people really need to watch the first half again

[upperdeck]

PSU the first time they went for it.. where was the D? we played that play with 9 guys? did we have two deep or even on the field?


1) the play calling was not that bad. the results were
2) we had the ball in position to score all but one drive that half
3) the blocking mistakes were limited to about 3 plays in that half. the first gulley screen could have gone big
4) while it seemed we were running straight up the middle the design of the plays was actually pretty varied. we ran sweeps, we run plays with different guys pulling, often where the play ended up was not really where the play was supposed to go
5) give PSU some credit they stopped some plays that were really well set up
6) the AB drop at the ten was really huge. 1 guy to beat for a TD
7) The next play flemming reverse had it been a straight hand off might have gone for a TD PSU had no one stay at home
8) on the 2nd drive we started with a big Smith run then had a false start that led to a 3rd and 3. never happens without the penalty, but the 4th down play was poorly designed..

9) the estime drop was a great call, has to be caught and PSU had only one player within 20 yds.What really hurt was the 2nd down run that went for 9 and they called a formation penalty. either its a terrible call or it should have been called 10 other times..

10) the bad punt snap then the smith fumble really turned the tide. PSU got back into the game they were being dominated for about the prev 15 min.. we had multiple chances to take the game over and it was all on us..

11) the 2nd PSU fg came after a SU holding on the punt.. it happened 10 yds up field and on the TV you cant even see a SU player in contact other than the ones PSU was holding while blocking not sure why a SU player would be holding that far down field.. but the 2nd non call on the punt that was over turned led to PSU getting a short field score after the only real running plays they ran all day..


6-3 at the half and could easily have been 14-17 pt SU lead with a couple of non mistakes..

play calling that half was not the problem . execution was

 

[Dcuse]

I watched game again and echo pretty much everything you said. We could easily have had a three score lead coming back from the half.

 

[longislandcuse]

Agreed. We had a lot of drops on plays that could've gone big. Hard to build rhythm in a pocket passing QB when players can't catch the few catchable balls he actually threw.

 

[Shenexon]

Very nice. Lots of missed opportunities but potential as well. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[TheCusian]

Reminds me of last year - where we were out gaining everyone, but TO's were killing us. 2nd half of the season and the TO problem went away mostly (except for Cinci).

I'm hoping they eek out a win with small improvements this week - and then really work on getting sharp vs Wagner and Tulane...

 

[Crusty]

What I don't understand is why that was the only play to Estime. The fist quarter was good but we had a case of the 2012 disease of not scoring. The second half just got worse as it progressed. Better next week.

 

[BostonOrange]

PSU the first time they went for it.. where was the D? we played that play with 9 guys? did we have two deep or even on the field?


1) the play calling was not that bad. the results were
2) we had the ball in position to score all but one drive that half
3) the blocking mistakes were limited to about 3 plays in that half. the first gulley screen could have gone big
4) while it seemed we were running straight up the middle the design of the plays was actually pretty varied. we ran sweeps, we run plays with different guys pulling, often where the play ended up was not really where the play was supposed to go
5) give PSU some credit they stopped some plays that were really well set up
6) the AB drop at the ten was really huge. 1 guy to beat for a TD
7) The next play flemming reverse had it been a straight hand off might have gone for a TD PSU had no one stay at home
8) on the 2nd drive we started with a big Smith run then had a false start that led to a 3rd and 3. never happens without the penalty, but the 4th down play was poorly designed..

9) the estime drop was a great call, has to be caught and PSU had only one player within 20 yds.What really hurt was the 2nd down run that went for 9 and they called a formation penalty. either its a terrible call or it should have been called 10 other times..

10) the bad punt snap then the smith fumble really turned the tide. PSU got back into the game they were being dominated for about the prev 15 min.. we had multiple chances to take the game over and it was all on us..

11) the 2nd PSU fg came after a SU holding on the punt.. it happened 10 yds up field and on the TV you cant even see a SU player in contact other than the ones PSU was holding while blocking not sure why a SU player would be holding that far down field.. but the 2nd non call on the punt that was over turned led to PSU getting a short field score after the only real running plays they ran all day..


6-3 at the half and could easily have been 14-17 pt SU lead with a couple of non mistakes..

play calling that half was not the problem . execution was

Watching the game live the thing that jumped out at me was all the screens\swing passes we had very well set up, but either a guy missed a block, or we dropped the pass, or Allen got the ball batted down. Those really hurt.

 

[Trueblue25]

Can we talk about our 3rd down d?

Tremendous.

 

[CaliCuse]

PSU the first time they went for it.. where was the D? we played that play with 9 guys? did we have two deep or even on the field?


1) the play calling was not that bad. the results were
2) we had the ball in position to score all but one drive that half
3) the blocking mistakes were limited to about 3 plays in that half. the first gulley screen could have gone big
4) while it seemed we were running straight up the middle the design of the plays was actually pretty varied. we ran sweeps, we run plays with different guys pulling, often where the play ended up was not really where the play was supposed to go
5) give PSU some credit they stopped some plays that were really well set up
6) the AB drop at the ten was really huge. 1 guy to beat for a TD
7) The next play flemming reverse had it been a straight hand off might have gone for a TD PSU had no one stay at home
8) on the 2nd drive we started with a big Smith run then had a false start that led to a 3rd and 3. never happens without the penalty, but the 4th down play was poorly designed..

