Georgia Tech has lost seven straight games as a road favorite - four by double digits - including last week at South Florida. The Yellow Jackets haven’t won a game as a road favorite since 2014.


Link
https://twitter.com/chrisfallica/status/...1546583040

(09-14-2018 04:08 PM)GTFletch Wrote:  Georgia Tech has lost seven straight games as a road favorite - four by double digits - including last week at South Florida. The Yellow Jackets haven’t won a game as a road favorite since 2014.


Link
https://twitter.com/chrisfallica/status/...1546583040

If it's the FAVORITE that's the problem, I'll tell you the same thing I told Syracuse and Pitt fans: if your team can get the upset win, but can't win as a favorite, that tells me the coach is not getting the players prepared properly (my thinking: players get themselves ready when they are in the underdog role).

If it's the ROAD that's the problem, it still could be a mental readiness thing - players are naturally more amped up when they play in front of the home crowd.

EITHER WAY, I look at the coach when I see patterns like this.

I agree with Mark. It's tough as a coach to keep the coaches and players focused. It's tempting to look ahead to big games like Clemson. It's tough but that is why they have ridiculous salaries.

It's time for the PJ era to end.

(09-15-2018 02:40 PM)jaminandjachin Wrote:  It's time for the PJ era to end.

Live look into the future where GT football takes people recruited for the spread option and tries to make them do literally anything else.

(09-15-2018 02:42 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(09-15-2018 02:40 PM)jaminandjachin Wrote:  It's time for the PJ era to end.

Live look into the future where GT football takes people recruited for the spread option and tries to make them do literally anything else.

Yeah. even if you replace PJ today you are still looking at a multiple year rebuild because your roster is devoid of talent and playmakers on both sides of the ball.

Eight now that they lost to Pitt.

My issue is that 10 years later, we are seeing the same problems that Coach Johnson himself identified 10 years ago. And there doesn’t appear to be even a hint of a plan that would give us hope to believe that if he is GT coach 10 years from now we won’t be seeing the same problems even then.

1) When he complained about defensive coaches early in his tenure, it was reasonable. Maybe the DC was a bad fit, or wasn’t as good up close as they appeared to be. But 3-4 DCs later that same reasoning wears thin. especially when you only have 18 wins in the last four years

2) When you’re complaining about people on the Oline not doing a good job early in your tenure I can understand that maybe you haven’t had time to install the plan and player development, but when I’m hearing the same stuff 10 years later it indicates that you really haven’t made the changes you knew you had to make.

Time to rebuild

Well then. You should put your money on the opposition that way if you lose at least you get paid!

Really folks, the change in the blocking rules killed option teams this year. It's not only Tech that has to retool and probably get a coach that runs a different system, but it's Army, Navy and Air Force as well. The cut blocking is gone and with it smaller linemen who are quicker are losing their last niche. The rules favor the immovable objects and faster linebackers. So the Wishbone is finally broken.

(09-17-2018 09:21 PM)JRsec Wrote:  Well then. You should put your money on the opposition that way if you lose at least you get paid!

Really folks, the change in the blocking rules killed option teams this year. It's not only Tech that has to retool and probably get a coach that runs a different system, but it's Army, Navy and Air Force as well. The cut blocking is gone and with it smaller linemen who are quicker are losing their last niche. The rules favor the immovable objects and faster linebackers. So the Wishbone is finally broken.

