1/3 of the season progress report

[CEB]

Instead of just running your mouth why don't you look at the Oklahoma game with Temple and compare their defense with ours? It might prove to be enlightening even for you.

Wow…
That’s quite a takeaway!
There is no dispute that Oklahoma's D is better than ours… and no one suggested otherwise…. not sure what you’re driving at.
Your position is that Oklahoma's defense is required to be a playoff contender and we are kidding ourselves thinking we have a chance. I disagree. In fact, I said if Oklahomas D is the bar, we’re going to have a hard time finding 12 teams for the playoffs. They’re really good… at least they look that way through week 4.

And it is week 4, so we just might improve, too… inconvenient as that might be.

So if your point is that we should be ashamed because temple moved the ball with more success and scored more against us, I’ll leave that for you. I’m going to hope that I can keep fooling myself week after week into thinking that our undefeated team might be pretty good.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I’d say Oklahoma so far looks like a title contender and we look like a playoff contender. Losing one or two doesn’t rule out a playoff spot depending on how the rest of the ACC standings play out - Cal no longer looks as likely to run the table, for instance. All you need to be a playoff contender is a shot at your conference title in my book.

I don’t think there’s a game we don’t have a shot to win on the schedule, and our playoff resume would amusingly probably be better if we lost to Duke and missed the ACCCG but beat UGA than if we swept the ACC regular season but lost to UGA and Miami or FSU. And if be happier that way too

I want Georgia. ACC championship a distant second, the playoffs likewise. I want UGA.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Against Temple, we averaged 9.8 yards per play.
Against Gardner-Webb it was 11.9 yards per play.

Well, people will point to the competition but those plays are good against air.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

True. The real question is would the committee punish the loser of the ACCCG after the absolute atrocity that SMU put on display last year?

If its Tech they will...anyone else maybe not.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I understand this defense is relatively playing well overall considering we are on our 4th DC in 4 years. This may be one of the more physical defenses we have had in a long time! They also do seem to swarm to the ball.

That being said, I have a question for those who more into Xs and Os and are better at evaluating individual players or position groups. I hear some saying that the defensive backfield is playing well, but in watching games it feels like the WR are wide open when being thrown to. I don't remember seeing many contested catches this season. I will say they seem to play physical and do pretty well limiting YAC but coverage looks lacking.

I could see this as a result of a few different things but wanted to hear from those on here that understand coverages and DB play better than I do.

• Coverage is solid for the majority of the time preventing the QB from throwing and having to scramble, but breaks down eventually or players make a mistake here and there leaving a WR open.
• Coverage play calls are designed to prevent big plays leaving routes underneath open.
• Certain position groups or players are not great in coverage and get picked on.

Anyone have some good insights?

Get pressure off the edge and most of those concerns go away. Our edge pressure has been substandard and our linebacker play has, at times been mediocre. Defensive backs are doing it all and that is not good.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

We're 4-0. I don't care that Clemson isn't "Clemson" right now. That's not our problem. We can't worry about other teams, we can only control what we can control, and we can't be any better than 4-0 right now. It's not mathematically possible.

Yes, we're 4-0, and we're ranked #16 in the country....but does anyone feel like we're playing our best football? Our offense still hasn't operated on all cylinders, and our defense still hasn't found its stride under our new DC. The defense has played well at times, but at times it seems like each unit is playing from a different playbook. I bring this up not because I'm criticizing our play, I bring it up to highlight the fact that even with our offense not firing on all cylinders, and our defense not finding its footing yet...WE'RE STILL 4-0!

I remember in the preseason when some of us would have been happy at 2-2 or 3-1 with GT splitting the Colorado/Clemson games. So here we are, undefeated and nationally ranked. I wonder if GT fans realize we're thisclose to being ranked in the elite tier of college football, the top 10. Let's face it, we don't want to be in the top 10 during the season, we want to be in the top 10 when the season is over with and the final rankings are put together. Guess what? That's within the realm of possibility for us.

All of that is to say, this team still has not hit its ceiling. There is still a LOT of water to navigate before we reach the final port, and this ship could easily hit some icebergs. The beautiful thing is, if we can start playing our best football, and time it to where BOTH sides of the ball can play with an upward trajectory and hit our peak at the end of the season...that means GT fans just might be traveling to multiple sites for our postseason.

We have done better than I thought we would. I thought we would be 3-1 but then I did not know mighty Clemson would collapse and be this year's FSU of 2024.

 

[yeti92]

Hard to believe its been that long. The TFG years felt never ending, feels like Key has only been HBC for a couple seasons. Amazing what not being total crap does.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

Did Key have the most difficult rebuilding effort of any college coach EVER after taking over that disaster.

 

[GT_05]

Did Key have the most difficult rebuilding effort of any college coach EVER after taking over that disaster.

O’Leary taking over for B*** L**** was impressive too.

 

[CrackerJacket]

The resilience of this team makes me proud to be a Yellowjacket. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. That, my friends, shows character - an all too rare quality these days. It speaks volumes of good about their leadership, both on field and off.

