In Holtz’s attempt to protect the defense, the futility of offensive play calling only increases the pressure on the defense to sustain constant stops. Look at these Tech drives against BG after Tech went up 14-7 on the INT in the first half and start of second half.
Start of First Half
2nd Tech Drive 3 plays - 8 yards Punt
3rd Tech Drive 3 plays – 5 yards Punt
4th Tech Drive 4 plays – 15 yards Punt
5th Tech Drive 4 plays – 3 yards Punt
Start the Second Half
1st Tech Drive 5 plays – 19 yards Punt
2nd Tech Drive 3 Plays – Minus 4 yards Punt
3rd Tech Drive 2 plays – 16 Yards Fumble
Tech has way too much talent on offense for this to be happening. It is not a recipe for beating average teams, much less good teams. It does nothing to assist with game day entertainment value or attendance.
At the beginning of this season I decided to not make a judgment on this team and coaching staff until after the FIU game. It and the Southern Miss game will communicate the commitment made to addressing obvious problems from last year and improving the entertainment value to fans. I’m cautiously optimistic.
Yes, as a lead in to the perceived problems I listed. Here's how the J'Mar and Skip fans word it...
"Is the QB play and play calling perfect? No, but we have big problems with our lack of RB depth, OLine blocking, receivers dropping passes, blah, blah, blah."
Why are they afraid to say that our coaching and play calling (Hello, we are about to run the ball!) are the problem? How can a 7th year HC not have depth at RB? Why has our Oline pretty much always sucked under Holtz? Dropped passes are magnified when only 20 passes a game are thrown and only 15 of those 20 are catchable.
I used to lose my voice after nearly every home game yelling for the Dawgs. Didn't happen at all last year or at the Grambling game this year. I hope we get on track and start showing some offense and defense worth really cheering for this Friday. Mrs TD misses the quiet on Sunday afternoons.
Real good data, CD. Thanks for posting it. This info clearly illustrates why our offense is ranked #99 in scoring this year and finished last year ranked #97 in scoring. They can't get out of their own way. I suspect if you run a similar play chart for the 2nd half of the Grambling game, it will illustrate more of the same.
Just hoping a downpour from this storm doesn't hamper our passing game. Skip needs it to set up the run for a change.