QB play has to catch up

[YOSEFRULES]

Does anyone feel like the play calling is vanilla on purpose to avoid injuries? It seemed to me that Lamb could have kept the ball on several running plays to gain some good yardage but instead handed off for the run up the middle. I just wonder if the coaching staff looks at these games just as a paycheck and keeps it super conservative to keep everyone healthy. After all, winning these money games are nice but the ultimate goal has got to be winning the conference and going to a bowl game.

[Seattleapp]

The playcalling is vanilla because the coaching staff doesn't trust lamb to throw the ball.

Is this statement verifiable information or it this your opinion?

Well you got me....... everything everyone writes on this board is opinion. But to anyone it sure seems like we play four corners against these types of teams.

[ah59396]

and then there is the real world. We should not be expecting to beat top P5 programs except every rare occasion. Blaming our QB for a loss against these teams is insane. These teams are bigger AND faster. That is exactly why they are top tier P5 teams. There is a difference between wanting excellence and ridiculous expectations. I am much more concerned with our inability to avoid STUPID penalties than I am with our QB. Our QB is playing to his own full potential. Those committing STUPID penalties are not.

To be clear here, I'm not blaming Lamb for the loss. And not to speak for others, but I don't believe they are either. I'm in complete agreement with you that the dumb penalties were BY FAR the most frustrating part of the game (one of which killed our best drive while another completely saved Georgia from having to punt in their end zone when it was 0-0).

For me, the conversation here is about our inability to move the ball through the air against top 50 FBS teams. For some reason, other G5 and FCS teams are able to and we are not. Yes, our top 3 receivers were out, but they weren't against Miami, Tennessee or Clemson. And the outcomes were similar.

Part of that is clearly gameplan, which I believe is partially due to Taylor's limitations, but also Satterfield's general game theory. We stay conservative and hope our defense can force turnovers. With a little luck and a special teams play or two, you end up with the Tennessee last year. A game we could (and should) have won. Despite our limited offensive production.

Let's be honest though. We aren't an FCS team anymore. We all want to get ranked and go to better bowl games, it's going to require more than losing by 25 to the P5 programs every year. We need a multi-faceted attack to stay regularly competitive. Winning one P5 game every two decades shouldn't be acceptable to us anymore. I want to win dang it.

[yikas1]

1. Georgia's defense, especially secondary, the strength of their team.
2. Without Lamb, we would have had no offense.
3. Starting receivers injured, started freshmen.

Looking back at the game, the only beef I have is the stupid penalties which cost us scoring chances. You cannot expect for undersized defense to be able to keep us in the game when the offense kept shooting themselves in the foot with penalties.

[Woodstovegang]

Lamb is the best Leader at the position. He gives us the best chances with the experience and a year of learning curve for those in waiting. END THE DISCUSSION. And the smart ars comments toward any opinions. Seattleapp is just having an open discussion.

[NewApp]

and then there is the real world. We should not be expecting to beat top P5 programs except every rare occasion. Blaming our QB for a loss against these teams is insane. These teams are bigger AND faster. That is exactly why they are top tier P5 teams. There is a difference between wanting excellence and ridiculous expectations. I am much more concerned with our inability to avoid STUPID penalties than I am with our QB. Our QB is playing to his own full potential. Those committing STUPID penalties are not.

To be clear here, I'm not blaming Lamb for the loss. And not to speak for others, but I don't believe they are either. I'm in complete agreement with you that the dumb penalties were BY FAR the most frustrating part of the game (one of which killed our best drive while another completely saved Georgia from having to punt in their end zone when it was 0-0).

For me, the conversation here is about our inability to move the ball through the air against top 50 FBS teams. For some reason, other G5 and FCS teams are able to and we are not. Yes, our top 3 receivers were out, but they weren't against Miami, Tennessee or Clemson. And the outcomes were similar.

Part of that is clearly gameplan, which I believe is partially due to Taylor's limitations, but also Satterfield's general game theory. We stay conservative and hope our defense can force turnovers. With a little luck and a special teams play or two, you end up with the Tennessee last year. A game we could (and should) have won. Despite our limited offensive production.

Let's be honest though. We aren't an FCS team anymore. We all want to get ranked and go to better bowl games, it's going to require more than losing by 25 to the P5 programs every year. We need a multi-faceted attack to stay regularly competitive. Winning one P5 game every two decades shouldn't be acceptable to us anymore. I want to win dang it.

I'll bet a dollar to a donut (well, heck, that isn't much because donuts are close to a dollar apiece now) that Georgia will beat at least one SEC team by 21 or more this season. It would have been great to have won or at least lost by less than 21, but I'm not rating this season on how we did against an SEC team like UGa. Now if we don't put a hurting on Savannah State this coming weekend, it'll be a different story.

[Yosef84]

I know people are frustrated and I was disappointed with the game Saturday also, but we didn't get embarrassed on the field. We got outplayed by a team that consistently recruits at the top of the P5 scale and who is a perennial top 20 team with frequent dips into the top 10. App is capable of competing with these types of teams but beating them is almost always going to require a perfect storm. We will have to play lights out (not shooting ourselves in the foot with 15 yard penalties would help), and our opponent will typically have to make some mistakes. That's why we are 14 point underdogs.

