SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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- The game was competitive on the scoreboard but less so on the field, where we were pushed around, being out0gained 218-544 and out-first downed 10-27. It was all about moving the chains. Our offense is supposed to wear teams down by doing the same thing to them. Today, the Wolfpack did it to us.
- Their tall, fast receivers (6-3 Kelvin Harmon, 5-11 Jaylon Samuels, 5-11 Bra’Lon Cherry, 5-9 Nyheim Hines – well, they looked taller than that), were a tough one-on-one match-up for our D-backs, who were left on an island with them because we had to blitz to get pressure on the State quarterbacks. We didn’t give many long plays but we gave up so many intermediate ones that they converted 10 of 18 third downs, and 1 of 2 fourth downs), to enable them to go on long, relentless drives: 13 plays 82 yards, 8 plays 73 yards, 11 plays, 43 yards, 15 plays 86 yards, 7 plays 73 yards. We just couldn’t get off the field on defense.
- We were much better at it on offense. We had 8 possessions of 12 with three or fewer plays from scrimmage. One was on a first play interception. One was a scoring drive with the long pass to Etta Tawo. One resulted in a field goal after a blocked punt. The others were punts.
- We drove 61 yards in 12 plays to score on our first drive, which featured 7 plays in which we gained from 4-12 yards. Later we had a 46 yard pass to Cornelius and that 81 yard bomb to ET. Those 14 plays accounted for 188 of our 218 total yards. In our other 38 plays we gained 30 yards. Last year, in Scott Shafer’s stodgy offense, we punted 67 times in 12 games. This year, in our “Orange is the new Fast” offense, we’ve punted 64 times in 10 games. If you can’t move the stick, playing fast just means you punt sooner and more often.
- Erv Phillips dropped three passes over the middle that could have bene big plays. The last one was thrown high but he got his fingers on it. The first two were right in his bread basket.
- We rushed for 28 yards in 28 plays. Mahoney was sacked three times for 24 yards so that’s 52 yards on 25 actual running plays, not much better. Dontae Strickland had 28 yards in 12 carries, a 2.3 average. For the season he has 484 yards in 132 carries, 3.7 yards per carry. Jordan Fredericks got in the game for a few plays but never got the ball.
- One problem was the unimaginative play calling. We were great on that first drive, hitting NC State with different looks and plays and slicing through them for those 7 plays of 4-12 yards. After that all our plays seemed to be the same unproductive thrusts into the middle of the line or 50 yard bombs to Etta Tawo or Cornelius. We caught a couple of those bombs and got 10 points out of it and could have gotten a third except for a penalty. But we didn’t even seem to attempt the plays that had allowed up to move the sticks on that first possession – until midway through the fourth quarter, when we got a couple of decent drives going only to be overwhelmed by penalties and a sack. I know we had a second string quarterback in there and Ismael was out, but that was true in the first drive when we used more of the playbook.
- The referees had an interesting day. According to two different play-by-plays I’ve looked at, we actually punted on third down in our second to last possession because the refs, (after the chop block play on first down) thought it was fourth down. Of course it was 3rd and 38 by then so maybe it didn’t matter, but when the league sees that, they will have something to say to the ref crew. I felt that State’s first score was something of a gift from the refs as they called a fumble, (which Zaire Franklin scooped up and was headed for the goal line with), an incompletion, ignored an obvious hold on the next play and then hit Franklin with a very dubious pass interference call on 3rd and 15 that put the ball on our 16. I didn’t see the chop block on Cornelius’ touchdown catch in the fourth but Chris Gedney said it was a good call. At least we know what Liam from Pompey will be calling about on the Babers show this week.
- We keep losing people. Colin Byrne was kayoed and we had to go to a third string center. One problem with our offense was poor snaps the whole game. Mahoney had to first catch knuckle-balls and then try to get the play going. You can’t get any rhythm with that happening. Meanwhile, Babers said in his presser that Eric Dungy was “probably doubtful” for next week. His season could be over. Ours isn’t looking good right now, either.
- The Wolfpack is now 9-1 against us all time. Nobody who has played us in that many games has ever caused us so much pain. Their "pain per game" average is astronomical.
- As I’m writing this, Pittsburgh, the other “winnable” game, is beating Clemson in Death Valley, 43-42, the same place where we just lost 0-54. I guess we’re used to going 4-8 by now.
- Those uniforms were an effective tribute to the military, with a “battle fatigue design on the helmets. On the first play I thought State had a wide-out that wasn’t covered. It took me a couple of seconds to see that an SU defender was, in fact in front of him. His uniform was so dark and camouflaged that I didn’t know he was there. ….Couldn’t they at least have made the numbers orange?