9) the estime drop was a great call, has to be caught and PSU had only one player within 20 yds.What really hurt was the 2nd down run that went for 9 and they called a formation penalty. either its a terrible call or it should have been called 10 other times..

10) the bad punt snap then the smith fumble really turned the tide. PSU got back into the game they were being dominated for about the prev 15 min.. we had multiple chances to take the game over and it was all on us..

11) the 2nd PSU fg came after a SU holding on the punt.. it happened 10 yds up field and on the TV you cant even see a SU player in contact other than the ones PSU was holding while blocking not sure why a SU player would be holding that far down field.. but the 2nd non call on the punt that was over turned led to PSU getting a short field score after the only real running plays they ran all day..


6-3 at the half and could easily have been 14-17 pt SU lead with a couple of non mistakes..

play calling that half was not the problem . execution was

Unless you have flamer with ultra elite speed those end around plays or reverses will pretty much always fail. If every play is designed to go all the way.its fair to say that outside of every TD play everything else is a lack of execution.What disturbed me is the fact that the WRs weren't running the routes that were being called for. Not being on the "same page" as the QB is a game plan for a loss. If that is taken care of I'm betting that Allen will look a whole lot better this coming Saturday. Again that will depend on the O-line doing their responsibilities well for both parts of the offense.:bat:

 

[anomander]

PSU the first time they went for it.. where was the D? we played that play with 9 guys? did we have two deep or even on the field?


1) the play calling was not that bad. the results were
2) we had the ball in position to score all but one drive that half
3) the blocking mistakes were limited to about 3 plays in that half. the first gulley screen could have gone big
4) while it seemed we were running straight up the middle the design of the plays was actually pretty varied. we ran sweeps, we run plays with different guys pulling, often where the play ended up was not really where the play was supposed to go
5) give PSU some credit they stopped some plays that were really well set up
6) the AB drop at the ten was really huge. 1 guy to beat for a TD
7) The next play flemming reverse had it been a straight hand off might have gone for a TD PSU had no one stay at home
8) on the 2nd drive we started with a big Smith run then had a false start that led to a 3rd and 3. never happens without the penalty, but the 4th down play was poorly designed..

9) the estime drop was a great call, has to be caught and PSU had only one player within 20 yds.What really hurt was the 2nd down run that went for 9 and they called a formation penalty. either its a terrible call or it should have been called 10 other times..

10) the bad punt snap then the smith fumble really turned the tide. PSU got back into the game they were being dominated for about the prev 15 min.. we had multiple chances to take the game over and it was all on us..

11) the 2nd PSU fg came after a SU holding on the punt.. it happened 10 yds up field and on the TV you cant even see a SU player in contact other than the ones PSU was holding while blocking not sure why a SU player would be holding that far down field.. but the 2nd non call on the punt that was over turned led to PSU getting a short field score after the only real running plays they ran all day..


6-3 at the half and could easily have been 14-17 pt SU lead with a couple of non mistakes..

play calling that half was not the problem . execution was

good post. i said the same thing after i went back and watched the game. i was in attendance so wasn't quite sure , but i actually felt a lot better going back and watching it. the first half we moved the ball pretty well, only to miss on a couple plays. McDonald is getting blasted for having no game plan where in fact the game plan was fine, the execution at times were off, and then the halftime adjustments left a lot to be desired.

A couple things I would like to see next week:

More Jerome Smith. Give him 20 carries if it's called for

More Whigham

Find a handful of carries for Morris

More aggression on 1st down

 

[sufandu]

But then we can watch the second half again and see the best player on either team come onto the field after sitting out the first half.

 

[Millhouse]

PSU the first time they went for it.. where was the D? we played that play with 9 guys? did we have two deep or even on the field?


1) the play calling was not that bad. the results were
2) we had the ball in position to score all but one drive that half
3) the blocking mistakes were limited to about 3 plays in that half. the first gulley screen could have gone big
4) while it seemed we were running straight up the middle the design of the plays was actually pretty varied. we ran sweeps, we run plays with different guys pulling, often where the play ended up was not really where the play was supposed to go
5) give PSU some credit they stopped some plays that were really well set up
6) the AB drop at the ten was really huge. 1 guy to beat for a TD
7) The next play flemming reverse had it been a straight hand off might have gone for a TD PSU had no one stay at home
8) on the 2nd drive we started with a big Smith run then had a false start that led to a 3rd and 3. never happens without the penalty, but the 4th down play was poorly designed..

9) the estime drop was a great call, has to be caught and PSU had only one player within 20 yds.What really hurt was the 2nd down run that went for 9 and they called a formation penalty. either its a terrible call or it should have been called 10 other times..

