(10-10-2017 04:03 PM)vabearcat Wrote:  We are now on our third placekicker. Gantz, whether hurt or not, couldn't retake the job. Paisley is unreliable and kicks it too low. I don't know where this third kicker comes from, but should Fickell get a JUCO or transfer to take on kicking duties next year? Fickell has praised our punter, but nothing I've seen suggests that he is that terrific, either. Perhaps it's his hang time on 35-yard punts? And then our running back situation, supposedly a strength? After all the early season hype over Doaks and Warren, those two combined for 8 carries against UCF, while our QB, Hayden Moore, ran it 13 times. Perhaps the coaching staff thinks Moore is disposable, because why else would you run your QB 13 times when he is neither fast nor particularly mobile, while your Mr. Ohio Football (Warren) and Doaks, your primary RB in-waiting, run it a combined 8 times. When is the last time you saw UC use play-action? These are the kinds of puzzling coaching decisions we are seeing every week. And incidentally, the UCF and Memphis and Navy and Marshall freshman and sophomore RB's all seem faster than either Doaks or Warren. Don't get me started on our speed, or lack of it, in the defensive secondary. Our overall team speed is the poorest of any major college team I've seen this year.

You run Moore 13 times when you see something in the tape or something during the game that shows the UCF defense selling out against the running backs and leaving the QB run open. Moore ran 13 times...for 75 yards. That was effective. The offensive line isn't that good and running game with the backs may just not have been there. How many of Moore's runs were zone read where he made a good read and kept it? A couple of the straight sneaks were really well designed. A couple plays he just took off because it was there.

I have a hard time complaining about the offensive playcalling on Saturday. UC is very limited because of their offensive line and QB (and the wide receivers have had their issues as well). I thought they did a good job moving the ball throughout the game despite those limitations. WHen you can't stop the other team it doesn't matter.

(10-10-2017 03:43 PM)Racinejake Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 03:10 PM)Former Lurker Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 02:37 PM)nachoman91 Wrote:  First off, what does "The R Word" mean? What is he referring to here?

Secondly, I get it that Fickell has taken over a young and less talented team, but so far I'm not at all impressed with his ability to even get them to do the small things well. UC looks undisciplined is almost every area and the amount of bad/dumb/unforced penalties and mistakes is atrocious. Fickell has a long way to go to prove he can head coach at this level.

I don't mean to completely excuse this, but to put things in perspective, just ask yourself how often does a team that is getting its butt kicked by one that is bigger, stronger, faster ever really look good? A lot of times, when players are physically overmatched, the mental game goes out the window, too.

eh, there are plenty of teams that punch above their weight because they are well coached but not very talented. We're in the bottom third in penalties and turnover margin. Lot's of boneheaded plays. But more than that we look simply unprepared on defense at times. Like we don't know what play is coming and aren't close to the ball wherever it goes (as opposed to just being outmatched by bigger, faster, stronger players). Has the feel of the 2015 season in that regard. But I'll agree we were outmatched by Michigan, UCF and possibly Navy. But I didn't see a physical mismatch against Austin Peay, Miami or Marshall (who was 3-9 last year and squeaked by Miami and then Charlotte this past weekend).

How much of it is being unprepared and how much is having a dreadful secondary? I thought the staff did a good job covering for the defensive liabilities against Michigan, basically daring them to throw outside the numbers and down the field. Michigan's qb couldn't consistently make those types of throws and UC stayed in it. Against UCF...UCF destroyed UC outside and down the field. The receivers simply beat the corners and safeties time after time...often for huge plays (the first 2 passes of the game for instance).

Against Navy it was brutal to watch, but go back and see how often the corners and safeties just get blocked out of the play immediately. It's why the pitch was always available for huge yards. UC did an OK job maintaining integrity against the dive and the QB keep (they worked often enough but UC did ok), but the guys that were supposed to stop the pitch were always blocked... often pancaked to the point the guy blocking them could go block someone else. Sometimes your players simply are not good enough,.

I been wondering the same thing about our punter. There was all this praise for him but I haven't seen him kick one longer than 40 yards yet...can't we do better?

Anyone that has coached at any level knows that talent makes bad coaches look like football genius.

