Mailbag 9/13

What is the true state of the offensive line?

Frodo Swagginz: I feel a little lost on what’s going with this Fran Brown – Brent Key (Maybe) beef and also on the general attitude of ‘Cuse fans being obnoxious that they won by 3 at home.

So can someone fill me in on why Fran Brown randomly decided he had a problem with Brent Key?

Why do ‘cuse fans seem to hate Georgia Tech? (Yeah, it’s probably just a small few who are yelling the loudest, but still)

Ben: Everyone is a little lost as to why Frannie is mad about Brent Key, but if you mention it on Twitter, you can get over 26,000 views from a bunch of uncreative Cuse fans all slinging the exact same insult at you over and over. Well, there was exactly one creative insult, and it was this one:

It still blows my mind that this tweet didn’t get a single like.

Logan: Key vaguely referenced in a press conference that GT was going to play physical against Syracuse (which is something I hear at practically every coaches’ press conference) and that he didn’t really remember working with Fran (which is fair since they worked on opposite sides of the ball as coaches for totally separate position groups for less than a year to my understanding). These statements might upset some people but I don’t think Key was trying to insult Fran when he made those statements. Honestly I think the intensity with which Fran responded was just Fran trying to hype his team up. Sometimes coaches do similar things to get their team excited to play on the field. You gotta say something to get your guys fired up, and telling your players “That other team’s coach doesn’t respect me and he doesn’t respect you” or some equivalent is a good way to get your team fired up to show that opponent what for. I don’t like when coaches make up things or elevate inconsequential statements. In this case I think what Fran claimed to be upset about was the equivalent of making mountains out of ant hills. ‘Cuse did seem fired up to play Saturday though, so if that was Fran’s plan I guess it worked. As far as ‘Cuse fans in general… no idea really.

Jack: I never paid attention to this and I plan to forget this ever happened.

popehats: Is there anymore information on why Joe Hamilton is no longer on the radio broadcast? That seemed very sudden and unexpected.

Ben: I have heard speculation, but I’d prefer not to add to the gossip. All I know is that Sean Bedford is the color guy moving forward, and I hope that if there is some underlying issue that Joe Ham has going on, that he is able to get the help he needs.

chilidogringsFO: The O line against FSU looked dominant, looked less dominant against GSU, and looked downright useless against Syracuse. What is the true state of the O line?

Ben: Your guess is as good as mine. You’re definitely right, though. They did very poor against the run against Cuse. But it’s also worth noting that they have not allowed a sack the entire year. I’m inclined to think that the OL is still trending positively, and that the Cuse game as a whole is not solely indicative of this team’s capabilities.

Logan: I think the O-line is somewhere between an OK to good state. I feel like all the travel may be catching up to them as it appears to be with most of the team. The line seems sluggish and a bit tired when running plays compared to the game against FSU. As Ben points out the O-line have not allowed a sack all year, although part of that is on Haynes King for his pocket awareness. It also doesn’t help that we have been mostly run focused the first three games and I think teams have enough tape now that they can plan against our run and try to make Haynes King prove he can throw the ball downfield. So far play calling hasn’t allowed for that, so our O-line can do their best but its tough to run when other teams are constantly stacking the box to stop it. I hope the starting O-line doesn’t end up playing too long this week and gets some time to rest to help them before going up against a tough Louisville squad.

gtbadcarma: VMI should (should is the operative word) not be any challenge. what would you like to see happening/worked on for the offense and for the defense for this game.

Ben: I want to see Georgia Tech come out and win this game decisively. The defense has floundered on the first drive of every game so far this season. That cannot happen moving forward.

Logan: I’d like to see our secondary make some big plays and get some turnovers. One of the big factors that has helped our struggling defense in the past has been our ability to get turnovers and make use of them. We had some opportunities in the Georgia State and Syracuse games but were unable to intercept the ball. I want to see the defense as a whole be more aggressive, but I want the secondary in particular to be looking for turnovers. Also I want to see Haynes King let loose downfield and make some big passes. He has missed a few downfield passes this year and generally hasn’t been allowed to throw the big bombs we saw from him last year. I want to see the Faulkner really let King throw the ball around the field.

