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Utah St.

I'm thinking we hear "physical specimen" a lot this year regarding Newman. That'll be the new "gritty, gutsy John Wolford" for watered down player descriptions.
 
We'll use the clock against them with our ball control offense.
 
Anyone here know enough about special teams to ease my mind as to Utah St having a 1st team AA as their kickoff returner?
- Can Murphy or Sciba kick it out of the end zone?
- Any ability to pop it up versus the squib (not executed well in the bowl game)
- With Utah St. having 50 new players will their kick return greatly suffer? For instance, a lot of weight is being put on their inexperienced Oline slowing down their QB’s excellent abilities. Same true for KR?

Utah St fan, how important is your return game to your success? Just gravy, since you have Love, or is it something you are counting on and if it is stymied Week 1, you will be concerned it could impact the game?
 
We need to play WAKE FOREST football.

The guys are ready to hit someone.

We'll need to come to play.
 
krukow said:
Anyone here know enough about special teams to ease my mind as to Utah St having a 1st team AA as their kickoff returner?
- Can Murphy or Sciba kick it out of the end zone?
- Any ability to pop it up versus the squib (not executed well in the bowl game)
- With Utah St. having 50 new players will their kick return greatly suffer? For instance, a lot of weight is being put on their inexperienced Oline slowing down their QB’s excellent abilities. Same true for KR?

Utah St fan, how important is your return game to your success? Just gravy, since you have Love, or is it something you are counting on and if it is stymied Week 1, you will be concerned it could impact the game?
Click to expand...


New return rules have changed how returns are set up. Back in the day, walls and wedges were used to create a lane for the return man. Now, I think they can't use more than 1 blocker to engage each cover man.

If that is the case, then it is just putting a hat on a hat. The scheme should be pretty basic and just rely on execution. Experience shouldn't make a huge difference.
 
Clawson has said he wants kickoffs into the end zone. The "return" would be the official walking the ball to the 25 yard line.
 
Deaconblue said:
Clawson has said he wants kickoffs into the end zone. The "return" would be the official walking the ball to the 25 yard line.
Click to expand...

I am sure Clawson wants that. So does everyone here. Any indication we can pull that off this year?

Skinny, good analysis above and that makes sense that experience is not as important, thanks.
 
krukow said:
I am sure Clawson wants that. So does everyone here. Any indication we can pull that off this year?

Skinny, good analysis above and that makes sense that experience is not as important, thanks.
Click to expand...

He has expressed the thought that end zone kickoffs are part of the kicking competition between Sciba, Mora, Murphy, Maggio, Lischke. Who can consistently put the ball in the end zone?

That is also why there were two grad transfer kickers at Wake last year.
 
Complacent Deac said:
We need to establish the run.

We need to stop the run.

The team that wins the turnover battle, often wins the game.
Click to expand...

We laugh, but this kind of analysis appears on these boards every year.

Another favorite is “I can see this as either a Wake blowout or it might really come down to the wire.”
 
krukow said:
Anyone here know enough about special teams to ease my mind as to Utah St having a 1st team AA as their kickoff returner?
- Can Murphy or Sciba kick it out of the end zone?
- Any ability to pop it up versus the squib (not executed well in the bowl game)
- With Utah St. having 50 new players will their kick return greatly suffer? For instance, a lot of weight is being put on their inexperienced Oline slowing down their QB’s excellent abilities. Same true for KR?

Utah St fan, how important is your return game to your success? Just gravy, since you have Love, or is it something you are counting on and if it is stymied Week 1, you will be concerned it could impact the game?
Click to expand...

Scarver, the All American, is good if you give him space. I don’t think our return game will determine our success much. Our offense is going to be key to the game.
 
Deaconblue said:
He has expressed the thought that end zone kickoffs are part of the kicking competition between Sciba, Mora, Murphy, Maggio, Lischke. Who can consistently put the ball in the end zone?

That is also why there were two grad transfer kickers at Wake last year.
Click to expand...

Mora seems like he has a big leg and consistently kicked through the end zone in HS. Not sure if we'll burn his shirt just for kickoffs though.
 