- Their tall, fast receivers (6-3 Kelvin Harmon, 5-11 Jaylon Samuels, 5-11 Bra’Lon Cherry, 5-9 Nyheim Hines – well, they looked taller than that), were a tough one-on-one match-up for our D-backs, who were left on an island with them because we had to blitz to get pressure on the State quarterbacks. We didn’t give many long plays but we gave up so many intermediate ones that they converted 10 of 18 third downs, and 1 of 2 fourth downs), to enable them to go on long, relentless drives: 13 plays 82 yards, 8 plays 73 yards, 11 plays, 43 yards, 15 plays 86 yards, 7 plays 73 yards. We just couldn’t get off the field on defense.
- We were much better at it on offense. We had 8 possessions of 12 with three or fewer plays from scrimmage. One was on a first play interception. One was a scoring drive with the long pass to Etta Tawo. One resulted in a field goal after a blocked punt. The others were punts.
- We drove 61 yards in 12 plays to score on our first drive, which featured 7 plays in which we gained from 4-12 yards. Later we had a 46 yard pass to Cornelius and that 81 yard bomb to ET. Those 14 plays accounted for 188 of our 218 total yards. In our other 38 plays we gained 30 yards. Last year, in Scott Shafer’s stodgy offense, we punted 67 times in 12 games. This year, in our “Orange is the new Fast” offense, we’ve punted 64 times in 10 games. If you can’t move the stick, playing fast just means you punt sooner and more often.
- Erv Phillips dropped three passes over the middle that could have bene big plays. The last one was thrown high but he got his fingers on it. The first two were right in his bread basket.
- We rushed for 28 yards in 28 plays. Mahoney was sacked three times for 24 yards so that’s 52 yards on 25 actual running plays, not much better. Dontae Strickland had 28 yards in 12 carries, a 2.3 average. For the season he has 484 yards in 132 carries, 3.7 yards per carry. Jordan Fredericks got in the game for a few plays but never got the ball.
- One problem was the unimaginative play calling. We were great on that first drive, hitting NC State with different looks and plays and slicing through them for those 7 plays of 4-12 yards. After that all our plays seemed to be the same unproductive thrusts into the middle of the line or 50 yard bombs to Etta Tawo or Cornelius. We caught a couple of those bombs and got 10 points out of it and could have gotten a third except for a penalty. But we didn’t even seem to attempt the plays that had allowed up to move the sticks on that first possession – until midway through the fourth quarter, when we got a couple of decent drives going only to be overwhelmed by penalties and a sack. I know we had a second string quarterback in there and Ismael was out, but that was true in the first drive when we used more of the playbook.
- The referees had an interesting day. According to two different play-by-plays I’ve looked at, we actually punted on third down in our second to last possession because the refs, (after the chop block play on first down) thought it was fourth down. Of course it was 3rd and 38 by then so maybe it didn’t matter, but when the league sees that, they will have something to say to the ref crew. I felt that State’s first score was something of a gift from the refs as they called a fumble, (which Zaire Franklin scooped up and was headed for the goal line with), an incompletion, ignored an obvious hold on the next play and then hit Franklin with a very dubious pass interference call on 3rd and 15 that put the ball on our 16. I didn’t see the chop block on Cornelius’ touchdown catch in the fourth but Chris Gedney said it was a good call. At least we know what Liam from Pompey will be calling about on the Babers show this week.
- We keep losing people. Colin Byrne was kayoed and we had to go to a third string center. One problem with our offense was poor snaps the whole game. Mahoney had to first catch knuckle-balls and then try to get the play going. You can’t get any rhythm with that happening. Meanwhile, Babers said in his presser that Eric Dungy was “probably doubtful” for next week. His season could be over. Ours isn’t looking good right now, either.
- The Wolfpack is now 9-1 against us all time. Nobody who has played us in that many games has ever caused us so much pain. Their "pain per game" average is astronomical.
- As I’m writing this, Pittsburgh, the other “winnable” game, is beating Clemson in Death Valley, 43-42, the same place where we just lost 0-54. I guess we’re used to going 4-8 by now.
- Those uniforms were an effective tribute to the military, with a “battle fatigue design on the helmets. On the first play I thought State had a wide-out that wasn’t covered. It took me a couple of seconds to see that an SU defender was, in fact in front of him. His uniform was so dark and camouflaged that I didn’t know he was there. ….Couldn’t they at least have made the numbers orange?
