Sunday Reflections

[APPdiesel]

I think Lamb has to be a concern for anybody that has watched him throwing all year. He has consistently underthrown our recievers on deep balls, even on his good stat days (Stats don't reflect under thrown completions the recievers have to slow down or wait for), and he is missing wide open guys on his bad days. Now, to be fair, he has played in 2 bad weather games and against agruably the best defensive backfield in the country. But, his lack of a big arm (I would say below average strength at this level) is concerning. It really shows against better competition. He doesn't seem to have the power to drive the ball deep or into timing patterns with the pace that will be neccessary as the competition gets better. Just my point of view, but I have a concern about it.

I've said this since he took his first snap last year. Even against Howard in perfect conditions (Unless you sat on the east side...I burned up) his throws didn't have much behind them. I think this is why you're seeing us run the ball more than pass. Could be wrong. Hopefully as a former QB himself, Satt can help him improve his arm strength and mechanics

Yeah we built an entire offensive scheme because our QB doesn't have elite arm strength...give me a break.

We run first throw second because it's a tried and tested offensive philosophy that works. It forces defenses to play downhill which takes the pressure off the QB to carry the game themselves. Sure beats the predictable swing pass on 1st, delayed handoff on 2nd, swing pass on 3rd, punt scheme from the past.

twitter.com/diesel933

I said I could be wrong and only time will tell. I'm hoping for the best man. I'm one of the ones that made the bold 11-1 Prediction. But I know for that to happen we will need more from Lamb. That's something I think we all agree on, and we have time for that to happen. We will need to do better on third downs in big games. 3rd down pass conversions. Sticking to my 11-1 bold prediction because I think Lamb will improve.

Not trying to argue with anyone, just stating what I view to be a valid opinion.

Good news is we've got the really really stinky GSU this weekend in a climate controlled environment. He'll have an opportunity to pick apart a defense with a dry football without driving rain in his face.

twitter.com/diesel933

[scatman77]

Regarding 3rd down conversions: we didn't do well yesterday because we converted a) a lot of first downs into another first down; b) converted 2nd down into first down. There weren't a lot of 3rd downs to begin with. I see that as a positive.

[moehler]

Wyoming showed us we are vulnerable against the power running between the tackles, fortunately, Georgia Southern plays to our strengths, they are a finesse, speed team, that make their yards running to the outside. On a good note, Hill is the best running back we will play all season, what a beast, we will not see a better back the rest of the season. I'm not worried about Lamb's arm, our offense isn't predicated on him throwing "ropes" down the field, what does concern me is his judgement, not only passing, but running the ball, I know he doesn't like to run the ball, you can tell by his reluctance, but teams are keying on the backs and ignoring Lamb, there was atleast 4 or 5 times yesterday, where he misread the DE crashing down on the back. There was one play, where the entire defensive line and linebackers sold out and gambled Lamb would hand the ball to Cox, they were right, and it turned into a 3 yd loss, if he would have kept it, he is probably still running, If the offense is going to reach its potential, he must keep the defense honest, and run the ball atleast 5 or 6 times a game.

[hapapp]

Nonetheless, we were 0-8 on 3rd downs.

[sixtoes9134]

I for one liked the test that Hill presented, because it will be equally as much of a test if not more with Breida in a few weeks.

I'm not hung up on trying to analyze too much from yesterday, the weather was nasty for a second straight week, that's got to wear you down a bit.

[Rick0714]

Seems to me that the option and finesse running teams we play against, our defense does well, its the power running teams like Wyoming that we have difficulty with (at least historically ... and yesterday). Luckily we don't have very many of those on the schedule, as they are becoming more of a rarity in college football. I think we will match up as good as anybody can with GS, especially after watching their OL a couple of games this year.

[fjblair]

We won. We look pretty good. Now we will play the next team on the schedule.

[APPdiesel]

We won. We look pretty good. Now we will play the next team on the schedule.

If they don't score right there at the end, it's a 31-7 rout in a hurricane (which is a butt whipping in my book). I didn't get to watch as I was at the clemson/notre dame game. Did it seem that we took our foot off the gas in the 2nd half or did what we were doing just not work?

twitter.com/diesel933

[asucrutch23]

https://twitter.com/75p_parker/status/6 ... 27233?s=03

Sounds like good news on Collins injury

[hotrod2001]

App's Facebook thread on Wednesday was touting that there were only 300 tickets left for this game. So if it wasn't for the nasty weather in the region (I mean you can't even get into Columbia, SC at the moment) the place would probably have been rocking pretty solid (no pun intended.)

[Rekdiver]

Parker just tweeted good news. Whatever the injury it can be assumed it is not terribly serious and recoverable in short order.

[AppSt94]

We won. We look pretty good. Now we will play the next team on the schedule.

If they don't score right there at the end, it's a 31-7 rout in a hurricane (which is a butt whipping in my book). I didn't get to watch as I was at the clemson/notre dame game. Did it seem that we took our foot off the gas in the 2nd half or did what we were doing just not work?

twitter.com/diesel933

To me it looked like that the kids may have lost some focus after the two quick scores. Also, the offense didn't run their second play of the game until about 6+ minutes left in the 1st qtr. We had the ball for a total of 8 minutes in the first half. It's hard to get into a rhythm when your not on the field.

The defense bent but did not break. I thought we handled their size up front very well. Tackling didn't seem to be as crisp as what we have become accustomed to.

[clayton]

Wyoming was 2-6 in the red zone (including the garbage time touchdown).

That's the definition of a "bend, but don't break" defense. That's particularly impressive considering they spent almost all of the 1st quarter on the field.