I think we will see more games against beatable P5 teams as our program matures in FBS. In case folks have forgotten, when we were FCS those teams wouldn't even talk to us about a game. It's the whole "nothing to gain and too much down side for a possible loss" argument. Now that we are FBS and establish ourselves as a good team, those teams will consider us. Wake is a great example and their admin even stated why he wouldn't continue our series while we were FCS. We have games against UNC on the books. More will happen.

Regarding next year, I think we got an excellent glimpse of our future on Saturday. Zac Thomas looked excellent in his short debut. By all accounts, Huesman is competitive and at the same level (perhaps different strengths). I feel good about the future. I was also very impresses with Hennigan's debut at WR. App is still building, but should be ecstatic with our accomplishments so far. That's not to say we can't discuss where we need to improve....just don't get the edge some folks put on it.

Wake played other FCS teams during that time.

Yes, they did but their AD stated in an interview that they would not play App anymore. The issue was specifically that we regularly beat them. Playing an FCS team that did that has not up side and a huge down side. They had no problem scheduling FCS teams that represented a (basically) automatic "W."

[NewApp]

Wake played Presbyterian last Saturday. Last I checked they weren't in FBS.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

I understand both sides, somewhat, but when you're running game is only producing 1 yard per carry, it's going to be hard to open up the passing game, no matter how good your quarterback. I'll take Lamb over any G5 quarterback and some P5 quarterbacks, but he's not going to win you any games on his own against good P5 competition. He needs help from his offensive teammates, and he didn't get any this past game.

[Seattleapp]

I understand both sides, somewhat, but when you're running game is only producing 1 yard per carry, it's going to be hard to open up the passing game, no matter how good your quarterback. I'll take Lamb over any G5 quarterback and some P5 quarterbacks, but he's not going to win you any games on his own against good P5 competition. He needs help from his offensive teammates, and he didn't get any this past game.

That's always the excuse

[WVAPPeer]

I understand both sides, somewhat, but when you're running game is only producing 1 yard per carry, it's going to be hard to open up the passing game, no matter how good your quarterback. I'll take Lamb over any G5 quarterback and some P5 quarterbacks, but he's not going to win you any games on his own against good P5 competition. He needs help from his offensive teammates, and he didn't get any this past game.

That's always the excuse

Honestly Seattle - I really don't understand your point of view on this - I am sure it isn't true, but you come off as someone who has a vendetta against this kid ---

[sixtoes9134]

So who do we want next?

I guess you didn't watch the end of the game when Zac Thomas ran the last series. I don't know about you, but I'd say that's who I want next Fall and I hope he gets lots of reps this year when we have a cushion.

[JTApps1]

To the best of my knowledge we have only lost 1 game (Ark. State 2015) that we were favored in with Lamb as the starter, and we lost a toss-up against Troy last year. Other than that his losses are in games we were heavy underdogs in, but he has also led us to a number of wins in games that we weren't favored in. That to me is a pretty good record for a guy playing QB on a team transitioning from FCS to FBS.

Of course wins and losses aren't due to just one player so the whole next level argument has to include our entire roster.

[bcoach]

To the best of my knowledge we have only lost 1 game (Ark. State 2015) that we were favored in with Lamb as the starter, and we lost a toss-up against Troy last year. Other than that his losses are in games we were heavy underdogs in, but he has also led us to a number of wins in games that we weren't favored in. That to me is a pretty good record for a guy playing QB on a team transitioning from FCS to FBS.

Of course wins and losses aren't due to just one player so the whole next level argument has to include our entire roster.

That hits the nail on the head. We did not lose that game because of the QB. We lost it as a team. Is he supposed to open up holes for the RB? Is he supposed to get open and throw the ball to himself? We didn't get beat at one position. We got beat at many. That is to be expected at our differing levels.

[Seattleapp]

I understand both sides, somewhat, but when you're running game is only producing 1 yard per carry, it's going to be hard to open up the passing game, no matter how good your quarterback. I'll take Lamb over any G5 quarterback and some P5 quarterbacks, but he's not going to win you any games on his own against good P5 competition. He needs help from his offensive teammates, and he didn't get any this past game.

That's always the excuse

Honestly Seattle - I really don't understand your point of view on this - I am sure it isn't true, but you come off as someone who has a vendetta against this kid ---

I am quite clear on this. I think Lamb is a good kid and a good sun belt quarterback and i am happy with him as our quarterback. I just am frustrated that he hasn't performed better in the games where we really need him to. It cracks me up that for as much of a "vendetta" (a little dramatic don't you think) that you say I have, I'd argue there are just as many if not more guys who make it their mission to pin poor offensive performances on everyone BUT him. It's ridiculous I have to keep trying to justify that I don't singularly hate Taylor Lamb on this board just to have a discussion about play calling/quarterback play. We are FBS now. We have FBS players. I want to see us perform a little better on offense from time to time against the better teams we play.

