Ok gang. Sorry for the delay on this post. I know you've all been anxiously awaiting my analysis.
The truth is, I don't have a whole lot to analyze. I really have very little idea what the new schemes are going to look like, or even who the new players will be. We lost our best offensive lineman. Kirvonte Benson transferred. Parker Braun transferred. Most of the names people would have heard of are gone. We have several QBs back, but with the new scheme, who knows who is going to be playing?
Defensively, it is really the same story. I can tell you this - the base scheme on defense will be a 4-2-5. That's pretty normal these days given how much spread is being run. You need that extra DB and more speed. Actually, Ted Roof made the same change a couple years ago, so this isn't really a big deal. Offensively, we are going to taylor our scheme to our players every year. The new OC - Patenaude - does not have a set scheme. I like that and I don't. Its interesting and sounds good, but also I suspect that means Patenaude won't be an expert in what we are running. We'll see if it works out or not.
One thing is for sure, in a couple years, we'll have access to a talent level that GT hasn't seen since probably 2009. Collins is recruiting great and shows no signs of slowing down. Our current class is ranked #25 (which would be our 2nd best recruiting class since I started at GT in 2003). Our commits have great offer sheets. We are going up against, and apparently beating, national powers in recruiting. I didn't really think that was realistically possible at GT in the modern landscape. Let's hope he can keep it going and maybe even get better.
But that's for the future. Right now, we have our current players. And the preseason magazines and other pundits are sure we have very little talent. We are supposed to go 3-9 and finish 7th in the Coastal. The last time we were picked 3-9 in preseason, UGA was a national title contender (sound familiar?) and we beat them in Athens, to get to 9-3. That was 2008. I wish I could see that happening this year, but I can't. For one, we play UGA in Atlanta. (ha ha ha). But seriously, I don't think we have any Dwyers or Demaryius Thomas' in hiding on the bench. I do however think our players are better than many others do. I think our talent is "fine". Not great. Not even good. But fine.
I predict we will fare better than 7th in the Coastal, and win more than 3 games. I think we go 5-7 actually. We need one extra upset for a bowl game. Here is to hoping we get it.
If you want specifics, I think we beat the Citadel, lose to UGA and Clemson, and the other games are some degree of tossup. I don't think any of them are games we can't win, or can't lose. I think Temple, S. Fla., UNC, Pitt and Duke are our best chances to win, but we could win any of them. We will lose several as well. I think we go 4-5 in these 9 games, and finish up 5-7.
That is not good in my opinion, but given the transition, is acceptable for Coach Collins year 1. However, I hope I'm underselling this team. Either way, I doubt we know very much this time tomorrow, because Clemson can make really good teams look not very good. I expect a blowout, but I hope to see signs of life.
As always, Let's go Jackets!
Stats
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Bowl Preview
Well here we are. Paul Johnson's last game. I'm disappointed. He had a good run, and I know many fans have grown tired of the offense and (lack of) defense. But I'll miss watching the option.
Geoff Collins looks to me like a great hire. The only real question mark is that he hasn't been a head coach very long. But GT, in the current landscape, isn't likely to hire a guy who has been a head coach for 5+ years (at the FBS level anyway) and has done well consistently. A guy like that will usually get better jobs.
Geoff Collins has a very solid resume, and has done well in 2 years at Temple. He has been at GT for two separate stints, under O'Leary and Gailey, so he should understand the unique challenges posed by GT. He has also been at Alabama under Saban, and been the defensive coordinator for 6 years combined, for good teams at Miss. St. and Florida. That's a very solid resume. His defense's ranked as follows, per football outsiders (opponent adjusted efficiency ratings):
2016 - 6th (Florida)
2015 - 22nd (Florida)
2014 - 20th (Miss. St)
2013 - 14th (Miss. St.)
2012 - 47th (Miss. St.)
2011 - 26th (Miss. St.)