[MtnDevil95]

While I agree the "bend don't break" defense was good in this case because it did not break. I will say that it is not a good model for sustained success. On more than one occasion, especially in the first half, Wyoming was playing defense against itself with bad penalties creating 3rd and long situations. I absolutely give credit to our red zone defense (Gibb's pick 6 and the back-to-back sacks pushing Wyo out of field goal rang) but "bend don't break" in a close game will often dial up a close loss.

Other teams that have had that mentality on defense have typically also been either undersized or slower or both. While the Poke's down 5 o-linemen were nearly as big as the Clemson down 5, I think we played Clemson better.

The weather maybe plays a role, the lack of respect of and 0-4 team maybe plays a role, either way App's defense needs to get itself back to the level of play they had at ODU and smack the crap out of Georgia State.

[JTApps1]

Everyone knows Taylor doesn't have a cannon, but he puts the ball in the right place more often than not. He had a bad game against Clemson who is a top 10 defense, and then against Wyoming in absolutely terrible weather. I know the Wyo QB had more completions, but other than the long pass late (which was very under thrown as their WR had to cut off his route and dive for it) he had one pass over 15 yards completed. He had another long pass that was under thrown, and it would have been picked by Law had it been on target. All of his other passes were short passes.

Nobody complained about Taylor throwing the ball against ODU, Howard, or any of the games last year. Fact is he is 9-3 as our starter, and he broke Armanti's Freshman passing record last year in less games. I think he is doing fine and will remain our starter for the remainder of the year minus injury.

[JTApps1]

Wyoming showed us we are vulnerable against the power running between the tackles, fortunately, Georgia Southern plays to our strengths, they are a finesse, speed team, that make their yards running to the outside. On a good note, Hill is the best running back we will play all season, what a beast, we will not see a better back the rest of the season. I'm not worried about Lamb's arm, our offense isn't predicated on him throwing "ropes" down the field, what does concern me is his judgement, not only passing, but running the ball, I know he doesn't like to run the ball, you can tell by his reluctance, but teams are keying on the backs and ignoring Lamb, there was atleast 4 or 5 times yesterday, where he misread the DE crashing down on the back. There was one play, where the entire defensive line and linebackers sold out and gambled Lamb would hand the ball to Cox, they were right, and it turned into a 3 yd loss, if he would have kept it, he is probably still running, If the offense is going to reach its potential, he must keep the defense honest, and run the ball atleast 5 or 6 times a game.

The 3-4 alignment we run is setup to stop spread teams not I-Formation 2 TE sets that we saw this week. I can't think of another team on our schedule that runs this type of offense so we should be fine.

[bigdaddyg]

I agree with that note about the defense. I guess we are beginning to get spoiled. Kind of expect to stomp every opponent and not allow any yards. In my book a win is a win. Also agree about the the garbage TD. Without that the game is a stomping. I would rather win the game instead of having to say, "we should have won because we out gained them, we led in TOP, etc." The onside kick thing was a little scary but you never know what will happen in those crappy conditions. My observation about Taylor is similar to some others. He doesn't seem to have a cannon, doesn't need one and we are a run first team. As long as we are winning, running the ball well and playing ahead there is no need to throw all over the field. I suspect that there are some passing plays tucked away for future use. Next Saturday should be another easy W. Just keep winning. I am a huge Panther fan and of course they are being slighted due to an "easy" schedule so far. Hey 4-0 is 4-0 in my book.

[EastHallApp]

- It was ugly, and I remain unsure why so many people are saying Wyoming is better than their record. They've lost every game by double digits, against a very weak schedule, including an FCS team. I'd say that's pretty darn bad, regardless of the fact that they have a couple nice players on offense.

- With that said, I don't think it's a big deal, and I don't necessarily buy that our guys were overconfident or lost focus. It's not going to be 49-0 every week. We played a mediocre game in a quagmire and still won in a blowout.

- I'm not concerned about Lamb. At all.

- I am somewhat more concerned about the run defense vs. Wyoming. Just one game and hopefully a blip. But if something's going to turn into a negative trend, my guess would be that it will be this.

- Lastly, let's take a step back and appreciate how far this program has come in a year. Last year we were celebrating any FBS win like it was a championship. We basically all agreed that a last-minute, two-point, home-field win over UL-Monroe was a landmark for the program. Now we're holding our noses over an 18-point snoozer against Wyoming. Sounds like progress to me.

[APPdiesel]

- I'm not concerned about Lamb. At all.

I agree completely. What I've seen out of Lamb so far (remember guys he's only a sophomore):

1) Fairly accurate passer - has the ability to thread the needle, make the back shoulder throws, endzone corner throws, etc.
2) Can and will run when he needs to - he has busted some big runs on designed QB keepers
3) does make some bad decisions from time to time
4) good game manager
5) puts positive pressure on himself to perform better every time he has a bad game

Remember, with our run first offense, all we're really asking him to do is be a game manager. We're not asking him to be Armanti Edwards and carry this team on his back with incredible play after incredible play.

Remember, by Armanti's junior and senior years, he didn't have as many studs around him, which forced him to make more plays, but by that point teams were figuring him out.

[Seattleapp]

This is absolute definition of an armchair quarterback thread. Well played guys.

Wouldn't that be the purpose of a message board; for people to post their observations and their opinions?

What's funny is how quickly everyone is off Lamb even though these are all the same people who loved him after he replaced the starter last year. It was raining sideways Saturday, Tom Brady doesn't throw the ball well in those conditions. It just cracks me up that no one is ever ever happy with the quarterback position.