SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 32,571
- Like
- 62,794
- Most of the first half It looked like we were Maryland and they were Florida State, (0-63). I thought I was seeing some kind of historical debacle. But the orange came back to make something of a game of it, holding them at the end of the first half and dominating the third quarter. But we couldn’t overcome the lack of a passing game and couldn’t punch it in when we got down close and never really got back in the game. Then, when Boyd spotted Watkins one-on-one with Anderson, it was over. But the fact that we refused to give up or even conceded that the issue was decided bodes well for coming back from this.
- We ran for 323 yards at 6.7 a pop against the #3 team in the country. Granted, it was mostly on about 4-5 plays, one of which was a fake punt and one against the third string. But still… I think we need to recognize that this is a better running team than a passing team and we need to use the run to set up the pass, not the other way around. Last year passing was our strength. This year it’s clearly running the football.
- Tajh Boyd’s goose egg in the interception department is over and thensome. We picked off two of his passes and nearly got a third on a spectacular play by Cameron Lynch. We sacked Boyd four times. They ran the ball 45 times and got 3.5 yards per carry. They earned the right to wear orange but they are also black and blue. I think we earned some measure of respect.
- One weakness of the one back backfield is that you have nobody you can fake it to. The only misdirection you can have on a running play is if you do one of those end-arounds that take forever to develop. But if you have a running quarterback, you can run a sort of modern version of the old Schwartzwalder sissors play by sometimes faking the hand-off to Smith or Gulley and having Hunt roll out on a keeper. He might even be able to pass on that. McDonald seemed to recognize that in the second half and we got some good plays out of it. This can be a good play for us, (remember Temple’s use of two similar running plays to beat us in 2004). We also showed a play where Kobena, (not the much slower West), ran a fake reverse. The ball went to Smith who gained a couple of yards into the line but if Kobena had got it, he would still be running. Teams will be keying on Smith and we need to come up with some plays to take advantage of that. I think we have them.
- Riley Dixon is a heck of a punter, the first real weapon we’ve had at that position since R ob Long. But I fear that the opposition is going to get to that sideways kick before too long. Clemson nearly blocked it. But Riley can kick it long or kick it high. He’s strong and versatile.
- We’ve lost to two teams we couldn’t compete against. We’ve beaten two teams that couldn’t compete with us. We’ve had one game that could have gone either way. Six of our remaining 7 games will be games that could go either way. With Florida State coming up we are basically 2-4, (as we were last year). We need to go 4-2 in those “winnable” games. We are not competing for a national or even a divisional or conference title. We don’t need to ruin the table. We just need to “control the controlables”.
2-3 with 7 (or 8) to do
LET’S GO ORANGE!
- We ran for 323 yards at 6.7 a pop against the #3 team in the country. Granted, it was mostly on about 4-5 plays, one of which was a fake punt and one against the third string. But still… I think we need to recognize that this is a better running team than a passing team and we need to use the run to set up the pass, not the other way around. Last year passing was our strength. This year it’s clearly running the football.
- Tajh Boyd’s goose egg in the interception department is over and thensome. We picked off two of his passes and nearly got a third on a spectacular play by Cameron Lynch. We sacked Boyd four times. They ran the ball 45 times and got 3.5 yards per carry. They earned the right to wear orange but they are also black and blue. I think we earned some measure of respect.
- One weakness of the one back backfield is that you have nobody you can fake it to. The only misdirection you can have on a running play is if you do one of those end-arounds that take forever to develop. But if you have a running quarterback, you can run a sort of modern version of the old Schwartzwalder sissors play by sometimes faking the hand-off to Smith or Gulley and having Hunt roll out on a keeper. He might even be able to pass on that. McDonald seemed to recognize that in the second half and we got some good plays out of it. This can be a good play for us, (remember Temple’s use of two similar running plays to beat us in 2004). We also showed a play where Kobena, (not the much slower West), ran a fake reverse. The ball went to Smith who gained a couple of yards into the line but if Kobena had got it, he would still be running. Teams will be keying on Smith and we need to come up with some plays to take advantage of that. I think we have them.
- Riley Dixon is a heck of a punter, the first real weapon we’ve had at that position since R ob Long. But I fear that the opposition is going to get to that sideways kick before too long. Clemson nearly blocked it. But Riley can kick it long or kick it high. He’s strong and versatile.
- We’ve lost to two teams we couldn’t compete against. We’ve beaten two teams that couldn’t compete with us. We’ve had one game that could have gone either way. Six of our remaining 7 games will be games that could go either way. With Florida State coming up we are basically 2-4, (as we were last year). We need to go 4-2 in those “winnable” games. We are not competing for a national or even a divisional or conference title. We don’t need to ruin the table. We just need to “control the controlables”.
2-3 with 7 (or 8) to do
LET’S GO ORANGE!
