I apologize for the tardiness of this post... I really wasn't looking forward to writing it. The fact of the matter is that there is one way to beat a team like Georgia Tech, and that's to put some points on the board early so that you force GT's limp-armed quarterback, Josh Nesbitt, to throw the ball much more often than usual. If you try to establish the run early, knowing that GT was keying on the run, you are digging yourself an early grave. But apparently Bryan Stinespring decided to revert back to his old tentative ways and treated our players like corpses. We tried to run up the middle for the first down twice on 3rd and 2. TWICE! WHAT THE FREAKING CRAP! Stinespring saw that it didn't work once, so what did he do? He tried it again. The other damning fact is that we had yet to put up any kind of yardage running the football. GT had clogged the lanes, forcing us to use Tyrod. We didn't use Tyrod. The Yellow Jackets' offense is perfect for eating time off of the clock and gaining 3-4 yards per play. You can put the pressure on your defense to play flawlessly in order to win, but that's asking a lot of some young players. This game would have looked completely different if BS didn't tiptoe down the field and take the ball out of our quarterback's hands despite a lack of success running the football. You all saw what happened in the second half... we let Tyrod make some plays, and that forced GT to drop another player into coverage, which opened up the running lanes for Ryan Williams. It's just too bad it took BS 3 quarters to figure out what the rest of us saw by the end of the 1st quarter.
Sure, there's blame to go around. Brent Bowden punted like a pansy after getting some talk for being the best punter in the NCAA ranks, but we got great returns off of kickoffs which was all thanks to Dyrell Roberts. The defense let up some big plays, but they were pretty worn down by the 4th quarter due to the fact that our offense couldn't sustain drives. There's also some talk about Paul Johnson changing up GT's blocking schemes that helped thwart our defense. However, it seems that most of the blame should go to the offense for failing to execute in the first half, and to Bryan Stinespring for failing to call the plays that would put us in a position to score more easily in the first half. That was the easiest way to win this game... force GT to air it out. Why he reverted back to his sheepish play-calling after having so much success in previous weeks from letting Tyrod throw the football, I will never know. Tyrod was 10-14 with two interceptions... one was tipped at the line and the other was a hail mary at the end of the first half. So he threw incredibly well, despite the fact that we didn't give him a chance to throw it. All in all, a very disappointing loss as it not only knocks us out of contention for the National Title, it also makes an extreme uphill climb to reach the ACC Championship. VT has a new nemesis... move aside Boston College and make room for the "other Tech"... the Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech!
Something else I noted from the game was that Tyrod looked really tired and possibly sick during his final two drives. I've been trying to find talk about that, but surprisingly I didn't see anything. I mean he looked absolutely exhausted, then went over to the sideline and put his head in his hands like he was dealing with something. He had that look that people get where their mouth starts to water profusely and they're forced to start spitting it out. Usually Kyle Tucker would cover something like that in his blog and at least let you know that it was nothing, but I didn't see anything there. I covet answers.
So now expectations have to be lowered. It's time to root the Hokies on to another ACC championship and another Orange Bowl. This team can do it... it's the most talented team we've had in years in terms of offensive potential. Let's just hope that BS doesn't crap the bed again. I will now fling my arms about wildly at random times in a fit of discomfort. Go Tech (the real one).
7 comments:
Very well said.
Pat,
Enjoyed watching the game with you, even though it was a frustrating loss. Some thoughts about your post below. But first, I'm not a Bryan Stinespring fan by any means. I'm probably not as much of a Stinespring hater as some, though, especially having watched the games this year.
1. In the first half you say "we didn't use tyrod." I remember a number of passing plays where Tyrod had ample time to throw, but immediately got happy feet and took off, or at least didn't seem to look around. It's just speculation, but some of those could have been good play calls where Tyrod needed to settle down and go through his reads.
2. You say that in the second half, Stinespring "let Tyrod make some plays" but we weren't going no huddle, so those plays probably came from Stinespring. He can't get all the blame for the 1st half and no credit for the 2nd. In fact, he actually seemed to make adjustments that got our offense rolling, it was just too late.
