12/6 @ Marshall (C-USA Championship game)

[70TECHGRAD]

The guys on the post game show said Cody was having pain in his shoulder due a previous injury and also due to the cold wet weather. Don't know where they got their information....but that is what they said. They said that was partially the cause of his passing problems!!

[HogDawg]

The guys on the post game show said Cody was having pain in his shoulder due a previous injury and also due to the cold wet weather. Don't know where they got their information....but that is what they said. They said that was partially the cause of his passing problems!!

This is the first I've heard of Sokol having shoulder problems. Wow. Doesn't sound good for our bowl chances.

[rabiddawg]

Agree. I don't like the "glove" thing anyway. Even the NFL QB's don't wear a glove. And never have

Not so fast HD. Although i agree with you about the gloves and their use, i have seen Peyton Manning wear them many times. I have also seen him struggle in cold weather with them on.

[HogDawg]

Not so fast HD. Although i agree with you about the gloves and their use, i have seen Peyton Manning wear them many times. I have also seen him struggle in cold weather with them on.

I've never seen that. But even if you are correct (and I have no reason to believe you are not), the point is still the same: Sokol ain't Peyton Manning. And clearly, at best, it's highly unusual for a QB to wear a glove during game action. So I want to know why Holtz let Sokol wear one yesterday?

This might explain why Sokol's passes were so bad yesterday. And believe me, they were HORRIBLE. He threw that last INT directly to that Marshall player. And there was no LA Tech player anywhere near the action.

Again, WHERE WERE THE ADULTS when this "glove" nonsense was going on???

[stodgdog]

Holtz needs to learn how to win CLOSE games. This year, when we won we typically blew people out, or we lost the game altogether. As someone mentioned earlier, we lost all of the close ones this year (NSU, ODU & Marshall).

I thought Holtz lost the Marshall game in the 3rd quarter, when he refused to admit that his QB was having a TERRIBLE day, and insisted on making Sokol throw. At that point, I was screaming at my TV --and posting on this thread-- that LA Tech should have gone exclusively to our ground game. At one point in the 3rd quarter, Tech picked up 9 yards with Dixon on a 1st down run, and another 5 yards (and converted the 1st down) with Jared Craft on back to back plays. Marshall couldn't stop us.

So what does Holtz do next? He let's Sokol throw two incomplete passes, and ran a trick play "end around" on the ensuing downs. (Yes, in this horrible weather.) And this was at a point in the game where "ball control" and "field position" were of extreme importance. Holtz blew it. I KNEW at that point, we were DONE. I knew Holtz had already made a deadly mistake, because he literally couldn't see what we could see; that Tech needed to run the ball down Marshall's throat until Marshall stopped it.

There were other "oddities" in this game too. Coming out of the locker room to start the 2nd half, why did Holtz make Hunter Lee our primary RB --with back-to-back carries-- to start the 3rd quarter? Everybody knows I like Hunter Lee....but was Hunter Lee (coming off a broken collar bone surgery) really our best option coming out of the locker room? Where was Dixon and Craft? Like so many other decisions Holtz made yesterday, this one seemed very puzzling.

You and I are late to the party, but these two metrics are meaningless in the game of football. Why has Blake Martin been given so few opportunities from scrimmage?

[hambone29]

Stodgdog- you think field position is meaningless? Seriously?

[hambone29]

Maybe I am unfamiliar with rules of football these days as they have changed, but when I played the coach was not eligible to throw a pass during a game

As described below, its called coaching.

Well, for starters, you don't continue doing what you're doing. Plan A not working, what is plan B? Today was a mirror image of last year. We had a QB that was struggling, and we didn't seem to help him with playcalling. As the playcaller, you have to help your QB find a rhythm when he is struggling. Quick passes, short throws, roll-outs, screens, anything to get a few completions. Holtz didn't do it last year with our subpar QBs, and he didn't do it today.

