For whoever is looking for some reading material this evening:
Hard to win if you lose both sides of the line of scrimmage
Thee games in a row, we had won the LOS on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. At Tech, that doesn’t happen often. Well, we didn’t make it four. On both sides, OSU got after us. 95% of the time, that means an automatic loss.
What I’m trying to figure out is if our lines beat up on lesser opponents and now Big 12 play is going to be an issue, or if it was an off night. I don’t feel OSU’s defensive line is that much, if any, better than UH’s with Oliver. I thought a beat up OL would have trouble with Washington, Thomas, and Jones. Looks like I was wrong on both accounts, at least in that game. There is still plenty of football the play if our coaches use this as a learning opportunity and both units continue to grow. But if we are going to have a shot against the WVUs and OUs we need better play.
As of now, I’m thinking it was just a bad night. But we’ll see.
Shimonek & the WRs
If he has time, he will find a guy who can get open and get it to them in stride. Yesterday didn’t have time and guys weren’t getting open like they needed. That surprised me, since TCU’s WRs had no trouble making OSU’s secondary look bad. But maybe they were more motivated last night, or maybe it just wasn’t our night. I think a little of both, since there were several times our WRs screwed up on easy blocks that kept plays from working.
This was also the first game I saw Shimonek look like a guy in his first year starting. On our last drive’s final 3rd down, he did a great job avoiding the rush to buy time. But then he slide down the line looking to throw…and kept sliding, and kept sliding. From the TV broadcast, I don’t know if he had the room to get the first down if he tucked it and ran. But he at least could have gotten 6 or 7 yards. I appreciate him wanting to do his job: get the ball to a playmaker and let them make a play. But you’ve also got to be aware of the situation. We were down our best WR. We had two plays to get 10 yards or game over, and 4th and 3 is a lot easier than 4th and 10.
I think Shimonek can be a very good QB for us this year. But if the guys around him don’t step up a bit, he’s going to have a hard time because he’s not the type to create on his own.
Also, I’m not sure why we were trying to force feed Vasher the ball at the end last night. From all accounts he’s a great talent and needs to be on the field. But at the end of the game in critical situations, we should lean on Cantrell or Batson, our senior leaders. On 3rd and 4, driving to tie the game, we tried to throw to Vasher. From what it looked like, Shimonek expected him to break off his route and curl around. But Vasher kept running. Ok, it happens with young guys. Even with vets sometimes you see it. But that was the play of the game. Convert, and we’ve got a good chance to at least drive down and kick a FG. We’d been moving the ball well in the 4th. Maybe OSU doesn’t get the ball back, and they don’t go up. It is impossible to know what happens there, but we threw 4 passes on that drive and 2 were to Vasher, who didn’t have a catch in the game. Know your team, and when you absolutely need a play go to the guys most likely to get it for you.
Stockton
Unlike many on here, I’m a fan of giving Stockton his share of touches. I made this point last week. But I’m not a fan of giving Stockton all the touches. He needs some shots to break one for 50+. But, especially when you desperately need to get 2-4 yards, he’s not your best bet. In one thread I read someone mention that King and Nisby didn’t produce that much more, which is true, but many of their touches were situations where you were just going for 1 or 2 yards, such as 3rd and short or at the goal line. So in those cases, OSU is selling out to stop the run. That, plus our bad run blocking, and you won’t get much. But give them a fair share of chances against the light fronts. I understand the appeal of Stockton having a great shot to get in space and take off. But, man…it wasn’t working. Give King the chance to make the first guy miss and get 7. Or Nisby to run over a LB for 5. Anything to get at least some consistent running threat going and make OSU play us honestly. Stockton isn’t that guy. He’s the no gain, 2 yards, -1 yard, no gain, 6 yards, 2 yards, 70 yard guy.
The defense is still half a step too slow
First, let me clarify: I think the defense did a great job last night. OSU got a lot of yards, but they’ll do that on nearly everyone. Few teams in the country have that offensive talent. We had a few blown assignments, but for the most part the plays OSU made had a Tech defender right on them, we just weren’t quite good enough to make the play. Last year, we just couldn’t keep up at all. Now we are keeping up, we just aren’t winning the “50/50” balls. I don’t know if it is an issue of being young, and a little more experience will get us there, or if our athletes just can’t quite measure up yet. Probably a little of both.
