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[FB] Game 7 - vs Maine - 10/21 - 3:30PM


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We are missing arguably the best player in the fcs and/ or the caa... Hanks. Are we missing any wide receivers at this point? Our TE was out last game. The O line is young. Brunson, still young.

 

On the flip side, play calling has seemed lethargic and anemic. Predictable. Gattuso has had four years, this is his squad. Cant blame anything on previous coaching staff.

 

We are playing in arguably the best fcs conference in the country. We aren't playing the NEC week in and week out.

 

With that being said, I agree with 96, next year is the moment of truth. Everyone should be healthy and a year more mature.... I say UA makes it to the playoffs or boot Gattuso

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Last year, an upper classmen laden line and an all-conference back masked the other offensive deficiencies. The loss of Hanks and the 4 newbies on the O Line are a big blow. Our Defense is probably the best we've ever seen. Even with Brad Harris out again, I think McDonald, Diggs and Crockett are as good a threesome as UA has ever had. What we still don't have is a reliable QB who can make all the throws and/or a reliable play caller. I must admit that the late game rub route by McDonald was a thing of beauty. Brunson appeared to be tossing up those "jump balls" again, but he had a little too much juice on them for the most part which created more of a standard finish to the play instead of the jump at which Diggs and others excel. Still, take away the sack and penalty and we may get the FG to win it. I don't know what separates Brunson and Sussman in terms of who gets to start. Sussman definitely has the more powerful arm. Brunson still is not seeing the whole field and is missing wide open players. Does anybody think that either of our top QBs is superior to the the Redshirt Freshman that Maine was starting?

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I don't agree on Sussman's arm by the way. He was REALLY terrible last year. Doesn't have vision on the field - remember all of the interceptions - most on over thrown balls. If the O line was little better Brunson would also be a little better. It is hard to believe how bad they are! And it is not just the terrible blocking it is the penalties - killed us again. Pass protect is FAR easier than rush blocking. They have got to GET DOWN a little and move their freaking feet!!! No way defensive linemen should be just running around them. Play calling was better. O line should be able to open some holes so we can run a little!!!. And I agree - skill players need to be able to make plays and catch the ball. If the ball hits both hands is should be caught at least 75% of the time!!!! Penalties killed us again. I wish ALL of the refs were calling the same game. If offensive interference is called when it occurs then defensive interferences need to be called - end of that story - outrageous!!! BUT it still always comes down to the offensive line - they just can't be that bad!!! When a QB gets sacked 4 - 7 times per game it is very difficult for him to complete passes. He has to learn to look off the primary receiver and then come back AND he has to learn to throw the damn ball away rather than taking a sack! We can't seem to get a good QB. They think Brunson is great - they must think over the next two years he will be really good. They better sign a couple of BIG fast QB's like most other teams in the league seem to have!! They have new QB's every year but none of them seem to be better than Sussman or Brunson. I would not say that the Maine QB is that much better. Better O line, which is opening holes AND doing a far better job of protecting him - Better play calling - Their Running back was leading the league at around 157 per game before playing us. He had less yards yesterday - AND our Defense STAYS in the zone MOST of the time and they just have always given TOO MUCH SPACE on the line. Zone should not require 10-11 yards off the receiver, 7 -8 yards should be enough. Someone else posted that they line up 7 yards - NOT true - I actually count the yards on every line up [ they have been doing the same thing for 4 years] - they line up at LEAST 10 yards and many times 11 yards or more unless they switch to a man coverage. I don't care what team it is they will complete a lot of the passes under the coverage, which is what every team has been doing for several games. They do scout us!

Edited by HOF2013
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BTW - all of the dropped passes or MISSED catches were not Brunson's fault. Yes the balls may not have been perfect passes BUT a skilled position player NEEDS to catch a pass that hits both of his hands even if it's a little out front or behind or high. Just sayin'

 

As a follow-up on my previous post - if a corner or half back - whatever you want to call them - lines up at 7 yards off the line the other team will NOT be able to complete those short passes. They AU coaches must not think the secondary guys are fast enough or agile enough to get to the zones and make plays so they line them up deep so they set them at 10 - 11 yards. When they line up at 10 yards a 6 - 8 yard square out or slant will work MOST times. It is behind the LB's but in front of the secondary guys. I just do not understand having those guys that deep.

 

I agree it seems they have all the money on Brunson and will keep him in the job at all costs - BUT as I also said the O line causes a lot of the issues he is having.

 

I am trying to keep emotions out of it - some guys seem not to.

Edited by HOF2013
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Here’s the thing...and 1882 will disagree, but Brunson wasn’t bad. He really had zero time to throw in the first half. He had more time in the 2nd. He took a bad sack...but otherwise got rid of the ball even if it was incomplete to avoid losses. He played pretty smart.

 

Once the staff got creative, he hit guys that were in stride or open.

 

Diggs dropped a pass and MacDonald had two drops.