[stodgdog]

Stodgdog- you think field position is meaningless? Seriously?

Of course not. I think ball control and field position are the two most important metrics of football. I'm just repeating what some of the geniuses and critics on this board have repeatedly written.

[T1]

If you want to do the "stat" thing, I'm happy to go there. But I don't think you are going to like what you see.

How many passes did we complete?
How many yards did we pick up with passes?
How many yards did we gain on run plays?
What was our average gain per run play?
What was our average gain per pass play?

OK, I re-watched the game. Here's what happened....

1st half, Marshall couldn't stop our run game. We rushed 29 times for 134 yards. Sokol looked good in the 1st half: 6/12 for 42 yards with 3 drops and 2 throw-aways due to coverage. No bad throws.

2nd half, Marshall shut down our running game and had our receivers blanketed. It was more Marshall playing good than us playing bad. We rushed 16 times for 62 yards. The long run was Dixon's 19 yard TD. Outside that run, we ran 15 times for 43 yards (less than 3 yards per carry). There was no running room. We only threw 7 passes in the 2nd half...

1st pass: tipped by Marshall's DL (receiver was covered anyway).
2nd pass: Play-action Bomb to Henderson, but he was covered
3rd pass: Incomplete (Marshall DB tipped it away at last second... good play by Marshall)
4th pass: Play-action, pressure, Sokol scrambles and overthrows Dixon in the flat. Bad throw, but Dixon wasn't going anywhere after the catch.
5th pass: Incomplete (bad throw behind Taylor on 3rd and 4)
6th pass: 30 yard completion (Henderson was well covered... great throw, great catch)
7th pass: Interception (threw it right to the Marshall LB with no receiver close... brain fart I guess)

[stodgdog]

As described below, its called coaching.

For whatever reason, Sokol did not throw the ball well yesterday. I know I'm not very bright, but it wasn't coaching. Considering how limited the team was yesterday, whether through Sokol's injury, the weather, and poor pass blocking, the passing game was way off. I'm sure he wore gloves because he told the coaches he was more comfortable with them. People are way too quick to criticize and question decisions without knowing the facts influencing the decisions. Plenty of QBs in the NFL and NCAA wear gloves. We tried quick passes and short passes and were inconsistent, to say the least. The weather was not very good yesterday. I really don't know why Holtz let that happen.

[HogDawg]

OK, I re-watched the game. Here's what happened....

1st half, Marshall couldn't stop our run game. We rushed 29 times for 134 yards. Sokol looked good in the 1st half: 6/12 for 42 yards with 3 drops and 2 throw-aways due to coverage. No bad throws.

2nd half, Marshall shut down our running game and had our receivers blanketed. It was more Marshall playing good than us playing bad. We rushed 16 times for 62 yards. The long run was Dixon's 19 yard TD. Outside that run, we ran 15 times for 43 yards (less than 3 yards per carry). There was no running room. We only threw 7 passes in the 2nd half...

1st pass: tipped by Marshall's DL (receiver was covered anyway).
2nd pass: Play-action Bomb to Henderson, but he was covered
3rd pass: Incomplete (Marshall DB tipped it away at last second... good play by Marshall)
4th pass: Play-action, pressure, Sokol scrambles and overthrows Dixon in the flat. Bad throw, but Dixon wasn't going anywhere after the catch.
5th pass: Incomplete (bad throw behind Taylor on 3rd and 4)
6th pass: 30 yard completion (Henderson was well covered... great throw, great catch)
7th pass: Interception (threw it right to the Marshall LB with no receiver close... brain fart I guess)

Funny how you glazed over the fact that we only ran 16 times (including a TD) in the 2nd half vs 29 times in the 1st half, AND we still averaged 3.875 yards per carry IN THE SECOND HALF, including any QB sacks Sokol took that I'm sure you failed to deduct. :icon_wink:

As for the passes, I see "bad throw", "bad throw", "bad throw". All good reasons to NOT throw anymore in terrible weather. It was time to buckle up your chin strap and finish the groud game strong, which was very successful yesterday.