10) the bad punt snap then the smith fumble really turned the tide. PSU got back into the game they were being dominated for about the prev 15 min.. we had multiple chances to take the game over and it was all on us..

11) the 2nd PSU fg came after a SU holding on the punt.. it happened 10 yds up field and on the TV you cant even see a SU player in contact other than the ones PSU was holding while blocking not sure why a SU player would be holding that far down field.. but the 2nd non call on the punt that was over turned led to PSU getting a short field score after the only real running plays they ran all day..


6-3 at the half and could easily have been 14-17 pt SU lead with a couple of non mistakes..

play calling that half was not the problem . execution was

curious if you remember a game with bad play calling.

i get why people don't like talking about it but some people have to be better at calling plays than others

 

[ImperialOrange]

Some of the penalties called on us were very curious including that formation penalty. Was the non call on the halo infraction vs them as bad as it looked in person or no? Also, I wasn't impressed with the spots. We were consistantly getting robbed out of 1/2 to a full yard or so it seemed.

 

[Scooch]

curious if you remember a game with bad play calling.

i get why people don't like talking about it but some people have to be better at calling plays than others

If just 5 things per game went differently, SU wouldn't have lost since 1994.

Shine on, you crazy diamond!

 

[upperdeck]

curious if you remember a game with bad play calling.

i get why people don't like talking about it but some people have to be better at calling plays than others

sure.. but you can complain about certain calls without saying the game plan was terrible. if AB doesn't drop the first down pass and reddish finishes his fumble return we win and score almost 30 pts without changing any other plays.

there were calls i didnt like, the try on 4th down was a bad play. but going back thru the first half and being objective the run pass mix was not bad, the pass drops killed us and the terrible formation penalty stalled a drive that was already in scoring range. the players turned 21 into 3 all by themselves.. the 2nd half was a bit more dicey even though we scored.

 

[IthacaMatt]

PSU the first time they went for it.. where was the D? we played that play with 9 guys? did we have two deep or even on the field?


1) the play calling was not that bad. the results were
2) we had the ball in position to score all but one drive that half
3) the blocking mistakes were limited to about 3 plays in that half. the first gulley screen could have gone big
4) while it seemed we were running straight up the middle the design of the plays was actually pretty varied. we ran sweeps, we run plays with different guys pulling, often where the play ended up was not really where the play was supposed to go
5) give PSU some credit they stopped some plays that were really well set up
6) the AB drop at the ten was really huge. 1 guy to beat for a TD
7) The next play flemming reverse had it been a straight hand off might have gone for a TD PSU had no one stay at home
8) on the 2nd drive we started with a big Smith run then had a false start that led to a 3rd and 3. never happens without the penalty, but the 4th down play was poorly designed..

9) the estime drop was a great call, has to be caught and PSU had only one player within 20 yds.What really hurt was the 2nd down run that went for 9 and they called a formation penalty. either its a terrible call or it should have been called 10 other times..

10) the bad punt snap then the smith fumble really turned the tide. PSU got back into the game they were being dominated for about the prev 15 min.. we had multiple chances to take the game over and it was all on us..

11) the 2nd PSU fg came after a SU holding on the punt.. it happened 10 yds up field and on the TV you cant even see a SU player in contact other than the ones PSU was holding while blocking not sure why a SU player would be holding that far down field.. but the 2nd non call on the punt that was over turned led to PSU getting a short field score after the only real running plays they ran all day..


6-3 at the half and could easily have been 14-17 pt SU lead with a couple of non mistakes..

play calling that half was not the problem . execution was

You can never count on all the breaks going your way, but I agree. The offense was not that bad in the 1st quarter, and overall, we were simply a few plays away from winning that game. It seemed to me that the communications problems came later in the game. Maybe they had the first couple drives scripted, and when the script ran out was when McDonald started having the yips getting his plays on to the field in time.

 

[billsin01]

If just 5 things per game went differently, SU wouldn't have lost since 1994.

Shine on, you crazy diamond!

Yeah, I appreciate the original post and think there is some validity to it, but ultimately you are measured on what actually happens. GRob constantly pointed to individual plays that were really, really, really close to being big plays but weren't.

I think the general outlook on McDonald is the same as it should have been for most people here at the beginning of the season -- he's a recruiting dynamo who is *likely* going to take some time to figure out the whole OC thing. He came in with essentially no experience in this role and inherited an offense that lost a ton of high-end players.

But I don't think the answer to the issue has to be one of pessimism vs. optimism so much as a little from both categories. Anyone who isn't pretty excited for the Safter/McDonald era based on what seems to be transpiring in a short time on the recruiting front is probably being overly critical. Anyone who isn't a bit concerned about an unproven head coach/offensive coordinator combo is naive.

 

[OrangePA]

curious if you remember a game with bad play calling.

i get why people don't like talking about it but some people have to be better at calling plays than others

Probably because for the most part, the play calling is a fait accompli - it has been established by the game plan - down and distance calls have already been built into the plan.

Apparently the game plan was to play conservatively on offense.

Hopefully that will change next week.