No, I don't think so. When it comes down to it, Florida is just more talented on their DL then we are on the OL. We are going to struggle mightily trying to move the ball and that won't be Kehoe's fault. We are going to need some breaks to have a chance to win this game, plain and simple.
There were a few bad beats last week (Bunche specifically) and Flowers got off balance a few times, but on the whole, the OL did really well. But they need to be a lot more consistent this week, backside cuts need to be more effective and the playside guard on the power plays needs to do A LOT better job preventing penetration. There were at least 3 power plays (including the 4th and short on the first drive) where the pulling guard didn't even get to the hole because he cut up early because the playside guard got blown up, and then the guy he was supposed to block made the tackle in the hole. Henderson, Feliciano, McDermott and Wheeler did really well, Linder was good but not great, and Bunche and Flowers struggled some.
Also, just random note, Duke needs to follow the freaking fullback, few plays Hagens went outside and Duke cut it up too early and Hagens ended up outside with no one to block while Duke got taken down after a few yards. Nitpicking, but left some yards on the field.
Unless I was watching another game or just plain forgot, it was the backside defensive tackle who made the play comeing through the pulling guard's vacated hole. That's an easy down block that was missed.
BTW, on the Edward's 4th down play that was on the true freshman. Whether they reviewed it or not, it is irrelevant. If Edward's gets below pad level, then he carries that guy into the end zone. Even if it's FAU you can't run high like that at the Division 1 level. This ain't high school son.
Agree with your other points.
I'm a little worried that our shotgun protocol where the guard taps the center to snap it will give Easley a great basis for timing the snap
I'm a little worried that our shotgun protocol where the guard taps the center to snap it will give Easley a great basis for timing the snap
That'll just prepare him for the snap coming, doesn't give him an audio cue for him to jump which should actually help. And if he tries to develop a rhythm off of that, having them do a double tap is an option that's used.
Apparently our OL sucked last game and yet we had 500 yards of total offense and 300 on the ground. Doesn't make sense to me.
That and we were 2 dropped TD's away from a blowout in the 1st quarter.
Personally I would be surprised if our unit didn't hold their own this game. I like our OL.
Play mean. They'll be ready for it this game. It's UF. FAU was a warmup.
This is not an attack on the poster, but your post immediately brought me back to the Coker/Shannon days. Posters would make critiques about various aspects of the team's performance, but would immediately get drowned out by fans with blinders on: "We won the game ... that's all that matters ... why are people ****ing ... fans are idiots ... etc...."
If you didn't see any issues with the way our OL performed against lowly FAU then I don't think you were looking very closely at the game.
Notwithstanding supposedly very high talent on our OL, we appear to have the same **** problem we had last year - an inability to get tough yards on 3rd downs, in the red zone, and especially on the goal line. Recall, that we scored a lot of points last year, but very few of those TDs came as a result of pushing back the DL and jamming the ball in the end zone. We relied on the big play and misdirection, rather than manning up and beating the guy across the line, even against purportedly lesser teams. That type of offense will get exposed against top notch teams, just as it did last year.
i am hopeful that our short yardage problems last Saturday were the product of Kehoe shuffling guys around, and he does not pull that **** this week. But we'll have to wait and see.
I don't think he responded with "we won the game, so shut up and be happy". I think he responded fairly by pointing out that we gained a ton of yards, busted off about 8 ypc and gave the QB plenty of time to throw. That's a valid counter to the "Our OL sucks" rhetoric being tossed around after that fau game. When discussing the OL, it's fair to point out the yards our offense gained, including yards per carry, and the fact that we could have scored at will in that game if we left our starters in and kept pressing the issue.