Not bad. Just the one "down" year, but that year was still very solid by our standards (47th nationally). The other years were very good. Granted he had access to better talent than he'll likely get at GT, especially at Florida. That may not be true at Miss. St., but we'll see how he can recruit. All signs point to success there. He's a young, energetic, personable guy, and has a reputation for being all about social media. Apparently that's what the kids are all into these days (obligatory "get off my lawn" post here - I'm 34 but I freely admit I already don't understand 20 year olds these days). Supposedly Geoff Collins is a great recruiter though. We'll see. But I'm excited.
As for Minnesota, I know nothing about their personnel. Statistically, they are a good defense and bad offense. I generally don't like that matchup for us, because our defense usually manages to allow anyone to score. Other teams we played that fit that profile include Miami, UVA and Duke. We did well against Miami, poorly against Duke, and you could argue we were lucky to beat UVA. I expect this game will look like UVA. We will need help from the special teams and defense to win.
We should be able to score some. Minnesota's defense is good but not great. 38th nationally. But they also had the extra time to get ready, for whatever that's worth (according to my statistical analysis in the past, its not worth much at all). Their offense is down in the 80's. Our offense is 17th, but our defense is 105th or so.
The actual numbers suggest a very even game. Our opponent adjusted offense per possession score is 2.91, meaning we score that much per possession against a theoretically average defense. Minnesota is at 2.01. So our offense is much better. But their defense is 1.92, while ours is 2.74. So our offense is 0.9 points better, but our defense is 0.82 points worse. Suggesting, in a 10 possession game, we should win by 1 point. That doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.
Vegas has us favored by 5-6. I hope they know something I don't. I see a complete toss up. And perhaps even Minnesota winning.
But, as always, Let's go Jackets. Hope we send Paul Johnson out the right way.
Geoff Collins looks to me like a great hire. The only real question mark is that he hasn't been a head coach very long. But GT, in the current landscape, isn't likely to hire a guy who has been a head coach for 5+ years (at the FBS level anyway) and has done well consistently. A guy like that will usually get better jobs.
Geoff Collins has a very solid resume, and has done well in 2 years at Temple. He has been at GT for two separate stints, under O'Leary and Gailey, so he should understand the unique challenges posed by GT. He has also been at Alabama under Saban, and been the defensive coordinator for 6 years combined, for good teams at Miss. St. and Florida. That's a very solid resume. His defense's ranked as follows, per football outsiders (opponent adjusted efficiency ratings):
2016 - 6th (Florida)
2015 - 22nd (Florida)
2014 - 20th (Miss. St)
2013 - 14th (Miss. St.)
2012 - 47th (Miss. St.)
2011 - 26th (Miss. St.)
Not bad. Just the one "down" year, but that year was still very solid by our standards (47th nationally). The other years were very good. Granted he had access to better talent than he'll likely get at GT, especially at Florida. That may not be true at Miss. St., but we'll see how he can recruit. All signs point to success there. He's a young, energetic, personable guy, and has a reputation for being all about social media. Apparently that's what the kids are all into these days (obligatory "get off my lawn" post here - I'm 34 but I freely admit I already don't understand 20 year olds these days). Supposedly Geoff Collins is a great recruiter though. We'll see. But I'm excited.
As for Minnesota, I know nothing about their personnel. Statistically, they are a good defense and bad offense. I generally don't like that matchup for us, because our defense usually manages to allow anyone to score. Other teams we played that fit that profile include Miami, UVA and Duke. We did well against Miami, poorly against Duke, and you could argue we were lucky to beat UVA. I expect this game will look like UVA. We will need help from the special teams and defense to win.
We should be able to score some. Minnesota's defense is good but not great. 38th nationally. But they also had the extra time to get ready, for whatever that's worth (according to my statistical analysis in the past, its not worth much at all). Their offense is down in the 80's. Our offense is 17th, but our defense is 105th or so.
