Quick game thoughts

[orangepassion]

• By Mahoney playing so well in the 1st half, I believe it ended up convincing Babers to put too much on his plate. He has some good qualities, but accuracy isn't his best, and I believe abandoning the running game made him have to be that much more accurate-i.e. tighter windows. You could see the signs prior to him throwing the INT's, as Wake dropped several other should be INT's earlier.
• Thought the Running game was okay, not great, but good enough
• Thought the sequence after the blocked PAT where we threw three consecutive incomplete bombs was a turning point. I don't get what we were trying to do there. It seemed we threw very few mid-range passes all game. Either short slants or long bombs. Might be what Dino was alluding to when he mentioned Mahoney's skill set in the Post game presser
• I don't recall ever seeing a QB get pulled for a barely used 3rd string QB on a 4th down. Thought Culpepper looked okay, considering the circumstances
• Pierce looked good. Think he can do some of those things their TE did if we gave him that opportunity.
• Disappointing Butler is still dropping passes at this point of the year. Surprised we're not seeing more of Custis. Might miss ISH more than some want to admit. Don't forget-He produced from year 1. Think Hendrix will be key.
• Surprising and somewhat ironic to see us struggle so much with opposing teams' tempo
• Basically no pass rush, which was partly attributable to how quick Wolford made decisions, how he hid the ball, and the threat of a productive running game. Did a great job of just throwing it past everyone if he got into any trouble. Hope Dungey took note.
• Their TE made some great catches
• Very impressed with the WF blocking scheme. It seemed whenever Colburn ran the ball, he had a wall of body guards accompanying him. Very well coached.
• Think our CB's were generally okay
• Saw R. Williams caught flat footed a few times, instead of aggressively going after the QB when he would run it. I think the whole stadium knew Wolford was running it on that second 4th down play. We did not adjust to that play call at all. Wolford was barely touched when he ran. Hopefully, it helps get us ready for UL, b/c if we don't fix that for next week, Lamar will be running a l-o-n-g way.
• I hate when we only rush 3 on 3rd and long. Any good QB will eventually make a play with enough time and we're not good enough to get a pass rush with 3. It doesn't have to be an all-out blitz, but at least rush 4. Ward has done a nice job this year. Methinks he'll keep this game off his resume.
• Nice to see us block a kick. Nice play by Scoop for the Scoop and score (I'll be here all week)
• Second game this year where I felt we were outcoached (1st being MTSU). Dino likes to talk about the 4 stars and the 5 stars other teams have, pretty sure Wake doesn't have that. They definitely don't have 64 point talent on Offense.
• If there's a positive of this game for the Dino worriers, I think this game clinches him here for another year. Heck if he coached in the SEC, they'd probably fire him after a game like this (Only half joking). I still believe in Dino and like to think this game was an outlier and a learning experience for us.
• Go Cuse!!!

 

[UelSU]

I knew we were in trouble when we threw those 3 bombs and put our tired defense right back on the field. All we had to do was trade points. I would love to know what that those calls were all about.

 

[retro44]

Ish was open on the last of the 3 bombs and it was a poorly thrown ball. And Mahoney's play action fakes were horrible and not fooling anyone as he stuck the ball out for the whole Defense to see what was going on.

 

[PAcuse]

Great post!
I wouldn't say we where out coached it really helps that it's Year 4 vs Year 2 of a system and their starting QB is in year 5. We clearly had it going in the first half and then our injuries on both offense and defense really caught up with us in the 2nd half.
Wake OLine has been playing together for the all 4 years basically and looked a lot like ours in year 1 and 2.
We got beat by our Dline and LB being over aggressive on running plays in the second half. They ran the same play a bunch where the line slanted to the left, fake the hand off, and Wolford runs for a touchdown. Sure our coaches can coach up kids all day to stay at home, but on the field that's on the players.
Some odd play calling on Offense in the 2nd half for sure, the 3 deep balls was almost like a signal we where done.
Wake is starting to get some nice talent, sure not 4/5 star kids. WR Dortch was having a lights out season before he went down with an injury.

 

[Newhouser]

Their QB was out of this world and I was amazed how he was able to avoid getting rocked on any of his throws or runs. Nobody could ever square him up. Very talented and smart player with a feel for the game that isn't coached.

 

[OrangeAl]

Ish was open on the last of the 3 bombs and it was a poorly thrown ball. And Mahoney's play action fakes were horrible and not fooling anyone as he stuck the ball out for the whole Defense to see what was going on.

Ish was either limping or just plain gassed on that play. A fresh WR might have gotten to it. I think we over-tempoed ourselves on that series.

 

[orangepassion]

Ish was open on the last of the 3 bombs and it was a poorly thrown ball. And Mahoney's play action fakes were horrible and not fooling anyone as he stuck the ball out for the whole Defense to see what was going on.

Having an empty backfield so much also removes the threat of a run for the Defense, at least w/o Dungey in there.

 

[OttoMets]

One more positive: after leaving a ton of yards on the field and giving me recurring "What could Dino possibly see in Sean Riley that we can't?" thoughts last week, Riley did a pretty good job this week. Ran more decisively and made better decisions.