GoUSFBulls.com Zebold: Bulls Must Make Most of Drives Against Run-Heavy Georgia Tech

[Brad]

A good story from the official site, recommend read all

BULLS MUST MAKE MOST OF DRIVES AGAINST RUN-HEAVY GEORGIA TECH

September 05, 2018

 

By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

TAMPA, SEPT. 5, 2018 – USF's high-powered offense knows it must make the most of opportunities Saturday because there might not be many against a triple-option Georgia Tech team that wants to keep the ball away from opponents.

"Anytime you play an offense like this, you just know and understand you average probably about six or seven possessions per game," offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert said Wednesday.  "We know the importance of when we've got the ball in our hands, we've got to go put points on the board."

USF (1-0) did that often early in the season opener, jumping out to a 24-0 halftime lead against Elon before utilizing its depth after the break. The challenge gets much tougher this week against Georgia Tech's defense, which surrendered 146 total yards (69 passing) in a 41-0 victory over Alcorn State last week.

Georgia Tech allowed just two of 11 third-down conversions in the first game under new defensive coordinator Nate Woody. Using his effective 3-4 scheme, Woody previously helped Appalachian State lead the Sun Belt Conference in total defense three times in his five seasons with the program (2013-17).

"It's a little different scheme from what we saw last weekend, but (we'll) just put a solid plan together," Gilbert said. "It's just trying to go out and execute at a high level and be efficient with what we're doing."

USF wasn't wasteful with its possessions in the first half of the season opener, scoring on four of six drives with three touchdowns. Blake Barnett threw all three of his touchdown passes before the break and turned in the top scoring debut by a USF quarterback in less than three quarters of action.

Despite Barnett and many of his teammates seeing their first action as Bulls, USF produced its third straight game with 500-plus yards. Under Gilbert, the Bulls have accomplished the feat in eight of the past 13 games.

"It really just sets a platform," Gilbert said. "… There were a lot of unknowns going into (Elon). You go back, evaluate, assess and look at, and just continue to trend upward is the goal and what we have in mind."

Jean-Mary to Face Former Mentor 
Second-year USF defensive coordinator Brian Jean-Mary will be taking a trip down memory lane Saturday at Raymond James Stadium.

Also USF's assistant head coach, Jean-Mary was the linebackers coach at Georgia Tech from 2004-09 and served under head coach Paul Johnson in Jean-Mary's final two seasons with the Yellow Jackets. Jean-Mary was a part of Georgia Tech's ACC Championship team in his last run with the program.

"I have the upmost respect for (Johnson). He gave me an opportunity to stay at Georgia Tech after being there for four years and he really didn't have to," Jean-Mary said. "I was a young coach. He didn't know much about me and he took a chance on me. I'll always be grateful to him for allowing me to go work under him. I learned a lot of things from him."
Rest of report

[NewEnglandBull]

Would love to see some ball control drives on Saturday to give D a rest and GT offense off the field. 

[Brad]

If DCBJ-M (?) can shut down the GT offense, or at least contain it in a win, it might be the best coaching job we've seen in a very, very long time.

[MikeG]

The one thing this article has done is make me obsessed with the number of possessions we will have during the game. While they might be right, they seem to be giving GaTech a ton of credit for just grinding away the clock with extended drives. I just know that I will be keeping mental track of this during the game now.

 

[T-Man]

I had the same thoughts MIKEG.   However they can only have three chances to make each first down, hopefully we can stop them here and there and have 11-12 possessions!  **** now I too will be counting possessions.

[NewEnglandBull]

7 hours ago, MikeG said:

The one thing this article has done is make me obsessed with the number of possessions we will have during the game. While they might be right, they seem to be giving GaTech a ton of credit for just grinding away the clock with extended drives. I just know that I will be keeping mental track of this during the game now.

 

I posted on Sunday this point. It is possible we get only 2 offensive series each quarter. This will be especially true if GT converts on 3rd or 4th down. This game will be won or lost based on our D getting a few 3 and outs and GT giving us 2 turnovers. There were times last year and even last Saturday (at times) when the D could not get off the field. Got to stop the 3rd down conversion. Once the offense gets the ball I have no problem with short passes and running plays to give our D a rest. Yes, if/when the GT defense starts to cover tight and moves their LBs in closer we can throw the long medium pass, but this should be the exception not the rule. 

