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Observations after being distanced from the game and watching most of the replay:
1. Wimbush's first long scamper was like a shot of confidence directly into his veins. He got around the end, opened up to full speed, and then put some moves on defenders before getting taken down inside the 10. After that, you could notice a difference in how he was operating. He was much more confident in running the ball, trusted his vision and feel for the flow of the defense, and relied on his athleticism to make things happen. That was clear on his looooong TD run... which was supposed to be a shovel pass. First-Quarter-Brandon tries to make that throw, or puts it in the dirt for an incompletion, or tries to cut back and gets swallowed up. Post-Big-Run-Brandon was feeling it, and stuck with the outside flow, waiting for his chance to turn it up field on a broken play. Also, he threw a beautiful deep ball to Smythe after his first long run... he's gonna get there.
2. Related - Long's Gameplans Against Good Defenses the Past Two Weeks:
UGA Run Plan: Bad
UGA Pass Plan: Decent
BC Run Plan: Decent
BC Pass Plan: Bad
Long is learning on the job. He's turned in head-scratchers with certain aspects of the gameplans the past two weeks, but I'd suspect BK will work with him on ironing things out. Combine that with Wimbush's much-needed shot of confidence through the second half, and I'd bet we see a decently well-rounded gameplan against MSU as a lite preview of what we'll have in store for USC.
3. BK wasn't lying about the WR depth chart becoming clear. It seems the base personnel grouping after three weeks has clarified itself, and mirrors what we saw used effectively in the B&G game over the offseason:
ESB - Smythe - Mack - Claypool
This allows flexibility, and opens up some nice setup-play opportunities if Long is on his game. The WR screen game is unpopular, but could be devastating if Long figures out WHEN to call the play... leading your opening drive with the WR screen isn't the correct time, IMO, because the opposing defense hasn't been lulled to sleep by certain play flows yet. But, if you're hitting Mack in the slot, or off of motion, and ESB becomes an actual threat as the lead WR, you're going to have opportunities, which will in turn open opportunities for Smythe going deep off of a fake WR screen, which they tried early against BC. It didn't work because, again, Long doesn't have a feel for when to call those plays yet.
4. This defense, man. It's amazing to see how confident they look, even after giving up some plays. There's no sense of impending doom when things go bad. They just tighten up, make adjustments at halftime, and attack the ball.
Tackling wasn't good, but it didn't kill the defense like it would have last year, because the unit is confident and rallies to the ball. "Help Is On The Way" is one of my favorite hivemind ideas in football when it manifests itself, and that's what's happening with ND's defense. Even if the first guy misses and the second guy is lunging and about to be shrugged off, the third, fourth and fifth guys are there to clean up. It's inspiring.
So fundamentally different from the BVG bullshit we suffered through. BK committed a certified crime by allowing that clown to stay on the sidelines at all in '16. Being able to actually trust and look forward to this defense being on the field is a joyous wonderment.
5. There are still red flags about this team that need to be cleaned up. Wimbush got a shot of confidence, but that needs to carry over. If not, and he keeps sailing balls high, Sparty and USC will make him pay. The coverage on the team still looks below-average, despite Crawford's performance. He did an amazing job to steal his first INT, but a ball placed better is a completion over his head. Love seems to be a step behind when a WR tries to get deep on him. Elliot is a total liability in coverage, period. The DL was getting cleared out against BC at times, but Coney played a hell of a game and covered that up. A better OL might give more help at the second level, and bigger runs will get broken off. Bilal looks great against basic reads, but looks worse by orders of magnitude when he has to actually diagnose a play... Tranquill NEEDS to stay healthy.
6. Something is happening during the week in practice that we don't know about... that's the only explanation as to why Dex isn't getting any work in the first half. Even with Adams ripping off two 60+ yard runs and obviously being effective, Dex needs a chance to spell him.
Tony Jones Jr must be the most devastating pass protector, and the most gifted receiver out of the backfield, in the world, or else Dex is the absolute worst in the world at those two things.