3. "The defense let up some big plays, but they were pretty worn down by the 4th quarter due to the fact that our offense couldn't sustain drives"
The defense dominated the 1st half excepting that one pass. But starting in the 2nd, the defense had absolutely no answers. They played hard, but the scheme just flat out wasn't working. I would call that a coaching failure to adjust on Bud Foster's part (gasp!). An extremely rare one, granted. But when GT holds the ball for 23 minutes out of 30 and marches up and down the field to the tune of 3 touchdowns, not many offenses could compensate for that.
So it seems to me like our offense came in with a slow tempo, grinding game plan that didn't work in the 1st half, adjusted and/or executed better and the 2nd and scored a bunch of points. Our defense had a great plan in the 1st half, but could not adjust to PJ's changes in the 2nd half.
In my opinion this was a team loss but Foster is more at fault than Stinespring for this one. Your thoughts?
Tom
Well, like I said, I think there was plenty of blame to go around... I just think the majority of it goes to Stinespring, and after reviewing the play-by-play to refresh my mind, I am sticking with that. The first drive was the one where Tyrod completed a 40 yard bomb to Roberts. The next series saw a 2 yard rush, a designed short pass to Boykin (1 yd), a delay of game (Stinespring took too long getting the next play in), and ended with a sack when Tyrod tried to find a receiver on 3rd and 12. The next series saw a rush of 3 yards, a rush of -1, and a completed pass to Roberts for 5 yards, who either ran the route too short or else BS didn't call a play that had the receivers run long enough routes... not sure. I could keep going on, but the times where Tyrod rushed were usually successful. 12 yards on 3rd down for a first down, 5 yards on 1st down, 6 yards on 1st down. Besides the 1 sack, the worst rush for Taylor was 3 yards on 1st and 20, but that was at our own 40 with 15 seconds left in the half. Ryan Williams was ineffective running the football in the first half, but we kept feeding him the ball creating tough 3rd down scenarios.
When I say Stinespring let Tyrod make some plays, I meant that he put him in a better position to do that like he had done in the previous two games... half-rollouts and situations where the field was spread a little more.
I think your 3rd point is extremely valid, but it's not necessary if we are up at halftime forcing GT to throw the ball in the second half.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you say that the game plan was to eat clock in the first half and basically do what GT did, but my contention is that the better game plan is to score quickly with the long pass a few times, and then sit down into your running game and eat clock once you burn GT for enough points. I feel like we could have done that, but I felt like most of the receivers were running short routes for a reason.
I also need to mention again the two times that we ran up the gut on 3rd and 2 when our running game had been lacking any power whatsoever. I will absolutely give Stinespring credit for the Miami game, the Duke game, and the Boston College game. He did well in those and opened up the offense. For whatever reason, it seemed like he closed down the offense in favor of eating clock early in the game against GT, and I don't get that, so I'm going to be critical. I think those are excellent points though Tom, and I'm not sure that you're not right, I'm just sticking with what I think.
How much credit does he get?
Was our offense that much better in those games, or did the offense just happen to work.
My interpretation of the offense:
1. run.
2. Hope the play breaks down and QB can a. make a play with his feet and run the ball, or b. make a play with his feet, buying some time, and then throw a pass downfield when the coverage breaks down. This was successful at the end of Nebraska game, the miami game (one pass was a very good one where this wasnt the case) and Duke doesn't count.
The focus on the run was the same strategy that was used against Miami. They went back to what worked in their best game of the year. I can't fault the OC too much for trying to run the football. You have to believe that your line can block well enough to give your back a chance to pick up two yards. The line was terrible the entire first half. Terrible. If you can't block, Bill Walsh can't call plays for you. (The inverse is also true, a good line makes a coordinator look much better than they often really are.)
You say that if VT had built a big lead in the first half then it would have forced GT to air it out. Not true. A triple option offense runs their offense even when they're down. At the end of last season UGA got up big (around 30 points) on GT and GT just kept running to get back in the game. The fact the D couldn't do anything with the base offense in the second half was terrible.
The difference between the first half and second half, they dedicated a blocker to Chancellor and Nesbitt all of a sudden had room to run. Tech didn't adjust their assignments (discipline is how you stop the triple option) and that about did it.
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