Edited September 6, 2018 by NewEnglandBull

[MikeG]

1 hour ago, NewEnglandBull said:

I posted on Sunday this point. It is possible we get only 2 offensive series each quarter. This will be especially true if GT converts on 3rd or 4th down. This game will be won or lost based on our D getting a few 3 and outs and GT giving us 2 turnovers. There were times last year and even last Saturday (at times) when the D could not get off the field. Got to stop the 3rd down conversion. Once the offense gets the ball I have no problem with short passes and running plays to give our D a rest. Yes, if/when the GT defense starts to cover tight and moves their LBs in closer we can throw the long medium pass, but this should be the exception not the rule. 

Two things I would like to address regarding this whole GT time of possession dominance over reaction:

1) We need to dictate how this game is played and not simply go along with the whole "oh no, they run the option-- Help!" crap. I don't care if our team scores on the first play every time we get on the field--- we need to play OUR GAME that suits our players on offense. Also-- I don't think Ga Tech is some incredibly unstoppable offense or they would also be ranked and respected nationally. I've seen their offense and it is solid and dependable but in no way is it a certainty that they just generate first after first down. They will eat a lot of clock because they run a lot -- other than that, our defense needs to step up and play THEIR GAME. Hopefully it  is enough.

2) 7 or 8 possessions is ridiculous. Even in their Alcorn state game, the time of possession was nearly equal (29 to 31 minutes TOP). That was with GT generating 25 first downs(543 yards) to Alcorn State's 10 (146 yards). FYI -- Ga tech went for it just once on 4th down and were stopped and converted 8 out of 12 third down attempts (it was a 41-0 win afterall-- lots of 1st downs without needing the 3rd down). The point to note out of that was even a team getting their butts handed to them was able to get a stop against them 4 times. Add to those 3 turnovers (1 INT, 2 out of 4 fumbles lost) - i.e. this team is not some perfectly oiled option running football machine. But they are to be respected certainly-- they punted just once so they only gave the ball back (other than through scoring) a total of 5 times. The ESPN box score did not show total number of possessions for Alcorn State in this game (had to be at least over 10) but having more was not going to help them in this beat down.

So let's not get so worried about stats. Stats never won a football game. Our team needs to go out there and take it to them, play our game on offense and bring it on defense. A balanced attack with Cronkrite back in carrying the ball will certainly help. Look for those turnovers (they did fumble 4 times last game) and a gift interception when they actually do pass. I'm glad our fans are showing concern and I hope our players are as focused and determined.

[BullyPulpit]

12 minutes ago, MikeG said:

Two things I would like to address regarding this whole GT time of possession dominance over reaction:

1) We need to dictate how this game is played and not simply go along with the whole "oh no, they run the option-- Help!" crap. I don't care if our team scores on the first play every time we get on the field--- we need to play OUR GAME that suits our players on offense. Also-- I don't think Ga Tech is some incredibly unstoppable offense or they would also be ranked and respected nationally. I've seen their offense and it is solid and dependable but in no way is it a certainty that they just generate first after first down. They will eat a lot of clock because they run a lot -- other than that, our defense needs to step up and play THEIR GAME. Hopefully it  is enough.

2) 7 or 8 possessions is ridiculous. Even in their Alcorn state game, the time of possession was nearly equal (29 to 31 minutes TOP). That was with GT generating 25 first downs(543 yards) to Alcorn State's 10 (146 yards). FYI -- Ga tech went for it just once on 4th down and were stopped and converted 8 out of 12 third down attempts (it was a 41-0 win afterall-- lots of 1st downs without needing the 3rd down). The point to note out of that was even a team getting their butts handed to them was able to get a stop against them 4 times. Add to those 3 turnovers (1 INT, 2 out of 4 fumbles lost) - i.e. this team is not some perfectly oiled option running football machine. But they are to be respected certainly-- they punted just once so they only gave the ball back (other than through scoring) a total of 5 times. The ESPN box score did not show total number of possessions for Alcorn State in this game (had to be at least over 10) but having more was not going to help them in this beat down.

