The Unofficial Furman Football Page

If you told me before the game we’d average 2.3 yards per carry against vmi id have called you crazy.

This one is on the O coaches and the OL.

Our RBs were also lost in pass protection and struggled to notice where the blitz was coming from. Hamp was running and not seeing the field well (neither were we because of the camera). We got exposed.

Yes. It’s a chess match. For all the blitzes and DL moves there are offense calls to beat it.

That was pretty much a turd in the punchbowl, from the uniforms to the last play.

That’s what you get, when you don’t adjust.

FUPlayer74 wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:47 pm

That was pretty much a turd in the punchbowl, from the uniforms to the last play.

I agree. I had a bad feeling when I saw the grey pants.

cavedweller2 wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 9:26 pm

FUPlayer74 wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:47 pm

That was pretty much a turd in the punchbowl, from the uniforms to the last play.

I agree. I had a bad feeling when I saw the grey pants.

We wore gray pants against Samford last year and beat the ever loving snot out of them.

Wasn't the uniform. We didn't play well.

You missed the point Rocco. Lighten up!

I-85 Paladin wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:13 pm

Our RBs were also lost in pass protection and struggled to notice where the blitz was coming from. Hamp was running and not seeing the field well (neither were we because of the camera). We got exposed.

I contemplated this the entire game.

I don't think we can lay it all on Sisson. There's only so much you can do on offense with free rushers in the backfield. Whatever VMI was doing was confusing our blocking.

Our offense obviously has a lot going on in the backfield. A lot of backs are going out in the pattern. We have a lot of motion and run fakes. Much of it is slow developing, which is not a great option when you are allowing guys into the backfield.

It appears to me that teams know with our slow developing runs that they can get to us before we can get to them. Like against an option team, if you can get us "off schedule," you can force us into predictable passing situations, which is not our strong suit. So, teams are gambling by blitzing frequently with the intention that maybe once or twice they will catch us in a play action pass. Essentially, they can reach Sisson before he can find the open receiver.

I think this is why you saw our most successful pass plays today were not play fakes. They were roll outs or straight drop backs. Gave Sisson protection and he was frequently able to find Deluca, which VMI was struggling to contain.

I guess the criticism of the coaches is essentially that VMI was blitzing nearly every snap. We didn't have a lot of great options to slow it down - screens or inside pitches. We ran a screen early and scored a touchdown. Our coaches are either going to have to leave more protection for Sisson, or start cooking in some ways of slowing down the rush.

Sisson made some great plays but hes got to learn how to get rid of the ball when he sees pressure coming. He acted like it was against the rules. Correct me if I’m wrong but he never threw it away to avoid a sack. Not sure but didnt every sack come from the ends and they came in untouched? That is a long way to run and no one lays a finger on you?

The Jackal wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:10 pm

I-85 Paladin wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:13 pm

Our RBs were also lost in pass protection and struggled to notice where the blitz was coming from. Hamp was running and not seeing the field well (neither were we because of the camera). We got exposed.

I contemplated this the entire game.

I don't think we can lay it all on Sisson. There's only so much you can do on offense with free rushers in the backfield. Whatever VMI was doing was confusing our blocking.

Our offense obviously has a lot going on in the backfield. A lot of backs are going out in the pattern. We have a lot of motion and run fakes. Much of it is slow developing, which is not a great option when you are allowing guys into the backfield.

It appears to me that teams know with our slow developing runs that they can get to us before we can get to them. Like against an option team, if you can get us "off schedule," you can force us into predictable passing situations, which is not our strong suit. So, teams are gambling by blitzing frequently with the intention that maybe once or twice they will catch us in a play action pass. Essentially, they can reach Sisson before he can find the open receiver.

I think this is why you saw our most successful pass plays today were not play fakes. They were roll outs or straight drop backs. Gave Sisson protection and he was frequently able to find Deluca, which VMI was struggling to contain.

I guess the criticism of the coaches is essentially that VMI was blitzing nearly every snap. We didn't have a lot of great options to slow it down - screens or inside pitches. We ran a screen early and scored a touchdown. Our coaches are either going to have to leave more protection for Sisson, or start cooking in some ways of slowing down the rush.

Running it up the middle every first down and on second and long when the box is stacked certainly puts Sisson in a bad passing situation on third and long against a blitz we couldn’t stop.

apaladin wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:35 am

Sisson made some great plays but hes got to learn how to get rid of the ball when he sees pressure coming. He acted like it was against the rules. Correct me if I’m wrong but he never threw it away to avoid a sack. Not sure but didnt every sack come from the ends and they came in untouched? That is a long way to run and no one lays a finger on you?

It appeared that most of the sacks came either from the C gap or from the edge. Of VMI's 8 sacks (or whatever it was), virtually all (7.5) were attributed to linebackers and defensive backs. That is, almost all of the pressure was coming from the backfield.

There were major gaps in our pass protection. It looks like in our no huddle offense that our OL does not look to the sidelines, but takes their cue from Sisson. The audibles are frequently called from the sideline ("check with me").

So, are we getting the wrong calls in? Does Sisson have the ability to change the protection based on what he's seeing? Are the coaches making incorrect adjustments? Would it help us to huddle? Is the offense trying to do too much? No idea.

