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Game Thread: ODU 12:00 noon 9/16 ESPN2

Lot of infighting after a 3-0 start. If this was Vandy I don’t think we’d see the same type of discourse, and I don’t think ODU is worse than Vandy.

It’s a dub, move on and beat Tech. Winning next week sets up a potentially ranked matchup with Clemson.
 
EatLeadCommie said:
Nice to get a win, and I was at an event and couldn't watch the comeback, but the only good thing about today is that maybe it gave Griffis some confidence after playing about as bad a game as I can remember. Let us not forgot that he also had an easy INT dropped in the endzone. I understand why you want to keep a green QB in there to get experience, but he absolutely deserved to get benched.

Most of us had noticed the OL problems and his hesitancy in the first few games, and those issues have persisted. But now it's pretty clear that the hesitancy in the pocket is going to continue to be a problem regardless of whether or not the line problems work themselves out as OL problems often do. He is not seeing the field well and his arm strength is either not showing up or just isn't there.

Regardless, the win is important because it gets us halfway to bowl eligibility. Play like we did today and 6 wins will be no easy task. A bowl game and the bowl prep is important for the program.
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Let’s be honest. He had at least 3-4 more INTs flat dropped. There was one drive where 3 straight passes could have easily been picked.

I think he throws a pretty ball and his arm strength is adequate, but not great. But he only throws a pretty ball when his mechanics are good, and they are often terrible, partly due to bad OL play, but often due to his indecisiveness and slow, but happy, feet.
 
DeacsOrDie said:
Plenty of what you said is why he should be QB1
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wat

the only positives that 'swood mentioned were that Griffis showed a ton of heart and rallied

which, uh, sure, but the other 99% of the post revolved around how shit he's been for 5+ quarters of play against pretty bad teams
 
Well at least if we had lost it probably wouldn’t have been the most embarrassing one of the day. We could be Ok St right now, for example.
 
A few thoughts on Griffis.

He's started 4 games and is 4-0. The competition hasn't been great, but it includes an SEC team and a 17 point road comeback.

He needs to make quicker decisions and get better at making the correct read. I have to think that comes with experience. See Wolford, John.

We could do a few things to play to his strengths, like rolling him out because he's shown that he can run and he can throw on the run. He's also a very good mid-range passer. The receivers are the strength of this team - give them those quick routes and I think Mitch can most often put it on the money.

I want to see more slow mesh. It literally gives the quarterback more time to make a decision. The only time we really ran it today, he hit Morin on a perfect throw for a long touchdown. More please.
 
Post game thoughts:

  • I'm really glad Wake won (obviously). Game gave Liberty '22 vibes. We came out flat and aren't good enough just to show up against any team and win.
  • We need to get healthier. Having guy like Chase Jones, S. Clapp, and Hite available today would have helped.
  • Credit to Griffis for battling back and making enough plays at the end of the game to win. He seems like a gritty hardworking dude and I hope he continues to improve. However, his lack of height, mediocre arm strength, him holding on to the ball too long, and sometimes spastic nature in the pocket are all really concerning. Additionally, I was under the impression he would be a better runner - so far, that hasn't been the case. I hope this was game was a big learning experience for him.
  • It seems the key to beating our offense is putting pressure on the OL and QB. Examples: today, Lville 2022, Elon 2023. How can Wake counter this? My guess is short game and getting Griffis out of the pocket. Curious what other people think.
  • Defense kept us in game. Big props to them. J. Roberts is a dude. Good for him for making the most of this opportunity.
  • DLine was really good. Glad to see guys like J. Davis and even Ganious out there making plays.
  • Carson played well.
  • Ellison had a good second half
  • Our WR's are good. However, not having D. Greene is definitely hurting us.
  • OLine was inconsistent and at times awful. Second half looked much better than the first. Hopefully we can get healthier.
  • These games happen in college football. Literally everything that could go wrong did in the first half. The way the Deacs responded says a lot about the character and resiliency of this team. I'm hopeful this bodes well as we enter ACC play.
 
I know the ODU offense was really bad and Tennessee is currently struggling, but why don’t we spread teams out wide more? The bunch formation in the red zone doesn’t make a ton of sense to me, as it puts all 11 defenders in a small area, making it really hard to run the ball, and also harder for the OL to diagnose where pressure is coming from.
 
tigerswood said:
I know the ODU offense was really bad and Tennessee is currently struggling, but why don’t we spread teams out wide more? The bunch formation in the red zone doesn’t make a ton of sense to me, as it puts all 11 defenders in a small area, making it really hard to run the ball, and also harder for the OL to diagnose where pressure is coming from.
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Maybe we should go back to 2013. Adopt the the wide o line splits. Just as we did after abandoning the option offense with a pocket passer tanner price. That was a fun time!
 