 

THis loss isn’t on Brunson...and what I am dismayed about is our total lack of a real honest to goodness game plan. We are all over the place from game-to-game. And, I fully understand that we have to change schemes depending on a defense’s strengths...but man, where was that play calling we saw in the 2nd part of the 4th Quarter. Why was that missing all game.

 

And it wasn’t like Maine played a different scheme because we were up big...

 

Next year, there are ZERO excuses. We will be as deep as ever and as seasoned as ever. For me, it’s the year or something’s gotta change. Mark Benson has given this program as much resources as needed at this level. It’s time to produce.

 

I have to respectfully disagree. Even when he had time Brunson missed EASY throws in the flat, missed a couple wheel routes and sailed way too many balls on the sidelines. Yes the line is young and a problem right now and I've thought his accuracy issues were because of pressure but today I watched that closely. There were a couple where he was pressured but a majority of them were just bad passes. I'm sorry if you don't agree but that is what I saw and it's a problem. I really want him to be good. I want him to improve and be our starter the next two years but it seems to be one step forward and two steps back.

 

As for the scheme change in the second half, they just decided to throw more and it really didn't change much other than the final drive where they got two long completions. The other long drive was basically one long run by Mofor and a FG. Rest of the drives were terrible. It's not like they ran up and down the field in the second half.

 

Some easy throws were missed but ALL QB's miss easy throws - as many of the missing have to be put on the receivers. if you are a decent WR and the ball hits both or you rhands - YOU HAVE TO CATCH the ball, even if it is out front, behind, high, low, whatever. If it is in BOTH hands you have to catch it more than not! MOST of the issues with the offense is with the line - that causes ALL of the other issues.

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Just for the record, my comment on Sussman was in regards to arm strength, not accuracy.

 

With regards to the receivers, what I was trying to get across was the difference between the Richmond and the Maine game. In the Maine game, lots of the deep balls were to well covered receivers who did not have a chance to stop and jump, as opposed to the UR game where they did. It looked to me like they were trying the same tactic and the timing/depth was off a bit. Ah well...time to move on to Rhody.

Edited by jimbo
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the Danes still do not have a CAA level QB IMO. Brunson has poor pocket presence, poor footwork to avoid the rush and an average at best arm. Every game we have played, the opposing QB has a league level arm compared to ours. Sussman should not play at all at QB, that phony wildcat is a waste of time. Our play calling I will continue to say is vanilla. They continue to throw low-percentage deep jump balls with little result. Our defense, while giving up yardage has held together pretty well overall. We did lose Hanks which hurts the running game but the coaching staff has to figure out how to get their best players (receivers) the ball early to make plays. IT started out as a great atmosphere and ended up like being at ghost town due to a poor offensive display..I was praying McDonald ran that punt back to the house.

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My two favorite teams have the same problems. Terrible offense and good defense. Terrible offensive line, play calling issues and questions. So frustrating. I was hoping that one of the two team would snap out of it but I guess not. See avatar for other team.

 

 

I was @ your avatar team yesterday. It was like deja-vu all over again. I thought I was back @ Casey watching the Danes. i.e. I share your double frustrations. At least avatar has as QB and @ least the Danes have receivers. Keep the faith.

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My two favorite teams have the same problems. Terrible offense and good defense. Terrible offensive line, play calling issues and questions. So frustrating. I was hoping that one of the two team would snap out of it but I guess not. See avatar for other team.

 

 

I was @ your avatar team yesterday. It was like deja-vu all over again. I thought I was back @ Casey watching the Danes. i.e. I share your double frustrations. At least avatar has as QB and @ least the Danes have receivers. Keep the faith.

 

 

I have season tickets with my brother but I let him take his 10 year old son yesterday. I'm glad I did. He told me our section was filled with Seahawks fans that were being jerks and I don't do well with that. haha.

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My two favorite teams have the same problems. Terrible offense and good defense. Terrible offensive line, play calling issues and questions. So frustrating. I was hoping that one of the two team would snap out of it but I guess not. See avatar for other team.

 

 

I was @ your avatar team yesterday. It was like deja-vu all over again. I thought I was back @ Casey watching the Danes. i.e. I share your double frustrations. At least avatar has as QB and @ least the Danes have receivers. Keep the faith.

 

 

I have season tickets with my brother but I let him take his 10 year old son yesterday. I'm glad I did. He told me our section was filled with Seahawks fans that were being jerks and I don't do well with that. haha.

 

 

I only get to a game once every couple of years; so I do not know if this was normal or not. But there were so many Seahawk fans around yesterday, I was convinced Amazon was in town scouting locations for their new HQs.

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My two favorite teams have the same problems. Terrible offense and good defense. Terrible offensive line, play calling issues and questions. So frustrating. I was hoping that one of the two team would snap out of it but I guess not. See avatar for other team.

Actually they were 10 - 11 yards most times. I counted each to see because they are way to deep. 7 yards is not too deep for most corners or halfbacks. 10 or more is. Please reference my earlier post about this

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