Post SU-FSU game thoughts-Bittersweet

[orangepassion]

• It was a tough loss, but it was nice to see the offense come alive against a P5 team for the 1st time in a long time
• After rewatching the clip of Shrader's throws from last year, I was optimistic that he could throw it better than he's shown to this point, but he exceeded my expectations. It seemed almost every intermediate throw was on the money-Many of them on the run.
• To paraphrase Dino-Shrader "won the crowd". As long as he's healthy, he is now our unquestioned starter. That was not the case after Liberty.
• Like others, I was extremely frustrated with the 1st Quarter playcalling and clock management at the end of the 1st half where we gave away points. We didn't call timeouts after the long pass with the clock running, yet called 2 of them when the clock was stopped after an incomplete pass. The pattern all year has been to play not-to-lose hand it off to Tucker on 1st and 2nd no matter what until we're losing and have no choice. This is reflected in the amount of 1st quarter points we've scored against the 3 non-overmatched teams we've played this year-0. Tucker ran the ball much better once we established other threats. I was surprised that Shrader called it out in the Post game conference, but he has been vocal from day 1, as he earlier mentioned his dislike of the 2-QB system.
• I hope Dino/Sterlin don't run Tucker into the ground. He looked exhausted on the sidelines and there's no reason to do so when we have a quality back like Adams on the team.
• Obviously, a few calls really hurt. The hold at the end was the most egregious, but the 15 yard they called on Wax when he hit the QB cleanly on his follow through and the defensive holding that negated our other INT were very questionable at best.
• What a play by Duce on his INT-That's a pro play. Crazy part about that play is right before it, I said to my son "we could really use a turnover here" (I don't say that every game) and after the INT, my son just looks at me like-How did you know? Was really crazy.
• FSU's only offense was their QB running-We were getting pressure on him, but gotta come up with a way to get these QB's down, as we seem to tackle opposing RB's better than their QB's.
• Walk on Punter did the best he could, but hope James Williams is back ASAP.
• I'll be honest, I didn't notice that Taj wasn't there during the game, but it seems some of our best passing games in the past couple of years have been when he's out. I think that is because the QB doesn't have to worry about him making a show of himself if he doesn't get most of the passes and we spread the wealth, not forcing it in to him. It sounds counterintuitive, but due to this, I truly believe our passing game will be better without him. Oh yeah, love me some Alford. Big target, breaks tackles, no drama. Benson returning and them resuming throwing to him as they did the game he got hurt will make us more dangerous.
• Best part of this game is I now feel we can keep up with the high scoring teams in our league like Louisville, Wake, and even Pitt. We're not going to be able to shut everyone down and need a balanced team. A lot of potential wins are on the table. If we can play to win from drive 1, we can beat anyone on the schedule and are a dangerous team. It’s time for Dino to "win the crowd" with creative playcalling and better clock management.

 

[rocfan44]

My key takeaway is you can’t let FSU beat you more than once. Need to stay the course on what worked and really fix what didn’t.

 

[orangepassion]

My key takeaway is you can’t let FSU beat you more than once. Need to stay the course on what worked and really fix what didn’t.

The low percentage 3rd and 7 pass 30 yards down the field on our last drive really hurt. Not only did it have little chance to succeed, but it also stopped the clock. Would have liked a screen pass or a quick slant pass there.

 

[upperdeck]

The low percentage 3rd and 7 pass 30 yards down the field on our last drive really hurt. Not only did it have little chance to succeed, but it also stopped the clock. Would have liked a screen pass or a quick slant pass there.

that was a play i wondered about as well.. but who knows what the read was, still other throws at that point of the game are needed.

 

[PhatOrange]

The low percentage 3rd and 7 pass 30 yards down the field on our last drive really hurt. Not only did it have little chance to succeed, but it also stopped the clock. Would have liked a screen pass or a quick slant pass there.

Go back and watch that and see how wide open Sean Tucker is in the middle of the field standing on the sticks. It'll make you cry. Cause not only is that a first down with 1:12 left in the game, he easily picks up another 10-20 after the catch.

 

[MikeSU02]