 

[Lil G]

I have no complaints other than the amount of screen passes and overall lack of success from our tight ends.

Why on earth would you throw it behind the line of scrimmage on 4th and short.

Wish we got another transfer muscle man at TE. Tbh I’m not really sure what we saw in JT Byrne. He caught a pass in our spring game and had some room to run and then simply got SMOKED backwards by a db. Did not look like a strong guy that weighs 265.
We have a handful of 230-240lb younger athletic TE’s - buster recruits that I’m sure can run routes well. But our offense benefits too much when we have a gym ape up front. Really hope we jack these kids up in the name of punish blocking first, catch second. Hawes is no longer part of our run game and you can absolutely tell.

 

[cpf2001]

I want Georgia. ACC championship a distant second, the playoffs likewise. I want UGA.

That’s my preference this year because I don’t think we could expect multiple playoff wins and I’d rather break that streak than be one-or-two-and-done in the playoffs. Though it would also suck to beat UGA and finish 6-6 or 7-5 or worse.

But based on the three year trajectory Key has the program on I want both soon.

 

[HurricaneJacket]

O’Leary taking over for B*** L**** was impressive too.

Its part of why Key was able to do so well. He had seen it from the ground perspective too

 

[yeti92]

I have no complaints other than the amount of screen passes and overall lack of success from our tight ends.

Why on earth would you throw it behind the line of scrimmage on 4th and short.

Wish we got another transfer muscle man at TE. Tbh I’m not really sure what we saw in JT Byrne. He caught a pass in our spring game and had some room to run and then simply got SMOKED backwards by a db. Did not look like a strong guy that weighs 265.
We have a handful of 230-240lb younger athletic TE’s - buster recruits that I’m sure can run routes well. But our offense benefits too much when we have a gym ape up front. Really hope we jack these kids up in the name of punish blocking first, catch second. Hawes is no longer part of our run game and you can absolutely tell.

As I recall we ran a lot of ineffective screens in 2023 that frustrated a number of us and were a concern for being picked off. I don't remember this so much last year, though maybe we still did.

 

[kittysniper101]

I really don't get the continued conversation about screens (especially the 4th and short against Clemson near the goal line).
It was 3 blockers + one of our best athletes in space against 3 defenders. Our perimeter blocking has generally been solid. Why wouldn't you take that? It was an outstanding play by the Clemson defender and a piss poor block attempt on our behalf on that particular rep, but I bet any coach takes that play call based on the pre-snap alignment.
It's the whole option principle of creating a situation where you're a man up and have an athlete in space. No different from counting defenders in the box and if you're a man up, running. Would everyone be complaining as much about the play calling if an interior OL got whipped on that play call?
If the only thing you can do on 4th and short is run under center teams will adapt to it (unless you're the eagles with that OL and a QB that can squat > 600 lbs)

 

[MWBATL]

We will learn ALOT more this week against Wake.

An easy win relaxes me.

A close win scares me.

A loss depresses me totally.

 

[iceeater1969]

We will learn ALOT more this week against Wake.

An easy win relaxes me.

A close win scares me.

A loss depresses me totally.

Agree.
So far the acc besides fsu miami and maybe gt, is looking weak.
A well played win - even with a few turnovers is what i want.

 

[stinger78]

Did Key have the most difficult rebuilding effort of any college coach EVER after taking over that disaster.

No. TFG solved that riddle for him and left CBK set up for success. So, what we see unfold today is a good part built on TFG’s foundation.
<Smile>

 

[Frodo Swagginz]

Agree.
So far the acc besides fsu miami and maybe gt, is looking weak.
A well played win - even with a few turnovers is what i want.

Not great for a conference that has teams that are chomping at the bit to leave. It was vital that the ACC do well in OOC games, especially week 1. Instead the ACC went:
Week 1 - 3-3 against P4 competition (1-3 against the SEC) (Stanford loss was bad and the Wake Forest win was gross)
Week 2 - 1-6 against P4 (NCST v Virginia counted as 1-1, 0 -5 w/o that)
Week 3 - 2-3 against OOC FBS opponents
Week 4 - 3-3 against OOC FBS opponents

SMU has been a big letdown losing to both TCU and Baylor. Last year might have been a fluke.
North Carolina... Bill needs to go. Now. He doesn't care.

 

[GoldZ]

I really don't get the continued conversation about screens (especially the 4th and short against Clemson near the goal line).
It was 3 blockers + one of our best athletes in space against 3 defenders. Our perimeter blocking has generally been solid. Why wouldn't you take that? It was an outstanding play by the Clemson defender and a piss poor block attempt on our behalf on that particular rep, but I bet any coach takes that play call based on the pre-snap alignment.
It's the whole option principle of creating a situation where you're a man up and have an athlete in space. No different from counting defenders in the box and if you're a man up, running. Would everyone be complaining as much about the play calling if an interior OL got whipped on that play call?
If the only thing you can do on 4th and short is run under center teams will adapt to it (unless you're the eagles with that OL and a QB that can squat > 600 lbs)

We are often imo.... a bit too east-west.