Was it a great game, not really. But what was great was the change.
Like I have said, I am not a CFB coach but I do know a little about coaching. I have spent the last couple weeks complaining about how our coordinators called the game and had the guys play. This was not a great game but part of the reason was these guys were playing differently. If you don't study it hard, a regular fan would never notice.
OFFENSE - The play calling really was different. BMac really did make changes. It was not just more runs, it was the way the runs developed. You may of noticed a couple times they seemed off. Like when OrTre almost ran over Rico. That was because these were new plays they had just learned. BMac or Brown or both had changed things up to try to open up holes and it worked. After the bye week with plenty of time to practice this new stuff, it could be the charm to upset the likes of UGA and Flor. I also noticed he pulled some of those passes from Ryans play book and I saw a couple that looked new but once again, they need time. Our O-line looked bad protecting him. I think that is because they were still adjusting to a new way of pass protection too. 2 weeks to fix it.
Defense - For a desperately needed change, it was really hard to tell what the D was covering. Like someone noted, 3 receivers with what looked like only 1 defender out there. Yet when they passed the screen out there, all of the sudden there were 2 or 3 defenders stopping them at the LOS. Why, they were lined up more to the middle so they looked like a run D. The Safeties stayed back in zone near the 1st down marker and a couple of those blitzes came out of nowhere. It was odd to see half in zone and half in man and it WORKED. As soon as he handed off the ball or passed, it was like the old fireant D. They swarmed it really good and rarely missed tackles. It was a very good looking D until the 4th qtr when he had the 2nd and 3rd string in. They still looked like the old D. Once again, give them 2 weeks and the may floor UGA.
Do I still think we need new coordinators? Maybe, but they made some great adjustments in only one week and if they continue to do that we all will be begging for their raise because it could get pretty.
Like I have said, I am not a CFB coach but I do know a little about coaching. I have spent the last couple weeks complaining about how our coordinators called the game and had the guys play. This was not a great game but part of the reason was these guys were playing differently. If you don't study it hard, a regular fan would never notice.
OFFENSE - The play calling really was different. BMac really did make changes. It was not just more runs, it was the way the runs developed. You may of noticed a couple times they seemed off. Like when OrTre almost ran over Rico. That was because these were new plays they had just learned. BMac or Brown or both had changed things up to try to open up holes and it worked. After the bye week with plenty of time to practice this new stuff, it could be the charm to upset the likes of UGA and Flor. I also noticed he pulled some of those passes from Ryans play book and I saw a couple that looked new but once again, they need time. Our O-line looked bad protecting him. I think that is because they were still adjusting to a new way of pass protection too. 2 weeks to fix it.
Defense - For a desperately needed change, it was really hard to tell what the D was covering. Like someone noted, 3 receivers with what looked like only 1 defender out there. Yet when they passed the screen out there, all of the sudden there were 2 or 3 defenders stopping them at the LOS. Why, they were lined up more to the middle so they looked like a run D. The Safeties stayed back in zone near the 1st down marker and a couple of those blitzes came out of nowhere. It was odd to see half in zone and half in man and it WORKED. As soon as he handed off the ball or passed, it was like the old fireant D. They swarmed it really good and rarely missed tackles. It was a very good looking D until the 4th qtr when he had the 2nd and 3rd string in. They still looked like the old D. Once again, give them 2 weeks and the may floor UGA.
Do I still think we need new coordinators? Maybe, but they made some great adjustments in only one week and if they continue to do that we all will be begging for their raise because it could get pretty.