Bottom line, we should have RAN THE BALL MORE in the 2nd half.

[T1]

Funny how you glazed over the fact that we only ran 16 times (including a TD) in the 2nd half vs 29 times in the 1st half, AND we still averaged 3.875 yards per carry IN THE SECOND HALF, including any QB sacks Sokol took that I'm sure you failed to deduct. :icon_wink:

Meanwhile, you also didn't mention what YARDAGE our 7 passes produced in the 2nd half.....I'm guessing (without looking) close to ZERO. And how many INT's our passing game produced? And I'm guessing you overlooked all that info on purpose as well. :icon_wink:


Good ole T1. You're always good for a laugh.

Bottom line, I was right and you were wrong. We should have RAN THE BALL MORE

I was trying to be brief. Here's every play:

1st and 10: Incomplete (tipped by Marshall's DL)
2nd and 10: 4 yard run
3rd and 6: Coverage sack (-8 yards)
Punt

1st and 10: 3 yard run
2nd and 7: 5 yard run
3rd and 2: 1 yard run
Punt

1st and 10: Play-action deep to Henderson, but he was covered...incomplete.
2nd and 10: -2 yard run
3rd and 12: 15 yard throw to Taylor tipped away by Marshall DB. Incomplete.
Punt

1st and 10: 3 yard run
2nd and 7: Play action, Sokol pressured immediately, overthrows Dixon in flat in desperation to avoid sack.
3rd and 7: 4 yard run
Punt

1st and 10: 19 yard TD run by Dixon

1st and 10: Sokol fumbled

1st and 10: 6 yard run
2nd and 4: False start
2nd and 9: 5 yard run
3rd and 4: Bad throw by Sokol behind Taylor on 5 yard out. Incomplete
Punt

1st and 10: 0 yard run
2nd and 10: 30 yard play action pass to Henderson. Great throw and catch.
1st and 10: 5 yard run
2nd and 5: 3 yard run
3rd and 2: -4 yard run
4th and 6: Missed FG

1st and 10: Sokol throws ball to Marshall LB

* Just nothing going in the 2nd half. Couldn't run, couldn't get open. Made a couple of bad throws. 2 good offensive plays. (Dixon TD run, Sokol 30 yard pass).

[HogDawg]

* Just nothing going in the 2nd half. Couldn't run, couldn't get open. Made a couple of bad throws. 2 good offensive plays. (Dixon TD run, Sokol 30 yard pass).

Not true. We COULD run. We just didn't run enough. You proved it yourself with your stats.

[T1]

Runs: 4, 3, 5, 1, -2, 3, 4, 19, fumble, 6, 5, 0, 5, 3, -4

We were really pushing them around weren't we?

[hambone29]

For whatever reason, Sokol did not throw the ball well yesterday. I know I'm not very bright, but it wasn't coaching. Considering how limited the team was yesterday, whether through Sokol's injury, the weather, and poor pass blocking, the passing game was way off. I'm sure he wore gloves because he told the coaches he was more comfortable with them. People are way too quick to criticize and question decisions without knowing the facts influencing the decisions. Plenty of QBs in the NFL and NCAA wear gloves. We tried quick passes and short passes and were inconsistent, to say the least. The weather was not very good yesterday. I really don't know why Holtz let that happen.

You're a stubborn smartass.
Obviously weather was the biggest issue, and Sokol couldn't throw well. Neither were Holtz's fault. But when we passed, we were doing 5 and 7 step dropbacks. I don't recall seeing any 3 step quick slants or quick outs, WR screens, swing pass to RBs, etc. That's where I think Holtz didn't do his part. As I've already stated, ultimately it comes down to player execution. But I don't think Holtz helped our struggling QB with his playcalling. It felt like last season.