Good Point...
http://blogs.hudsonvalley.com/west-point...le-change/
Army Coach Jeff Monken
“There’s a lot of people out there trying to get rid of blocking below the waist because they want to make it into a big man’s game and frankly, I don’t think they want to face this offense,” Monken said. “I think they would like to see it just eliminate this offense altogether. They might get it done but we are going to continue to do it. If they tell us we can’t block below the waist, I don’t think we can go change our offense.” Monken added, “I don’t think it’s a great rule for football. Pretty soon if we eliminate blocking below the waist, it will become a big man’s game because a smaller athlete will not be able to win a one-and-one battle with a bigger player. I think that takes the parity out of the game. How does an undersized team have a chance to block a team that is bigger? They don’t. If you have two guys that are playing with really good pad level and really good fundamentals, physical superiority cancels all theory. No data at all,” Monken said. “Nobody has done any research on it. We block below the waist every day in practice against our scouts. We go the No. 1 offense and the No. 1 defense and block below the waist. We do it all spring, all preseason camp, every day in practice during our CIC (Commander in Chief’s live) periods. “It’s amazing we don’t have anybody getting hurt. It’s learning to play a block and learning to play with your hands, defeating the block. It’s just playing football. We have far more guys that get hurt getting tackled below the waist than getting blocked below the waist. A block you can see coming. A tackle, you can’t see coming. Sometimes, they come from the side and you don’t see that tackle coming.”


The new rule is being put into effect because of perceived safety reasons, but Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson already has found a flaw with it. “Either blocking below the waist is dangerous or it’s not,” Johnson told the White and Gold website. “It’s not any more dangerous 5 yards down the field than it is on the line of scrimmage, so, if it’s that scary, they ought not tackle below the waist.”


But either way JRsec you are correct...the end of the wishbone is upon us!

If you read the rules cut blocks haven't been removed from the game inside the tackle box. If the rule changes are having that much of an effect on your offense as an option team then blame your coach. Teams ran the option for decades without cut blocks outside the tackle box.

Back in the day I was an undersized offensive lineman on an option team in high school. We were taught to go low when blocking DLs but shoulder high in the open. Basically, if the guy you're blocking was standing, try to knock him down, but if he was already low, go lower.

DBs make great pancakes!

Bill C and Alex K did an analysis of all the option teams so far this season:
https://www.sbnation.com/college-footbal...orgia-tech

The short answer is that it's still early, but as a group the TO teams are getting called for more penalties and having less successful plays than 2017. If the trend holds over the full season, there will have to be some kind of adaptation to the blocking schemes for the TO to continue to be a viable offense.

(09-18-2018 06:42 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  Back in the day I was an undersized offensive lineman on an option team in high school. We were taught to go low when blocking DLs but shoulder high in the open. Basically, if the guy you're blocking was standing, try to knock him down, but if he was already low, go lower.

DBs make great pancakes!

I was a WR/DB on a team that ran the exact same offense GT runs. The only time I was trained to cut block was when I was coming back inside to get a "crack back" block. I have to admit it was fun as hell as the tall, skinny kid to come back inside and submarine some fat boy lineman.

Other than that we were told to block straight up or to "chicken fight". I took a lot of pride in pissing the DB off by drive blocking them 15 yrds downfield, often drawing personal fouls, and often it would lead to them giving me a cushion to play the run that I could exploit in the passing game. They have since eliminated the style of "crack back" block that we used, but that was done years ago.

Our linemen were taught the same way you were....cut block in the box, man up outside of it.

(09-19-2018 09:13 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(09-18-2018 06:42 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  Back in the day I was an undersized offensive lineman on an option team in high school. We were taught to go low when blocking DLs but shoulder high in the open. Basically, if the guy you're blocking was standing, try to knock him down, but if he was already low, go lower.

DBs make great pancakes!

I was a WR/DB on a team that ran the exact same offense GT runs. The only time I was trained to cut block was when I was coming back inside to get a "crack back" block. I have to admit it was fun as hell as the tall, skinny kid to come back inside and submarine some fat boy lineman.

Other than that we were told to block straight up or to "chicken fight". I took a lot of pride in pissing the DB off by drive blocking them 15 yrds downfield, often drawing personal fouls, and often it would lead to them giving me a cushion to play the run that I could exploit in the passing game. They have since eliminated the style of "crack back" block that we used, but that was done years ago.

Our linemen were taught the same way you were....cut block in the box, man up outside of it.