(10-10-2017 06:30 PM)digibrink Wrote:  I been wondering the same thing about our punter. There was all this praise for him but I haven't seen him kick one longer than 40 yards yet...can't we do better?

Smith has punted 34 times with a 40.6 yard average. Opponents have a grand total of 27 return yards on those 28 punts. If your problem is the punting game.......

(10-10-2017 07:23 PM)GameTime_21 Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 06:30 PM)digibrink Wrote:  I been wondering the same thing about our punter. There was all this praise for him but I haven't seen him kick one longer than 40 yards yet...can't we do better?

Smith has punted 34 times with a 40.6 yard average. Opponents have a grand total of 27 return yards on those 28 punts. If your problem is the punting game.......

Thanks for posting this. Nothing flashy. Not a huge leg.. but consistently does a good job.

(10-10-2017 07:32 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 07:23 PM)GameTime_21 Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 06:30 PM)digibrink Wrote:  I been wondering the same thing about our punter. There was all this praise for him but I haven't seen him kick one longer than 40 yards yet...can't we do better?

Smith has punted 34 times with a 40.6 yard average. Opponents have a grand total of 27 return yards on those 28 punts. If your problem is the punting game.......

Thanks for posting this. Nothing flashy. Not a huge leg.. but consistently does a good job.

Plus isn't this his first time punting in live games. Not like he grew up playing football.

(10-10-2017 07:36 PM)Nobones Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 07:32 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 07:23 PM)GameTime_21 Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 06:30 PM)digibrink Wrote:  I been wondering the same thing about our punter. There was all this praise for him but I haven't seen him kick one longer than 40 yards yet...can't we do better?

Smith has punted 34 times with a 40.6 yard average. Opponents have a grand total of 27 return yards on those 28 punts. If your problem is the punting game.......

Thanks for posting this. Nothing flashy. Not a huge leg.. but consistently does a good job.

Plus isn't this his first time punting in live games. Not like he grew up playing football.

That doesn't really help UC this year, but it might factor into improvement. As far as this year, I was disappointed with how he started in part because I at least expected him to get some nice bounces with that style but that hasn't really materialized to my recall. However, I think he has looked better lately. And the lack of significant returns against us is a major factor in his favor. A 45 yard punt with no return beats a 55 yarder with an 11 yard return for the team even if the outcome isn't all on the punter. Unfortunately, key stats are hard to come by for college punters (net avg., punts downed inside the 20, touchbacks, etc.)

On the NCAA website it says we're ranked 39th nationally in net punting. Not too bad.

(10-10-2017 04:14 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 03:43 PM)Racinejake Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 03:10 PM)Former Lurker Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 02:37 PM)nachoman91 Wrote:  First off, what does "The R Word" mean? What is he referring to here?

Secondly, I get it that Fickell has taken over a young and less talented team, but so far I'm not at all impressed with his ability to even get them to do the small things well. UC looks undisciplined is almost every area and the amount of bad/dumb/unforced penalties and mistakes is atrocious. Fickell has a long way to go to prove he can head coach at this level.

I don't mean to completely excuse this, but to put things in perspective, just ask yourself how often does a team that is getting its butt kicked by one that is bigger, stronger, faster ever really look good? A lot of times, when players are physically overmatched, the mental game goes out the window, too.

eh, there are plenty of teams that punch above their weight because they are well coached but not very talented. We're in the bottom third in penalties and turnover margin. Lot's of boneheaded plays. But more than that we look simply unprepared on defense at times. Like we don't know what play is coming and aren't close to the ball wherever it goes (as opposed to just being outmatched by bigger, faster, stronger players). Has the feel of the 2015 season in that regard. But I'll agree we were outmatched by Michigan, UCF and possibly Navy. But I didn't see a physical mismatch against Austin Peay, Miami or Marshall (who was 3-9 last year and squeaked by Miami and then Charlotte this past weekend).

How much of it is being unprepared and how much is having a dreadful secondary? I thought the staff did a good job covering for the defensive liabilities against Michigan, basically daring them to throw outside the numbers and down the field. Michigan's qb couldn't consistently make those types of throws and UC stayed in it. Against UCF...UCF destroyed UC outside and down the field. The receivers simply beat the corners and safeties time after time...often for huge plays (the first 2 passes of the game for instance).

