Tighten up the run defense and this thing

[GoSU96]

gets a whole lot better.

The yardage numbers are getting skewed by giving up huge runs. The pass defense hasn't been ridiculously awful. Both Lville and USF lowest pass production has been against Syracuse.

Most punts in a game for either was against Syracuse.

The defense has been able to string together multiple possessions where they got off the field and gave the offense chances to tighten up games in the 3rd quarter.

Cut down (eliminate?) the home run runs, and up the efficiency a touch on offense by turning the yards and possessions into more points and it might just get fun.

SU is averaging 16 possessions a game, need to convert 35% to 40% and there's your 30 to 40 pts.

Pretty funny it comes down to running the ball better and stopping the run better. Story as old as time.

 

[Chip]

Perimeter runs are just killing us. I don't know how fixable that is without giving up something elsewhere.

USF's RBs and WRs were very fast. UConn won't have any athletes in the same stratosphere.

Offense consistently moved the ball and consistently shot themselves in the foot in the last 3 Qs. Clean up the latter and away we go.

 

[TheCusian]

Yeah - things will appear righted this week, based solely on the opponent.

 

[upperdeck]

it would good to be in the film room and see if the runs were caused by physical or mental mistakes. the two long ones vs USF for example. the first one was because the hole line was collapsed by the dline but the outside contain pushed inside and suddenly because Mack had the patience to not just run into the line the sea parted and he ran to daylight.

the 2nd one was complete confusion and you would think it was by multiple people. 100 yds on 2 runs, other than that it was not a horrible effort against the run a couple QB draws that worked but many runs that were well contained against a pretty good running team.

UL on the other hand was 8-9 mental mistakes and huge coverage issues..

there were still a couple of those against USF.. one long wheel route was completely uncovered and dropped. but Flowers is wild most of the time, he is just a really good athlete playing QB, not really that skilled a QB. and for the most part that is the whole USF team. athletic but not super skilled which is good or they would be a pretty good team.

 

[TheCusian]

it would good to be in the film room and see if the runs were caused by physical or mental mistakes. the two long ones vs USF for example. the first one was because the hole line was collapsed by the dline but the outside contain pushed inside and suddenly because Mack had the patience to not just run into the line the sea parted and he ran to daylight.

the 2nd one was complete confusion and you would think it was by multiple people. 100 yds on 2 runs, other than that it was not a horrible effort against the run a couple QB draws that worked but many runs that were well contained against a pretty good running team.

UL on the other hand was 8-9 mental mistakes and huge coverage issues..

there were still a couple of those against USF.. one long wheel route was completely uncovered and dropped. but Flowers is wild most of the time, he is just a really good athlete playing QB, not really that skilled a QB. and for the most part that is the whole USF team. athletic but not super skilled which is good or they would be a pretty good team.

Yeah - If you'd told me the Flowers/Mack combo (166yds on the ground, 183 passing, 3TD) would have the yardage /points they had given how much Jackson/Ratcliffe had the week before (355yds on the ground, 411 passing, 6TD) I'd have thought we'd have more of a chance.

The PR for a TD was the nail in the coffin.

 

[Chip]

Yeah - If you'd told me the Flowers/Mack combo (166yds on the ground, 183 passing, 3TD) would have the yardage /points they had given how much Jackson/Ratcliffe had the week before (355yds on the ground, 411 passing, 6TD) I'd have thought we'd have more of a chance.

The PR for a TD was the nail in the coffin.

Yeah, if you think about it, they scored 17 points in the 2nd half. 2 TDs. One by going on a 4th and 1 and our entire D gambled and lost. The other on a long punt return that should have been contained.

To upper's point though, I think Flowers is a terrible passing QB. An FSU team with a sudden chip on their shoulder will probably expose that. But can USF do enough with their speed on the perimeter to win the game?

 

[upperdeck]

it was the offense that stopped scoring, had we just scored once each quarter thats 35 pts and it would have kept the pressure on USF. its not like the offense didnt move the ball. 3 TOs in scoring position on top of that.

we had the ball 8 times in the first half and crossed the 50 Six times and once were at the 47 on 4th down, 3 of 6 the 2nd half.
so we got into that side of the field 9 times scored 4 of them and 3 times lost the ball.

USF had the ball 12 times. moved it 3 times. three times started in our end and had no Turnovers.

we made more mistakes which killed us, as we also made more plays that worked. 1 big play is often better than dozens of little ones.

you could also see the team speed in the number of plays that were well called and run but USF ran them down from behind.

 

[upperdeck]

Yeah, if you think about it, they scored 17 points in the 2nd half. 2 TDs. One by going on a 4th and 1 and our entire D gambled and lost. The other on a long punt return that should have been contained.

To upper's point though, I think Flowers is a terrible passing QB. An FSU team with a sudden chip on their shoulder will probably expose that. But can USF do enough with their speed on the perimeter to win the game?

the punt was killer and not like we didnt have multiple guys in the right spot.

 

[Chip]

the punt was killer and not like we didnt have multiple guys in the right spot.

One player I noticed was Armstrong, #11. He overcommitted, and the PR side stepped him. Going for the big hit isn't always the best answer, even if the fans ooh and ahh.

 

[Shenexon]

gets a whole lot better.

