Post SU-Liberty thoughts

[orangepassion]

• My favorite play call of the game was the very 1st play of the game-Faking the handoff and throwing a bomb, which was unfortunately overthrown. A good throw obviously gives us 6, but I believe even with the misfire, it forced the Liberty D to back off and respect the pass (until later in the game when they saw we lost faith in it) and I believe helped up score those 14 points in the 1st half.
• Was absolutely shocked when Shrader walked out to start the game. I agree with others that we will need both our top 2 QB's and think TD can be really good coming off the bench. Shrader is a huge advantage for us in the red zone and should play there no matter what.
• SEAN TUCKER-Nuff said
• I disagree with those who feel that we don't have any good talent at WR. I have been very impressed with Alford. Besides the 73 yard TD a week ago, he was open for the bomb this game and he did a nice job breaking 2 tackles to get us a first down on one of our scoring drives. Would like to see him and Sharod switch snaps.
• Second game in a row where our return game was non-existent. Forget about returning the ball-How about at least catching the ball and not letting it roll 30 yards several times a game. We're not good enough offensively to give away yards like that. Courtney Jackson didn't return the ball once all game, content to just watch it land and roll.
• How about that Defense? Roscoe and Jonathan had excellent games and the LB's were tremendous. Cantin-Arku seems to be our Defensive Penalties leader over the last couple of years.
• Duce struggled some this game-Should be a very good learning experience for him
• Love Tucker, but think we have enough depth in our RB room to not run him 31 times. I know Dino is focused on getting a 1,000 yard runner but I'm wary of wearing him out. We have 8 straight games w/o a bye. Approximately 20 carries and some screen passes sound about right.
• I'd like to see a little more creative playcalling-We really get easy points. Would love to see us punish another team for their aggression against the run. Play action pass, quick slant. How about a flea flicker? A reverse? Philly special? Something. I see tons of teams doing it and feel we only do it the last couple of years when the game is out of hand (Wagner, Clemson).
• Think Liberty is a better team than Rutgers, benefited from Schiano not reffing this game.
• The rest of the season should be really fascinating because we can win or lose every game on our schedule. IF (a big if) we can get our passing game respectable, I believe we can win 8 games.

 

[MikeyF]

I love the positive vibe of your post but the pressure is on to upgrade the passing game-as you mentioned. The play calling needs to be more imaginative too. If FSU plays as well as they did against Notre Dame we’re dusted if we can’t pass the ball well. I have a feeling we’ll see DeVito at some point to bail us out this week. The QB back and forth isn’t over. I’d like to see Adams and Howard get some carries to spell Tucker. Let’s use some of that depth at RB.

 

[syracuse95]

• Second game in a row where our return game was non-existent. Forget about returning the ball-How about at least catching the ball and not letting it roll 30 yards several times a game. We're not good enough offensively to give away yards like that. Courtney Jackson didn't return the ball once all game, content to just watch it land and roll.

I know it's low on the list of things to address, but I think Rutgers showed people how to net 60 yard punts against us. Conventional wisdom says "don't outkick your coverage" and get enough hang time to let the cover men get to the returner. But our guys can't field the low line-drive punts, so they let them go by and roll for 20-30 more net yards. Rutgers did it with their Aussie punter kicking weird screwball type punts, and Liberty used low line-drives to kick past our return man. And you're right...our offensive efficiency isn't good enough to let that happen, no matter who the QB is.

 

[dollarbill44]

The punt catching issues drive me crazy. Alford shows promise and I agree, he should definitely get more of Sharod's snaps. The 3rd down drop killed a promising drive.
We do need to be more creative running the ball. Liberty really keyed on Tucker in the 4th and virtually shut us down. I don't recall us trying anything outside during that stretch, other than an ill-advised bubble screen into 3 defenders that, thankfully, fell incomplete.
I hope that GS gets better at throwing as he gets more PT. He seems like he isn't relaxed when he throws. Maybe they need to start him off with a couple of "easy" ones to get him some confidence.
I don't understand why Dino opted to receive the opening kick rather than defer. I remember thinking during the TO after the punt that he laid out a plan to win the toss, receive and hit them with an immediate TD and set the tone for the game, but that he never considered that we might not connect. I seriously doubt that was the thought process, but the cynic in me laughed at the idea.
I am guarded excited to see this season play out and I'm actually looking forward to going to the Wake game rather than view it as an obligation (it's Monday after a win, after all).
LGO!

 

[LAOrange]

• Think Liberty is a better team than Rutgers, benefited from Schiano not reffing this game.

