Offense: D+
Chase Rettig has some issues. I don't know if he is not comfortable under center or is just under so much pressure, but some of his throws are flat out terrible. I think it is starting with his footwork. Too often he is not set when he is flinging it. He's also making some forced throws. Where's the heady guy from the Northwestern game? The last play was a perfect example. He sort of gave up on the pass and ran, even though it was a bad call. At this point I think we should have him work form the shotgun 80% of the time and give him short passes.
Harris looked really good and made something out of nothing multiple times. Andre Williams didn't get to show much before getting hurt. Finch looked good and made some nice decisive cuts. Dan Williams did a good job blocking again.
Larmond had some nice plays, but he also had some bad ones. It looked like he sort of gave up on the INT. He also should have pulled in the pass in the endzone on our second to last scoring drive. Swigert was pretty good. He caught multiple passes but didn't do anything explosive and also had a bad drop. Amidon looked really good (and I loved his runs). The tight ends didn't get involved until late. Coleman's only contribution was a dumb penalty.
The offensive line was not good at all. They all had problems. Cleary was the best of the worst. Vardaro seemed lost at times and got beat. Ian White -- who started the season so strong -- had trouble throughout. Spinney was okay but got beat badly a few times. Wetzel was alright but also had trouble with their speed. My biggest issue though remains their lack of cohesion. As pointed out, they were missing assignments and seemed confused. They also were ineffective on most of our screens.
Brock had some nice wrinkles -- like the end arounds with Amidon. He was aggressive downfield too and in the few times we got into the redzone. My problem with how he calls the game is our inability to sustain drives. We need to establish some effective plays and try to get into some rhythm. It feels like we are throwing stuff out there at times. I also get frustrated that we kept running plays that were ineffective -- like the screens.
Defense: C-
Edebali had a great game. He was active and disruptive. He made some nice tackles and tipped some passes. Holloway had an off day. He didn't get much pressure on Price. Quinn made a few nice plays, but just not enough of them. Ricci looked good in limited play. Appiah got swallowed up. O'Neal was ineffective. Rudolph didn't do much in limited snaps.
Kuechly was good, although teams seem to be staying away from him and keep their plays out in the flats. KPL struggled for the first time in a long time. His blitzs were ineffective and he got swallowed up in some blocks. He also lost contain on one of their option plays. Devitto had a great game. He made some big tackles and smart plays. His pass break up lead to the INT. Clancy played well. Duggan made more of his impact on Special Teams, but still looked good.
Sylvia was slow to pick up his man on the critical third down in the 4th. However, he made some nice tackles otherwise. Hughes played early but not as much later. He was slow on a blitz. Noel had a great game and made some nice tackles. Rositano was not as near the action this week. Williams was good. ALJ got his first INT. He didn't do much for it but was aggressive on the return. Fletcher did not have his best game. He's usually a sure tackler, but got eaten up in a lot of blocks.
There were two issues that were beyond frustrating from how McGovern called the game. We blitzed repeatedly and didn't get any real pressure on Price. How is that happening? We have some talent, yet our blitz is so predictable and slow that we cannot disrupt their offense. The other issue was the big plays allowed on Wake's final scoring drive. Price had too much time on the third and long. And the reverse pass was the most predictable play of the game, yet we couldn't defend it with three DBs. That's poor prep. The whole week should have keyed on that and stopped it cold. Once again, the same types of plays killed us and there weren't many adjustments. That is on the coaching.
Special Teams: B-
Freese made some nice kicks. Think of how bad things would be without him.
Quigley was solid.
Evans provided a nice spark. Kimble had some nice returns too.
Swigert was fine returning punts. Although he fair caught most, he was willing to return in traffic.
Overall: D
This is one of those games where the overall grade is worse than the individual grades. As I said above, this team is much better than its record. Once again we had questionable use of timeouts and I don't feel like Spaz's staff made adjustments to keep us in the game.
I obviously joined the angry mob calling for Spaz's head. I want to win games regardless, but now I fear 1-11 as a real possibility. And if that happens there is no way Spaz supporters can pin that on someone else.
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8 comments:
I think the only you missed was Harris' fumble on the 2 yd. That hurt us. How many times in the past three years have we had a fumble within the five that had we punched it through, it would have been the difference?
" I fear 1-11 as a real possibility. And if that happens there is no way Spaz supporters can pin that on someone else"
Fear not, I don't think there are any Spaz supporters
But fear this: we are playing #8 Clemson in Death Valley this week. Our OL is going to get blasted. Our DB. - oh no! Rettig Will throw in the 30% range.
What, no grade for the coaching?
The O-Line is not paying attention in their meetings with Coach Devine.
The LBs aren't paying attention to Coach Spaziani on when to blitz.
Chase Rettig isn't paying attention to Coach Brock, who is trying to explain to him that Coach Rogers taught him all wrong.
That's not the coaches' fault--that's the players' fault. You call screen pass after screen pass because it work. You keep calling it until the players finally figure out how to run it. Let them get embarrassed again and again, until they get sick of embarrassment.
Coach Spaziani has to get an extension through 2021 NOW, so that the players get once and for all that they have NO POWER in this. They don't make the decisions. The sooner they realize that, the sooner they can start playing the decent football Coach Spaziani deserves.
On the INT toward Larmond, it should have never been thrown to him (never mind the underthrow). He was covered, and Montel was WIDE open for what would have been an easy throw and 35 yards before getting any contact. Hopefully the decision making process improves.
I have refrained from posting because I am so irritated.
Erik is 100% correct - I could not believe that Rettig chose to throw a Hail Mary type pass when Harris was wide open - and I mean wide open across the middle.
In fact, that was BC's best formation offensively, and we never saw it again.
Unfortunately, I have serious questions about Rettig, and I don't think he is our future. If Suntrup is any good, perhaps he'll beat Rettig out next season.
It's also time for some leadership by the Captains and stop all the BS going on. It is what it is this year, and the players have to figure out the best way to drive forward - just as they will have to learn how to do that in their professional lives after college.
Rettig had a bad game; worse than some of his really bad throws were some of his decisions. Granted, he doesn't dare set his feet because his O-line repeatedly hangs him out to dry, but he's got to improve in accuracy and vision/decision-making regardless.
Montel did look great, but his fumble was a game-changer. On Wake's "trick" play, the DBs hat it covered but lacked the awareness and athleticism to make the play -- Price threw a wounded duck up there, and they couldn't get to it. Pathetic.
Three defenders couldn't prevent the reception even by committing pass interference.
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