Post game thoughts.

[Paul C]

To build on the recruiting “hole”, after getting caught short handed at OL in his first few classss CBF overrecruited OL in his last 2 years with “good not great” players, handcuffing the current staffs early OL recruiting efforts. This has started be addressed and will continue to be, but of all positions, OL take time to get physically ready and coached up.

[FUBeAR]

OL take time to get...coached up.

#SlowLearners

[gofurman]

To build on the recruiting “hole”, after getting caught short handed at OL in his first few classss CBF overrecruited OL in his last 2 years with “good not great” players, handcuffing the current staffs early OL recruiting efforts. This has started be addressed and will continue to be, but of all positions, OL take time to get physically ready and coached up.

Paul, this is Spot on. I like all our players and the effort they put forth. I appreciate it. But the more I get to know former players and people that point out technique etc the more I find we are still handcuffed to a degree by former recruiting by Fowler. It wasn’t bad just not always the same TYPE guys CH wants ...

Astro and I actually had a discussion about this on AGS pre-season ... and what I was advocating is that of the starters we lean on many are still Fowler guys who may not quite fit CH system. I agree we aren’t YOUNG. Just not CH type guys yet. This is starting to become apparent on OL and DL - OL is still 4 guys starting from Fowler. Layton Kroeber Harris and Godwin. While we rotate a lot in other positions these OL starters play A LOT of the snaps. And I think they are good ... but they aren’t quite in the mold that CH wants. They are good - Layton is a Star... but different coaches want different t body styles.

I have faith CH will get our OL going

The bigger issue with most I speak with is the D coaching. Just monumental holes blown in our run D by Woff. No getting around that. Woff Ô is great but not that much better than our D. No way should they be getting 1st and 25 w three running plays. No. Way. As someone said go campout in Staggs yard for a freakin week. Do some of that osmosis stuff or pay Staggs a “consulting” fee. That dude could stop the run. He never lost to Citadel at Furman OR (I think) at CSU ! He at least had a huge winning edge vs Citadel. He beat Woff 34-14 last year and our LBs were scraping and making life miserable for Woff.

[The Jackal]

Our defense has been at or near the top of the SoCon all season. Let's not overreact. Even on their "bad" days against the Citadel and Wofford, they kept us in the game.

As I pointed out above, Fowler barely touched the defensive line his last two years. We are having to deal with those depth issues now.

I have been encouraged to see London Lewis start getting more snaps. He was out there on some big series against the Terriers and made a few impressive plays. He's a big body that could really thrive in this defense.

[The Jackal]

[Jasper]

Our defense has been at or near the top of the SoCon all season. Let's not overreact. Even on their "bad" days against the Citadel and Wofford, they kept us in the game.

As I pointed out above, Fowler barely touched the defensive line his last two years. We are having to deal with those depth issues now.

I have been encouraged to see London Lewis start getting more snaps. He was out there on some big series against the Terriers and made a few impressive plays. He's a big body that could really thrive in this defense.

London Lewis is a big and fast guy who has been plagued by injuries. Looks like he is coming around and will likely get a good look vs. Point. He has the physical ability to be a really good inside disrupter & pass rusher. At 6'4" and a lean 282 lbs., he also could add some weight in the off season.

The Wofford loss is not in the defense, although they did not play particularly well. If someone told me Wofford would score in the low 20's before the game, I would have taken it. Their defense has given up a lot of points and I thought our offense would drop over 30 on them. Somewhat inexplicably, that did not happen. For this run oriented offense to work, we need to be able to pass the ball effectively from time to time and we did not do that. We either missed open receivers or they could not catch the ball during the time the game was on the line. So we ran it inside the tackles into a loaded box. Nuff said.

[apaladin]

CCH said the same thing. If someone told him before the game that WC would score 24 he would think we had a good chance to win. Still the fact remains without the aid of penalties the D got one stop late in the game. With that said obviously this loss is on the O and the O coaches. The O had a terrible game plan and did not adjust.

[gofurman]

Our defense has been at or near the top of the SoCon all season. Let's not overreact. Even on their "bad" days against the Citadel and Wofford, they kept us in the game.

As I pointed out above, Fowler barely touched the defensive line his last two years. We are having to deal with those depth issues now.

I have been encouraged to see London Lewis start getting more snaps. He was out there on some big series against the Terriers and made a few impressive plays. He's a big body that could really thrive in this defense.

London Lewis is a big and fast guy who has been plagued by injuries. Looks like he is coming around and will likely get a good look vs. Point. He has the physical ability to be a really good inside disrupter & pass rusher. At 6'4" and a lean 282 lbs., he also could add some weight in the off season.

The Wofford loss is not in the defense, although they did not play particularly well. If someone told me Wofford would score in the low 20's before the game, I would have taken it. Their defense has given up a lot of points and I thought our offense would drop over 30 on them. Somewhat inexplicably, that did not happen. For this run oriented offense to work, we need to be able to pass the ball effectively from time to time and we did not do that. We either missed open receivers or they could not catch the ball during the time the game was on the line. So we ran it inside the tackles into a loaded box. Nuff said.

Jasper you are right. Despite the eye test where Woff obviously blew huge holes in our front 7 ... the final point total of 24 isn’t bad. We Can’t expect to score 7 and win these days. 7. Wow. Need some emotion and fire on the sideline. I actually don’t doubt Woff has a better D than GSU but Woff with a better D than VT? C’mon. We have to get out there and play w some attitude

As I said preseason I thought we were a year away w youth at QB etc. team actually exceeded my expectations as I picked 7-5. They beat me by one at 8-4 Granted Samford and especially Mercer were weaker than I expected but still. Let’s get in playoffs and see what happens

Our OL should be challenged at practice this week. That was a Woff DL without their two best players Both return next year. Still. Completing some passes can get around the DL. 5-25 Citadel. 13-30 Woff. I thought Woff D got better pressure on QB than Citadel. 18-30 passing that’s a different game v Woff. We might still lose but it’s closer for sure

[apaladin]

Let's face it. We did exactly what WC wanted. Our O game plan was awful.

[Choir Boy]

Maybe our game plan was on target, but we got out executed by a better team....sad to say

[FurmAlum]

I wasn't a great fan of the game plan, but I think it was more lack of execution in the passing game. Jackal hit the nail on the head when said we've got to hit some passes to keep the running game going. That pass that went over Roberto's head may have gone for a TD if it was on target. Hit some passes, keep the running game going, we keep the ball longer, they have less time of possession, we score on both those goal line series, etc. Game could have had a different outcome.

These are freshman quarterbacks! They are going to have a bad game once in a while. Unfortunately the once in a while was the biggest game of the year. If they both improve as much over the next 12 months as they have improved over the last 12 months, I think our QB position will be in good hands.

I would not object to a re-match with the Yardyappers, either. Play em again with a diff plan, I would feel confident. Our players should be pissed off enough to give a super effort.