Recent Comments
For the stat freaks, take a look at how many carries the running backs get in the first quarter. I think when the backs start getting carries on the interior, everything else in the offense works better.
Joe, I owe you a beer sometime too.
The nice thing about this hybrid spread that O'Cainspring has come up with is that it incorporates the I form as one of the three fundamental formations. Even if CFB decides to go back to a little bit more power running, we can incorporate that into what we've done offensively without throwing the baby out with the bath water. So far it's been about 50% shotgun, 25% pistol, 25 % I form. We could just tweak the percentages to more around 1/3 each to get a little more 'tween the tackles action.
That's provided we can find a back who can gash defenses up the middle. I think Michael Holmes might be that back, but then again he might not. Holmes' game seems to hinge on his vision, scanning the line for the hole to hit right up until the moment he hits it. That's often costs him a step and removes some of the power from his runs.
JC Coleman's a smurf. I do not see him running a power game inside.
Martin Scales has pop, but we don't know if he has 20 carries a game type stamina. We also don't want to elevate the third string back to first string in power running situations unless we like seeing nine men in the box across the line from us every time he comes into the game.
Trey Edmunds needs a redshirt. And I mean NEEDS it.
If we don't want to bang up our meal ticket QB, who's left?
And I think Frank realizes all that. Expect Mike and Bryan to keep tinkering with the hybrid spread unencumbered until it costs us a game.
maybe you should coach the team.
It seems you do not.
I agree with a lot of what you said; my only response is that its very hard to pound the rock with one RB when you don't know who that RB is going to be. Holmes and JC represent different RB styles and considering JC's athletic ability, going with the seniority route (which is sometimes our traditional default) probably isn't the best way for this situation.
I'm fairly confident that our staff will figure out something by our late october stretch. Until then, I won't fret too much if we win some games by less than an expected amount and some of our offensive choices aren't exactly what I would expect. I'll save all of that for Clemson.
consistently bad is good right?
That's the one area I'm a little bit concerned about. I agree with what said above, we've shifted the offensive philosophy so worrying about being able to line up and pound 30 times a game is useless. Still, there's will be important 3rd-and-2s or 4th-and-1s that we'll need to be able to pick up. Last year LT3 was that guy. Will it be third-and-Logan this year too? The coaches haven't ran him into the teeth of the defense that much, which is smart, keep the kid healthy for the home stretch. They did the same last season. In the mean time, how are we getting those yards inside with plays that gel with the new philosophy? I'm reviewing the Cincy-Pitt film and the 58-yard home run, run George Winn had on Cincy's first play was just a very well blocked zone read. I'd like to see us get better at running that play, and be more physical at the point of attack with the straight ahead stuff from the pistol.
When the going gets tough, I hope we don't stray outside of the new system like in years past.
I do believe the coaches are committed to this offense, and like the implementation of any system, there are growing pains. What we're seeing in the run game is a result of that. I'm glad they're making the attempt to get better, and Beamer Co is one of the best at fixing things on the fly.
You're ignoring the 11 carries against AP that were split between Scales and Gregory. We had 38 rushing attempts (27 by running backs, 7 by quarterback, 4 by wide receivers) in 64 total plays. That is commitment to the run.
One thing we have to keep in mind is Stiney and O'Cain are still figuring out a) how to properly utilize the two freshmen backs who top the depth chart, and b) how to best incorporate the rush into this new hybrid spread scheme they've installed. This won't be a ground and pound, between the tackles rushing offense this year. At least not in its base look. Expect a lot of misdirection and a lot of counters and a lot of plays to the outside to get our backs in space. That's a rather fundamental shift from how we used to run the ball just last year, and really for the last decade.
I get that, but I still feel a little uneasy about the running game because we still haven't seen anyone get a serious number of carries in a drive. It seems like in past seasons, even in early tune up games, one or two backs would get a series more or less devoted to them trying out a few runs and getting the majority of the touches on a drive.
But then, I also agree that it's hard to draw conclusions this early against these two opponents. When the offense struggled against AP, I was crying out for a drive where we would turn to the ground game with a single RB, because that is, to me, still the offense's identity; when in doubt, pound the rock. That said, since it was, more or less a scrimmage, it's quite understandable that the coaching staff would instead to call plays and schemes that are less tried and true.
In the end, I think I would like a nice, tone-setting drive in the first quarter at Pitt where one (or both) RBs get about 2/3 of the calls on a sustained drive; that would make me feel more confident about it going into the rest of the season, even if it was abandoned for the rest of the game.
Looking at any status of any shade of our team this early in the season is, imo, premature. French said a number of times that peay was a scrimmage, which would explain why we were passing more, possibly in an effort to get roberts and davis the ball more in a low-pressure situation. I also refuse to draw conclusions from the GT because that game was, always has been, and will continue to be a sludge-fest.