The actual numbers suggest a very even game. Our opponent adjusted offense per possession score is 2.91, meaning we score that much per possession against a theoretically average defense. Minnesota is at 2.01. So our offense is much better. But their defense is 1.92, while ours is 2.74. So our offense is 0.9 points better, but our defense is 0.82 points worse. Suggesting, in a 10 possession game, we should win by 1 point. That doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.
Vegas has us favored by 5-6. I hope they know something I don't. I see a complete toss up. And perhaps even Minnesota winning.
But, as always, Let's go Jackets. Hope we send Paul Johnson out the right way.
Friday, November 23, 2018
UGA preview
My bad on not making a post last week. Just didn't get around to it.
Anyway, couple of great wins. Miami was a truly great offensive performance. 27 points on 8 possessions against what is a really good defense. GT's defense and special teams played well enough to win.
UVA was a true team effort. And the first game in a long time where I think special teams was the best unit. Defense played a horrible half and a really good half. Offense was ok. Not great, but good enough to win with help from a full team effort.
Unfortunately, now we have UGA. I'd love to be wrong, but I just don't see much hope here. Our offense is very good. Top 15 or so nationally. And their defense isn't as good as last year. They are only about 20th or 25th best in the country. But that's still good enough to slow us down some. I expect us to score somewhere between 2.0 and 3.0 points per possession, probably. And that's really not bad.
But UGA's offense is loaded. Top 5 nationally. Top 5 in both rushing (yards per carry) and passing (passer rating). They have no weaknesses. And our defense isn't good. I'm worried we'll struggle to force third down, sort of like 2012.
I expect after 8 possessions or so, we'll have between 17 and 24 points. But I'm afraid they'll have 40+. They are just loaded on offense. And after 8 possessions, the game will likely be into the 4th quarter and nearly over, since both teams will likely be moving the ball and eating clock.
Like I said, I hope I'm wrong. As always, Let's go Jackets!
Anyway, couple of great wins. Miami was a truly great offensive performance. 27 points on 8 possessions against what is a really good defense. GT's defense and special teams played well enough to win.
UVA was a true team effort. And the first game in a long time where I think special teams was the best unit. Defense played a horrible half and a really good half. Offense was ok. Not great, but good enough to win with help from a full team effort.
Unfortunately, now we have UGA. I'd love to be wrong, but I just don't see much hope here. Our offense is very good. Top 15 or so nationally. And their defense isn't as good as last year. They are only about 20th or 25th best in the country. But that's still good enough to slow us down some. I expect us to score somewhere between 2.0 and 3.0 points per possession, probably. And that's really not bad.
But UGA's offense is loaded. Top 5 nationally. Top 5 in both rushing (yards per carry) and passing (passer rating). They have no weaknesses. And our defense isn't good. I'm worried we'll struggle to force third down, sort of like 2012.
I expect after 8 possessions or so, we'll have between 17 and 24 points. But I'm afraid they'll have 40+. They are just loaded on offense. And after 8 possessions, the game will likely be into the 4th quarter and nearly over, since both teams will likely be moving the ball and eating clock.
Like I said, I hope I'm wrong. As always, Let's go Jackets!
Friday, November 9, 2018
Miami Preview
Well, we made it interesting, but in the end I wasn't off by much. 45-31 prediction, 38-28 final score. You gotta take that kinda prediction result wherever you can get it. Of course I'd have preferred us to keep that comfortable lead and never let the game get in doubt, but that just isn't who GT is apparently.
Anyway, on to Miami. We are somehow favored by 4 points. Miami is collapsing I guess. While not playing terribly, they haven't looked like a good team since UNC. The last 4 games, they barely beat FSU, and then lost by 1 or 2 scores to UVA, BC and then Duke. We'll see if we can keep that trend going.
Football Outsiders has their stats up for the season finally, so I'm going to walk through the matchup with their advance stats.
First, our offense (ranked #11) versus Miami's defense (ranked #10).
Overall efficiency - we generate 3.26 points per drive (adjusted for field position). This ranks 9th nationally. They allow 1.32, which is 7th nationally.