I'm going to post an unrequested preview for the game and match ups to watch, because I'm extremely excited for the season opener and it should be a damn good game (information gathered from multiple preview articles I've read the past few days - opinion pieces will be noted as such).

Preview of USU

Offense
-Obviously they have Jordan Love returning who was incredible last year. He had 64% completion, 32-to-6 TD-to-INT ratio, and the team ranked 20th in passing offense SP+.
-However, he lost their top FOUR receiving targets. They only bring back Jordan Nathan who was okay. Bill Connelly seems to think that Savon Scarver will be the key to success, but he's only caught 20 passes in two years (they were mostly explosive plays though).
-They bring in a grad transfer WR from Utah who was also just okay over three seasons there.
-They did have HUGE offensive line turnover, but offensive line turnover doesn't result in a massive drop in offensive efficiency as one would imagine. They really do have a young and inexperienced rotation on Oline and the Deacs (Lyle Hemphill) should be able to gameplan to exploit that.
-They return Gerold Bright at RB who was very good last season, and a JUCO All American as a bigger option. The offensive line will need to open up holes for this to be nearly as successful, obviously.
-The offense is projected to be 47th in SP+

Defense
-USU's defense should be very good. As noted before by usufanforlife, they return a PFF all american linebacker, David Woodward, who is incredible - and DE Galeai. Galeai had more "havoc" plays than Woodward, but both are amazing players. It's a good thing Wake has such an experienced Offensive line.
-Woodward at ILB is fantastic, but they have a severe unknown at OLB and Wake should be able to exploit that to our favor with our RPO system.
-USU returns possibly the best G5 CB corp in all of the NCAA - but they lost their two starting safety's who we a huge part of the defense last year. Wake could exploit the secondary by going deep. I'd imagine there will be a lot of deep routes with Carney/Beal splitting out wide or up the middle for chunk plays.
-USU's defense is projected 44, and is going to be a tough test for the Deacs to open the season.

Special Teams
-Basically all I could find on USU's special teams is that they're meh.
-Savon Scarver is a great return man.
-Their kicker was 9-12 from 40+ yards out.
-Their punt game is not good.

Personal Matchups to Watch (Opinions in bold)
-Wake's DL exploiting an inexperienced Utah State OL to disrupt Love's game. Love does not appear to be a runner, having 43 rushes last year for only 63 yards (89 for 228 total). He did rush for 7 TD's though, so it'd seem the last coach liked sneaking a goal line run in there to throw off the defense (without watching film). Advantage WFU
-Our LB's and Safety's ability to cover their explosive playmakers out of the backfield (both in passing to Scarver and running from Bright - who averaged 6.3 YPC last year with an 88% catch rate out of the backfield). Lean USU (we have Strnad and Masterson, who I feel good about but have trouble giving us the lean/adv here with relative inexperience at those positions).
-Wake's OL should stack up well against almost anyone, it's not a huge concern for me. They may get their sacks in, but for the most part I expect the pocket to be clean enough for Newman to step up or move out of the pocket. Lean WFU
-Wake's RB/TE blocking ability against David Woodward will be huge. Lean WFU (the advantage imo comes from Newman's RPO ability and their lack of experience at OLB)
-Kendall Hinton's presence in the middle of the field. Even
-Our ability to establish a running threat early with Carney. Advantage USU

Overall, think this game will actually be relatively low scoring with both teams ending between 17-27 points. I think Wake squeezes it out with a 27-19 victory, scoring late in the game to make it a 2-point-conversion-to-tie game.

Personal Predictions:
-Wake will not run the ball well, but pick up a couple chunk plays on Read Option keepers.
-Wake's defense will be dominant, with a couple explosive plays and returns resulting in four field goals and a touchdown.
-Kick and punt return defense will not look good.
-Wake will force three total turnovers.
-Newman will have an efficient game, with a couple gorgeous deep balls.
-Kendall Hinton will have 2 explosive plays off RPO passes up the middle (think Dortch last year)

Football season is here and I'm no longer sad about basketball sucking so...

giphy.gif
 
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If WF forces 3 TOs, WF will win big. In 13 games last year, USU had 18 TOs .
 
