Grey,
I’d enjoy a long debate with you over this but I just don’t have the time and when I do it’ll be old news at that point. So this is all I’ll be able to contribute on this game.
I looked back at the DL/OL sizes and you’re right. I must have been smoking some bad crack but I got them backwards in my head. State’s OL was 50-100 lbs bigger than PCU DL. State’s DL was the same size as PCU’s OL. So strike what I said about that and I’ll concede that point.
As for the tendencies and errors I was referring to the points I made in the first comment, didn’t see the need to repeat them in the rebuttal. The memory of the PCU game is already fading so I’m not going to try and make any new points outside of what I’ve already said otherwise I’m likely to get games mixed up. The only additions I’d add is this season I continue to see a carryover from the previous era of poor tackling, what appears to be out of position by our secondary (could be talent or could be play calling), and slowness at most defensive positions (either physical ability or lack of understanding their job which will slow down a player).
Like I said before I’m not going back and breaking down game film in order to see everything, just pointing out what I’ve noticed and what really stands out to me as inherent problems against a weak OOC schedule. Since football games are not in my top 10 of things important to me on a daily basis (not implying it of you) my memory retention of individual players and full breakdown of games isn’t going to be there. I’m just a fan who only has enough time to focus on it in short burst, which is why I admit that I make mistakes at recall and some analysis at times.
I’ve got no problem with disagreement and difference in philosophy. Remember a crowd of people can watch a car accident and come away with different accounts of the same thing. I agree that GSU/ODU played as if it was their National Championship and they aren’t complete pushovers. With State’s talent levels they were hard fought games, much harder than they should be but that simply reflects the state of the program where we are today. PCU is awful even for FCS standards (yet somehow they upset #12 Furman, that’s a WTF game right there) and USF is really bad. I noticed your other comment about basing USF on last year’s record and their freshman running back running for 275 yards, what you failed to mention is he did it against a bad WCU team. USF was really bad last year and they are still really bad this year.
As for basing State’s play solely on their play against FSU (and Clemson) I believe the gap in talent level is so great between State and them that IF State does play really well against them then major props will need to be given to both the Coaches (for their game plan and preparing the players) and the Players for playing above their level. Just as I believe in the philosophy you can’t take many positives away from playing bad competition, I don’t think you can take too many negatives from playing a team vastly more talented than you. I think a good, full, real analysis of this team will be made when playing against competition that’s on or near the same level as State and this year that pretty much equates to the second half of the season (BC, Louisville, Syracuse, GT, WF, & UNC).
Outside of the offense taking until halftime to get it in gear, I don’t really see anything so far that is troubling on the offensive side of the ball. It’s amazing what a quality QB can do for an offense. I will be interested to see how the OL does in the second half of the season with their rush blocking, that was an area that has been hurting bad for longer than I can remember. It’s the defense that still looks like they haven’t fixed their problems and has been exploited so far by GSU/ODU (one by scheme and the other by a quality QB) and masked by ultra-inferior competition in USF/PCU.
I’m sure we’ll have many more philosophical and game analysis disagreements as the season moves on but being civil and presenting different points of view is what makes SFN a quality site.
