Their QB: God did it

[Jerry]

Link below.

As I suspected. I mean, if you watched that last drive with some of those throws and catches, you have to wonder whether the kid may be on to something.

But seriously, credit to their QB who also called us a "great team," which is more than that weasel Cignetti said in his on-field post-game interview.

Indiana is having a season for the ages but I'm not sold on them as a serious contender to win the whole thing.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1987275024970227910

 

[sr108]

Link below.

As I suspected. I mean, if you watched that last drive with some of those throws and catches, you have to wonder whether the kid may be on to something.

But seriously, credit to their QB who also called us a "great team," which is more than that weasel Cignetti said in his on-field post-game interview.

Indiana is having a season for the ages but I'm not sold on them as a serious contender to win the whole thing.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1987275024970227910

My question is how were their receivers that wide open on that final drive? Yes, there were accurate throws and a great catch / toe tap to win it, but where was our defensive backfield? We were actually getting pressure on the QB. Who is to blame? Knowles? Smith? Poindexter? The players? Or was that QB just that good?

 

[Frank Lee]

My question is how were their receivers that wide open on that final drive? Yes, there were accurate throws and a great catch / toe tap to win it, but where was our defensive backfield? We were actually getting pressure on the QB. Who is to blame? Knowles? Smith? Poindexter? The players? Or was that QB just that good?

My guess. 3* & 4* character players, normal coordinators who design plays to succeed, and a coach who challenges his players to take control. Together, a good football culture. Franklin's culture meanwhile may have been a better fit for women's volleyball.

 

[Jerry]

My question is how were their receivers that wide open on that final drive? Yes, there were accurate throws and a great catch / toe tap to win it, but where was our defensive backfield? We were actually getting pressure on the QB. Who is to blame? Knowles? Smith? Poindexter? The players? Or was that QB just that good?

You know, I'm not sure I can agree with you about their receivers being "wide open." Mendoza made a couple very nice throws into fairly tight windows. And the last two completions of the drive were just guys making huge plays. On neither of them did I see a coverage deficiency.

Anyway, here's the tape but fair warning, it's painful to watch:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1987261541474050118

 

[marylovesthelions]

You know, I'm not sure I can agree with you about their receivers being "wide open." Mendoza made a couple very nice throws into fairly tight windows. And the last two completions of the drive were just guys making huge plays. On neither of them did I see a coverage deficiency.

Anyway, here's the tape but fair warning, it's painful to watch:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1987261541474050118

3 miracle catches on the last drive. They were very well covered.

 

[Sheriff Coffee]

You know, I'm not sure I can agree with you about their receivers being "wide open." Mendoza made a couple very nice throws into fairly tight windows. And the last two completions of the drive were just guys making huge plays. On neither of them did I see a coverage deficiency.

Anyway, here's the tape but fair warning, it's painful to watch:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1987261541474050118

Some were open, some were not. I was having this discussion the other night with my brother. Would you rather be kicking off with 2:00 to go and a two-point lead or receiving the kickoff with 2:00 to go trailing by 2? As an observer, without doing the math, I'd rather be receiving down two if I have a decent QB.

I watched the GB/Philly game last night. Philly's defense gave up 0 all night until they had a 10 point lead. Then they played a prevent defense, gave up a quick TD, played a very conservative offense, and GB ended up a few yards short of making a FG to tie it. They came within an eyelash of losing after being up by 10 with ~ 5:00 to go in the game.

Fact is, our defense has given up late drives to lose games against Iowa, NW, Indiana, and (counting OT), Oregon.

 

[marylovesthelions]

Some were open, some were not. I was having this discussion the other night with my brother. Would you rather be kicking off with 2:00 to go and a two-point lead or receiving the kickoff with 2:00 to go trailing by 2? As an observer, without doing the math, I'd rather be receiving down two if I have a decent QB.

I watched the GB/Philly game last night. Philly's defense gave up 0 all night until they had a 10 point lead. Then they played a prevent defense, gave up a quick TD, played a very conservative offense, and GB ended up a few yards short of making a FG to tie it. They came within an eyelash of losing after being up by 10 with ~ 5:00 to go in the game.

Fact is, our defense has given up late drives to lose games against Iowa, NW, Indiana, and (counting OT), Oregon.

Prevent you from winning. Always dance with one who broght you here.

