Myself and another Deac sitting behind me at the game were increasingly frustrated with the loose zone pass defense. On one occasion the TAM back ran out of the backfield to the flat and the ball was thrown when he got there and no Deac was within 10 yards. I understand "bend, don't break" between the 20s but it doesn't work when you give up as many points as we did (and I give TAM a lot of credit for that).
My concerns for next year:
1)better pass D. We play a soft zone and give up a lot of completions, particularly on third down. Our run D is usually good but we have given up too many long plays during games with better competition. Hopefully, the replacement linebackers will be fast and have intuition and quick response to where ball is going.
2) develop a true "killer" instinct. We rarely seem to put a game away against strong competition and we seem to loose focus when we go up by two scores or more. It happened again in this game when we were up 38-21. When our field goal (we should have scored td) was blocked I said I hope this doesn't turn out to be a turning point and unfortunately it did. Don't know whether it's focus, more conservative play calling or what but it would be nice to occasionally blow out a good team and not wait until fourth quarter to put the game away.
3) develop a stronger pass rush. We seemed to rarely blitz in this game. The one linebacker blitz I remember caused a qb fumble which we recovered. I don't think TAM qb was outstanding but we were making him so and do so with any qb we give a lot of time to pass. I realize a lot of his passes were quick release which negates a pass rush but then I go back to my #1 concern.
4) develop a backup qb. Hinton seems to get injured during the course of the season.
Really pleased overall with the direction and results of this team. Clawson appears to talk like he's in it for the long haul. Hope so and he ends up with the second statue on campus.
Good assessment except number 3. Ejiofor and Dunn played lights out and were in the backfield all game and generally hurried QB all year. Duke was credited with, I believe, 2 QB hurries in bowl, which is a farce. He had 3 on the final drive. I watched game again tonight and counted more like 8. Announcers even said “Ejiofor pressured Starkel again...” on final drive. He was credited with 5 total tackles, but was constantly in their backfield. Our DL maybe lacked stats, but most games (not Duke U. somehow) we got pressure.
Issue as stated by many was LB speed which we tried to correct in bowl by inserting Strnad alongside Jarboree in a 4-2-5. Strnad played great. Need that speed to catch the GT quarterbalk, who is still running.
Wolford healthy all year. Strnad inserted earlier and Ejiofor, Dortch and Carney healthy all year and...10 wins or maybe 11.
Next year we’ll be loaded everywhere except LB and K and maybe QB? QB play is everything.
Ridiculously great job by Clawson, OL coach, QB coach, RB, WR and DL coaches.
Defensive backfield will improve.
Special teams a mystery, minus Maggio and the miracle App State win.
I meant to add I don’t think I’ve ever seen a defense play harder and better, and yet give up 52 points.
That and the 25 injuries, 5 for us, hope Cortez is ok, and 20 for TAM, was truly bizarre.
Go Deacs.
