Official 2025 Opening Week - Georgia Tech Thread

[bldrbbott]

if we're going to have a dual threat qb, he should be a dog who just wants to move the sticks. hopefully ks watches the tape and owns the field for the rest of the season. if he's not got that desire to make plays, his mechanics and processing are not up to the standard so we should use a qb with better talent.

and with the improved ol play, we should be dogs as a team. the coaching staff stunk. second and third drives were silly play calls (admitting the previous graph that ks could have done more) and the play calls on third and short and not going for it with fourth and short a couple of times at mid field just were shrivel coaching. and the drive with 5 mins to go should've been called 180 degrees different.

long story short, we had the talent on the team to win this. defensive coaching didn't adapt enough to stop runs, but offensively we had four chances to change the game and ks and coaches dumped it out.

after all that, chance to win and coaching staff (and ks going sideways with the first down and two timeouts in hand) vomited at least three (prob four) plays by not using timeouts from 1:07 to go.

not good, but fixable.

 

[4BienemyTDs]

No. Juju would not have started. And he likely would not have played either way. As I was told, the plan was the plan. And that plan was all in on Salter this year, Juju watches and learns and gets situational snaps.

I'm efforting to find out if that's still the case. The people I've already talked to (who have way more football experience/knowledge than me) agree Salter did more damage with his attitude, lack of in-game football IQ, and his zero toughness than his less than stellar play.

Thank you Da Lama, is Juju totally onboard with all this? I think the better the O-Line plays and if unfortunately the less targets the WR get, that could all change if they just find out that KSalt just does not have "IT" at this level

 

[GRM]

I'm ready to put this game to bed, but I'll give my "drink is 1/2 full" view:

It will just be a growing process on both sides of the ball, and the coaches adapting. I felt like we have enough talent on the roster to stay with GA Tech @ home, we had opportunities but unable to put it together for the opener. Just did not make enough "key plays." Depending on King's health, I think GA Tech is an 8+ win team, maybe an outside chance at at the playoff. Losing given some circumstances was tough (get 7 pts off 3TO), but last year we were jumped by the Fuskers who had a true frosh QB, we sort of won the 2nd half, although they maybe called the dogs off. The next few games will be key, especially @Hou, where I hope CU breaks through. I think BYU is beatable at home, if we run off 3 straight.

I saw enough changes in the offense to call it basically a new offense/install; so we need to be patient. I'm not ready to throw Shurmur under the bus just yet. Against GA Tech, I saw enough plays with good play design--protection/blocking there; play createed space and time, with and open WR/TE/RB. We just did not not execute on stuff down the field. We showed we can run with Welch and others. 35-50 more open yards from KS, and were nearing the 200 yard rushing mark. No doubt, KS had some jitters and adjustments (not hearing the play clearly) for the opener, however I think that is fixable, he is a SR with experience, who has had success, just not at this leval. I think KS has upside and going over the film will be helpful, and he should be able to make the plays as we work into the season. Thankfully, he is not a Jordan Webb. It should be some easier going for a few games, however @Hou, could add difficulty. If not KS, we have option with Juju and/or Staub. I just think KS will get past jitters, no doubt he missed some open guys, but he found them. No doubt he missed some reads, but he will get more comfortable with the team as we play.

The D has some new guys playing key positions, that have not played next to each other. Truly, I expected more, however they did put quite a licking on King, who if he stays healthy should be the best option QB in CFB. We had guys flying around for most of the game, just not good gap control and call/adjustment-wise we did look a step behind. GA Tech O was a well oiled machine with talent and experience, much better than Nubs last year. Although Our D looked rough early last year, just time playing next to one another showed incremental improvement with subbing different guys, playing a little differently and just finding a mix. Some guys had good games.

Special teams looks better. Greaves performed better than I anticipated.

 

[Big HQ]

Just watched the condensed game on the Big 12 channel. Our OL was better than I thought it was gonna be. Our LB's were put into tough spots, but also, they were very not good.

3 TOs in the 1st Q should've been game over for GT. D did it's job, imo. Hanes King is a ****in beast and it sucked watching him make the right choice every play as our dual threat QB was struggling with those decisions

 

[Corey Trevorson]

Just watched the condensed game on the Big 12 channel. Our OL was better than I thought it was gonna be. Our LB's were put into tough spots, but also, they were very not good.

3 TOs in the 1st Q should've been game over for GT. D did it's job, imo. Hanes King is a ****in beast and it sucked watching him make the right choice every play as our dual threat QB was struggling with those decisions

How in the hell did the D do it's job? The below are not numbers showing that the D did their job, especially when 2 turnovers were 100% the fault of King - otherwise the D did nothing significant to stop GT's offense.

 

[Big HQ]

How in the hell did the D do it's job? The below are not numbers showing that the D did their job, especially when 2 turnovers were 100% the fault of King - otherwise the D did nothing significant to stop GT's offense.