The yardage numbers are getting skewed by giving up huge runs. The pass defense hasn't been ridiculously awful. Both Lville and USF lowest pass production has been against Syracuse.

Most punts in a game for either was against Syracuse.

The defense has been able to string together multiple possessions where they got off the field and gave the offense chances to tighten up games in the 3rd quarter.

Cut down (eliminate?) the home run runs, and up the efficiency a touch on offense by turning the yards and possessions into more points and it might just get fun.

SU is averaging 16 possessions a game, need to convert 35% to 40% and there's your 30 to 40 pts.

Pretty funny it comes down to running the ball better and stopping the run better. Story as old as time.

Your post is encouraging. We all see things differently and I read a lot of panic and frustration, but there's a lot of good to be seen in Dino's team so far. Big plays have been the determiner late in the games against Louisville & USF. We were down only by a touchdown against both at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Sadly, they made the big plays late instead of our guys.

I think the pace we've been setting has hurt us in both but that will improve over time. USF used a kind of hurry-up themselves which tuckered our guys a bit, without a deep bench to mitigate. The two big plays and increase in penalties were signs I think that our kids were somewhat fatigued. Louisville is going to be the king of big plays this year and am kind of proud we lost to Louisville by less than FSU did. I think our offensive guys are getting pushed pretty hard by the pace as well, making them less efficient and sharp later in the games.

I think the kids may be more ready mentally than physically to run Babers' systems on both sides of the ball, but is something that should improve with repetition. I think we got that one extra yard per play (that you talked about in another thread) early in the game but USF got that extra yard and more per play late in the game. Overall, I feel very good going forward given that we won the battle for stats against a pretty good USF team and lost because we gave up too many big plays. I have to believe that's more correctable than a negative imbalance in stats would be.

 

[sutomcat]

One player I noticed was Armstrong, #11. He overcommitted, and the PR side stepped him. Going for the big hit isn't always the best answer, even if the fans ooh and ahh.

Winfield is #11. Armstrong wears #12.

 

[Chip]

Winfield is #11. Armstrong wears #12.

I was just seeing if you were paying attention.

Sigh, was hoping it was just a true freshman mistake.

Watching it again, it didn't really look like Winfield was going for the big hit, he just should have held up a bit. He basically handed the punt returner that side step.

 

[upperdeck]

On offense.. its pretty clear we only really trust a handful of guys.. we run 2 RBs we run 3-4 WR. we lack a true 2nd set of guys . it would be nice if we subbed in our starters at the middle of a fast paced set of downs instead of subbing guys out.. but thats a depth issue again.

 

[PhatOrange]

On offense.. its pretty clear we only really trust a handful of guys.. we run 2 RBs we run 3-4 WR. we lack a true 2nd set of guys . it would be nice if we subbed in our starters at the middle of a fast paced set of downs instead of subbing guys out.. but thats a depth issue again.

free jordan fredericks. he can make guys miss and he's big/strong.

 

[GoSU96]

free jordan fredericks. he can make guys miss and he's big/strong.

That situation is strange.

 

[PhatOrange]

That situation is strange.

I have two guesses, he either didn’t follow conditioning requirements or he doesn’t get the mental part. But to my eyes he’s the best RB we have.

Frankly If I’m him I’m lining up my transfer destinations. He’s a 1st string RB.

 

[orangefog]

I have two guesses, he either didn’t follow conditioning requirements or he doesn’t get the mental part. But to my eyes he’s the best RB we have.

Frankly If I’m him I’m lining up my transfer destinations. He’s a 1st string RB.

Hopefully he works his butt off and gets to show how good a back he is here.

 

[OrangeAl]

free jordan fredericks. he can make guys miss and he's big/strong.

That fourth and one where Dontae "Bambi" Strickland got stuffed was frustrating. Fredericks runs like a bull.

 

[Cuseman78]

I have two guesses, he either didn’t follow conditioning requirements or he doesn’t get the mental part. But to my eyes he’s the best RB we have.

Frankly If I’m him I’m lining up my transfer destinations. He’s a 1st string RB.

Goodness, we're 3 games into this thing. Let's hope he doesnt have the same line of thinking as you. He'll get his opportunities. Maybe the coaches are using his lack of PT as a motivating tool. Who knows how that's playing out? But today, Babers was rather complimentary of Fredericks in his presser so I'm certain that his time is coming.

 

[PhatOrange]

Goodness, we're 3 games into this thing. Let's hope he doesnt have the same line of thinking as you. He'll get his opportunities. Maybe the coaches are using his lack of PT as a motivating tool. Who knows how that's playing out? But today, Babers was rather complimentary of Fredericks in his presser so I'm certain that his time is coming.

Please. He just got jumped in the rotation by a true freshman. My line of thinking would be to play out the season and do everything I can to get back to #1. If I’m #3 I’m out. This isn’t Austin Wilson.

 

[Orangello]

We are giving up way too many big plays on D and special teams. Period. Fix that and we have a chance at six wins.

Otherwise, this is going to be a very fugly season.

 

[Cuseman78]

Please. He just got jumped in the rotation by a true freshman. My line of thinking would be to play out the season and do everything I can to get back to #1. If I’m #3 I’m out. This isn’t Austin Wilson.

Playing out the season is one thing -- that's not what you said in your OP.