How good is NC State's defense?

[Pudge]

That's my question this morning.

That offensive performance was equal to some of our least over the last 13 months. I think NC State is good. Their DLine is one of the best we faced (particularly inside) and their secondary was big/fast. The LBs were nothing too productive. I am not a big believer that Lyle McCombs is anything but a solid scatback. He's not near the productive rush guy that we've had in the last decade (certainly not to the level of Brown, Caulley, Dixon ... or even Bellamy & Brockington). So, it's hard for me to think a shakeup of the OLine gets us that much more from McCombs. He goes down easy; he sometimes scoots through the line and has a good gainer. I have not seen anything from Hyppolite yet. And, I am hoping Joseph Williams can add something.

Pitch & Catch? Chandler Whitmer is capable of a move-the-chains offense. Which we had with Edsall. Whitmer can come in and just accurately throw a 10 yard ball to Geremy Davis, Nick Williams, Michael Smith and Shakim Phillips. We clearly have not used Ryan Griffin or Delahunt to where they could be. I do not expect Whitmer is going to give us a long ball game. His throws have been fine. We simply don't; however, have the capacity to do that more than a few a game.

Where is greater production going to come from given the kids we have? I think I just laid out my thoughts & they aren't all that far beyond what we have seen thus far. NC State's defense handcuffed the rush game ... but I don't think we really have one. And, I do believe that Whitmer can be a 60-65% accurate short to intermediate guy. Therefore, that gets us beyond Frazier & McEntee years. We can get marginally better IMHO. And a Joe Williams/Max deLorenzo may be the use that gets us a few more in rushing. I don't expect an OLine shake-up goes far; we simply don't have that much behind the current kids.

 

[mattp]

it doesn't matter how good NCState's defense is or isn't. Deleone didn't even try to move the ball. i think UMass would have held us to 7 points with our play calling yesterday. we actually showed more creativity and variety of playcalling against UMass. we started drives around midfield at least half a dozen times and each of them we punted, usually from behind the original line of scrimmage. how come we didn't get the ball to Nick Williams more? how come we didn't try more of those mid range passes to our TEs and WRs that Whitmer seems to do so well with? we didn't try anything until we were down by 10 points in the 4th quarter, and then it actually worked. Deleone mailed this one in, hopefully we get some effort and creativity against UMD.

 

[Skiblets]

We were calling for some no-huddle early in the fourth. Anything to get the urgency level up and to put NC State's D on their heels a bit

 

[uconndogs]

I agree. It was a good defense, especially up front where they are very big. But, we made them better. Personally, I think O'Brien ate P's and Deleone's lunch.

This wildcat thing drives me crazy and we have no way of pushing the ball for a yard or two when that is necessary. And I love McCombs, but he is a scat back who will never break tackles or push a pile at this level.

P better fix the problem or his tenure at UCONN will be short lived. Personally, I think it's his OC.

 

[huskysupporter]

I agree. It was a good defense, especially up front where they are very big. But, we made them better. Personally, I think O'Brien ate P's and Deleone's lunch.

This wildcat thing drives me crazy and we have no way of pushing the ball for a yard or two when that is necessary. And I love McCombs, but he is a scat back who will never break tackles or push a pile at this level.

P better fix the problem or his tenure at UCONN will be short lived. Personally, I think it's his OC.

McCombs is not a scat back, he is a between the tackles runner. He does not have the speed of a typical scat back. I understand he isn't the prototype for size, but he is usually a very effective inside runner.

One thing he won't do is run over a defender on 3 and short to get the first. Give him a crease and he does a great job of getting every possible amount of yardage (he really does not get enough credit for this). But when a big fat lineman is right in his face when he takes the handoff . . . not good.

 

[uconndogs]

I agree with you, he does a good job of finding room between the tackles and getting into those holes quickly. I also agree that he is not a break away threat....and that's fine. But, he breaks nothing. I saw him literally tackled around the waist yesterday by a single arm. My point is that there is no doubt an important role for him in the offense, but the running game is desperately in need of some power.

That all said, his TD run was as hard and gritty as I've seen from him. Great, great effort.

 

[huskysupporter]

I agree with you, he does a good job of finding room between the tackles and getting into those holes quickly. I also agree that he is not a break away threat....and that's fine. But, he breaks nothing. I saw him literally tackled around the waist yesterday by a single arm. My point is that there is no doubt an important role for him in the offense, but the running game is desperately in need of some power.

That all said, his TD run was as hard and gritty as I've seen from him. Great, great effort.

That is actually uncommon for him (getting arm tackled). He is definitely not a breakaway threat, some people think because of his size he runs a 4.2 40. But he displays great vision, and made some fantastic cuts yesterday. This is with the defense solely keying on the run because our qb offered no threat of a downfield completion.

I think the O can use another back, I would personally want to find a back who is a breakaway threat who can touch the ball 5 times a game, and a back who can be counted on for short yardage. Jumbo backfield of Frank and Oscieski on 2nd and 3rd and short?

The fact that another running back did not get significant burn makes me think that another running back has not showed they deserve more playing time during practice.

