sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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I am not hugely optimistic about our chances today. Let’s start by saying that.
Thought the team dug really deep last week to play Clemson and it will be hard to bring forth a great effort two weeks in a row.
It seems like this team has struggled with consistency in execution and effort from week to week. It will be a challenge to the coaching staff and the team leaders to get the players ready to play in a game that for all intents and purposes doesn’t mean a lot. I think at this point, just about all the goals the team had are gone and they are playing for themselves and pride.
That said, the games with Wake have been, for the most part, close and hard fought and the games have been mostly close and entertaining. I hope the team is able to recover from the physical and mental beatings it has taken all season and put together a great effort today.
So much depends on our ability to run the ball. I don’t think this is a great Wake defense and they are not great at stopping the run. They are built to rush the passer, get sacks and force the QB into throwing interceptions. If we get in a lot of 3rd and long situations, we are in deep trouble.
So I hope Sean Tucker can play. I am hearing he practiced this week and will be out there to start the game. It looks to me as though the OL continues to play small improvements as the season progresses. I think the move of Servais to RT and Bergeron to LT has been helpful. Servais looks like he might be getting a little less banged up. I think Bergeron is quietly becoming a reliable player. He will have his hands full today trying to deal with the guy Dino Babers likened to Godzilla.
But Wake just totally humiliated a VT team that thought they were a legit contender for the ACC title. I believe that transfer for Kansas they have at RB was leading the country in rushing until Wake shut him down. It will be a challenge to run the ball against these guys. They have improved their rushing defense a lot since early in the season.
I am going to assume Taj will be back this week, It looks like we have 4 guys now who are legit threats at WR...Taj, Nykeim, AQ and Ed Hendrix. Pretty nice mix of skill sets.
Clemson is great at teaching their CBs to anticipate short passes and jumping the route to get a pick. They did it to great effect last week against Rex. Going to assume Wake saw that and will try the same. The way to prevent that is to fake the short down and out and throw long. I think we tried to do that last week. I believe Rex faked a pass 4 or 5 times. Didn’t seem like it worked great but Clemson has a lot of talent and jump routes better than anyone. I think we have a chance to burn them some if they try and take our intermediate routes away playing press and jumping routes. Someone to look for today...
We had a great play we ran against Duke a few weeks ago where Benson ran a delayed drag route, got isolated against an LB and out ran him for a long TD. Where has it been since? What happened to Luke? Why aren’t we passing the ball to him and Aaron? I continue to ask this. A good offense takes advantage of the assets it has to work with. Let’s do this this week. Give the TEs some targets. They will come through. I promise.
On the defensive side of the ball, I expect Wake to come after us with a power run attack, playing really physical, and try and wear us down. Their QB hasn’t thrown the ball well and with our ball hawks, I don’t think they want to test them a lot. Was last week a freakish event or is our new found ability to stop the run the new norm? I’d like to think that our young defense, especially the linebackers and safeties, have made major strides learning their assignments and that we will be able to shut their rushing attack down. Was very encouraged by our defense last week. The DL in particular seemed to hold their own and occupy the Clemson OL very well. Thought McKinley was a dominant force. We need him to play like that every game the rest of the season. Along with the rest of the DL.
Wake might be the 4th best team in the conference right now. I think you can make that argument. Beating them with the way they are playing would be quite shocking The one thing that gives me hope is that in this season, the craziest season I have witnessed in my life, I have learned to expect the unexpected. Anything is possible.
War Damn Otto! Shock the world! (Or at least citizens of CNY and Winston-Salem).
Thought the team dug really deep last week to play Clemson and it will be hard to bring forth a great effort two weeks in a row.
It seems like this team has struggled with consistency in execution and effort from week to week. It will be a challenge to the coaching staff and the team leaders to get the players ready to play in a game that for all intents and purposes doesn’t mean a lot. I think at this point, just about all the goals the team had are gone and they are playing for themselves and pride.
That said, the games with Wake have been, for the most part, close and hard fought and the games have been mostly close and entertaining. I hope the team is able to recover from the physical and mental beatings it has taken all season and put together a great effort today.
So much depends on our ability to run the ball. I don’t think this is a great Wake defense and they are not great at stopping the run. They are built to rush the passer, get sacks and force the QB into throwing interceptions. If we get in a lot of 3rd and long situations, we are in deep trouble.
So I hope Sean Tucker can play. I am hearing he practiced this week and will be out there to start the game. It looks to me as though the OL continues to play small improvements as the season progresses. I think the move of Servais to RT and Bergeron to LT has been helpful. Servais looks like he might be getting a little less banged up. I think Bergeron is quietly becoming a reliable player. He will have his hands full today trying to deal with the guy Dino Babers likened to Godzilla.
But Wake just totally humiliated a VT team that thought they were a legit contender for the ACC title. I believe that transfer for Kansas they have at RB was leading the country in rushing until Wake shut him down. It will be a challenge to run the ball against these guys. They have improved their rushing defense a lot since early in the season.
I am going to assume Taj will be back this week, It looks like we have 4 guys now who are legit threats at WR...Taj, Nykeim, AQ and Ed Hendrix. Pretty nice mix of skill sets.
Clemson is great at teaching their CBs to anticipate short passes and jumping the route to get a pick. They did it to great effect last week against Rex. Going to assume Wake saw that and will try the same. The way to prevent that is to fake the short down and out and throw long. I think we tried to do that last week. I believe Rex faked a pass 4 or 5 times. Didn’t seem like it worked great but Clemson has a lot of talent and jump routes better than anyone. I think we have a chance to burn them some if they try and take our intermediate routes away playing press and jumping routes. Someone to look for today...
We had a great play we ran against Duke a few weeks ago where Benson ran a delayed drag route, got isolated against an LB and out ran him for a long TD. Where has it been since? What happened to Luke? Why aren’t we passing the ball to him and Aaron? I continue to ask this. A good offense takes advantage of the assets it has to work with. Let’s do this this week. Give the TEs some targets. They will come through. I promise.
On the defensive side of the ball, I expect Wake to come after us with a power run attack, playing really physical, and try and wear us down. Their QB hasn’t thrown the ball well and with our ball hawks, I don’t think they want to test them a lot. Was last week a freakish event or is our new found ability to stop the run the new norm? I’d like to think that our young defense, especially the linebackers and safeties, have made major strides learning their assignments and that we will be able to shut their rushing attack down. Was very encouraged by our defense last week. The DL in particular seemed to hold their own and occupy the Clemson OL very well. Thought McKinley was a dominant force. We need him to play like that every game the rest of the season. Along with the rest of the DL.
Wake might be the 4th best team in the conference right now. I think you can make that argument. Beating them with the way they are playing would be quite shocking The one thing that gives me hope is that in this season, the craziest season I have witnessed in my life, I have learned to expect the unexpected. Anything is possible.
War Damn Otto! Shock the world! (Or at least citizens of CNY and Winston-Salem).