Offensive drive success rate - 48.8% of our drives generate more value than the field position suggests it should. This is 11th nationally. They allow 22.7%, which is 16th nationally.
Available yards - we have gained 60.4% of available yards on the season, which is 9th nationally. They have given up 34.3% of available yards, or 10th nationally.
First down rate - 80.5% of our drives result in at least one first down, which is 11th nationally. They allow at least one first down on 64.9% of drives, which is 20th nationally.
Touch down rate - We score a TD on 45.1% of our drives, which is 5th nationally. They allow a TD on 15.5% of drives, which is 13th nationally.
TD after first down - On drives where we get at least 1 first down, we score a TD on 56.1% of our drives, which is 9th nationally. They allow 23.8% TDs in this situation, which is 11th nationally.
Ball control - 75.6% of our drives last at least 4 plays, which is 5th nationally. They allow 60.8%, which is 23rd nationally.
Turnovers - 13.4% of our drives end in a turnover, which is 98th nationally. They force turnovers on 14.4% of drives, which is 27th nationally.
So Miami's defense is consistently good at everything, and is the best defense we will play all season except Clemson (currently UGA is next, ranked 24th, so not even that close). Our offense is consistently good at everything, except turnovers.
Looking over all categories, this should be a really good battle. Turnovers will be key. We are bad at ball security. Miami is good at taking the ball away, though no better at that than they are at everything else.
Points will be tough to come by against this defense, so we definitely can't afford to waste possessions. We also don't want to give the ball to a bad offense in good field position, particularly with how bad our own defense is. Must take care of the ball.
Moving on to...
our defense (ranked 95th) versus Miami's offense (ranked #86).
Overall efficiency - they generate 1.9 points per drive (adjusted for field position). This ranks 92nd nationally. We allow 2.44, which ranks 86th.
Offensive drive success rate - 29.6% of their drives generate more value than the field position suggests it should. This is 87th nationally. We allow 39.7%, which is 95th nationally.
Available yards - they have gained 41.2% of available yards on the season, which is 96th nationally. We allow 49.2%, which is 91st nationally.
First down rate - 67.3% of their drives result in at least one first down, which is 101st nationally. We allow 78.2%, which is 106th nationally.
Touch down rate - They score a TD on 24.5% of their drives, which is 84th nationally. We allow 33.3%, which is 97th nationally.
TD after first down - On drives where they get at least 1 first down, they score a TD on 36.4% of our drives, which is 75th nationally. We allow 42.6%, which is 83rd nationally.
Ball control - 63.3% of their drives last at least 4 plays, which is 89th nationally. We allow 74.4%, which is 121st nationally.
Turnovers - 14.3% of our drives end in a turnover, which is 109th nationally. We force turnovers on 17.9% of drives, which is 5th nationally.
Turnovers really tell the story here. Once again, both teams are consistently even across all categories (here, both roughly equally BAD). Except turnovers. They are terrible at taking care of the ball, and we are great at taking the ball away. Based on this, we should expect to force a turnover on one of every 6 possessions or so. And we will need it. Assuming a 12 possession game, we need at least two turnovers forced.
Otherwise it looks like a pretty even game. I generally favor Miami's situation here. I'd rather have a bad offense trying to score on a bad defense, than a good offense trying to score on a good defense. But we'll see. This looks an awful lot like a game where the turnover battle decides the outcome.
I'll call it 28-24, to whoever win the turnovers. I'll pick GT.
As always, Let's Go Jackets!
Anyway, on to Miami. We are somehow favored by 4 points. Miami is collapsing I guess. While not playing terribly, they haven't looked like a good team since UNC. The last 4 games, they barely beat FSU, and then lost by 1 or 2 scores to UVA, BC and then Duke. We'll see if we can keep that trend going.
Football Outsiders has their stats up for the season finally, so I'm going to walk through the matchup with their advance stats.
First, our offense (ranked #11) versus Miami's defense (ranked #10).
Overall efficiency - we generate 3.26 points per drive (adjusted for field position). This ranks 9th nationally. They allow 1.32, which is 7th nationally.