View attachment 90797
View attachment 90798
View attachment 90799

Because to me, at home, 3 turnovers and 27 points allowed was enough for CU to win the game. Sure, they didn't force all 3 of those turnovers. Luck happens. CU got lucky. Defense capitalized on the luck, offense didn't

 

[Corey Trevorson]

Because to me, at home, 3 turnovers and 27 points allowed was enough for CU to win the game. Sure, they didn't force all 3 of those turnovers. Luck happens. CU got lucky. Defense capitalized on the luck, offense didn't

So you're going to effectively ignore over 75% of the game given the INT happened with over 7 minutes left in the 1st quarter.

GT having a total success rate of 59% including the turnovers does not show that the defense did it's job, a 63% success rate for GT means that the CU D did nothing to keep the GT offense behind schedule on over 60% of their plays. A 0.358 EPA/play on the ground shows that the GT offense generated nearly 1/3rd of a point on the ground...every play. If you put the below into quadrants this would be classified as bad:




Or you can just look up and see the defense gave up 320 yards on the ground & 156 to King alone. 7 YPC, that's a BAD defensive performance and they were unable to get off of the field.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

Here are some of the individual PFF grades on Defense. Basically, our DL was above average to good, DJ McKinney was solid and ironically, a backup LB was the best player on the field in the little time he actually played.



This is their grading scale, FYI

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

So you're going to effectively ignore over 75% of the game given the INT happened with over 7 minutes left in the 1st quarter.

GT having a total success rate of 59% including the turnovers does not show that the defense did it's job, a 63% success rate for GT means that the CU D did nothing to keep the GT offense behind schedule on over 60% of their plays. A 0.358 EPA/play on the ground shows that the GT offense generated nearly 1/3rd of a point on the ground...every play. If you put the below into quadrants this would be classified as bad:

View attachment 90800
View attachment 90803

Or you can just look up and see the defense gave up 320 yards on the ground & 156 to King alone. 7 YPC, that's a BAD defensive performance and they were unable to get off of the field.

Did the Offense help the Defense? Stop being such a robot.

 

[JMBuffs]

With the amount of turnover we've experienced I expect some growing pains....but not from our ****ing OC...there is a lot to gleam from the game, ultimately, if we'd called a cleaner Offensive game plan we would have won.

 

[Darth Snow]

Here are some of the individual PFF grades on Defense. Basically, our DL was above average to good, DJ McKinney was solid and ironically, a backup LB was the best player on the field in the little time he actually played.

View attachment 90801

This is their grading scale, FYI

View attachment 90802

Myers was jumping out. Maybe he's limited to playing teams that focus on running but if your defensive line is playing okay just being in the right spot accounts for a lot

 

[Corey Trevorson]

Did the Offense help the Defense? Stop being such a robot.

I'm in no way being a robot, and clearly I bitched a lot about both sides of the ball during the game. Defense was called out in response to the post I responded to.

Nor did I ignore the analytics in the snapshots I posted. Neither side of the ball was good.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

I'm in no way being a robot, and clearly I bitched a lot about both sides of the ball during the game. Defense was called out in response to the post I responded to.

Nor did I ignore the analytics in the snapshots I posted. Neither side of the ball was good.

And I don't think anyone suggested that the D was good, just they did enough. We lost because of the Offense.

 

[Big HQ]

So you're going to effectively ignore over 75% of the game given the INT happened with over 7 minutes left in the 1st quarter.

GT having a total success rate of 59% including the turnovers does not show that the defense did it's job, a 63% success rate for GT means that the CU D did nothing to keep the GT offense behind schedule on over 60% of their plays. A 0.358 EPA/play on the ground shows that the GT offense generated nearly 1/3rd of a point on the ground...every play. If you put the below into quadrants this would be classified as bad:

View attachment 90800
View attachment 90803

Or you can just look up and see the defense gave up 320 yards on the ground & 156 to King alone. 7 YPC, that's a BAD defensive performance and they were unable to get off of the field.

All of this looks right, dude, for sure. But yards and success rates aren't on the scoreboard. D gifted the offense 3 short fields and the offense got 7 points out of it. You're right, I am ignoring a lot of the rest of the game because that's when the loss was cemented, right there, imo.

 

[Corey Trevorson]

And I don't think anyone suggested that the D was good, just they did enough. We lost because of the Offense.

When a defense gives up 320 yards on the ground and allows the offense to have >60% success rate they didn't do enough.

The offense didn't do enough.

Both are true, they aren't mutually exclusive.

 

[Corey Trevorson]

All of this looks right, dude, for sure. But yards and success rates aren't on the scoreboard. D gifted the offense 3 short fields and the offense got 7 points out of it. You're right, I am ignoring a lot of the rest of the game because that's when the loss was cemented, right there, imo.

