I understand those who will say… “we won the game, enjoy it”… but the difference yesterday between a victory and a loss was NOT that great, and the changes/differences that I saw after re-watching the game, were more subtle, but STILL made a huge difference. My observations:
1) The BIGGEST hole… the DB’s are average against top notch WR’s… Maybe it’s that they’re a bit undersized, maybe it because they play soft, maybe it’s because they don’t play the ball, maybe they feel they have to hold and grab and get penalties, and maybe it’s a combination of ALL of that… BUT, when the DL is playing hard, stuffing the run, and pressuring the QB.. and their WR’s are dropping the ball for no reason, it’s not quite so obvious, BUT, when the QB has time, our DB’s are in trouble against the better WR’s in the B1G, and in the nation. I don’t think THAT will change this year.
2) What happened after we were up 21-0…
a. Sean Clifford seemed to “lose focus”… the play calling didn’t change much… we seemed to have a similar number of run plays, swing passes, and DEEP balls… However, when we went up 21-0… Clifford was hitting the deep balls at a 100% clip, for big gains, and TD’s… during the 6 or so possession stretch after we went up 21-0… Clifford dropped to abour 20%... He underthrew Hamler ( and he should NEVER throw a 50-50 ball to Hamler because of his size, better to OVER throw him than under throw him), Over threw a wide open Jahan Dotson ( I think), and over threw a wide open Freiermuth… among other missed pass opportunities… the drives resulted in punts, and Michigan gained confidence.
b. The Defense let up… yes, it was slight, and mostly because the Michigan running game all of a sudden came to life… but, the Running game perked up, giving the Michigan QB more time to throw, and put the PSU DB’s in even more trouble…
Some of these things are easily remedied (Clifford needs to keep his head in the game for 4 quarters… and try to score EVERY time they have the ball)… and WIDE OPEN receivers need to be given an opportunity to CATCH the ball... some of these are not easily remedied (i.e. our DB’s)… the REST of the team needs to understand that against the better teams, THEY need help… In a nutshell, to beat Ohio State and other good teams, we are going to need to KNOW where we have issues, DO SOMETHING to address them, and KNOW what needs to be done to address them !!
1) The BIGGEST hole… the DB’s are average against top notch WR’s… Maybe it’s that they’re a bit undersized, maybe it because they play soft, maybe it’s because they don’t play the ball, maybe they feel they have to hold and grab and get penalties, and maybe it’s a combination of ALL of that… BUT, when the DL is playing hard, stuffing the run, and pressuring the QB.. and their WR’s are dropping the ball for no reason, it’s not quite so obvious, BUT, when the QB has time, our DB’s are in trouble against the better WR’s in the B1G, and in the nation. I don’t think THAT will change this year.
2) What happened after we were up 21-0…
a. Sean Clifford seemed to “lose focus”… the play calling didn’t change much… we seemed to have a similar number of run plays, swing passes, and DEEP balls… However, when we went up 21-0… Clifford was hitting the deep balls at a 100% clip, for big gains, and TD’s… during the 6 or so possession stretch after we went up 21-0… Clifford dropped to abour 20%... He underthrew Hamler ( and he should NEVER throw a 50-50 ball to Hamler because of his size, better to OVER throw him than under throw him), Over threw a wide open Jahan Dotson ( I think), and over threw a wide open Freiermuth… among other missed pass opportunities… the drives resulted in punts, and Michigan gained confidence.
b. The Defense let up… yes, it was slight, and mostly because the Michigan running game all of a sudden came to life… but, the Running game perked up, giving the Michigan QB more time to throw, and put the PSU DB’s in even more trouble…
Some of these things are easily remedied (Clifford needs to keep his head in the game for 4 quarters… and try to score EVERY time they have the ball)… and WIDE OPEN receivers need to be given an opportunity to CATCH the ball... some of these are not easily remedied (i.e. our DB’s)… the REST of the team needs to understand that against the better teams, THEY need help… In a nutshell, to beat Ohio State and other good teams, we are going to need to KNOW where we have issues, DO SOMETHING to address them, and KNOW what needs to be done to address them !!
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