DiderotsGhost
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2011
- Messages
- 4,628
- Likes
- 23,504
Sorry about missing last week. That game was quite depressing and I was slammed with work. Back this week, with some quick thoughts.
The Game
Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. It's been the running theme of this season with the exception of the ETSU game. We constantly shoot ourselves in the foot. We were better this game than last, but still too many costly penalties.
Playcalling was too conservative. I thought Pruitt's gameplan was too conservative. After last weeks' debacle, I think Pruitt wanted to be less adventurous with the offense, but that doesn't work against the #2 team in the country. JG is our best weapon right now. We have to air it out and throw deep to beat a team of Georgia's caliber. We started doing this a bit in the 2nd Half, but it was too late. Of course, it should be noted that our playcalling is limited to some extent by our O-line, but I thought we went too conservative this week.
Helton is the new scapegoat, but I'm happy with him. Last season, JG was the easy scapegoat, in spite of being the least of our troubles on offense. This season, it seems like Helton has replaced JG as the easy scapegoat. Our offensive production has improved significantly under Helton and in a short period of time. The problems have been execution and O-line blocking. Not saying Helton is perfect, but he's far from the problem right now. Our offense is extremely limited due to personnel on the O-line.
We're getting better on defense. It's happening slowly, but I'm seeing steady improvement on D, which is a good sign. Against WV, our defenders reacted too slowly in the new defense. Our guys are getting comfortable now. We're seeing a pass rush emerge. Darrell Taylor is looking pretty good again. Kyle Phillips had a good game and the secondary is starting to play well. But ...
Run D is still a major issue. While the D is playing better overall, Georgia was able to impose its will on us running the ball at the end of the game. This is IMO partly a depth issue, but also probably a sign that we don't have the power up front.
Ty Chandler. Happy to see him being utilized in the passing game finally. He's a threat there and our coaches should be taking advantage of that.
Trevon Flowers. Ended up being an irrelevant play (offsides), but quite an impression interception by Flowers.
Other Thoughts
The curse. We've had some bad luck this season. That fumble that turned into a long TD run for Georgia is one of the flukiest plays I can ever remember seeing. Then the Pope goal line fumble. Not that we would've won either game regardless, but just adds insult to injury when luck is also against you.
It's going to take some 'cruiting. The reality is that we don't have the horses up front to do what we need to be able to do. That's only going to change with recruiting.
Dumb thoughts. There's some dumb part of my brain that still thinks we can pull off an upset or two (at this point, a win over anyone other than Charlotte is an "upset" mind you), but the rational part of my brain says 4-8 or 5-7.
On the other hand. Unlike last season where our offense was just completely stagnant, this season, it's at least been productive. 360+ yards versus Florida *IN SPITE OF* 6 turnovers. 512 yards versus UTEP. When we don't go into a conservative shell (like we did in the 1st half this game), we can move the ball. We just keep making big mistakes. Eliminate the mistakes and this team could be competitive. If we could play a relatively mistake-free game, we could pull an upset over anyone else on the schedule not named Alabama.
Im'ma stay positive. I'm resigned to the fact that we suck this season, but I'm seeing improvement overall. Our players continue to fight. I like that. That's what I'm going to continue to look for the rest of the season.
GBO!
P.S. Any way for anyone to add the official UT orange hex code for the colored text on here? I always have to search for it on Google (HEX FF8200).
The Game
Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. It's been the running theme of this season with the exception of the ETSU game. We constantly shoot ourselves in the foot. We were better this game than last, but still too many costly penalties.
Playcalling was too conservative. I thought Pruitt's gameplan was too conservative. After last weeks' debacle, I think Pruitt wanted to be less adventurous with the offense, but that doesn't work against the #2 team in the country. JG is our best weapon right now. We have to air it out and throw deep to beat a team of Georgia's caliber. We started doing this a bit in the 2nd Half, but it was too late. Of course, it should be noted that our playcalling is limited to some extent by our O-line, but I thought we went too conservative this week.
Helton is the new scapegoat, but I'm happy with him. Last season, JG was the easy scapegoat, in spite of being the least of our troubles on offense. This season, it seems like Helton has replaced JG as the easy scapegoat. Our offensive production has improved significantly under Helton and in a short period of time. The problems have been execution and O-line blocking. Not saying Helton is perfect, but he's far from the problem right now. Our offense is extremely limited due to personnel on the O-line.
We're getting better on defense. It's happening slowly, but I'm seeing steady improvement on D, which is a good sign. Against WV, our defenders reacted too slowly in the new defense. Our guys are getting comfortable now. We're seeing a pass rush emerge. Darrell Taylor is looking pretty good again. Kyle Phillips had a good game and the secondary is starting to play well. But ...
Run D is still a major issue. While the D is playing better overall, Georgia was able to impose its will on us running the ball at the end of the game. This is IMO partly a depth issue, but also probably a sign that we don't have the power up front.
Ty Chandler. Happy to see him being utilized in the passing game finally. He's a threat there and our coaches should be taking advantage of that.
Trevon Flowers. Ended up being an irrelevant play (offsides), but quite an impression interception by Flowers.
Other Thoughts
The curse. We've had some bad luck this season. That fumble that turned into a long TD run for Georgia is one of the flukiest plays I can ever remember seeing. Then the Pope goal line fumble. Not that we would've won either game regardless, but just adds insult to injury when luck is also against you.
It's going to take some 'cruiting. The reality is that we don't have the horses up front to do what we need to be able to do. That's only going to change with recruiting.
Dumb thoughts. There's some dumb part of my brain that still thinks we can pull off an upset or two (at this point, a win over anyone other than Charlotte is an "upset" mind you), but the rational part of my brain says 4-8 or 5-7.
On the other hand. Unlike last season where our offense was just completely stagnant, this season, it's at least been productive. 360+ yards versus Florida *IN SPITE OF* 6 turnovers. 512 yards versus UTEP. When we don't go into a conservative shell (like we did in the 1st half this game), we can move the ball. We just keep making big mistakes. Eliminate the mistakes and this team could be competitive. If we could play a relatively mistake-free game, we could pull an upset over anyone else on the schedule not named Alabama.
Im'ma stay positive. I'm resigned to the fact that we suck this season, but I'm seeing improvement overall. Our players continue to fight. I like that. That's what I'm going to continue to look for the rest of the season.
GBO!
P.S. Any way for anyone to add the official UT orange hex code for the colored text on here? I always have to search for it on Google (HEX FF8200).