Offensive drive success rate - 48.8% of our drives generate more value than the field position suggests it should. This is 11th nationally. They allow 22.7%, which is 16th nationally.
Available yards - we have gained 60.4% of available yards on the season, which is 9th nationally. They have given up 34.3% of available yards, or 10th nationally.
First down rate - 80.5% of our drives result in at least one first down, which is 11th nationally. They allow at least one first down on 64.9% of drives, which is 20th nationally.
Touch down rate - We score a TD on 45.1% of our drives, which is 5th nationally. They allow a TD on 15.5% of drives, which is 13th nationally.
TD after first down - On drives where we get at least 1 first down, we score a TD on 56.1% of our drives, which is 9th nationally. They allow 23.8% TDs in this situation, which is 11th nationally.
Ball control - 75.6% of our drives last at least 4 plays, which is 5th nationally. They allow 60.8%, which is 23rd nationally.
Turnovers - 13.4% of our drives end in a turnover, which is 98th nationally. They force turnovers on 14.4% of drives, which is 27th nationally.
So Miami's defense is consistently good at everything, and is the best defense we will play all season except Clemson (currently UGA is next, ranked 24th, so not even that close). Our offense is consistently good at everything, except turnovers.
Looking over all categories, this should be a really good battle. Turnovers will be key. We are bad at ball security. Miami is good at taking the ball away, though no better at that than they are at everything else.
Points will be tough to come by against this defense, so we definitely can't afford to waste possessions. We also don't want to give the ball to a bad offense in good field position, particularly with how bad our own defense is. Must take care of the ball.
Moving on to...
our defense (ranked 95th) versus Miami's offense (ranked #86).
Overall efficiency - they generate 1.9 points per drive (adjusted for field position). This ranks 92nd nationally. We allow 2.44, which ranks 86th.
Offensive drive success rate - 29.6% of their drives generate more value than the field position suggests it should. This is 87th nationally. We allow 39.7%, which is 95th nationally.
Available yards - they have gained 41.2% of available yards on the season, which is 96th nationally. We allow 49.2%, which is 91st nationally.
First down rate - 67.3% of their drives result in at least one first down, which is 101st nationally. We allow 78.2%, which is 106th nationally.
Touch down rate - They score a TD on 24.5% of their drives, which is 84th nationally. We allow 33.3%, which is 97th nationally.
TD after first down - On drives where they get at least 1 first down, they score a TD on 36.4% of our drives, which is 75th nationally. We allow 42.6%, which is 83rd nationally.
Ball control - 63.3% of their drives last at least 4 plays, which is 89th nationally. We allow 74.4%, which is 121st nationally.
Turnovers - 14.3% of our drives end in a turnover, which is 109th nationally. We force turnovers on 17.9% of drives, which is 5th nationally.
Turnovers really tell the story here. Once again, both teams are consistently even across all categories (here, both roughly equally BAD). Except turnovers. They are terrible at taking care of the ball, and we are great at taking the ball away. Based on this, we should expect to force a turnover on one of every 6 possessions or so. And we will need it. Assuming a 12 possession game, we need at least two turnovers forced.
Otherwise it looks like a pretty even game. I generally favor Miami's situation here. I'd rather have a bad offense trying to score on a bad defense, than a good offense trying to score on a good defense. But we'll see. This looks an awful lot like a game where the turnover battle decides the outcome.
I'll call it 28-24, to whoever win the turnovers. I'll pick GT.
As always, Let's Go Jackets!
Friday, November 2, 2018
UNC Preview
Ok so more excellent analysis from me. Nailed that VT prediction. 31-21 VT just like I said.
Obviously, this team (really this whole division) is difficult to predict. Speaking of this division, GT technically could still win the Coastal this year. I guess we are as good as anybody else, from a "good for the ACC" point of view. Which is just to say that nobody in the Coastal is any good.
UVA - lost to Indiana (currently 4-5 and #68 in Massey).
