10/6/11 Worst of the Worst vs. Wake

Another loss, another "worst of the worst". Yeah, we're getting mighty sick of it, too.

Good thing we're playing Clemson this week!!!

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1M) The non-safety safety

Yeah, yeah—I know, we didn’t lose by two points…but it did change the game and would have been a truly needed boost to our D which finally got some pressure on Price. We got screwed out of two points and a safety which would have really been nice.



2W) pass protection

Sucks, isn't there, and plain and simple isn't fair to Chase.



3M) Montel’s fumble

It’s great having Montel back, but a fumble at the goal line by anyone else and the fans would have been calling for blood. This was a terribly timed mistake and removed a “as-sure-as-you-can-be-with-this-team-this-year” touchdown.



4M) Sylvia getting beat on a crucial 3rd down

Not trying to bash one player, as it was a lot more than one play that caused this to be a loss. But it was a crucial 3rd down , and we got beat , which made a comeback insurmountable.



5M) Stupid personal foul penalties

You’re not going to find us agreeing with Frank Spaziani much this year, but this is one we can agree on—those two personal foul penalties were stupid and we’re simply not nearly a good enough team to get away with things like that vs. D1 competition. I know we’re all overly frustrated by this year thus far but take it out on the field the right way between whistles—not after them.



6W) Not getting pressure on Tanner Price

Mike I couldn’t agree more on the penalties. Another gripe of mine was not getting the pressure on Tanner Price that we needed. I think we are REALLY missing Kaleb Ramsey out there , and I hope that he is able to make it on the field soon. Although Kasim Edabali had a good day with some decent swats, we weren't able to consistently put pressure on Price. Even when we sent a blitz, it got belly bounced back.



7M) Timing the blitz by smoke signals

I love that we’re finally bringing pressure by sending LB’s and DB’s, but we were really ostentatious about it, bouncing around the line, showing we were coming WELL before the snap. Part of this can be attributed to the youth that Spaz has chosen to put out on the field, but let’s remember why a blitz works: The o-line/RB is confused as to whom to pick up at the last second, blocks get missed, and a QB unprepared to deal with half the time he had thought he was going to have when he snapped the ball now has to think quick or crap himself. If we let the opposing team know before the snap of the ball what we’re going to do and give a well-coached club an opportunity to adjust, nine times out of ten they’re going to do it.



8W) Fans

The fans did not show up, and I understand a combination of a bad product on the field, the weather, heck the announcer wanted to blame it on the Red Sox having their own debacle earlier on in the week. But I still think the fans should show up and support the team. Regardless of opponent, weather, event, etc. A fan is a fan is a fan is a fan. I think some people forget that fan is short for fanatic, how can you be a fanatic about something if a 20% chance of rain and a tough year stops you from supporting?



9M) Watching Grobe’s bag-of-tricks

If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know I admire Coach Grobe and think he does an extraordinary amount with what he’s got. Yes, there are ups and downs but for in-game coaching I think he’s among the best. He didn’t decide to go uber-conservative, but rather dug into his bag of tricks for that HB/Screen/pass flicker thing which hurt us big time down to our 5 yard line. It was like a little reminder of how creative and well timed plays like that can be, something we haven’t seen much of under Spaz’s tenure.



10W) Seeing another loss to another team we should beat

If you add all the missteps up, you do end up with a loss, but the most painful thing for me is that this is like Duke, NW etc a team we not only could , but should beat.. EVERY SINGLE YEAR!!

We are young, but we have talent, and it will eventually start to rise to the top, but right now its hard to get a home loss to Wake