Crab blocking was still a bonafide technique when I played. The offensive lineman fired out and started toward the defenders legs on all fours with no knees on the ground. You put you shoulder into his shin and then in the mix you slipped your wrist behind his ankle locking up is foot and pushing him over. It wasn't my favorite block to execute but it worked. But then I preferred playing defensive nose guard. Head slaps were legal and getting into the mind of a center was fun!

(09-19-2018 11:12 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 09:13 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(09-18-2018 06:42 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  Back in the day I was an undersized offensive lineman on an option team in high school. We were taught to go low when blocking DLs but shoulder high in the open. Basically, if the guy you're blocking was standing, try to knock him down, but if he was already low, go lower.

DBs make great pancakes!

I was a WR/DB on a team that ran the exact same offense GT runs. The only time I was trained to cut block was when I was coming back inside to get a "crack back" block. I have to admit it was fun as hell as the tall, skinny kid to come back inside and submarine some fat boy lineman.

Other than that we were told to block straight up or to "chicken fight". I took a lot of pride in pissing the DB off by drive blocking them 15 yrds downfield, often drawing personal fouls, and often it would lead to them giving me a cushion to play the run that I could exploit in the passing game. They have since eliminated the style of "crack back" block that we used, but that was done years ago.

Our linemen were taught the same way you were....cut block in the box, man up outside of it.

Crab blocking was still a bonafide technique when I played. The offensive lineman fired out and started toward the defenders legs on all fours with no knees on the ground. You put you shoulder into his shin and then in the mix you slipped your wrist behind his ankle locking up is foot and pushing him over. It wasn't my favorite block to execute but it worked. But then I preferred playing defensive nose guard. Head slaps were legal and getting into the mind of a center was fun!

Whoa! Dunno if this is a really late or really early post for ya, you old bastige!

They did teach the crab blocks to the OL early in my youth football days. Late 70's/early 80's.

(09-19-2018 11:22 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 11:12 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 09:13 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(09-18-2018 06:42 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  Back in the day I was an undersized offensive lineman on an option team in high school. We were taught to go low when blocking DLs but shoulder high in the open. Basically, if the guy you're blocking was standing, try to knock him down, but if he was already low, go lower.

DBs make great pancakes!

I was a WR/DB on a team that ran the exact same offense GT runs. The only time I was trained to cut block was when I was coming back inside to get a "crack back" block. I have to admit it was fun as hell as the tall, skinny kid to come back inside and submarine some fat boy lineman.

Other than that we were told to block straight up or to "chicken fight". I took a lot of pride in pissing the DB off by drive blocking them 15 yrds downfield, often drawing personal fouls, and often it would lead to them giving me a cushion to play the run that I could exploit in the passing game. They have since eliminated the style of "crack back" block that we used, but that was done years ago.

Our linemen were taught the same way you were....cut block in the box, man up outside of it.

Crab blocking was still a bonafide technique when I played. The offensive lineman fired out and started toward the defenders legs on all fours with no knees on the ground. You put you shoulder into his shin and then in the mix you slipped your wrist behind his ankle locking up is foot and pushing him over. It wasn't my favorite block to execute but it worked. But then I preferred playing defensive nose guard. Head slaps were legal and getting into the mind of a center was fun!

Whoa! Dunno if this is a really late or really early post for ya, you old bastige!

They did teach the crab blocks to the OL early in my youth football days. Late 70's/early 80's.

Well they were around for another decade plus then as a legal block. We had the reach block, the pass block, the crab block, and of course the pulling block which frequently was a cut block if we were sealing the edge on the outside linebacker, or a push (your chicken fight) block if we were leading interference. The chop block was legal too and we usually used that on the defensive end. The tight end would seal him and the tackle would hit him below the knees. Every August for 2 to 3 hours we would do these over and over and over from 3:30 in the afternoon to 5:30 or 6:30 until the coach thought we had it down. Salt tablets were served and no water was given out. It was bad for you and would slow you down. Those were different days. I'm glad I survived them. The games were fun! Practices were hell!