[bcoach]

I understand both sides, somewhat, but when you're running game is only producing 1 yard per carry, it's going to be hard to open up the passing game, no matter how good your quarterback. I'll take Lamb over any G5 quarterback and some P5 quarterbacks, but he's not going to win you any games on his own against good P5 competition. He needs help from his offensive teammates, and he didn't get any this past game.

That's always the excuse

Honestly Seattle - I really don't understand your point of view on this - I am sure it isn't true, but you come off as someone who has a vendetta against this kid ---

I am quite clear on this. I think Lamb is a good kid and a good sun belt quarterback and i am happy with him as our quarterback. I just am frustrated that he hasn't performed better in the games where we really need him to. It cracks me up that for as much of a "vendetta" (a little dramatic don't you think) that you say I have, I'd argue there are just as many if not more guys who make it their mission to pin poor offensive performances on everyone BUT him. It's ridiculous I have to keep trying to justify that I don't singularly hate Taylor Lamb on this board just to have a discussion about play calling/quarterback play. We are FBS now. We have FBS players. I want to see us perform a little better on offense from time to time against the better teams we play.

I am not a professional strength coach but I don't think complaining on this board is going to make a guys arm stronger. We know what he can and can't do. What he can't do is throw the long ball the way we would like. What he can do ( with the help of the rest of the team ) is win a whole bunch of games. Some want to keep comparing him to AE. Just keep this in mind AE was playing FCS teams every week and his team mates were at the very top of FCS. Lamb is playing FBS teams every week and our players ( as much as I love them ) are not the top players in FBS. The spread is there but not as wide as you may think. Let's get on with next week and get off a guy who is playing to his full potential.

[bigdaddyg]

I like to see things in the big picture. There are what a little over 120 FBS teams? I believe we are easily in the top half and maybe in the top third. How many G5's can boast that? I once raised the question of how many P5 schools could or should we have a legit shot to beat? I still say quite a few.

The other big picture notion concerns the entire field during games. It's difficult to watch a game on television and be critical of say, the QB- more specifically to criticize him for not being able to throw. Generally speaking you can't see downfield coverage but only that one camera angle. If Taylor had pulled a Clemson and forced balls into places with no shot of a catch with resulting PICs some guys would be all over that. Don't get me wrong I was upset with what appeared to be vanilla playcalling and the seemingly lack of trying to open it up. I guess we just think we can slug it out with bigger,stronger, faster more talented teams if we just have a better game plan and some guys think it's an excuse. It's reality! If we boatrace Savannah next weekend will their people say the same crap?

I would love to see what we can do against a team like Virginia or maybe a Vanderbilt (some mid to lower tier FBS). Hate to see what is written next year after the trip to Happy Valley. I think of all the great stuff we discussed during the 100 day countdown. How many of you guys predicted that we would lose (and get whipped)? Can't predict it, expect and then bitch about it.

[SpeedkingATL]

This was a team loss and one that was caused by:

1-Playing a damn good UGA team
2-Stupid penalties that extended UGA's drives and killed our own.
3-The inability of App's rushing game against the UGA defense.
4-It just appeared to be one of those games where every break went against App.

Taylor played okay considering the way App decided to play offensively. Play calling appeared pretty vanilla but hard for me to arm chair QB Satterfield. At least App had no major injuries and lots of the guys down the depth chart got some playing time. I'm disappointed in the outcome but this game doesn't really change the goals and objectives for this team.

[MtnDevil95]

I am a Taylor Lamb fan. I think this kid has done an amazing job of managing the transition from FCS to FBS. Both his stats, and the overall success of the team in the past 2 years are all the evidence needed to support that claim. The offense struggled against Georgia, no doubt, but it's likely 10 or 11 of the 12 offenses Georgia faces in the regular season will struggle with that defense. Maybe Notre Dame and Florida can put up numbers on them? So let's just take that in context. Could Lamb start at Notre Dame, or Florida?

Can Lamb lead an offense that puts up big numbers? Well, he's 3-0 against the MAC Attack, a couple of those being shoot out games. App is built for slowing the game down, getting a lead and holding on to it. While playing from behind is not going to be a standard formula for success for most teams, I'd rather have Taylor Lamb under center trying to bring a team back than any other QB and offense in the Sun Belt, or most other G5 and a good portion of P5 teams (Georgia Southern, and Georgia Tech I'm looking at you).

I am genuinely excited to see what this Lamb lead offense is capable of doing when at full strength.

[WVAPPeer]

Seattle - I know I made clear that what I was about to say wasn't true - only that it came across that way - I still honestly don't understand what it is that you want in our QB? - I mean, we aren't going to get the DeShaun Watsons or Jalen Hurts of the world - we are not going to get an Eason-type for other reasons (we are not a pro-set team) - Some, not sure if you were one, were clammering for Caruso previously - he didn't even start for Delaware on Saturday - We all would love an Armanti to show up again but short of that what is it you want??? ---