Pitt - lost by 31 to UCF and 45 to Penn St.
VT - lost to 2-7 Old Dominion at home.
Miami - blown out by LSU (although that's not really embarrassing in this context)
GT - lost to South Florida (#57 in Massey currently)
UNC - lost to East Carolina, Cal and a bunch of teams.
Really Duke is the best we've got. They won their non conference games. Although they lost to UVA, Pitt and VT.
Basically the Coastal is a pile of hot garbage. Whoever wins it will be "embarrassing" for the ACC. Like, oh, that's your champ? So, might as well be us. If we win out, we actually might do it. I know, I know, big if.
So, let's try not to lose immediately. UNC is not good. Not good at all. But its a road game, and stope me if you've heard this before, but with a defense as bad as ours, you can lose almost any game.
Seriously though, UNC is awful. They have managed to keep several games close, but their defense is currently ranked #108 by football outsiders, and their offense is #92. Breathtaking. Neither unit has a pulse.
So pretty much the usual for GT when playing a bad ACC team, meaning:
1 - we should score a ton
2 - we need to execute and not turn the ball over, and if we do that, we will score a ton
3 - they should not score much, if our defense plays well
4 - you can never depend on #3
5 - a couple untimely turnovers and we may find ourselves in a tough game
Let's hope for a Louisville/VT-like shellacking and a nice relaxing fourth quarter. I'll call it 45-31, good guys.
As always, Let's Go Jackets!
Obviously, this team (really this whole division) is difficult to predict. Speaking of this division, GT technically could still win the Coastal this year. I guess we are as good as anybody else, from a "good for the ACC" point of view. Which is just to say that nobody in the Coastal is any good.
UVA - lost to Indiana (currently 4-5 and #68 in Massey).
Pitt - lost by 31 to UCF and 45 to Penn St.
VT - lost to 2-7 Old Dominion at home.
Miami - blown out by LSU (although that's not really embarrassing in this context)
GT - lost to South Florida (#57 in Massey currently)
UNC - lost to East Carolina, Cal and a bunch of teams.
Really Duke is the best we've got. They won their non conference games. Although they lost to UVA, Pitt and VT.
Basically the Coastal is a pile of hot garbage. Whoever wins it will be "embarrassing" for the ACC. Like, oh, that's your champ? So, might as well be us. If we win out, we actually might do it. I know, I know, big if.
So, let's try not to lose immediately. UNC is not good. Not good at all. But its a road game, and stope me if you've heard this before, but with a defense as bad as ours, you can lose almost any game.
Seriously though, UNC is awful. They have managed to keep several games close, but their defense is currently ranked #108 by football outsiders, and their offense is #92. Breathtaking. Neither unit has a pulse.
So pretty much the usual for GT when playing a bad ACC team, meaning:
1 - we should score a ton
2 - we need to execute and not turn the ball over, and if we do that, we will score a ton
3 - they should not score much, if our defense plays well
4 - you can never depend on #3
5 - a couple untimely turnovers and we may find ourselves in a tough game
Let's hope for a Louisville/VT-like shellacking and a nice relaxing fourth quarter. I'll call it 45-31, good guys.
As always, Let's Go Jackets!
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Virginia Tech Preview
Well, sorry gang. My indifference came early this year. Clemson was exactly what I expected. I just didn't care about Bowling Green. And I thought both Louisville and Duke would be close games down to the wire, so you probably miss my "analysis" much.
However, I'm back. I guess. A little too close to game time but here we are.
Virginia Tech is not normal Virginia Tech. Can't really figure out what is with them. They have played well in ACC play, mostly (except for escaping barely against a really bad UNC team). They have played horribly outside of ACC play, in particular losing to Old Dominion. Their trademark defense is not nearly as good as normal. In fact, it is significantly worse than Duke's in my opinion, so our offense should have more success tonight. (Of course, Duke lost to VT 31-14 in typical "ACC Wheel of Destiny" fashion).
