Look. We’re not a good football team. We may be faster, stronger, bigger, and more experienced than last year, but … we’re not good.
When you’re a 3 touchdown favorite, just game plan to your strengths. We should do that for KSU. We SHOULD have done it for NIU.
You want to take “risks” and gamble some? Okay, but do that when you’re over-matched. We’ll have that opportunity in week 3. And, a few other Saturdays this season.
We actually got beat last night. That’s different than the past two years when “Georgia Tech“ beat Georgia Tech with huge numbers of turnovers, penalties, missed tackles, and poor execution. We did better on three (3) of those last night, but still had poor execution.
Example? NIU receivers made multiple GREAT plays. They caught at least 3 jump balls with our DB’s, and a miracle catch for 2 points. Contrast: GT had an “experienced” receiver drop a perfectly-thrown pass for a critical first down. Then, late in the game, he caught a third down pass short of the line-to-gain, and quickly stepped out-of-bounds to help NIU save a time-out.
Despite all that, we had 3 great chances to win the game in the last 4.5 minutes:
We didn’t play our cards correctly. We have great running backs. We know that. They’re proven. Next, we have some receivers who are either hurt, unproven, or inexperienced. The others? We already know them to be inconsistent either with their routes, their run blocking, their ability to get separation, and / or their ability to catch the ball. Finally, our QB was a turnover machine last year, but showed potential for improvement, albeit still unproven. A dozen plays into the game, even I, a casual fan, could tell the O-Line was having trouble picking up blitzes on pass plays. So, …
WHY did we throw the ball 26 times last night? We don’t have Alabama’s QB, WR’s, TE’s, OL, or Sark (or even BOB) as our OC. That’s at least 10 passes more than the game plan should have allowed. Our QB’s either didn’t have time and threw incompletions, or got sacked - too much last night. Running 3 downs more often would have resulted in some longer drives - and more scoring last night. No, the OL wasn’t great on their run blocking, but we had few TFL’s on running plays, if any, and our backs can often make yards when there‘s not much there.
PLAY to YOUR STRENGTHS. That’s Gibbs. Mason, Smith, and Griffin. NOT an unproven, if not inconsistent passing game.
KSU will beat us next week if we try to throw 30 times … just because it’s a “balanced” offense … or looks cool. We’re not built for Mike Leach football right now. We need to play our Aces and face cards.
So, … I put this loss squarely on the coaches and their awful game plan. Hoping they learn to “Know Thyself”, and draw up a game plan that matches our personnel next week. The kids actually got better at NOT giving the game away.
Now, the coaches need to give them a realistic plan [that THESE KIDS can execute] and the chance - to WIN.
Soapbox OFF.
When you’re a 3 touchdown favorite, just game plan to your strengths. We should do that for KSU. We SHOULD have done it for NIU.
You want to take “risks” and gamble some? Okay, but do that when you’re over-matched. We’ll have that opportunity in week 3. And, a few other Saturdays this season.
We actually got beat last night. That’s different than the past two years when “Georgia Tech“ beat Georgia Tech with huge numbers of turnovers, penalties, missed tackles, and poor execution. We did better on three (3) of those last night, but still had poor execution.
Example? NIU receivers made multiple GREAT plays. They caught at least 3 jump balls with our DB’s, and a miracle catch for 2 points. Contrast: GT had an “experienced” receiver drop a perfectly-thrown pass for a critical first down. Then, late in the game, he caught a third down pass short of the line-to-gain, and quickly stepped out-of-bounds to help NIU save a time-out.
Despite all that, we had 3 great chances to win the game in the last 4.5 minutes:
- We had the ball. And a 7 point lead. Just make first downs.
- Defense could have stopped a long drive for a TD
- Deny the two-point conversion
We didn’t play our cards correctly. We have great running backs. We know that. They’re proven. Next, we have some receivers who are either hurt, unproven, or inexperienced. The others? We already know them to be inconsistent either with their routes, their run blocking, their ability to get separation, and / or their ability to catch the ball. Finally, our QB was a turnover machine last year, but showed potential for improvement, albeit still unproven. A dozen plays into the game, even I, a casual fan, could tell the O-Line was having trouble picking up blitzes on pass plays. So, …
WHY did we throw the ball 26 times last night? We don’t have Alabama’s QB, WR’s, TE’s, OL, or Sark (or even BOB) as our OC. That’s at least 10 passes more than the game plan should have allowed. Our QB’s either didn’t have time and threw incompletions, or got sacked - too much last night. Running 3 downs more often would have resulted in some longer drives - and more scoring last night. No, the OL wasn’t great on their run blocking, but we had few TFL’s on running plays, if any, and our backs can often make yards when there‘s not much there.
PLAY to YOUR STRENGTHS. That’s Gibbs. Mason, Smith, and Griffin. NOT an unproven, if not inconsistent passing game.
KSU will beat us next week if we try to throw 30 times … just because it’s a “balanced” offense … or looks cool. We’re not built for Mike Leach football right now. We need to play our Aces and face cards.
So, … I put this loss squarely on the coaches and their awful game plan. Hoping they learn to “Know Thyself”, and draw up a game plan that matches our personnel next week. The kids actually got better at NOT giving the game away.
Now, the coaches need to give them a realistic plan [that THESE KIDS can execute] and the chance - to WIN.
Soapbox OFF.
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