A few examples: On a first or second down deep in OSU territory, Tony Jones had Rudolph dead to rights. The fans even started cheering the sack. Somehow Jones misses and Rudolph hits a 30 yard dart down the field. So instead of being behind schedule in a difficult part of the field, they had first and 10 at midfield.
On a 3rd down in the 4th quarter, our CB handed Washington off to the NB. Washington had a NB trailing and a safety right in front of him. And Rudolph squeezed the ball in for a completion and first down. Another step and it would have been broken up or intercepted. And on OSU’s last touchdown, Morgan had the WR completely covered, jumped to break up the pass, and his fingers came up two inches short of knocking it away. Of, and Fields had a completely ridiculous PI called on him on a 3rd down where he played it perfectly, but he didn’t get his head around to look for the ball. There were probably a few others you could point to as well, where we came up (truly) one play short of winning the game, or at least pushing it to OT.
Rudolph was dealing last night
Continuing from my above point, its really hard to beat a team when a QB is on fire. It’s like playing the Warriors when KD or Curry just won’t miss. It doesn’t matter what you try, they’ll drain bucket after bucket and you just have to keep up. Rudolph wasn’t perfect, but he made a ton of really, really great throws.
For whatever its worth, I was texting my brother, an OSU alum, today. He hates their OC. Real bad. Said basically their offense is getting in bad spots and needing the QB to bail them out. “We call it Rudolph Ball. When it works it works.” And it worked last night. If he had of been an inch or two off in spots, it wouldn’t have worked.
Also, he thought the officiating last night was bad on both sides, but admitted they got the better end of the deal.
I don’t know what to make of this team
We had no business being in the game last night, but we had an opportunity to win. In a way, we were on the opposite side of the past two games, where we should have been blowing them out but managed to end with the score being close. The difference was ASU never really challenged, and Houston needed to recover an onside kick before they legitimately had a chance at a win. We had a tie game with a few minutes left. And we were down a score with just over a minute left could have moved down the field for a tie.
The glass half empty version is this team isn’t very good as we haven’t put away teams we should have beat and got beat worse than the score would indicate against the first good team we’ve played.
The glass half full version, which I lean towards as a natural optimist, is that this team is pretty good and just haven’t learned to put it all together. They are good enough that they can play poorly against ASU and Houston and win somewhat easily. Good enough that even a with a bad game against a good team you had a shot to win. Of course you can’t continue to play like that and not have it bite you, but there is something to be said for playing bad on OL and DL, losing all the 50/50 plays, offense looking bad, and coming up one drive short.
End of the day, I don’t really know which one it is. I thought the OSU game would add some clarity, but it just made this team harder to read. Our defense is much better than it has been. Offense has some big problems, but they should produce well enough to win most games if the defense does its part. 6-8 wins is still our likely range, but we’ve got to take care of business this week against a Kansas team that hung around WVU long enough to make me nervous.
We weren’t going to go undefeated. We almost assuredly aren’t (and never were) going to challenge for the Big 12 title this year. How we lost is frustrating, but how can you lose that’s not frustrating? 80-73? If only the defense!!! 14-10? If only the offenses!!! 56-21? Same old crap!! Fire everyone!! No matter how we came up short, it was going to make fans mad.
Here's what I like: We were down, about to go down 14 early, against a very good football team (with a lot more to play for than we had), and we had a huge defensive play to tie it. Later in the game, we were down and the best player on our team left the field. Somehow, we managed to tie it up again and get the ball back with a chance to go up. Didn't work out for us. But for a team that has been snowballed often since we bid adieu to Mike Leach, this team scrapped its way into a position to win.
We lost a close one against a team that has been consistently in the top 15 for 5 or 6 years. They had better players, and we made it tough on them. I’ll take that as a positive sign and in a season that has had many through the first third, and hope they continue. Maybe its all a mirage, but seems better than just being pissed about everything the next 8 weeks.