CharlotteDeac1 said:
I'm going to post an unrequested preview for the game and match ups to watch, because I'm extremely excited for the season opener and it should be a damn good game (information gathered from multiple preview articles I've read the past few days - opinion pieces will be noted as such).

Preview of USU

Offense
-Obviously they have Jordan Love returning who was incredible last year. He had 64% completion, 32-to-6 TD-to-INT ratio, and the team ranked 20th in passing offense SP+.
-However, he lost their top FOUR receiving targets. They only bring back Jordan Nathan who was okay. Bill Connelly seems to think that Savon Scarver will be the key to success, but he's only caught 20 passes in two years (they were mostly explosive plays though).
-They bring in a grad transfer WR from Utah who was also just okay over three seasons there.
-They did have HUGE offensive line turnover, but offensive line turnover doesn't result in a massive drop in offensive efficiency as one would imagine. They really do have a young and inexperienced rotation on Oline and the Deacs (Lyle Hemphill) should be able to gameplan to exploit that.
-They return Gerold Bright at RB who was very good last season, and a JUCO All American as a bigger option. The offensive line will need to open up holes for this to be nearly as successful, obviously.
-The offense is projected to be 47th in SP+

Defense
-USU's defense should be very good. As noted before by usufanforlife, they return a PFF all american linebacker, David Woodward, who is incredible - and DE Galeai. Galeai had more "havoc" plays than Woodward, but both are amazing players. It's a good thing Wake has such an experienced Offensive line.
-Woodward at ILB is fantastic, but they have a severe unknown at OLB and Wake should be able to exploit that to our favor with our RPO system.
-USU returns possibly the best G5 CB corp in all of the NCAA - but they lost their two starting safety's who we a huge part of the defense last year. Wake could exploit the secondary by going deep. I'd imagine there will be a lot of deep routes with Carney/Beal splitting out wide or up the middle for chunk plays.
-USU's defense is projected 44, and is going to be a tough test for the Deacs to open the season.

Special Teams
-Basically all I could find on USU's special teams is that they're meh.
-Savon Scarver is a great return man.
-Their kicker was 9-12 from 40+ yards out.
-Their punt game is not good.

Personal Matchups to Watch (Opinions in bold)
-Wake's DL exploiting an inexperienced Utah State OL to disrupt Love's game. Love does not appear to be a runner, having 43 rushes last year for only 63 yards (89 for 228 total). He did rush for 7 TD's though, so it'd seem the last coach liked sneaking a goal line run in there to throw off the defense (without watching film). Advantage WFU
-Our LB's and Safety's ability to cover their explosive playmakers out of the backfield (both in passing to Scarver and running from Bright - who averaged 6.3 YPC last year with an 88% catch rate out of the backfield). Lean USU (we have Strnad and Masterson, who I feel good about but have trouble giving us the lean/adv here with relative inexperience at those positions).
-Wake's OL should stack up well against almost anyone, it's not a huge concern for me. They may get their sacks in, but for the most part I expect the pocket to be clean enough for Newman to step up or move out of the pocket. Lean WFU
-Wake's RB/TE blocking ability against David Woodward will be huge. Lean WFU (the advantage imo comes from Newman's RPO ability and their lack of experience at OLB)
-Kendall Hinton's presence in the middle of the field. Even
-Our ability to establish a running threat early with Carney. Advantage USU

Overall, think this game will actually be relatively low scoring with both teams ending between 17-27 points. I think Wake squeezes it out with a 27-19 victory, scoring late in the game to make it a 2-point-conversion-to-tie game.

Personal Predictions:
-Wake will not run the ball well, but pick up a couple chunk plays on Read Option keepers.
-Wake's defense will be dominant, with a couple explosive plays and returns resulting in four field goals and a touchdown.
-Kick and punt return defense will not look good.
-Wake will force three total turnovers.
-Newman will have an efficient game, with a couple gorgeous deep balls.
-Kendall Hinton will have 2 explosive plays off RPO passes up the middle (think Dortch last year)

Football season is here and I'm no longer sad about basketball sucking so...

giphy.gif
Click to expand...


Nice job.
As long as we get a decent win and no injuries, I’ll be happy.
By decent, I’m talking double digit margin.
 
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