It seems to me to be an all of the above scenario. If our blocking scheme isn't designed to pick up free rushers, then that's a problem and the coaches need to fix it. I got the impression last week that the big hit on Sisson was from a guy we were not designed to block. Maybe we need to block that guy.

It could be that some teams are just resolved to blitz us every snap. It may expose them in the play action game, but they don't care. It may be that we are coaching against how defenses should react to our offense, not how they are reacting. VMI knew it could't play conservative yesterday - they made the top down decision to throw everything they could at us. It worked.

Our bad games have all really looked the same the last few years - less than ideal field conditions, a defense bringing lots of pressure, and our offense gets off schedule with few answers in terms of adjustments.

The reality is, we are going to keep seeing this same sort of attack. At some point, we need to figure out how to counter it.

apaladin wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:35 am

Sisson made some great plays but hes got to learn how to get rid of the ball when he sees pressure coming. He acted like it was against the rules. Correct me if I’m wrong but he never threw it away to avoid a sack. Not sure but didnt every sack come from the ends and they came in untouched? That is a long way to run and no one lays a finger on you?

I looked at the individual stats and of the 9 sacks 1 was a DE and I think a DT got half of one. Most were were divided among 3 LB’s. Two came from corners. I think our RB’s just missed guys a couple of times, but other times they were picking up somebody coming up the middle and there was nobody to pick the guy up coming from the outside. Once or twice we rolled right at the blitzer and just had to freeze. But it is wasn’t so much our linemen getting beaten by their linemen.

It was kinda like we came up with this cool intricate offense with lots of bells and whistles for style points, and their dumb old coaches cheated by just playing sandlot kill the man with the ball defense and ignoring the rule that says you can’t just blitz every down because.

He threw one away and got called for grounding. He had about 4 seconds on that one but just couldn’t let it go.

I agree with Jackal about the slow developing plays. Most of the runs that got stuffed were of that nature. And lots of the pass plays have silly, half hearted run fakes that don’t fool anybody (sometimes faking to invisible backs) and just slow things down. I was surprised we had no plan B that would punish them for all that blitzing.

I wonder too if they were getting a jump on us which led to panic at the center position. Tweaking the count might fix that.

One real worrisome thing is that these blitzes were slow motion compared to what’s coming. This was VMI who essentially can’t sign anybody who has another offer. Prolly not covered up with speed.

My worthless opinion is that we just have to stay committed to running even if it’s only 3 or 4 yds. The average yesterday was skewed because of 70 yds in sacks.

All good points by Jackal and Furmanoid ... all coaching issues. IMO this team is certainly near the top of the SoCon in talent . This is a credit to our coaching staffs ability to recruit but talent alone isn’t enough.The current O scheme and how to beat it is on full display now. VMI was in press man coverage all day daring us to take a shot over the top, we didn’t take the dare unless we went through our SLOW developing play action(blitz,sack, rinse repeat)This will be a wide open league and we are about to find out if this team can and will make the adjustments to make the most of what we have.

Furmanoid wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 28, 2021 12:25 pm

apaladin wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:35 am

Sisson made some great plays but hes got to learn how to get rid of the ball when he sees pressure coming. He acted like it was against the rules. Correct me if I’m wrong but he never threw it away to avoid a sack. Not sure but didnt every sack come from the ends and they came in untouched? That is a long way to run and no one lays a finger on you?

I looked at the individual stats and of the 9 sacks 1 was a DE and I think a DT got half of one. Most were were divided among 3 LB’s. Two came from corners. I think our RB’s just missed guys a couple of times, but other times they were picking up somebody coming up the middle and there was nobody to pick the guy up coming from the outside. Once or twice we rolled right at the blitzer and just had to freeze. But it is wasn’t so much our linemen getting beaten by their linemen.

It was kinda like we came up with this cool intricate offense with lots of bells and whistles for style points, and their dumb old coaches cheated by just playing sandlot kill the man with the ball defense and ignoring the rule that says you can’t just blitz every down because.

He threw one away and got called for grounding. He had about 4 seconds on that one but just couldn’t let it go.

I agree with Jackal about the slow developing plays. Most of the runs that got stuffed were of that nature. And lots of the pass plays have silly, half hearted run fakes that don’t fool anybody (sometimes faking to invisible backs) and just slow things down. I was surprised we had no plan B that would punish them for all that blitzing.

I wonder too if they were getting a jump on us which led to panic at the center position. Tweaking the count might fix that.

One real worrisome thing is that these blitzes were slow motion compared to what’s coming. This was VMI who essentially can’t sign anybody who has another offer. Prolly not covered up with speed.

My worthless opinion is that we just have to stay committed to running even if it’s only 3 or 4 yds. The average yesterday was skewed because of 70 yds in sacks.

It's not really about faking people, though, if the defense doesn't care about the fakes. VMI appeared to be crashing every snap and using their DEs to turn our OLs and let a free rusher through. They effectively didn't care that Furman was play faking.

I agree, though, that we should have kept the ball on the ground. If a defense can stand up to four quarters of our running game without letting us break one, then hat tip to them. If they want to blitz, they do so at the risk of letting Furman get to the second level (more defenders up front = fewer defenders at the second/third level).

I'm not saying they need to simplify the playbook, but I think some of the creativity is getting in the way here. Sometimes you just need to leave a running back in to block someone.