I love this line.

 

[upperdeck]

The punt catching issues drive me crazy. Alford shows promise and I agree, he should definitely get more of Sharod's snaps. The 3rd down drop killed a promising drive.
We do need to be more creative running the ball. Liberty really keyed on Tucker in the 4th and virtually shut us down. I don't recall us trying anything outside during that stretch, other than an ill-advised bubble screen into 3 defenders that, thankfully, fell incomplete.
I hope that GS gets better at throwing as he gets more PT. He seems like he isn't relaxed when he throws. Maybe they need to start him off with a couple of "easy" ones to get him some confidence.
I don't understand why Dino opted to receive the opening kick rather than defer. I remember thinking during the TO after the punt that he laid out a plan to win the toss, receive and hit them with an immediate TD and set the tone for the game, but that he never considered that we might not connect. I seriously doubt that was the thought process, but the cynic in me laughed at the idea.
I am guarded excited to see this season play out and I'm actually looking forward to going to the Wake game rather than view it as an obligation (it's Monday after a win, after all).
LGO!

the issue is that the team only has so much time to work on stuff.. They clearly worked on what GS can do and what TD can do and tried to make that better.. I would expect they give more time to GS if he is the starter and the play set he has to use.. You have to get better at what you want to do and build up the answers to what the D does. They have film to work off of now on how Liberty stacked the box and the plays to run against that will probably be worked on even more now.

you only have X plays to run in practice and 50/50 each guy if its more 75/25 now thats a bunch of more plays for GS and that style to work with against thing we will see from the D.

Of course the issue still is they need to create a passing game so do they work on passing plays against normal D, passing plays against a loaded box or running plays against a loaded box.. you need to do some of each.

 

[dollarbill44]

the issue is that the team only has so much time to work on stuff.. They clearly worked on what GS can do and what TD can do and tried to make that better.. I would expect they give more time to GS if he is the starter and the play set he has to use.. You have to get better at what you want to do and build up the answers to what the D does. They have film to work off of now on how Liberty stacked the box and the plays to run against that will probably be worked on even more now.

you only have X plays to run in practice and 50/50 each guy if its more 75/25 now thats a bunch of more plays for GS and that style to work with against thing we will see from the D.

Of course the issue still is they need to create a passing game so do they work on passing plays against normal D, passing plays against a loaded box or running plays against a loaded box.. you need to do some of each.

Oh, I definitely agree that it's not easy. I'm just thinking there have to a couple of wrinkles you use, particularly if you have an idea going into a game that you are really going to struggle throwing the ball. It should not be a surprise when the defense loads up to stop the run. You shouldn't need film for that.

 

[orangepassion]

I love the positive vibe of your post but the pressure is on to upgrade the passing game-as you mentioned. The play calling needs to be more imaginative too. If FSU plays as well as they did against Notre Dame we’re dusted if we can’t pass the ball well. I have a feeling we’ll see DeVito at some point to bail us out this week. The QB back and forth isn’t over. I’d like to see Adams and Howard get some carries to spell Tucker. Let’s use some of that depth at RB.

I watched this video again (linked below) of most of Shrader's passes at MSU. Didn't see any bombs, but saw a bunch of solid passes in the 10 to 30 yard range

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I still think we are going to see both QB's for significant parts of games depending on what the staff thinks will work best.

 

[RMH44]

I watched this video again (linked below) of most of Shrader's passes at MSU. Didn't see any bombs, but saw a bunch of solid passes in the 10 to 30 yard range

He has plenty of arm and accuracy when his feet are set properly. Hopefully, his mechanics become more consistent as he feels more comfortable in game situations.

 

[upperdeck]

Oh, I definitely agree that it's not easy. I'm just thinking there have to a couple of wrinkles you use, particularly if you have an idea going into a game that you are really going to struggle throwing the ball. It should not be a surprise when the defense loads up to stop the run. You shouldn't need film for that.

there is only so much time in a week to prep. no one really attacked us like this until this game. now they have the film to show the mistakes and fix thing. new film with this oline is better than old film with different players.

 

[syrBossHogg]

Didn't know where else to put this

 

[Keger03]

Man, our defense did good.

 

[orange79]

Man, our defense did good. View attachment 207487

Hope he doesn't have to play in any loud NFL stadiums.

 

[orangeinohio]

Man, our defense did good. View attachment 207487

Down year for QB prospects?

 

[tbonezone]

My favorite play call of the game was the very 1st play of the game-Faking the handoff and throwing a bomb,

ala...McPherson to Rob Moore 80 yards.