 

[Jerry]

Some were open, some were not. I was having this discussion the other night with my brother. Would you rather be kicking off with 2:00 to go and a two-point lead or receiving the kickoff with 2:00 to go trailing by 2? As an observer, without doing the math, I'd rather be receiving down two if I have a decent QB.

I watched the GB/Philly game last night. Philly's defense gave up 0 all night until they had a 10 point lead. Then they played a prevent defense, gave up a quick TD, played a very conservative offense, and GB ended up a few yards short of making a FG to tie it. They came within an eyelash of losing after being up by 10 with ~ 5:00 to go in the game.

Fact is, our defense has given up late drives to lose games against Iowa, NW, Indiana, and (counting OT), Oregon.

The only guy who I would describe as "open" was the one who ran the out route. The two throws down the middle were just outstanding execution on the part of the QB and the final two completions of the drive were just outstanding catches on the part of the receivers, both of whom were pretty tightly covered.

This pattern of not being to get a stop in crunch time goes back further than this year. In fact, it's how we lost the two backbreakers to Ohio State in 2017 and 2018 plus the Rose Bowl game against USC. Not being able to get a 1st down that would salt the game away. And not being able to get the critical stop on the other side of the ball. Coming up short with the game on the line has become our trademark over the years and never more so than this year.

I agree with your answer on the hypothetical question above. Of course, when we got the ball back we only had, what, 36 seconds rather than two minutes. But all we needed was around 30 yards to at least have a shot at a game-tying FG after the Hoosiers accommodated us with a stupid squib kick that put us on, what was it, the 37 yard line or something like that. Somehow you knew how the story would end though.

 

[Sheriff Coffee]

The only guy who I would describe as "open" was the one who ran the out route. The two throws down the middle were just outstanding execution on the part of the QB and the final two completions of the drive were just outstanding catches on the part of the receivers, both of whom were pretty tightly covered.

This pattern of not being to get a stop in crunch time goes back further than this year. In fact, it's how we lost the two backbreakers to Ohio State in 2017 and 2018 plus the Rose Bowl game against USC. Not being able to get a 1st down that would salt the game away. And not being able to get the critical stop on the other side of the ball. Coming up short with the game on the line has become our trademark over the years and never more so than this year.

I agree with your answer on the hypothetical question above. Of course, when we got the ball back we only had, what, 36 seconds rather than two minutes. But all we needed was around 30 yards to at least have a shot at a game-tying FG after the Hoosiers accommodated us with a stupid squib kick that put us on, what was it, the 37 yard line or something like that. Somehow you knew how the story would end though.

The only guy who I would describe as "open" was the one who ran the out route. The two throws down the middle were just outstanding execution on the part of the QB and the final two completions of the drive were just outstanding catches on the part of the receivers, both of whom were pretty tightly covered.

This pattern of not being to get a stop in crunch time goes back further than this year. In fact, it's how we lost the two backbreakers to Ohio State in 2017 and 2018 plus the Rose Bowl game against USC. Not being able to get a 1st down that would salt the game away. And not being able to get the critical stop on the other side of the ball. Coming up short with the game on the line has become our trademark over the years and never more so than this year.

I agree with your answer on the hypothetical question above. Of course, when we got the ball back we only had, what, 36 seconds rather than two minutes. But all we needed was around 30 yards to at least have a shot at a game-tying FG after the Hoosiers accommodated us with a stupid squib kick that put us on, what was it, the 37 yard line or something like that. Somehow you knew how the story would end though.

Yep. The key was sustaining a drive on offense and the lead. IMHO, we played too conservatively but that's what coaches do with a Fr QB. IIRC, Gronk missed a pretty open WR down the sideline with about 20 seconds left that would have put us around the 20 yard line. He threw a rope to get the ball there before the Indiana Safety and it sailed over the WR's head.

 

[Jerry]

Yep. The key was sustaining a drive on offense and the lead. IMHO, we played too conservatively but that's what coaches do with a Fr QB. IIRC, Gronk missed a pretty open WR down the sideline with about 20 seconds left that would have put us around the 20 yard line. He threw a rope to get the ball there before the Indiana Safety and it sailed over the WR's head.

Andy Kotelnicki has to be fired. Just a horrible job on his part. He finally opened up the passing playbook against Indiana in the 2nd half, which in turn helped loosen up the D to spring Singleton. Funny how that works.

We are left asking ourselves why it took him two seasons, the firing of our coach, and the destruction of our program to figure out you can't win against the good teams without a downfield passing game. Absolutely ridiculous.