September wasn't that long ago - why did it take this long to put lineman in the right place?

[Millhouse]

Saturday was great but it's really nuts that they took Servais out of a spot where he is good to put him at center where he struggles. If they're going to struggle at center no matter what, keep the guy who can play a position well in that position!

it's hard to not be frustrated. two games lost by a td or less where they couldn't run the ball, then the put a good tackle back at tackle and they run for 7 yards a pop

 

[oldpinepoint]

I’m trying to be realistic because I support your frustration. it’s one game let’s slow down. Let’s see how we do against Louisville. The oline takes time to gel, not necessarily interchangeable like a lego piece. I’m sure if this was a feasible option then it would have been explored more. Center and tackle are two very different positions. I played both in college and started entire seasons as both. Center is responsible for a lot including the snapping. I’m sure it took awhile to get this worked on to the point where everyone felt comfortable. They also could have said -it and thought it can’t get much worse, let’s give it a try.

 

[SoBristol]

Keep in mind that Servais has played center for two years, plus 8 games this season. He was slated to move to tackle for this season, but his practice there was limited when Heckel was injured in the Spring and again in August. Before this Saturday, his game experience at tackle consisted of the first half against Liberty. When Heckel went down against Liberty, Servais returned to center because of his experience there.

Hindsight might say keep Servais at his new position (tackle, where he seems more natural) and insert Vettorello at center (if he was ready for that role).

 

[Alsacs]

Honestly it’s the difference between pro and college coaching.
Pro teams self scout during a bye week and diagnose themselves.
These changes should have occurred before the NC State game.
It’s just good we have a shot to still get to 6-6 now even though I am not optimistic at winning the next 2.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Maybe it took a redshirt freshman until the 10th game of the season until he was ready to play center?

 

[PAcuse]

Maybe it took a redshirt freshman until the 10th game of the season until he was ready to play center?

^ This
They where not going to put a kid in that was going to make our train wreck worse until he was ready to do it.

 

[NineOneSeven]

^ This
They where not going to put a kid in that was going to make our train wreck worse until he was ready to do it.

I get the logic... but... how much worse can a train wreck be?

 

[PAcuse]

I get the logic... but... how much worse can a train wreck be?

Well if the center snaps the ball incorrectly say 30% - 50% of the time, a lot worse.
It might have also just getting comfortable looking both sides for pass rushers and getting used to blocking assignments as a center. Fairly big change from playing T to go into C.

 

[sufandu]

I doubt it had anything to do with blocking and everything to do with snapping. I suppose that's a downside of running a shotgun only offense when you have difficulty recruiting centers.

 

[PAcuse]

I doubt it had anything to do with blocking and everything to do with snapping. I suppose that's a downside of running a shotgun only offense when you have difficulty recruiting centers.

I guess we could have went back to 2009 Doug Marrone/Rob Spence no shotgun offense

 

[NineOneSeven]

Well if the center snaps the ball incorrectly say 30% - 50% of the time, a lot worse.
It might have also just getting comfortable looking both sides for pass rushers and getting used to blocking assignments as a center. Fairly big change from playing T to go into C.

I get it, we want a young player to be comfortable. But I also have a hard time stomaching defeats against Nc State, Pitt, BC to put us in a hole, playing a lineup that had obvious and even correctable issues to the observant fan, when suddenly the switch is made and the entire unit looks literally 180 degrees different.

Maybe against Louisville he snaps the ball over DeVito's head 5 times and this Duke game was an extreme outlier. We'll see, I guess.

 

[Millhouse]

Maybe it took a redshirt freshman until the 10th game of the season until he was ready to play center?

He wasn't ready to play tackle though, why is that ok?

 

[PAcuse]

He wasn't ready to play tackle though, why is that ok?

Harder for a tackle to cause a turnover and what other options other then Servais did we really have?
It's easier to play as a Freshman the further you are from the ball.

 

[Millhouse]

Harder for a tackle to cause a turnover and what other options other then Servais did we really have?
It's easier to play as a Freshman the further you are from the ball.

we had this option! i just wish they did this sooner

we could've at least been good at one tackle all along

 

[OrangePA]

Maybe it took a redshirt freshman until the 10th game of the season until he was ready to play center?

Makes sense.

The staff was probably more comfortable putting an upperclassman at center rather than play a true frosh at that position at outset of the season.

 

[upperdeck]

maybe he had a hand injury we dont know anything about. lots of reason.. maybe he wasnt ready for line calls of some type. maybe they thought Heckel was going to be back soonish and a few weeks of that oline turned into 10.

 

[PAcuse]

we had this option! i just wish they did this sooner

we could've at least been good at one tackle all along

We did NOT have this option as he was not ready and he would have sailed balls all over the place. If we did it sooner people would have been on the board calling for Dinos head for letting a kid play to soon.

 

[Newhouser]

I think its safe to say we don't know what we had - one rule of thumb that I think we broke is that we got worse at 2 positions by moving Servais to center. He was awful at center and we were awful at tackle and I just don't believe it takes 10 weeks for a D1 athlete to learn how to shotgun snap, and if the line calls are that complicated maybe they should have been simplified.

 

[CanadianSU]

I’m trying to be realistic because I support your frustration. it’s one game let’s slow down. Let’s see how we do against Louisville. The oline takes time to gel, not necessarily interchangeable like a lego piece. I’m sure if this was a feasible option then it would have been explored more. Center and tackle are two very different positions. I played both in college and started entire seasons as both. Center is responsible for a lot including the snapping. I’m sure it took awhile to get this worked on to the point where everyone felt comfortable. They also could have said -it and thought it can’t get much worse, let’s give it a try.

Yeah I’m taking this take. Duke also isn’t a great football team. The true test will be Louisville.

 

[AAM62]

Honestly it’s the difference between pro and college coaching.
Pro teams self scout during a bye week and diagnose themselves.
These changes should have occurred before the NC State game.
It’s just good we have a shot to still get to 6-6 now even though I am not optimistic at winning the next 2.

NC state has a pro talent at NT. It’s not the time to mess around at center.

 

[CuseOnly]

Honestly it’s the difference between pro and college coaching.
Pro teams self scout during a bye week and diagnose themselves.
These changes should have occurred before the NC State game.
It’s just good we have a shot to still get to 6-6 now even though I am not optimistic at winning the next 2.

If you listened to Dino's press conference, he all but said Vetterello wasn't ready until this game. They figured they would give him a shot.

 

[CuseOnly]

I doubt it had anything to do with blocking and everything to do with snapping. I suppose that's a downside of running a shotgun only offense when you have difficulty recruiting centers.

Snapping the ball and line calls.

 

[Scooch]

The real issue is that one injury completely ruined the OL. That can’t happen, we must recruit OLmen much much much better.

 

[Millhouse]

We did NOT have this option as he was not ready and he would have sailed balls all over the place. If we did it sooner people would have been on the board calling for Dinos head for letting a kid play to soon.

someone who can't snap the ball in september well enough isn't likely to become good enough in november

i think it's way more likely that they are correcting a mistake, which is good

 

[NineOneSeven]

someone who can't snap the ball in september well enough isn't likely to become good enough in november

i think it's way more likely that they are correcting a mistake, which is good

Yeah in my eyes, this isn’t simply a “he needed 10 games” thing.