I’m assuming you see these games as tangible results while assuming the competition is still pretty good; I see these games as worthless beyond seeing the mistakes that are made over and over again and will be worse when State plays someone with a pulse.
You quoted me as saying “In all 4 games the coaches were using those games as “pre-season” learning experiences.” How could you then assume I see these games as tangible results? “Results” of what you don’t say but I guess you mean I think State is a good team because we beat what is spoken of as ”
You quote me
a smaller, quicker, well coached OL can do things to open running lanes that larger slower OL cannot do.
and then you say “I did not say or imply it happened every time but they were getting pushed around enough to notice they were getting out muscled by guys weighing 50-100 lbs less than them. There’s a difference between speed and speed with strength and if players at PCU are that much faster than the State DL then it’s worse than I thought.”
Jiggy, your arguments to contradict what I say have little or no relationship to what I said. I don’t think I’m inclined to explain trap blocking, leverage, pulling, etc., but even Presbyterian coaches are smart enough to not try to out muscle the larger state DL. There are many things these coaches can do to take what advantage they can with smaller, quicker linemen. There was a coach at Alabama named Bryant whose OL and DL were often quite a bit smaller than the opposing lines. He seemed to do alright with those guys.
My last comment on big vs. small players is this:
1. If you have big, fast players it doesn’t matter what offense of defense you run or use.
2. If you have big, slow players, you run power offense and even technique defenses.
3. If you have small, quick players, you run finesse type offenses and odd technique defenses.
(Example: Wake forest under Jim Grobe.)
4. If you have small, slow players, see number 1.
I contend that the building blocks of our just installed 4-2 5 defense were being installed vs GSU, ODU and USF. Same for our Wildwolf and jet sweep. Only Creecy had Wildwolf/Wildcat plays called for him. Dayes and Thorton were not ready during the GSU game. I don’t believe our shifting that so confused USF was installed for either GSU or ODU. They may have been vs. ODU, I’m just not sure. The coaches implied we would be tweaking the base D during the week before the PC game. Given the relative strengths of the State and PS there was little need to spend time on a game plan for PC nor was there a real need to “pump” them up for that game. And it showed. What didn’t show was what will be used vs. FSU.
I am NOT arguing that GSU, ODU or USF are in the same class as most of the Power 5 conference teams however GSU and ODU DID came to play — prepared to throw everything the could at us. Coach Doeren came to those games preparing for our conference games. Yes, we wanted to win and we did but not at all costs.
As far as “I think after 25% of the season has been played it’s safe to make quality analysis of tendencies that are being repeated over and over again.” I don’t think it’s safe to make quality analyses at this point given what I know about what we were doing, but I hope Jimbo Fisher agrees with you. ‘Cause if he does, I think we got a surprise for his ass.
Thank you for your comments. I hope we can respectfully disagree on this and perhaps other points as the season goes forward. (I’ve always wanted to say “goes forward” in a sentence.) I do agree that “one of us will be proven correct in the next few weeks” although I don’t think we were merely “feasting on dessert.”
I can’t see your logic in predicting “the offense will continue to score points but only in the 20-29 point range…” And while our offense may find scoring more difficult I don’t think “struggle against better defenses” is an accurate assessment. We shall see, won’t we. Please counter comment as you see fit. I actually enjoy these kind of discussions. I do get more out of them when the other side is a little more specific than “mistakes that are made over and over again” and “repeating tendencies over and over again.” Got any examples of these “mistakes and tendencies” to share.
BTW Do you plan on using how we play against the number 1 ranked team in the nation as evidence you are right? If we play well, I’ll admit I do. 😉 And I know you hope I’m right.