Hard to win if you lose both sides of the line of scrimmage
Thee games in a row, we had won the LOS on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. At Tech, that doesn’t happen often. Well, we didn’t make it four. On both sides, OSU got after us. 95% of the time, that means an automatic loss.
What I’m trying to figure out is if our lines beat up on lesser opponents and now Big 12 play is going to be an issue, or if it was an off night. I don’t feel OSU’s defensive line is that much, if any, better than UH’s with Oliver. I thought a beat up OL would have trouble with Washington, Thomas, and Jones. Looks like I was wrong on both accounts, at least in that game. There is still plenty of football the play if our coaches use this as a learning opportunity and both units continue to grow. But if we are going to have a shot against the WVUs and OUs we need better play.
As of now, I’m thinking it was just a bad night. But we’ll see.
Shimonek & the WRs
If he has time, he will find a guy who can get open and get it to them in stride. Yesterday didn’t have time and guys weren’t getting open like they needed. That surprised me, since TCU’s WRs had no trouble making OSU’s secondary look bad. But maybe they were more motivated last night, or maybe it just wasn’t our night. I think a little of both, since there were several times our WRs screwed up on easy blocks that kept plays from working.
This was also the first game I saw Shimonek look like a guy in his first year starting. On our last drive’s final 3rd down, he did a great job avoiding the rush to buy time. But then he slide down the line looking to throw…and kept sliding, and kept sliding. From the TV broadcast, I don’t know if he had the room to get the first down if he tucked it and ran. But he at least could have gotten 6 or 7 yards. I appreciate him wanting to do his job: get the ball to a playmaker and let them make a play. But you’ve also got to be aware of the situation. We were down our best WR. We had two plays to get 10 yards or game over, and 4th and 3 is a lot easier than 4th and 10.
I think Shimonek can be a very good QB for us this year. But if the guys around him don’t step up a bit, he’s going to have a hard time because he’s not the type to create on his own.
Also, I’m not sure why we were trying to force feed Vasher the ball at the end last night. From all accounts he’s a great talent and needs to be on the field. But at the end of the game in critical situations, we should lean on Cantrell or Batson, our senior leaders. On 3rd and 4, driving to tie the game, we tried to throw to Vasher. From what it looked like, Shimonek expected him to break off his route and curl around. But Vasher kept running. Ok, it happens with young guys. Even with vets sometimes you see it. But that was the play of the game. Convert, and we’ve got a good chance to at least drive down and kick a FG. We’d been moving the ball well in the 4th. Maybe OSU doesn’t get the ball back, and they don’t go up. It is impossible to know what happens there, but we threw 4 passes on that drive and 2 were to Vasher, who didn’t have a catch in the game. Know your team, and when you absolutely need a play go to the guys most likely to get it for you.
Stockton
Unlike many on here, I’m a fan of giving Stockton his share of touches. I made this point last week. But I’m not a fan of giving Stockton all the touches. He needs some shots to break one for 50+. But, especially when you desperately need to get 2-4 yards, he’s not your best bet. In one thread I read someone mention that King and Nisby didn’t produce that much more, which is true, but many of their touches were situations where you were just going for 1 or 2 yards, such as 3rd and short or at the goal line. So in those cases, OSU is selling out to stop the run. That, plus our bad run blocking, and you won’t get much. But give them a fair share of chances against the light fronts. I understand the appeal of Stockton having a great shot to get in space and take off. But, man…it wasn’t working. Give King the chance to make the first guy miss and get 7. Or Nisby to run over a LB for 5. Anything to get at least some consistent running threat going and make OSU play us honestly. Stockton isn’t that guy. He’s the no gain, 2 yards, -1 yard, no gain, 6 yards, 2 yards, 70 yard guy.
The defense is still half a step too slow
First, let me clarify: I think the defense did a great job last night. OSU got a lot of yards, but they’ll do that on nearly everyone. Few teams in the country have that offensive talent. We had a few blown assignments, but for the most part the plays OSU made had a Tech defender right on them, we just weren’t quite good enough to make the play. Last year, we just couldn’t keep up at all. Now we are keeping up, we just aren’t winning the “50/50” balls. I don’t know if it is an issue of being young, and a little more experience will get us there, or if our athletes just can’t quite measure up yet. Probably a little of both.