Jack: The defense as the guys above has said would be a great thing to see get better. I’d love to see them work on some plays that require specific timing considering that was a problem against FSU, but then part of me doesn’t want to see the starters past the third quarter.

Chris: No scores given up by the starters on defense, especially not on the first drive. Better tackling. Consistent offense – sure we can probably hit big plays against them, but can we purposefully march down the field and score over and over again?

Jellopacket98: In our last 4 games we’ve given up 3 opening drive TDs and GA State drove it all the way down to the goal line, so should have been 4 for 4..

4 straight games we allowed the opponent to drive it right down the field (if you wanna go 5 games, UGA fumbled, then drove it right down the field for a TD).

Brent Key has been preaching that they are consistent in their game time preparation. Since the defense has come out completely flat and unprepared every game this year, do you think they need to try something different in their preparation? I’m putting money down that VMI drives it right down out throats in their fist possession and they’re horrible.

Ben: The short and long answer to this question is yes. Clearly, something is not working, and Santucci and Co. need to figure out what it is and fix it.

Logan: I would like to see a statistic on how many teams give up touchdowns on their opening drives. I feel like if defenses are going to give up a touchdown the first drive of the game would be the most likely time for that to occur since it’s your first time seeing the opposing offense run actual plays against you. I don’t have those numbers, so I will agree that its not a good look for us to just give up free points on the first drive of every game. I think it is good to note that our defense usually cracks down on the second drive of the game (they did fall apart after getting a stop on the second drive against Syracuse though). I’m not a defensive expert so I can’t tell you what needs to be fixed, but something in the gameplan needs to be evaluated if this keeps happening in the VMI and Louisville games.

Chris: I agree with Logan, opening drives are scripted plays and it’s the first time you’re really seeing what the offense is going to do, so naturally there’s potentially a bit of an advantage there. Still, we’ve looked absolutely awful defensively on those drives. I’m not sure if it’s a pattern recognition thing, a preparation thing, or just a slow start physically, but it’s gotta change.

DressHerInWhiteAndGold: Soup/stew season approaches.

What’s on your must list this year?

Ben: I’m a white chicken chili guy. Love it!

Logan: Love a good beef stew.

Jack: Any kind of chili is a must have. I had some LSU friends growing up that would make gumbo on gamedays at their house which was always incredible. If it’s warm, I’m eating it.

Chris: I love all the options mentioned so far, and I’ll also toss in a sausage tortellini or a minestrone.

Namrebeil: After the FSU game, it was asked in the mailbag if we should have any hope in defensive improvement. The feeling then was yes. My question is, is any of that hope left now?

Ben: I still think the defense has improved from last year, just not to the extent that I hoped they had. The biggest thing is the tackling fundamentals seem to be much improved.

Logan: So we’re really basing this on one game right? I know the defense didn’t look fantastic against Georgia State, but the defense got some big stops and only gave up 14 points. I didn’t really hear/see anyone complaining about the defense after the Georgia State game. Syracuse showed us a big weakness, our secondary does not look great. We saw flashes of it in the Georgia State game, but many of their receivers had cases of the drops so it didn’t hit as hard. McCord is a great QB and he made our defensive secondary look silly, which opened up things in the run game since we were trying so hard to stop receivers from getting behind us. We were able to lock down FSU because they just wanted to run the ball and DJU never really pushed the secondary. I do have hope since it currently appears like we won’t be facing a ton of QBs like McCord (Daniel Jones, McCall, and Kyron Drones do not appear to be living up to the hype) but our defense needs to be able to do more than stop the run. I am expecting to see improvement over the season, but clearly something needs to be adjusted in the secondary.

Chris: I have hope that we’ll improve as the season goes on and the staff/players get more reps.

Submitted via email: Leo Blackburn is finally healthy but has 0 catches so far this year thru 3 games. Thoughts?

Ben: Just because an injury has healed, that does not mean a player returns to who they were before that injury. My guess is that there is some lasting effects of injury and he’s just been passed on the depth chart.

Logan: I want to see Blackburn play, but working a player in takes time. It’s also hard because we currently have starters who have been getting results on the field, so its tough to just go to them and be like “Blackburn is back so you need to take a seat”. I expect we’ll see more of Blackburn as the season goes on but it will take some time to ease him back into the offense.