I honestly think with the departure of a large chunk of our offense from last year, we are trying to find what works and that may involve a trial and error methodology. Given that clemson/miami/fsu stretch later in the season, I would rather have our coaching staff figure things out now when opponents are lighter, then scramble later on when our opponents get much tougher.
Are you wanting to join a tailgate (aka mine) or will you have your own?
Joe- I thought the exact same thing you did concerning the B1G and Notre Dame/BYU. I do love the fact that we're getting love for not only the BCS but also some pretty good match-ups in the CFAB. Also does anyone know what order to Orange Bowl picks this year? Their choice of WVU made me assume that the committee had the last pick in 2012.
Let's just take care of business and see where the chips fall in the end.
With the B1G so down, Boise having already lost, and the lack of any other real non-BCS power (maybe Notre Dame wins 10 games or BYU goes undefeated) I think the ACC has another real chance of landing two teams in the BCS. Tech will be sitting pretty if they can win 10 or 11 and make it to the ACCCG.
Said last night only 1 missed blitz by a RB this yr was pretty good. Its not. Its WAY too many. We strive to have none. Cant get Logan hit— Shane Beamer (@CoachSBeamer) September 11, 2012
Well then I'd rather just win the ACCCG and go to the National Championship honestly...
during this last game, i was screaming for us to RUN THE DAMN FOOTBALL the entire second half (to the point of being borderline obnoxious). honestly i would have loved nothing more than to see 10 consecutive runs up the middle by a single back (holmes or coleman). instead we would run once, then throw in 3 pass plays. if we keep refusing to run the football and md7 and dyrell keep dropping passes, i do not feel very good about this season.
Shane said he will go with whoever is 'hot' but it's hard to get warm if you keep getting taking off the stove.
Hope we see a big breakout game by one of them in the near future, like Evans against Maryland in 08.
Will be interested to hear your thoughts on next week's game in regards to our D line vs Pitt's O line. You talk about how speed is the issue with our pass rush and Cinci abused Pitt with their undersized (at least at DT) but quick D. Pitt's O line averages about 320 lbs I believe, whew.
Hit record just in case he busted out some razzle dazzle. He look calm and composed, really awesome to see TT on the field again!
same route that Boykin scored on vs GT last year (hesitation post zone buster.)
Against GT, there were a ton of short curl routes and an occasional post or slant mixed in. Very few deep outs or crossing passes.
Against AP, everything was very vanilla. Mostly combo routes that you throw against high school teams (slot runs an out, SE runs a skinny post or a 10 yard curl.)
Every shot deep has been off of waggle or play action.
Tyrod got into the Ravens-Bengals game mid-4th quarter. Ravens were trying to run the clock, but he moved the chains. They ended up scoring a field goal. On the third down before the kick he threw a nice ball on a go route to the sideline. He read the blitz the receiver, and only the receiver, had a chance to make the catch (a tough one), but couldn't haul it down. He looked sharp.
kinda reminds me of this, haha
Dozer's Play of the Game - Week 2
tonkaberlin:
It can be tough living in your brother's shadow. Trust me; I speak from experience. At least for me I only had to compete with an older brother. Corey Fuller has been surrounded by older brother Vincent (NFL Safety) and younger brothers Kyle (#ALLDEFENSEEVERYTHING), and Kendall (#1 high school recruit). All this competition has obviously only made Corey better, but it's taken until now for him to prove it.
After spending two years at Kansas running track, and two years on the sidelines at Tech, Corey finally has his time to shine with DJ Coles out for the season. While he made some big plays in the season opener against Georgia Tech, it wasn't until 26 seconds left in the first half versus Austin Peay that Corey Fuller finally got to the end zone. Though Tech was looking to be up 14-0 going into the half, our offense obviously felt it had more left to prove before heading into the locker room. As usual, our typically-stagnant offense started to click in this 2-minute drill. Starting from the VT 29, Logan Thomas clicked off pass after pass to Roberts and Dunn, before getting stuck at 3rd and 12 at the Austin Peay 30 after an incompletion intended for Marcus Davis. Thomas finally targetted Corey and once the ball was in his hands, it was obvious that nothing was going to keep him out of the end zone. He grabbed it at the 12 yard line, surrounded by 4 defenders, and broke 2 tackles on his way to scoring his first collegiate touchdown.
Corey is finally earning his stripes as a Fuller and hopefully he can become Logan's go-to guy this year. At least until Dyrell and Marcus learn how to catch balls again, but that's another story.
Cincy rolled against Pitt when they went hurry up, and stalled when they slowed down the tempo. This week is the perfect opportunity to take the handcuffs off the no-huddle we've been promised since spring. I have my fingers, toes, and various other body parts crossed that we come out in our two-minute drill. Get them down early and we take the game out of the hands of Ray Graham and Rushel Shell and put in on the shoulders of Tino Sunseri. I'll take that all day long.