1976Deac said:
I’ve watched more games than you are old, son.
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And yet this is the first time you’ve seen a team win a game in which they collectively played like dogshit? If not, do they deserve a pass for squeaking out a miracle victory against a borderline FCS program?
Regardless, I’m glad your sense of misplaced fan superiority is intact. We are all on the same team here, dad. No need to call out other fans - who were mostly right in their assessment and evaluation.
 
Haros said:
Yep, no disagreement from me. He’s our #4 CB this year and I wonder if he’s only forced into that role because Stevenson went down for the year in the pre-season. He has measurables and may turn out good, but you hate to play someone before they’re really ready.

That play just stood out as it was one of really just 2-3 breakdowns (and the most pronounced one given it resulted in their only offensive TD).

Still curious who the safety was there and what he was doing.
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Forced in a sense that he auto got the job, there'd have been a competition if Zamari was healthy so I'd be interested to see what would've happened had Z not gone down.

Also one of those guys I feel like it can be a bit misleading to call him a RSFr in terms of experience because he missed all of last year with an injury so he's basically learning college football on the fly.

Malik was flat footed on that one
 
The bad news.

The Wake Forest defense allowed four explosive ODU plays that accounted for 203 yards and ten points. It's hard to win games when your opponent receives freebies of that nature.

The Wake Forest offense was absolutely inept in the first half. It failed to score and gifted ODU an interception and a fumble courtesy of Mitch Griffis. 17-0 ODU at the half. To make matters worse Griffis threw a pick six midway in the third quarter that allowed ODU to stretch their lead back to 17 points. The momentum from an 8 play, 75 yard Deacon TD drive to start the second half disappeared.

The good news.

The Deacs D limited ODU to 97 yards on the other 59 plays that ODU was on offense. The D forced an ODU interception and fumble. Ten sacks for 68 yards were also a help. The D established momentum in the second half and never let ODU off the mat. Game ball to the D in their best performance of the year.

The offense got rolling on the ground to start the second half and came up with yardage when needed the balance of the half.

Griffis didn't quit and every aspect of the O improved and did their part in scoring 27 second half points.

This was an ugly game and will provide the coaching staff plenty of "learning" moments in practice. The Demon Deacons dodged a bullet today, but did demonstrate grit until they assumed control in the fourth quarter. Be happy for the win.
 
IamThunderbolt said:
It was Mustapha. Everyone bites on a double move at times (especially at the down/distance). And while his run support is elite, he’s above average in coverage.

Eta: my bad, different play. I was talking about the wide open WR who was overthrown. I don’t know who had coverage on that side in the TD.
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Malik didn't even really bite on the double move too hard on the throw that went errant. Legit just slipped (something that happened a fair amount of both sides to my eye)
 
tigerswood said:
I know the ODU offense was really bad and Tennessee is currently struggling, but why don’t we spread teams out wide more? The bunch formation in the red zone doesn’t make a ton of sense to me, as it puts all 11 defenders in a small area, making it really hard to run the ball, and also harder for the OL to diagnose where pressure is coming from.
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The wide splits are weird because they require you to be close to a perfect passer if the defense chooses to take away inside routes. Hooker played it to perfection, but Milton and Wilson showed the cracks of it. You have to be basically spot on with everything or else the offense doesn't go. You running the ball successfully is dictated on the defense not being disciplined, which can work but people usually end up keying in and being able to stop you from hitting massive explosives.

You can stop the pressure by forcing less bodies to be close to the LOS but if you're consistently in 3rd and longs because you can't run the ball or they take away the short routes and you missed the deep ones: we saw today what happens. You can dial up pressure since you don't need to man up for a couple of extra yards and play roulette
 
Harpua said:
Lot of infighting after a 3-0 start. If this was Vandy I don’t think we’d see the same type of discourse, and I don’t think ODU is worse than Vandy.

It’s a dub, move on and beat Tech. Winning next week sets up a potentially ranked matchup with Clemson.
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Wake hasn't looked good yet against a very weak schedule. I don't think 4-0 will get Wake into the polls even with a bye week before Clemson.
 
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