9/23/11 -- Worst of the Worst vs. Duke

So sue us. We're a little on the depressed side, if you haven't noticed. Here's the worst of the worst from the Duke loss.
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1Mike) Freese missing the XP

Missing an extra point is just something that never seems to go unpenalized. Sure, you can put the blame on Freese for missing the chip-shot at the end to win it, but let’s be clear here—we wouldn’t have lost had he missed that kick, we would still have been tied. That would have had us playing things differently from the get-go.



2Wesley) The same play

Bubble Screen was used about 2,264 times from Duke, and the worst thing is we didn’t do anything to stop it.



3M) Not centering the ball

If you decide that you’re going to kick for the win, take the play before to CENTER the ball. Kicking from that close in using the far hashes in CFB does not make that an easy kick. Yes, he could have made it and should have, but at that tight of an angle, I firmly believe that if that ball was centered, Freese makes that kick and we’re all collectively complaining how we barely beat Duke vs. wallowing in the new fact that we are one of only two winless BCS AQ teams.



4W) The deep tosses

Mike, I agree the ball should have been centered, but it wasn’t really what caused the loss, and it really shouldn’t have ever gotten to that point in my mind.

As much as I hated those dink and dunks, you had to know they were going to toss a couple deep, well they did.. And they were successful , and it was intensely painful to watch our DB's whiff on defending them.



5W) The FG miss

It’s not often you’re afforded the opportunity to correct a mistake in a game. Freese missed the XP earlier which put BC in this situation, and he had the opportunity to give the Eagles the first win of the year. The kick wasn’t super duper easy, but a scholarship players in a BCS AQ conference needs to hit that kick.



6W) The Stadium

One thing I would add is that I didn’t really mind the Offensive playcalling, outside of abandoning the run… no that’s not a segway, I am just trying to be somewhat positive.

When the internet was all nice and warmed up for me to watch the game ( yes that is pathetic) but the stands were barren. If we expect the product on the field to be somewhat decent, we should support the players accordingly.. I understand not everyone will appreciate the coaching or the end result, but we need to do a better job of supporting them



7M) The Gift TD

At least they were being aggressive, but our DB’s colliding into each other in a “Bad News Bears” style, gift-wrapping a Duke 50 yard touchdown throw to let them back into the game after BC started out10-0 was just brutal.



8W) The lack of halftime adjustments

Mike you stole my line, I was calling us the bad news bears all day long lol.. Good call

When we went into halftime, we were up, but Duke had recently scored. But we had plenty of time during the half to come back strong and make adjustments.

But Zero adjustments were made during the half, and the same things that were working against us in the first half continued to be successful in the second.



9M) The squib kick before halftime

Hey, if you’re in a game and the kick returner has already hurt you badly and there’s 10 seconds left on the clock—I get it. Squib kicking it is a good idea as you generally prevent any type of big return in exchange for giving your opponent cherry field position with what, maybe 4 seconds remaining. Doing this with over a minute and a half while your opponents have three timeouts left (and are unlikely to kneel down like we are) was borderline criminally stupid. Duke did what any team possessing a coach not fresh off a lobotomy would do, they aggressively marched down the field, judiciously using timeouts when necessary, and scored.



10W) The Spaz Half time show.

Am I being nit picky? Hmmm yeah I am. Let me say this, I think Spaz has a lot of passion, he gets after the guys as needed, shows some excitement during the game. BUT HE NEVER shows it to the media. Which is how he can interact with his audience. If Spaz wants to be all coach talk all the time, well he better start getting an unblemished record.


RECAP
Not going to bother a poll for this one. We all lose.