They have really got to stop scheduling GT and UGA games at the same time. All the stress of pulling for us and against UGA is really getting to me. It is hard to nervously watch our game and still find time to scream “suck it dawgs!” I thought for a while in the second half that I was going to have to put up with a UGA loss not quite being enough to console me after a GT loss, for a second week in a row. But, we pulled it out, and then of course UGA somehow got back into it (I think because Arkansas stopped attacking and tried to play conservatively). I swear UGA is one of the hardest teams to root against. They always seem to get back into any game, anytime, anywhere, no matter how badly they were getting beat. As an egregious example, I remember the 08 Bama 31-0 lead that ended up only being 41-31. Not that I am still bitter…
Anyway, I digress. What a win. It feels good to get back on the winning track. And I do think UNC is significantly better than Kansas, so I think that means we played much better. (especially after that god awful beating Rock Chalk took last night at the hands of Southern Miss. God…)
Here is a good, bad and ugly breakdown, for no particular reason, other than our D line was very “ugly” and I wanted to try to be clever. And fail.
The Good: We overcame some really poor execution and silly mistakes to beat a pretty good team on the road. UNC will probably be a factor in the ACC coastal race this year, even without their suspended players. Of course, whether that makes them a “pretty good team” remains to be seen, given how bad the ACC might be. More good news, our offensive line performed pretty well. I know it wasn’t Marvin Austin they were blocking (UNC’s outrageously good defensive tackle who is suspended) but UNC still had some really good players on their D line and especially their LB’s, so that was very good to see. We did a good job blocking on the edge as well. Finally, our defense really stood up in the second half, albeit only after completely laying down and allowing a 47 yard, 3 play drive (all runs) to put UNC up 24-17.
The Bad: Silly mistakes, poor execution, and our defense’s first four possessions. Silly mistakes include a false start on 4th and inches, getting a pass interference penalty on 2nd and 18 on UNC’s final drive, on an uncatchable pass, and Nesbitt pitching the ball to nobody, as he did not look to see that Roddy had fallen down. Poor execution includes the other fumbles, including one that cost us a pitch play that was probably going to be a first down, and the holding penalty that brought us back from first and goal at the 5 and ended up holding us to only a field goal. That was key, because it made it 30-24 when a TD would have sealed the game. Georgia Tech does not like to let me relax.
The Ugly: Our front seven on defense still getting pushed around. This could be a long year on defense if we don’t get any tougher. Or maybe we just aren’t strong enough. Either way, I do know that UNC is probably not the best power running team we will face. If that does not improve, UGA will do to us this year exactly what they did last year. And many other teams will have a lot of success against our defense.
The most encouraging thing I have to take away from this game was our toughness as a team:
We had to be tough to bounce back from that terrible result last week.
We had to be tough to not get down on ourselves after the fumble and ensuing EASY td drive that made it 24-17. I confess that I myself thought the game was over at that point.
We had to be tough to overcome 3 consecutive poorly executed possessions on offense, settle down and get a rhythm going again. I was very concerned that UNC had adjusted to our speed and was going to shut us down the rest of game.
Finally, the defense had to be tough to shut UNC out on its last five drives. Included in those five drives were two punts, one forced fumble and stop on downs. (yes they fumbled again, but we did not force that one). After seeing us give up 24 points on the first 4 drives, I would have given us absolutely zero chance to shut them out for 5 straight possessions.
I will take credit for being right about Groh’s ability to shut down Shoop, it just took him a little longer to do so than I would have liked. But eventually we made the right adjustments and the started making the right calls. Unfortunately, since it appears our front seven is usually going to be outmanned, Groh will have to be something of a poker player all season, making relatively aggressive countermoves to stop the other team’s offense. That may leave us vulnerable to certain plays, but it is what it is.
Quick example of the aggressive countermove and ensuing vulnerability – we may have to dial up a run blitz on third and 4, because we can't depend on our defensive front in our base scheme to stop a run for less than 4 yards. That will leave us vulnerable to the QB scrambling, and also make it difficult for us to aggressively defend 5 yard routes AND remain decently protected against a deep pass. The reason for this is simply the extra guys we bring on the run blitz. We won’t have enough players left over to allow us to play tight man coverage and have two safeties. Without safeties giving us deep help, its dangerous to ask your cover guys to play too tight, because then stop and go or out and up routes tend to come open for big gains. So we will have to choose, either we play a big cushion and give them a pretty easy 7 yard throw for a first down, or we risk giving up a 60 yard TD. Also even if we don’t get hurt with a pass, bringing any kind of blitz, even a run blitz, can often leave you vulnerable to a draw play. Essentially, it comes down to a chess match. If Groh guesses what they are going to do, we get a stop. If he guesses wrong, we give up a big gain, or an easy third down conversion. If you are pretty good up front, you don’t have to guess so much.
Anyway, we looked better overall, but we still have a long way to go if we are going to be as good as I think this team can be. We can win every game we have left on our schedule, and we can win the conference, beat UGA and go to the Orange Bowl again. Or we have a year much like 2008 where we mix in great games for close wins with terrible games where we either lose to a team we should clearly beat or lose badly to a team that isn’t much better than us. (indeed we have already done both of those this year, great game for a close win at UNC, terrible game for a terrible loss to a team we should have beat easily… well, you get it).
I have faith in these coaches and players, but I am still a little concerned about our lines. The offensive line looked better today, so maybe that isn’t as much of a concern. UNC’s defensive line is depleted, but even the depleted version kept LSU’s offensive line in check. But the offensive line still can get better, and the defensive line really needs to do so. We got pushed around by UNC’s offensive line, and I do not think they are very good. But maybe I’ll be proven wrong as the season goes on. I hope so.
At any rate, I am very proud of our team for doing such a good job competing, fighting, and showing a little more toughness. We overcame some adversity when it looked like they might beat us, and we overcame some more when it the holding penalty turned a likely game-sealing TD into only a field goal. If we want to win anything of significance this season, we will have to overcome some more adversity, so its good to see this kind of response to some today.
Go Jackets!
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