Our defense, which played very well against Duke, has still been mostly miserable this year and our special teams have been worse. As such, I expect a loss, something like 31-21. This year is shaping up a lot like 2015 in my opinion. We spend all year seemingly being better than our record, and repeatedly getting spreads from Vegas that make GT fans confused (we were favored against all of South Florida, Pitt and Duke). This spread tonight is only about 3 or 4 points, with VT being favored, meaning Vegas thinks this would be a pick-em on a neutral field. That's odd. I wonder what they know that I don't.
Anyway, I digress. 2015 was a year where we could have been better but just kept making late game mistakes and finding ways to lose. Same thing this team has done really. Just can't get it together. We are capable of playing better, but probably won't.
I hope we win more than 3 games this year, but right now I'd say 4-8 or maybe 5-7 is the best we can hope for. And 3-9 is not out of the question. 6-6 seems unreachable, but I hope I'm wrong.
Let's go Jackets!
However, I'm back. I guess. A little too close to game time but here we are.
Virginia Tech is not normal Virginia Tech. Can't really figure out what is with them. They have played well in ACC play, mostly (except for escaping barely against a really bad UNC team). They have played horribly outside of ACC play, in particular losing to Old Dominion. Their trademark defense is not nearly as good as normal. In fact, it is significantly worse than Duke's in my opinion, so our offense should have more success tonight. (Of course, Duke lost to VT 31-14 in typical "ACC Wheel of Destiny" fashion).
Our defense, which played very well against Duke, has still been mostly miserable this year and our special teams have been worse. As such, I expect a loss, something like 31-21. This year is shaping up a lot like 2015 in my opinion. We spend all year seemingly being better than our record, and repeatedly getting spreads from Vegas that make GT fans confused (we were favored against all of South Florida, Pitt and Duke). This spread tonight is only about 3 or 4 points, with VT being favored, meaning Vegas thinks this would be a pick-em on a neutral field. That's odd. I wonder what they know that I don't.
Anyway, I digress. 2015 was a year where we could have been better but just kept making late game mistakes and finding ways to lose. Same thing this team has done really. Just can't get it together. We are capable of playing better, but probably won't.
I hope we win more than 3 games this year, but right now I'd say 4-8 or maybe 5-7 is the best we can hope for. And 3-9 is not out of the question. 6-6 seems unreachable, but I hope I'm wrong.
Let's go Jackets!
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Clemson Preview
Disaster start to this season. South Florida and Pitt were both winnable games and we needed to win at least one, and maybe both, to have a shot at a decent record. Now we are looking at 1-3, because we aren't going to beat Clemson. This game, every unit played poorly in the first half, and every unit played pretty well in the second half, but that wasn't enough. This team continues to do just enough to lose. Its hard to win on the road but you can't be a good team unless you can win on the road.
I'm not going to bother analyzing this game too closely. Clemson's defensive front is simply too good. There is nothing really that we can do. They are vulnerable to a spread passing team that repeatedly threatens with downfield passing. But you need to be very good at that in order to trouble Clemson, and even then you might not. That isn't what we do and so of course we aren't very good at it. Even teams who are good at it often get beaten easily by this defense though.
Clemson's offense hasn't really impressed that much. I'm sure they'll have enough firepower to score on our defense, but hopefully we can get some stops. I just want something semi respectable like 31-10 maybe.
As always, let's go jackets. But I'm not excited about this one.
I'm not going to bother analyzing this game too closely. Clemson's defensive front is simply too good. There is nothing really that we can do. They are vulnerable to a spread passing team that repeatedly threatens with downfield passing. But you need to be very good at that in order to trouble Clemson, and even then you might not. That isn't what we do and so of course we aren't very good at it. Even teams who are good at it often get beaten easily by this defense though.
Clemson's offense hasn't really impressed that much. I'm sure they'll have enough firepower to score on our defense, but hopefully we can get some stops. I just want something semi respectable like 31-10 maybe.
As always, let's go jackets. But I'm not excited about this one.
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