Solid showing on Saturday. I think there's a ton of positives to take away from it.
The Red Devils wanted to stop the run and they did a decent job doing so. Despite their dedication, we saw a few flashes of DW4's brilliance. Logan threw the ball well for the most part.
Hated to see Dyrell go down, but I'm glad we'll all get to enjoy him play in Lane again. Here's to a speedy and healthy recovery...
But let's talk about everyone who played on Saturday:
1. Antone Exum - I see the back of his jersey too much for comfort. But considering he's early in his second season, I think he's doing a fine job. He showed off some good tackling skills, that's for sure.
2. Josh Oglesby - Not a lot of running room for the senior on Saturday, but a couple of nice carries.
3. Logan Thomas - I believe he's going to be the guy we all think he can be. He made some really nice throws. The skill set is there and everything is going to fall into place the more he goes at it. But time is running out before it gets real serious.
4. David Wilson - Saturday proved that he is actually a human. But if that's human for David Wilson, we're in pretty good shape. I'm sure he'd call it a down day because he didn't hit 100 yards, but he was vital to the offense's success.
7. Marcus Davis - He had a few second half catches. I really want him to be as good as I think he can be. I know Logan does, too. He looks his way a lot.
9. Cris Hill - The veteran did an excellent job when challenged. When he's on the field, I'm sure teams are going to target him, and I'm not too worried about it. He looked really good this weekend.
11. Dyrell Roberts - Crushing luck for a key senior. Luckily Logan Thomas and the team gets him back next year thanks to a redshirt, but my heart still goes out to him.
13. Randall Dunn - Inexcusable drop on what would have been a touchdown. But the play showed what he can do athletically. The drops in general are starting to drive me a little nutty.
15. Eddie Whitley - I think Eddie can cover just about anyone on the field and I like when he's near the LOS.
17. Kyle Fuller - He was burned on Arkansas State's first play of the game, but recovered to have yet another really good outing. He brings some serious pressure off the edge.
18. D.J. Coles - I knew the guy was incredibly jacked, but the speed? He smoked down the sideline on that screen. I definitely think my call for him to get at least 20 catches this year will come to fruition.
19. Danny Coale - Another monster day for Mr. Coale. The block on the Coles touchdown, mentioned just above, was textbook. Some NFL team is going to get a steal with this guy.
20. Jayron Hosley - Our All-American had a tough assignment on Saturday in Jarboe and saw a lot of action. I think it's safe to say he answered the bell. He can do it all on D.
22. Tony Gregory - Meet our new option at kick returner. He has wiggle and speed and I think he'll do just fine back there.
24. Tariq Edwards - His play is not being talked about enough -- a major reason why the defense has been so sharp. He seems to be excellent at making his reads. He's also the inspiration for the sideline call seen in the picture.
25. Martin Scales - He made a nice effort when targeted on 4th and goal, but that was not an easy catch to make.
29. Scott Demler - We've all heard the heat is on. It better be. He's just not cutting it. The time for Tech to get away with winning games without a good, consistent punter is almost over.
33. Chris Drager - If you watch closely, you'll notice he doesn't just throw out the standard block. He likes to deck people, which is awesome.
41. Derek DiNardo - No more holding on kick returns.
42. J.R. Collins - He's a bull. He deserves most of the credit for that safety. He exploded off the football and Aplin became nervous before he could make any reads.
43. Jeron Gouveia-Winslow - I really like seeing him on the blitz. He's developing into a nice weapon for Bud.
45. Joey Phillips - He's got a tough job, but he's good at it. He hits the gaps fast. And a nice job on his first carry of the year. Did you see him blast a defender on Coale's end-around? Yikes.
48. Justin Myer - Keep doin ya thing, JMyer. (Thing being touchbacks)
51. Bruce Taylor - Do not pump fake 51 outside the pocket. He's more athletic than you.
54. Nick Becton - Becton got a lot of good reps on Saturday and I thought he did a fine job. With Lanier dinged up, he'll be busy against Marshall.
56. Antoine Hopkins - Y'all need to key in on him when the defense is on the field. He's the real deal.
62. Blake DeChristopher - He's a legitimate anchor on this line. I like his production in the run game.
66. Tyrel Wilson - I'm pleased Charley is playing him. He's getting good reps. He got into the backfield a few times using his quickness. I can see him making some big plays here and there.
67. Michael Via - Saw him in the game a lot in the first half. He's aggressive and looks light on his feet. He also had a key pull and block on Wilson's TD.
68. Jaymes Brooks - I thought he handled everything inside really well. Solid game.
72. Andrew Lanier - Nervous moment to see him hobbling off the field. It doesn't seem to be too serious. Hopefully he gets a few snaps next week and is ready for Week 5.
74. Andrew Miller - He seems like a natural at center. Every time I see him he's finishing a block.
75. Greg Nosal - I was going to put in a finger tip joke, but I think it's worth mentioning how good he looked Saturday. He's a valuable part of the O.