The defense didn't gift the offense 3 short fields, King gifted 2 of them through no action of the defense. When it mattered most (4th quarter) the defense gave no resistance, which was the theme throughout the game on defense.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

When a defense gives up 320 yards on the ground and allows the offense to have >60% success rate they didn't do enough.

The offense didn't do enough.

Both are true, they aren't mutually exclusive.

Yeah, this shouldn't be an either/or situation in the blame game. Both sides of the ball had good moments and both had bad moments. Had the offense scored a TD and FG on the two other turnover possessions to be up 17-0 in the 1Q, maybe the defense is in a better spot and GT isn't just running it down their throat. On the flip side, the defense failed to get off the field, had two penalties on 3rd down stops that extended scoring drives and only forced two punts all game.

Both sides need to be much better.

 

[Big HQ]

The defense didn't gift the offense 3 short fields, King gifted 2 of them through no action of the defense. When it mattered most (4th quarter) the defense gave no resistance, which was the theme throughout the game on defense.

Dude, if it makes you feel better, I'll say that all 3 turnovers were gifted, I don't really care, how forced or unforced they are. The defense got off the field 3 times and gave the ball to the offense in plus territory. CU scored 7 points off of those drives. That is when the game was lost.

I don't think the offense or defense were world-beaters. I just think that 27 points and 3 TO's was enough for CU to win

 

[Da Lama]

Myers was jumping out. Maybe he's limited to playing teams that focus on running but if your defensive line is playing okay just being in the right spot accounts for a lot

He's our one downhill, gap fill type LB so his score makes sense

 

[Corey Trevorson]

I never thought I'd see the day when people are claiming the defense did their job when they gave up 320 yards on the ground and were unable to get off of the field, Yak touched on the penalties on the secondary too which further drives home the point that the defense did not do their job.

 

[NW Buff]

I never thought I'd see the day when people are claiming the defense did their job when they gave up 320 yards on the ground and were unable to get off of the field, Yak touched on the penalties on the secondary too which further drives home the point that the defense did not do their job.

There’s a difference between saying the defense did enough to win and that they did their job.

 

[Corey Trevorson]

There’s a difference between saying the defense did enough to win and that they did their job.

Sure but I've already said neither side did enough to win. Offense didn't capitalize on GT's mistakes early on and the defense didn't get off the field, and when they had opportunities they ****ed it up with penalties in the secondary

 

[Creebuzz]

I think it would be generous to say the defense was mediocre, but I think Livingston has enough goodwill that most think he will fix things and the D will improve.

Offense doesn’t have the same goodwill, and fully three-quarters of Buff fans have PTSD from Shurmur’s time with the Broncos.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

I would also say, one of the stops and subsequent punts the defense forced was due to two false starts in a row from GT and then King missing a wide open receiver on 3rd and long that would have been an easy first down.

 

[NW Buff]

Sure but I've already said neither side did enough to win. Offense didn't capitalize on GT's mistakes early on and the defense didn't get off the field, and when they had opportunities they ****ed it up with penalties in the secondary

Ok, then I’m not sure what you’re arguing. The people I see defending the defense here are mostly saying they did enough not that they were amazing or even good. I thought the failures on offense were much more glaring but I’m willing to accept that others don’t agree

 

[Corey Trevorson]

Ok, then I’m not sure what you’re arguing. The people I see defending the defense here are mostly saying they did enough not that they were amazing or even good. I thought the failures on offense were much more glaring but I’m willing to accept that others don’t agree

I'm stating that the defense did not do enough and used the data to show it - 320 yards given up on the ground and not being able to keep GT off-schedule and force King to throw the ball is not enough. That also isn't excusing the offense's performance.

 

[DBT]

Just watched the condensed game on the Big 12 channel. Our OL was better than I thought it was gonna be. Our LB's were put into tough spots, but also, they were very not good.

3 TOs in the 1st Q should've been game over for GT. D did it's job, imo. Hanes King is a ****in beast and it sucked watching him make the right choice every play as our dual threat QB was struggling with those decisions

Two of their turnovers had almost nothing to do with our defense other than recovering the ball. They were unforced fumbles. A bad handoff and a bad snap.

 

[gramercyrules]

Why are we playing the semantics game with the defense? Do you think if the offense scored more than 7 points with those turnovers the defense would have had that many yards ran on them? Who cares how the defense got the ball back, what matters is they got it back. The offense should have done something with the ball

 

[Highlander]

I love it when people dig in and simply say the exact same thing over and over again for pages. Like somehow it is going to change a bunch of other peoples' opinions on the 97th try repeating the same point.

 

[tante]

Two of their turnovers had almost nothing to do with our defense other than recovering the ball. They were unforced fumbles. A bad handoff and a bad snap.

They still actually recovered the ball, so luck+ awareness points for the defense