AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2008 > August > 29 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USJacksonville State Impressions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Its a little past midnight and I just rolled into the driveway and snuck into my basement without waking up my wife. We’re supposed to hit the road first thing in the morning, for a weekend trip to Savannah, but I wanted to get a few things down in the blog while they were still fresh in my head. I’m going to brain dump a bit, so bear with me…
It felt great to be back on campus for a tailgate. Its funny how easily I can fall back into “guy mode” and talk trash with the various characters who have made up our tailgate the last several years. While eating fried chicken and sipping off the keg several of us suddenly looked around and smiled. Someone commented, “Man this feels good, I’d forgetten how much I missed it.” Everyone agreed and then went back to talking more trash and drinking more beer. Good times.
Once we got down to the stadium I thought the crowd was pretty good for a Thursday night tuneup game without alot of hype beyond checking out the new coach.
Speaking of the coach….that’s what we have now folks…a COACH. The team came out and looked focused and motivated and crisp. The staff was constantly working with the players constructively in alot of situations and when someone made a bonehead penalty or a mental lapse, they got chewed a new one. On at least two occasions Coach Johnson was personally reaming a guy who made a late hit or a personal foul. I think we’ll see better mental preparation and less stupid penalties than we have seen in past and that is a GOOD thing.
The offense started a little slow but then hit its stride. We ran inside, we ran outside, we pitched the ball, and we threw it down field. Its hard to argue with 41 points built on 484 yards of total offense. The guys on the radio said we had 8 plays that went for over 20 yards. This is an offense you must pay attention to. If you look away you might miss a big play…they can happen at any time.
We only threw the ball 15 times, completing 8 of them. But then we averaged about 17 yards per completion? Yeah…17 yards per completion. And it could have been more except for a few narrow misses to receivers who were open and running loose.
There were rushes of 37, 49, 34, 43, and 22 yards…all by different guys. 8 players got rushing yards and 4 of them scored TDs. My personal favorite was a beautiful 49 yard option pitch to Roddy Jones. He took the pitch got a few blocks and was gone.
Overall…considering this was our first live action with the new offensive scheme, I was very pleased.
Defensively we looked pretty good as well. Perriloux is a great individual talent and he made some great individual plays today to get yardage in a few situations. He made some good throws as well. You know a guy like that is going to make plays.
Morgan Burnett snagged a couple of INTs and the defensive line was able to generate enough mayhem and distraction to limit Perriloux’s opportunities and hold the Gamecocks to a total of 258 yards and 14 points that were derived from a muffed kickoff return and a late “trash” TD against backup defense.
It was kind of nice to have a defense that played smart and disciplined and wasn’t a frenetic blitz fest like we’ve seen in the past. All in all this defense isn’t as flashy and athletic as some of Tenuta’s have been in the past but you get the feeling that its very fundamentally sound and capable to getting the job done and carrying the load in the next few games while the offense comes around and gets on track.
In closing, before I pack it in for the night…I only have two real concerns right now.
1) The kicking game is lack lustre with both missed field goals and a missed extra point.
2) Can the offensive line get the job done in short yardage situations?
We can’t leave points on the field against BC and VT coming up. We have to convert those field goals. And we’re going to be facing defensive lines in our next two games that are going to be tougher to move around. The OL has some work to do.
All in all though…a great night. The team has a ton of film to study now and they know they can execute at full speed. Boston College is going to be tough and Virginia Tech tougher yet again.
I’ll check back in after Labor Day. By then we should have a little more info about Boston College and what we’ll be facing next weekend.
Go Jackets!
THWG!
Comments
By Buzz29
August 29, 2008 2:02 AM | Link to this
Luke Manget made all this PAT in his career. Travis Bell made all his PAT attempts. Dan Burnett missed one in his one year between Luke and Travis. Keep your head up Scott but don’t miss another one!!!!!
By trionbd
August 29, 2008 10:31 AM | Link to this
Great win!!!
Did anyone happen to notice how good Jax State’s band was. Impressive!
By Shambo
August 29, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this
It appears that one really can teach an old dog new tricks. After spending all of last year as Chan Gaily’s apologist, Mr Boggs can still recognize good coaching when he sees it.
I am looking forward to our little exchanges again this year, Mr Boggs….although I don’t think we will have as much to disagree on as in ‘07.
Welcome back, Shambo
By Fan in attendance
August 29, 2008 1:00 PM | Link to this
The game was great! The fans were great! Only a few bad points but overall, a great gameday! However, the Jax St. band was not so much impressive as they were obnoxious. Everytime The Tech band played, the Jax St. band tried to play louder and even going into the 4th quarter, when Tech traditionally plays The Budweiser song, they tried to cover it up.