1. Wimbush's first long scamper was like a shot of confidence directly into his veins. He got around the end, opened up to full speed, and then put some moves on defenders before getting taken down inside the 10. After that, you could notice a difference in how he was operating. He was much more confident in running the ball, trusted his vision and feel for the flow of the defense, and relied on his athleticism to make things happen. That was clear on his looooong TD run... which was supposed to be a shovel pass. First-Quarter-Brandon tries to make that throw, or puts it in the dirt for an incompletion, or tries to cut back and gets swallowed up. Post-Big-Run-Brandon was feeling it, and stuck with the outside flow, waiting for his chance to turn it up field on a broken play. Also, he threw a beautiful deep ball to Smythe after his first long run... he's gonna get there.
2. Related - Long's Gameplans Against Good Defenses the Past Two Weeks:
UGA Run Plan: Bad
UGA Pass Plan: Decent
BC Run Plan: Decent
BC Pass Plan: Bad
Long is learning on the job. He's turned in head-scratchers with certain aspects of the gameplans the past two weeks, but I'd suspect BK will work with him on ironing things out. Combine that with Wimbush's much-needed shot of confidence through the second half, and I'd bet we see a decently well-rounded gameplan against MSU as a lite preview of what we'll have in store for USC.
3. BK wasn't lying about the WR depth chart becoming clear. It seems the base personnel grouping after three weeks has clarified itself, and mirrors what we saw used effectively in the B&G game over the offseason:
ESB - Smythe - Mack - Claypool
This allows flexibility, and opens up some nice setup-play opportunities if Long is on his game. The WR screen game is unpopular, but could be devastating if Long figures out WHEN to call the play... leading your opening drive with the WR screen isn't the correct time, IMO, because the opposing defense hasn't been lulled to sleep by certain play flows yet. But, if you're hitting Mack in the slot, or off of motion, and ESB becomes an actual threat as the lead WR, you're going to have opportunities, which will in turn open opportunities for Smythe going deep off of a fake WR screen, which they tried early against BC. It didn't work because, again, Long doesn't have a feel for when to call those plays yet.
4. This defense, man. It's amazing to see how confident they look, even after giving up some plays. There's no sense of impending doom when things go bad. They just tighten up, make adjustments at halftime, and attack the ball.
Tackling wasn't good, but it didn't kill the defense like it would have last year, because the unit is confident and rallies to the ball. "Help Is On The Way" is one of my favorite hivemind ideas in football when it manifests itself, and that's what's happening with ND's defense. Even if the first guy misses and the second guy is lunging and about to be shrugged off, the third, fourth and fifth guys are there to clean up. It's inspiring.
So fundamentally different from the BVG bullshit we suffered through. BK committed a certified crime by allowing that clown to stay on the sidelines at all in '16. Being able to actually trust and look forward to this defense being on the field is a joyous wonderment.
5. There are still red flags about this team that need to be cleaned up. Wimbush got a shot of confidence, but that needs to carry over. If not, and he keeps sailing balls high, Sparty and USC will make him pay. The coverage on the team still looks below-average, despite Crawford's performance. He did an amazing job to steal his first INT, but a ball placed better is a completion over his head. Love seems to be a step behind when a WR tries to get deep on him. Elliot is a total liability in coverage, period. The DL was getting cleared out against BC at times, but Coney played a hell of a game and covered that up. A better OL might give more help at the second level, and bigger runs will get broken off. Bilal looks great against basic reads, but looks worse by orders of magnitude when he has to actually diagnose a play... Tranquill NEEDS to stay healthy.
6. Something is happening during the week in practice that we don't know about... that's the only explanation as to why Dex isn't getting any work in the first half. Even with Adams ripping off two 60+ yard runs and obviously being effective, Dex needs a chance to spell him.
Tony Jones Jr must be the most devastating pass protector, and the most gifted receiver out of the backfield, in the world, or else Dex is the absolute worst in the world at those two things.