Against Navy it was brutal to watch, but go back and see how often the corners and safeties just get blocked out of the play immediately. It's why the pitch was always available for huge yards. UC did an OK job maintaining integrity against the dive and the QB keep (they worked often enough but UC did ok), but the guys that were supposed to stop the pitch were always blocked... often pancaked to the point the guy blocking them could go block someone else. Sometimes your players simply are not good enough,.

I have wondered if the acceptable performance against Michigan might be due to the fact that Coach Fickell had lots of experience game planning for Michigan since as at OSU he played them annually. Most of the other opponents he would have much less prior experience with.

Other than the Navy game, i've seen all the games in person and honestly i think Ucf and Navy had more speed than Michigan. Michigan game was a barometer since it was a big stage, but talent wise on offense i wasn't overly impressed with their athletes. Usf will be the same situation i believe.

Guys.......please. Michigan's offense is not that good. If they ran the spread like the others we've faced; the outcome, at Michigan would have been like UCF and Marshall.

Does anyone else find it hilarious that UC is using Carter Jacobs to model this week's uniform in their weekly tweet?

(10-10-2017 09:49 PM)AeroCat Wrote:  Does anyone else find it hilarious that UC is using Carter Jacobs to model this week's uniform in their weekly tweet?

They figured fans are so used to seeing the back of his uniform we might want to see the front?

(10-10-2017 09:51 PM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 09:49 PM)AeroCat Wrote:  Does anyone else find it hilarious that UC is using Carter Jacobs to model this week's uniform in their weekly tweet?

They figured fans are so used to seeing the back of his uniform we might want to see the front?

That, and he's a natural for the direction: "Just look straight ahead..."

(10-10-2017 10:12 PM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 09:51 PM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 09:49 PM)AeroCat Wrote:  Does anyone else find it hilarious that UC is using Carter Jacobs to model this week's uniform in their weekly tweet?

They figured fans are so used to seeing the back of his uniform we might want to see the front?

That, and he's a natural for the direction: "Just look straight ahead..."

"Alright Carter, just stand there..."

On the coaching side, is it reasonable to assume there would be a learning curve with this staff considering none of them were really working together before? A lot of our recent hires who were already head coaches would have brought a lot of their staff with them. These guys are probably still working on fitting the pieces of the puzzle together, to an extent. I could be completely off base, it was just something that occurred to me.

(10-11-2017 09:46 AM)applegbt Wrote:  On the coaching side, is it reasonable to assume there would be a learning curve with this staff considering none of them were really working together before? A lot of our recent hires who were already head coaches would have brought a lot of their staff with them. These guys are probably still working on fitting the pieces of the puzzle together, to an extent. I could be completely off base, it was just something that occurred to me.

It's a valid point...

I was perhaps more impatient with Fickell than I would be with a true "Rookie" HC (someone who is on the sideline, managing the game as a HC for the first time) because of his "Interim" season at OSU.

This is a "new" staff, but there are several guys who have long experience in college coaching--including two guys who are former HC's themselves (Joker Phillips (Kentucky) and Jon Tenuta (NC State and GaTech))--so I would assume there is a level of professionalism that would come with them.

But it's also true that the staff wasn't completed until after Spring Practice as well. I suppose that one of the preferred outcomes of this year would be the entire staff staying together in the off-season and the Spring...

(10-11-2017 09:25 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 10:12 PM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 09:51 PM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 09:49 PM)AeroCat Wrote:  Does anyone else find it hilarious that UC is using Carter Jacobs to model this week's uniform in their weekly tweet?

They figured fans are so used to seeing the back of his uniform we might want to see the front?

That, and he's a natural for the direction: "Just look straight ahead..."

"Alright Carter, just stand there..."

All of you just brightened my day.

(10-10-2017 07:32 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 07:23 PM)GameTime_21 Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 06:30 PM)digibrink Wrote:  I been wondering the same thing about our punter. There was all this praise for him but I haven't seen him kick one longer than 40 yards yet...can't we do better?

Smith has punted 34 times with a 40.6 yard average. Opponents have a grand total of 27 return yards on those 28 punts. If your problem is the punting game.......

Thanks for posting this. Nothing flashy. Not a huge leg.. but consistently does a good job.

Respectable. They can't all be Kevin Huber.