So let's not get so worried about stats. Stats never won a football game. Our team needs to go out there and take it to them, play our game on offense and bring it on defense. A balanced attack with Cronkrite back in carrying the ball will certainly help. Look for those turnovers (they did fumble 4 times last game) and a gift interception when they actually do pass. I'm glad our fans are showing concern and I hope our players are as focused and determined.

It appears that Alcorn State had a total of 12 possessions in the game. We had a total of 12 possessions versus Elon. I think we can reasonably expect to have 11 to 12 possessions against GT. The key is going to be getting off to a good start. The last thing in the world we can afford is for GT to get the ball first, grind out a 5 or 6 minute drive, then we go 3 and out, and they grind out another 5 or 6 minute drive and we find ourselves down 10-0 or 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. 

[Bull Dozer]

6 minutes ago, BullyPulpit said:

It appears that Alcorn State had a total of 12 possessions in the game. We had a total of 12 possessions versus Elon. I think we can reasonably expect to have 11 to 12 possessions against GT. The key is going to be getting off to a good start. The last thing in the world we can afford is for GT to get the ball first, grind out a 5 or 6 minute drive, then we go 3 and out, and they grind out another 5 or 6 minute drive and we find ourselves down 10-0 or 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. 

This. 

Getting on the scoreboard early is mandatory this week.    Tech's offense will only get better/stronger as the game goes on due to the combination of the heat,  humidity, and option offense.   If we get down two scores early it's going to be a very long day.  

 

Edited September 6, 2018 by Bull Dozer

[NewEnglandBull]

17 minutes ago, MikeG said:

Two things I would like to address regarding this whole GT time of possession dominance over reaction:

1) We need to dictate how this game is played and not simply go along with the whole "oh no, they run the option-- Help!" crap. I don't care if our team scores on the first play every time we get on the field--- we need to play OUR GAME that suits our players on offense. Also-- I don't think Ga Tech is some incredibly unstoppable offense or they would also be ranked and respected nationally. I've seen their offense and it is solid and dependable but in no way is it a certainty that they just generate first after first down. They will eat a lot of clock because they run a lot -- other than that, our defense needs to step up and play THEIR GAME. Hopefully it  is enough.

2) 7 or 8 possessions is ridiculous. Even in their Alcorn state game, the time of possession was nearly equal (29 to 31 minutes TOP). That was with GT generating 25 first downs(543 yards) to Alcorn State's 10 (146 yards). FYI -- Ga tech went for it just once on 4th down and were stopped and converted 8 out of 12 third down attempts (it was a 41-0 win afterall-- lots of 1st downs without needing the 3rd down). The point to note out of that was even a team getting their butts handed to them was able to get a stop against them 4 times. Add to those 3 turnovers (1 INT, 2 out of 4 fumbles lost) - i.e. this team is not some perfectly oiled option running football machine. But they are to be respected certainly-- they punted just once so they only gave the ball back (other than through scoring) a total of 5 times. The ESPN box score did not show total number of possessions for Alcorn State in this game (had to be at least over 10) but having more was not going to help them in this beat down.

So let's not get so worried about stats. Stats never won a football game. Our team needs to go out there and take it to them, play our game on offense and bring it on defense. A balanced attack with Cronkrite back in carrying the ball will certainly help. Look for those turnovers (they did fumble 4 times last game) and a gift interception when they actually do pass. I'm glad our fans are showing concern and I hope our players are as focused and determined.

No problems with your first point. No they are not unstoppable on offense but because of their uniqueness, it does require some concern...especially relative to our weakness (at times in stopping the run). I have not seen anything yet to warrant our defense as anything but average but hopefully CCS will up their game this week (which more than possible relative to our defensive success last year). Yes, if the opportunity to score is there we need to take over playing for time of possession but, mark my words,  if we cannot ride we have no chance of winning this game. 

Point two: not saying Getting only eight possessions is going to happen, but with any team running the option there is always a chance that could happen.  But, my point was if the defense is still having trouble stopping the runs down the middle, tech can slow the game down considerably. 

 I am not taking USF to win in this game, but I am sure hoping that I am wrong wrong wrong. If we get three turnovers we will win.