By UGAgrad2007
August 29, 2008 7:09 PM | Link to this
Good win Tech fans. I think over time that CPJ’s offense will be a hit. I think Dwyer is a great RB and Burnette, Morgan, and Jefferson are great players on D. I wish you luck the rest of the year except for that last game of the year.
By Buzz Belle
August 29, 2008 9:24 PM | Link to this
I can’t tell you how happy I was to be back screaming for the Jackets!
I love football and I love Ga. Tech!
THWG
By Buzz Belle
August 29, 2008 9:26 PM | Link to this
I can’t tell you how happy I was to be back screaming for the Jackets!
I love football and I love Ga. Tech!
THWG
By Buzz Belle
August 29, 2008 9:26 PM | Link to this
I can’t tell you how happy I was to be back screaming for the Jackets!
I love football and I love Ga. Tech!
THWG
By Joshua Barlowe
August 30, 2008 12:33 AM | Link to this
thanks for the class UGAGrad —
hopefully the offense will be in sync and have some harmony by the end of November when we visit Athens.
By Wrecker1
August 30, 2008 5:30 AM | Link to this
Good insights Chris but I don’t agree with you on the defense. I think this group is more athletic than say last year’s D. You can eliminate the 2 DT’s, Barnes and Word-Daniels since they are hold-overs. I think the 2 DE’s are more athletic than Oliver and Roberts, Burnett is way more athletic than anybody in last years secondary, and everyone else could be a wash except for Wheeler, he was a freak. I’m not saying this D is better (yet) but I think in time with these athletes we’ll be better.
By Regan
August 30, 2008 12:58 PM | Link to this
The only thing that was bad all nite was the WHITE FRAT BOY RAP in the big screen. don’t play that s** again. We have all races and cultures on our campus, but the goofy cRAP song was a joke.
By OldGold
August 31, 2008 2:20 PM | Link to this
Looks like a good year to take advantage of some terrible (or maybe unprepared) Clemson, Va Tech, BC, Maryland, UVA teams. Look out for UNC and don’t count Duke out. Go get ‘em Jackets! Keep up the strong D and the heavy footed O, and we’ll all be smelling like oranges by January.
By OldGold
August 31, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this
Scott Blair is a fantastic kicker. He kicked triple duty at Calhoun. Nerves and some bad snaps. They’ll get it together.
By jabster
August 31, 2008 10:57 PM | Link to this
OK, now that everyone has calmed down…
1) The ACC needs to man up (except for Miami). At the rate things are going, it may be GT vs. Wake in Tampa….by default. Suddenly, the road to Tampa looks easier. That is NOT a good thing.
2) Our placekicking needs to improve. I’m gonna worry until it does.
3) Not so worried about the fumbles. The fumbles we saw were NOT related to CPJ’s offense. They were the stupid type that can be cured by the strategic placement of footwear in the posterior cleft. And I am sure that this has already been administered by CPJ.
4) Whatever #14 did, I am sure it is NOT going to happen again.
5) Old Gold: We’re playing Half @$$ U, not Maryland this year.
By NC mountain Tech fan
September 1, 2008 5:26 PM | Link to this
This is just my opinion…instead of placing a foot up…..perhaps Coach Johnson should have his guys practice more….practice does make perfect. Embarrassing one of his guys on the sidelines in front of many…is (again just my opinion) not a trait I like in a person (coach or not).
This is a blog and I’m sure some of you tuff football guys have different opinions.
Go Tech!
By m
September 1, 2008 6:32 PM | Link to this
Yeah…we have a coach NOW… but for the last 6 years we had the worst coach in the history of the NCAA. And the Tech fans that defended Gailey during those years are complete idiots. Gailey sucked the day he was hired and he sucked the day he was fired…. and every Tech fan that tolerated him and did not speak out suck as bad as he still does.
By hello fellow Tech fans
September 1, 2008 7:49 PM | Link to this
glad TBen evidently had a fair/good game and won.
also glad he is not on this Tech team.
By Gailey Can't Coach
September 2, 2008 9:17 PM | Link to this
I agree with m…There were MANY Chan-Huggers who littered these boards with trash about how Chan Gayley was a “great coach” and how all of us should be “glad we have him at GT”…Well that was all a bunch of sugar-coated BS now wasn’t it?
Granted, one game against a lesser opponent does not a season make…BUT, this was obviously a BETTER COACHED TEAM that actually looked like they wanted to come out and take it to their opponent. PLUS, with no Chan-Factor dozing on the sidelines and calling 4 consecutive draws up the gut, the kids were given a chance to take a W when Chan The Amazing would have replaced it with an L.
There are things to work on for sure…But for a FIRST GAME in a completely NEW SYSTEM with mostly NEW COACHES, this was a W that really FELT GOOD!! Sometimes a contract buyout can be a beautiful thing…