• It was a tough loss, but it was nice to see the offense come alive against a P5 team for the 1st time in a long time
• After rewatching the clip of Shrader's throws from last year, I was optimistic that he could throw it better than he's shown to this point, but he exceeded my expectations. It seemed almost every intermediate throw was on the money-Many of them on the run.
• To paraphrase Dino-Shrader "won the crowd". As long as he's healthy, he is now our unquestioned starter. That was not the case after Liberty.
• Like others, I was extremely frustrated with the 1st Quarter playcalling and clock management at the end of the 1st half where we gave away points. We didn't call timeouts after the long pass with the clock running, yet called 2 of them when the clock was stopped after an incomplete pass. The pattern all year has been to play not-to-lose hand it off to Tucker on 1st and 2nd no matter what until we're losing and have no choice. This is reflected in the amount of 1st quarter points we've scored against the 3 non-overmatched teams we've played this year-0. Tucker ran the ball much better once we established other threats. I was surprised that Shrader called it out in the Post game conference, but he has been vocal from day 1, as he earlier mentioned his dislike of the 2-QB system.
• I hope Dino/Sterlin don't run Tucker into the ground. He looked exhausted on the sidelines and there's no reason to do so when we have a quality back like Adams on the team.
• Obviously, a few calls really hurt. The hold at the end was the most egregious, but the 15 yard they called on Wax when he hit the QB cleanly on his follow through and the defensive holding that negated our other INT were very questionable at best.
• What a play by Duce on his INT-That's a pro play. Crazy part about that play is right before it, I said to my son "we could really use a turnover here" (I don't say that every game) and after the INT, my son just looks at me like-How did you know? Was really crazy.
• FSU's only offense was their QB running-We were getting pressure on him, but gotta come up with a way to get these QB's down, as we seem to tackle opposing RB's better than their QB's.
• Walk on Punter did the best he could, but hope James Williams is back ASAP.
• I'll be honest, I didn't notice that Taj wasn't there during the game, but it seems some of our best passing games in the past couple of years have been when he's out. I think that is because the QB doesn't have to worry about him making a show of himself if he doesn't get most of the passes and we spread the wealth, not forcing it in to him. It sounds counterintuitive, but due to this, I truly believe our passing game will be better without him. Oh yeah, love me some Alford. Big target, breaks tackles, no drama. Benson returning and them resuming throwing to him as they did the game he got hurt will make us more dangerous.
• Best part of this game is I now feel we can keep up with the high scoring teams in our league like Louisville, Wake, and even Pitt. We're not going to be able to shut everyone down and need a balanced team. A lot of potential wins are on the table. If we can play to win from drive 1, we can beat anyone on the schedule and are a dangerous team. I think it's time for Dino to "win the crowd" with creative playcalling and better clock management.

Duce's INT was one of the most impressive plays I've ever seen, legitimately.

He's going to get burned a few more times this year, but his talent is off the charts. He's going to make an AA team before he leaves for the NFL.

I put it in the game thread, but it reminded me of Kawhi Leonard's steal when he did it blind when he played for Toronto (put the clip below for reference):

 

[Chip]

Go back and watch that and see how wide open Sean Tucker is in the middle of the field standing on the sticks. It'll make you cry. Cause not only is that a first down with 1:12 left in the game, he easily picks up another 10-20 after the catch.

View attachment 207661

I just watched it. Sigh.

 

[Bayside44]

I just watched it. Sigh.

I cannot unsee that one...

 

[Goin' Deep]

Go back and watch that and see how wide open Sean Tucker is in the middle of the field standing on the sticks. It'll make you cry. Cause not only is that a first down with 1:12 left in the game, he easily picks up another 10-20 after the catch.

View attachment 207661

I dunno...looks like the ref has him "blanketted"

 

[orangepassion]

Go back and watch that and see how wide open Sean Tucker is in the middle of the field standing on the sticks. It'll make you cry. Cause not only is that a first down with 1:12 left in the game, he easily picks up another 10-20 after the catch.

View attachment 207661

I just shed a tear or two.

 

[PhatOrange]

I dunno...looks like the ref has him "blanketted"

yeah it'd be just our luck that he turns into the official and trips in front of the line to make.

What you can't see in the still is that there is literally no one around Tucker. Closest defender is 10 yards away on a dead sprint chasing the TE moving away from Tucker. 1 LB blitzed, the other LB went deep with the TE and the other 5 DBs all went deep. Not one FSU defender stayed home in the box with Tucker. The LB chasing Elmore would've broke off his coverage to go with Tucker at about 6 or 7 yards distance but have to imagine Tucker would've avoided him because he had space and the whole right side of the field to run. Tuck picking up an additional 20 YAC might be conservative.

 

[RandomGuy]

Go back and watch that and see how wide open Sean Tucker is in the middle of the field standing on the sticks. It'll make you cry. Cause not only is that a first down with 1:12 left in the game, he easily picks up another 10-20 after the catch.

View attachment 207661

Locks on to 1 receiver. Can't see the field. Bring on Morgan!

(Yes. I'm joking. Prepping for next year.)

 

[PhatOrange]

Locks on to 1 receiver. Can't see the field. Bring on Morgan!

(Yes. I'm joking. Prepping for next year.)

He makes some eye contact with Queeley and Q has single coverage with no safety help. Shrader was going here no matter what.

I want my QB to think higher percentage play and taking the first down over the home run. All or nothing and having to punt is pretty costly there.

 

[dollarbill44]

I dunno...looks like the ref has him "blanketted"

Look very closely. The ref was actually holding his jersey.