Georgia Tech Film Review: Second Quarter

UOFL BALL, 1ST AND 10

The offensive line for Louisville has been abysmal at times this year and I think this play is an example of something I just don’t get. This a three man route with Kemari Averett staying in to block. The running back is also responsible for any free rusher through the hole. Based on the alignment, UofL has three blockers to the right of the center to take on two rushers. This should mean that Nate Scheler and Linwood Foy are responsible for the left side of the protection. It balances out to 3X3.

Instead, five blockers take on three rushers and two blitzers end up in Pass’ face. Foy chases a stunt behind Scheler somehow and Scheler ends up on the ground. If they had balanced the protection, those two guys would have picked up the stunt from the right end and one of the linebackers. Hassan Hall is responsible for the other one. These are the types of things that teams are doing every week because they haven’t done anything to improve.

UOFL BALL, 1ST AND 10

I’m about 97% sure that this is the first RPO (Run/Pass Option) that UofL has run this year. It’s hard to tell sometimes whether these plays are just play action or if they are RPOs. I’m thinking this is the latter because you can see Mekhi Becton (lined up at RT) gets down field as if he’s run blocking. That’s a sign that it’s an RPO and not play action. This play doesn’t go for a big gain or anything but it’s the type of play that I’ve been screaming for for the past four years.

UOFL BALL, 2ND AND 5

I try to make it a point to not be too hard on any player on the site because I do believe that all of these players are giving their best effort. It’s not at all easy to play college sports and it’s even harder when you’re losing like this team is.

With that being said, I just don’t know what Nate Scheler is doing on this play. He looks like a guy that is thinking way too much and if that’s the case, the stage is probably too big for him. There’s nothing wrong with that as Scheler was a walk on that was a solid backup for this team last year. But, him being the starter when Robbie Bell is healthy doesn’t make sense to me.

On this specific play, Scheler steps right against the nose tackle instead of just whipping his hips and turning him to the outside. The tackle simply steps to his right and runs right past him. You can see what Scheler was trying to do but it doesn’t make any sense that he did it.

UOFL BALL, 3RD AND 11

Louisville actually did well on third downs last week. This play was very simple and it looked like they saw something on tape that they felt they could exploit. GT ends up in a soft man coverage with only one safety but the inside corner here just doesn’t get any depth against Tutu Atwell. Jawon Pass stares this down but he can do that with the route and with no safety on that hash. The throw is on the money and it’s an easy touchdown.

GT BALL, 1ST AND 10

This play is about a third of the way through the second quarter and UofL still hadn’t made any adjustments to stop this play. This is the basic option left/right that GT runs and they get two blockers out in front of the play. You can see that London Iakopo is in for Khane Pass and he’s still splitting the difference between the quarterback and the running back. You can also see that they have no answer for the quarterback as the two blockers out in front take out the linebacker to that side and the safety coming down in support.

I would have like to see the middle linebacker take on a role on the outside instead of them being used as help on the dive man. You at least have a better chance of stopping the big plays that way.

UOFL BALL, 1ST AND 10

I talked a lot about Pass’ footwork last week and it didn’t change much this week. It did seem like it was a little less frantic, though. He still does a little foot shuffle thing but it looked like part of his comfortable throwing motion this week when it looked like a guy that had forgot all of his coaching against FSU.

This play shows why he needs to be coached out of this shuffle because even though he threw the ball very well in this game, he could be better with his ball placement and consistency.

Kudos to Tutu for making this catch. UofL’s receivers need to help out their quarterback and he does just that.

UOFL BALL, 3RD AND 1

Count me as someone that really liked this call on third and short. They used to run this when Lamar Jackson was a freshman and it works just as well with Malik Cunningham. The reason I like this is that even though it’s pretty obvious that Malik will keep the ball, the Tech defenders won’t have an easy time adjusting to his speed. Guys won’t take the right angles and he will have an easy time getting positive yardage. You also have the extra factor of him potentially breaking a long run.

UOFL BALL, 1ST AND 10

Petrino made a point in his weekly press conference that Jawon Pass was doing a better job seeing things after the snap and you can see a play he singled out here. Pass takes the snap and he sees that the defense is rotating to the right. He whips around and fires a strike to Seth Dawkins to the boundary because he knows he will be there. This is super impressive when you think back on how Pass started the year. The decision is quick and the throw is on time. Neither of those things were happening a few weeks ago.

UOFL BALL, 1ST AND 10

This is a throw where Pass’ footwork looks to have been an issue. He struggled last week with throwing the wrong ball. He would put it on a guy instead of putting air under it. On this throw he makes the right throw, but he throws it late. It looks to me like he had to re-gather his feet with his little shuffle that he does. If he throws it after the first shuffle, he has Micky Crum wide open for a touchdown.

UOFL BALL, 3RD AND 10

This was a horrendous defensive call by Nate Woody and I’m putting it in because it deserves to be seen and it deserves to be shamed.

Kudos to Trey Smith for running hard as hell, though. UofL needs guys they can rely on to give 110% and Smith is one of those guys.