half Against Louisville:
In the first half our D held Louisville to 7 points. That lone touchdown was scored on a 93 yard drive where it appeared like "No D" was trying to give up points. That drive was inexcusable, no arguments there. If you look at the other drives of the first half, however, you will see that Louisville's offense was stifled:
View attachment 25439
3 & out
Terrible drive
3 & out
Forced fumble and recovery on the 1st play
10 play, but only 32 yard drive that resulted in a PUNT
4 play, but only 26 yard drive that resulted in a PUNT
and then a 3 play, 14 yard drive with the half ending.
Anyone who objectively looks at our 1st half and compares it with last year's D can see we played much, much better. What D'Onfrio was doing on that second drive...only the lord knows. And yes, there were some terrible plays by the coach too (10 men on the field...and also not stacking the line on a 4th down), but as a whole we played a very solid half defensively.
2nd Half Against Louisville:
To really get a feel for our defense in the 2nd, you gotta put it next to our offense's production (offense italicized):
View attachment 25440
3 & out on offense
Forced fumble and recovery on the 1st play
From Louisville's 8 yard line, the offense can only muster 1 yard and a FG
6 play, but only 24 yard drive that resulted in a PUNT
3 & out on offense
*by this point the offense was limp **** and really set up the defense to fail*
Touchdown Louisville (drive started on their own 49)
4 play drive resulting in an INTERCEPTION
Field goal Louisville (drive started on the 50)
*by this point game was over*
Louisville Defensive Assessment:
The 31 points (24 scored against the defense) does not accurately portray how well the defense played.
Offense Against Louisville:
The coaches (Golden and Coley) set us up for failure. They showed zero confidence in Kaaya and set him up to fail. They consistently ran Duke into a stacked box. They abandoned play action. They refused to spread the field to create space for Duke. They refused to call plays that would cover for the right side of the OL. They ignored the glaring opportunities to attack Louisville with screens.
Even by their own standards, this was a terribly coached game offensively. The players do not deserve blame here.
View attachment 25442
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FamU Game (Positives)
Let's be real, not too much can be read into our performance against a team of FamU's quality. With that said, there were positives to take away. Yes, positives!
1) Coach Coley was not his predictable self. That's not just compared to the Louisville game, that's compared to last year. Coley ran way more formations. He ran Duke to his strengths and even passed to him (called back due to a dumb penalty). He showed faith in Kaaya.
2) This was Kaaya's first real game. He spread the ball around. He made good decisions. His two interceptions weren't bad decisions or horrible throws. The first INT should have been thrown a yard or two closer to the sideline, but the DB made a great play and Herb didn't do enough to fight for the ball. The second INT was a slightly overthrown pass that bounced off the TE's hand right to a defender.
3) Duke went for 97 yards on 9 carries. Yearby went for 95 yards on 14 carries.
4) The offense performed well in the first half. 28 points and we left quite a few on the field. Unlucky INT while we were driving. Goudis with a missed FG. And someone fumbled - I don't remember that drive. Help anyone?
5) Defense forced nine 3 & out's. Defense forced two fumbles. Defense gave up 114 total yards, only 25 rushing yards, and 0 points (last year Savanna St rushed for 139 against us).
6) A lot of depth players got burn.
*2nd half was lackluster. Yearby looked good, but that was about the only offensive positive in the half. It would have been nice to see Golden have more of a killer instinct, but at the same time, it was obvious the team knew the game was won by the start of the 3rd quarter.
FamU Game (Negatives)
1) Special Teams: Goudis and the bad snap.
2) DB's (Howard in particular) looked like they need some work.
3) Our offense still sucked on 3rd down conversions
4) Lack of killer instinct in the 2nd half.
View attachment 25443
-----
Two game overview:
Offensively there was nothing to say about the Louisville game other than the coaches called one of the worse games ever. Against FamU the coaches and players were much improved, but again, that was against FamU. It's really hard to say what our offense is right now or to determine the quality of our offense. If the coaches get out of their own way, could we be any good? Maybe. Are the coaches capable of doing that? Not sure.
Defensively, no one is saying D'Onfrio is the next Charlie Strong. No one is saying our defense is going to be up to Nick Saban's standard, but a blind man could see how much better we look this year compared to last.
DL: From what we've seen so far Calvin Heurtelou and Courtel Jenkins are upgrades from last year. Our entire d-line looks better than last year. Chick and Kamalu look good.
LB: Perryman's gonna Perryman. Beast near the line or tackling in space, not so great in coverage. Thurston Howell, III is playing solid as ****. And it looks like Grace should take over the 3rd spot and make a strong contribution.
CB: Other than Howard, I think the players are playing up to their quality. The scheme definitely could be improved though (more press, more nickel so a LB isn't covering the slot). For the quality we supposedly have at DB, though, I think we need to improve.
S: Best safety group we've had in some time. Bush and DC are organized, reliable, and playing sound. Jamal is adding quality depth.
With all that said, who the **** knows how this season is going to turn out. The only games I would put money on is us beating Arkansas St and FSU beating us.