 

[huskysupporter]

And as you can tell, I am a huge McCombs fan. The kid just does not get the credit he deserves. No qb last season, and he puts up great stats as a freshman. Looks like we have no qb this season, and he had some nice gainers. He was solely responsible for that td drive.

I thought he looked terrible the first 3 games last year, dancing around, going east west instead of north south. And then I saw a complete change. Shows me he cares about his play, he takes advice, he watches film, and he corrects mistakes. Can't ask for much more.

 

[Palatine]

They gave up 35 points and huge plays to UT.

Their defense is not that good. We made them good by being unable to make them pay for slanting.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

That defense gave up a lot to Tenn last week. So the only variable was the UConn Offense. I think a lot of defenses will look better than they are against the Huskies. But you really have to wonder about the wildcat snapping to #6. Seriously?Deleone is fooling only himself caught in a time warp when the single wing was popular. Has he watched any modern day football?

 

[UConnDan97]

That defense gave up a lot to Tenn last week. So the only variable was the UConn Offense...

...and four turnovers. I love how people just keep going around in circles about that. It does change the other team's score, you know...

 

[Pudge]

I buy the Value of Lyle McCombs ... I really do. However, I see him as limited & I think husky supporter is Saying that too. We need to complement him with a bigger power guy & maybe a breakaway speed guy. Hope that guy is Williams cause we have no waiver wire in this sport.

Whitmer? I see him as a workable situation. Keep him in the zone of doing what he is capable & you'll see decent production. Don't try to have him challenge teams on long balls or tougher throws. Pitch & catch - he gives us more than McEntee or Frazier.

I was clearly in the camp of being excited that Foley was retained & I'm confused why we are deteriorating on the oLine ...with kids that I believe are more talented in the long run.

Saying that NC State"s Defense is poor because of Tennesee misses the point: we obviously don't have the talent nor speed of the Vols. they were a good match for our capability. Deleone sucked ... And I know PP focused on the offense: I wonder of the interpersonal dynamic with Deleone: Can he slam his friend?

 

[SubbaBub]

They are better than UMass. That's the extent of the analysis based on the available data.


Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[freescooter]

And as you can tell, I am a huge McCombs fan. The kid just does not get the credit he deserves. No qb last season, and he puts up great stats as a freshman. Looks like we have no qb this season, and he had some nice gainers. He was solely responsible for that td drive.

I thought he looked terrible the first 3 games last year, dancing around, going east west instead of north south. And then I saw a complete change. Shows me he cares about his play, he takes advice, he watches film, and he corrects mistakes. Can't ask for much more.

I agree with you on McCombs. I think he has some nice vision, runs hard every play and really makes nice cuts, pretty much gets what there is to be gotten when he touches the ball. He isn't going to run over people. But hat doesn't excuse what was dismal play on the offensive line on Saturday...Absolutely dismal. Which is frustrating because UConn has been known for its line play for a decade.

 

[Carl Spackler]

That's my question this morning.

That offensive performance was equal to some of our least over the last 13 months. I think NC State is good. Their DLine is one of the best we faced (particularly inside) and their secondary was big/fast. The LBs were nothing too productive. I am not a big believer that Lyle McCombs is anything but a solid scatback. He's not near the productive rush guy that we've had in the last decade (certainly not to the level of Brown, Caulley, Dixon ... or even Bellamy & Brockington). So, it's hard for me to think a shakeup of the OLine gets us that much more from McCombs. He goes down easy; he sometimes scoots through the line and has a good gainer. I have not seen anything from Hyppolite yet. And, I am hoping Joseph Williams can add something.

Pitch & Catch? Chandler Whitmer is capable of a move-the-chains offense. Which we had with Edsall. Whitmer can come in and just accurately throw a 10 yard ball to Geremy Davis, Nick Williams, Michael Smith and Shakim Phillips. We clearly have not used Ryan Griffin or Delahunt to where they could be. I do not expect Whitmer is going to give us a long ball game. His throws have been fine. We simply don't; however, have the capacity to do that more than a few a game.

Where is greater production going to come from given the kids we have? I think I just laid out my thoughts & they aren't all that far beyond what we have seen thus far. NC State's defense handcuffed the rush game ... but I don't think we really have one. And, I do believe that Whitmer can be a 60-65% accurate short to intermediate guy. Therefore, that gets us beyond Frazier & McEntee years. We can get marginally better IMHO. And a Joe Williams/Max deLorenzo may be the use that gets us a few more in rushing. I don't expect an OLine shake-up goes far; we simply don't have that much behind the current kids.

Pudge, people aroudn here seem for the most part to completely despise it, but our most productive offense so far through 14 games, is the offense with Scott McCummings playing QB.

 

[Carl Spackler]

As far as how good is NC State's D? Well they are at least as good as air. We could have lined up on at least 5 snaps on Saturday, and gone backwards against air.

 

[RMS25CT]

College football offensive schemes today are all about getting your athletes the ball in space. Getting an isolation. Kind of hard to do that with 3 tight ends lined up tight and 2 backs in the backfield.

 

[Carl Spackler]

College football offensive schemes today are all about getting your athletes the ball in space. Getting an isolation. Kind of hard to do that with 3 tight ends lined up tight and 2 backs in the backfield.

Good to see you writing.