80. George George - I WANT MORE GEORGE GEORGE RECEPTIONS.
81. Jarrett Boykin - He didn't have any head-turning plays, but he's so reliable. The play most worth mentioning is the third down catch where he extends a yard past the first down market. That is the kind of approach you get with him.
86. Eric Martin - Seemed to hold his own in the blocking game.
89. Cody Journell - Another miss. I guess this one was close. But we need him to be automatic.
90. Duan Perez-Means - Keep this in mind: Like, Zack McCray, it's his third college game. And I thought he looked pretty good in it. I like how this could turn out.
92. Luther Maddy - He looks like a load. But he needs to get a little quicker.
95. Zack McCray - I was very impressed with his pursuit of inside runs. He looked really good.
96. Corey Marshall - He couldn't seem to shed blocks, but I noticed him firing off the ball a few times. Corey was playing high school ball this time last year. Crazy.
98. Derrick Hopkins - He draws a lot of attention in the middle, and often finds a way to throw two guys around to make the tackle.
99. James Gayle - It seemed pretty obvious that Arkansas State wanted to stay far away from this man, and I don't blame them.
Comments
Also...
1. Word from the coaching staff is that they've asked George George to run the 40, just to get a time on him for future reference. They're currently still waiting for him to finish. (Guy went to my high school where his mom's an English teacher, of course I'm going to rib him.)
2. Danny Coale : Virginia Tech :: Wes Welker : New England
3. Why aren't we running the option on every 2nd down? Why can't we run a spread like New England? Did Stinespring hijack the frequency between O'Cain and the field during play calls on Saturday? Didn't Shane bring a copy of Spurrier's playbook with him from SC? Why aren't we using more of that?
1. It wasn't the fastest 37-yard gain, but I'll take it.
2. Why, because he's white? Just kidding. Coale had a monster game.
3. I, too, want to see the ball in LT3's hands much more. I think we'll see more and more of it.
Dropped Passes
I know a good bit about football but am lost with some of the mechanics. Anyone able to give a go as to why we're seeing so many. We touted our Receivers going into the season and seeing the likes of "wide open" im still drinking the kool-aid. However, some of these seem inexcusable. Dunn shouldnt have but Ill take caution on inexperience and scales catch was tough on that fourth down conversion. Does equal blame land on LT and the corps or are some of our guys just not executing?
TKP and I were discussing this same thing
There's really no excuse. I expect more out of what should be the most talented position group on the team. I will say that I see some pretty good blocking on the outside, which is nice. But everything just has to be cleaned up. We shouldn't be talking about mistakes from the WRs.
I'm thinking some of it has to do with the power LT3 puts behind his passes. They come alot faster than Tyrod's and it takes an adjustment. That said, we still shouldn't see as many drops as we do. It's a mental thing, they just need to emphasize it in practice. Hopefully it stops by the Clemson game.
80. George George - I WANT MORE GEORGE GEORGE RECEPTIONS.
Truly the highlight of the game
The commentators were so funny when they were talking about him... definitely awesome.
Penalties
I didn't even think about this while watching Saturday, but we played much cleaner game this week. We had 12 penalties for 92 yards against ECU and only 5 for 51 yards against Arkansas State.
Am I the only one?
The fewer penalties was definitely great to see, as they were driving me crazy vs. ECU. I wish I could say that we were polishing the rest of the game up the same way.
Am I the only one who thinks we really didn't look very good on Saturday? Granted I was at the game with a few pregame beverages flowing and didn't have the benefit of any closeups on tv.
We looked generally off. Knowing that particularly on offense we are young as a unit, I have some understanding of the fact that we shouldn't yet be functioning as a well oiled machine, but I thought that on Saturday we were sloppy. The timing seems bad with LT, lack of inside running game was evident, and it just seemed like we couldn't string a whole lot together and get much rhythm with the football.
I know it's early, but was also our 3rd game at home against an inferior opponent. I guess I was just hoping that our win would have been more decisive. This worries me for Clemson and Miami.
I agree
This was basically my same perception. After we built a big lead the focus also seemed to slip. I think the team is a little bored with playing lesser competition and will get fired up for the more challenging games. I thought they played well enough but need to finish offensive drives with a strong statement.
Tough to make sense of it...
On one hand, I feel like the coaches wanted to put Logan and other players in position to make plays they will NEED to make later this year. I think we took a more liberal approach to play calling than we will come October.
On the other hand, I could be delusional and what we see is what we have...
I say, let them take their thumps (INTs, drops, mediocre run blocking) now and we'll see what happens when we can't afford to take any thumps.
We looked better than ECU worse than Appalachian State
Offensively we still haven't clicked the way we did in the first game. I agree with Adam, we're a better running team than passing and we're doing our best to get LT3 as much experience as possible, even if that means looking a little ragged. If he doesn't have those two picks it could've been a blowout.
The defense has looked dominate each week.