A few examples: On a first or second down deep in OSU territory, Tony Jones had Rudolph dead to rights. The fans even started cheering the sack. Somehow Jones misses and Rudolph hits a 30 yard dart down the field. So instead of being behind schedule in a difficult part of the field, they had first and 10 at midfield.
On a 3rd down in the 4th quarter, our CB handed Washington off to the NB. Washington had a NB trailing and a safety right in front of him. And Rudolph squeezed the ball in for a completion and first down. Another step and it would have been broken up or intercepted. And on OSU’s last touchdown, Morgan had the WR completely covered, jumped to break up the pass, and his fingers came up two inches short of knocking it away. Of, and Fields had a completely ridiculous PI called on him on a 3rd down where he played it perfectly, but he didn’t get his head around to look for the ball. There were probably a few others you could point to as well, where we came up (truly) one play short of winning the game, or at least pushing it to OT.
Rudolph was dealing last night
Continuing from my above point, its really hard to beat a team when a QB is on fire. It’s like playing the Warriors when KD or Curry just won’t miss. It doesn’t matter what you try, they’ll drain bucket after bucket and you just have to keep up. Rudolph wasn’t perfect, but he made a ton of really, really great throws.
For whatever its worth, I was texting my brother, an OSU alum, today. He hates their OC. Real bad. Said basically their offense is getting in bad spots and needing the QB to bail them out. “We call it Rudolph Ball. When it works it works.” And it worked last night. If he had of been an inch or two off in spots, it wouldn’t have worked.
Also, he thought the officiating last night was bad on both sides, but admitted they got the better end of the deal.
I don’t know what to make of this team
We had no business being in the game last night, but we had an opportunity to win. In a way, we were on the opposite side of the past two games, where we should have been blowing them out but managed to end with the score being close. The difference was ASU never really challenged, and Houston needed to recover an onside kick before they legitimately had a chance at a win. We had a tie game with a few minutes left. And we were down a score with just over a minute left could have moved down the field for a tie.
The glass half empty version is this team isn’t very good as we haven’t put away teams we should have beat and got beat worse than the score would indicate against the first good team we’ve played.
The glass half full version, which I lean towards as a natural optimist, is that this team is pretty good and just haven’t learned to put it all together. They are good enough that they can play poorly against ASU and Houston and win somewhat easily. Good enough that even a with a bad game against a good team you had a shot to win. Of course you can’t continue to play like that and not have it bite you, but there is something to be said for playing bad on OL and DL, losing all the 50/50 plays, offense looking bad, and coming up one drive short.
End of the day, I don’t really know which one it is. I thought the OSU game would add some clarity, but it just made this team harder to read. Our defense is much better than it has been. Offense has some big problems, but they should produce well enough to win most games if the defense does its part. 6-8 wins is still our likely range, but we’ve got to take care of business this week against a Kansas team that hung around WVU long enough to make me nervous.
We weren’t going to go undefeated. We almost assuredly aren’t (and never were) going to challenge for the Big 12 title this year. How we lost is frustrating, but how can you lose that’s not frustrating? 80-73? If only the defense!!! 14-10? If only the offenses!!! 56-21? Same old crap!! Fire everyone!! No matter how we came up short, it was going to make fans mad.
Here's what I like: We were down, about to go down 14 early, against a very good football team (with a lot more to play for than we had), and we had a huge defensive play to tie it. Later in the game, we were down and the best player on our team left the field. Somehow, we managed to tie it up again and get the ball back with a chance to go up. Didn't work out for us. But for a team that has been snowballed often since we bid adieu to Mike Leach, this team scrapped its way into a position to win.
We lost a close one against a team that has been consistently in the top 15 for 5 or 6 years. They had better players, and we made it tough on them. I’ll take that as a positive sign and in a season that has had many through the first third, and hope they continue. Maybe its all a mirage, but seems better than just being pissed about everything the next 8 weeks.
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