GDT: @ Sacramento State (NCAA FCS Playoffs - Round 2)

[YanktonJack7]

Am I crazy, but on 4th and 1 with the season on the line you decide the Tom Brady/Geico ad play is better than putting in our two all American RBs and just saying “stop us?!”

Agree with this. Even Stig said he doesn’t like the play but he “lets his coaches coach.”

[Dagwabbitt]

My ESPN+ fritzed out so I missed most of the story of Stig and the T shirts about the national championship game that the ESPN announcers told. I had never heard that story before. Could someone repeat it for me? Thank you in advance.

[jakejc795]

My ESPN+ fritzed out so I missed most of the story of Stig and the T shirts about the national championship game that the ESPN announcers told. I had never heard that story before. Could someone repeat it for me? Thank you in advance.

Discussion was re. warm-up shirts worn and Stig being math major. Segment begins at 1:01:48 mark of game, and as for specific elements:

• 1.004 represents compund interest (and hard work)
• 23-21 exponent represents Spring National Championship final score (and exponential growth)

[JimmyJack]

I think you have to give the defense a lot of credit for the effort in the second half. Holding Sac State to 19 points is pretty good considering what a wide-open offense that is and how many zillions of plays they ran. Do I wish they had gotten some pressure? Sure. Did Sac get a lot of yards? Yup. But only 19 points. And their job was made really hard by the mind-bogglingly dumb play calls on offense.

[Gojacks2487]

I don't blame the defense at all for that nail bitter. Great 1st half, its just how our bend don't break defense is drawn up. 2nd half we made some plays and missed on a few. D Line had alot of missed holding calls., and yes Sac state was a good offense. It falls more on the 2nd half offense lack of production. I know we are quick to throw Eck under the bus for lack of run calls, but I can see why we tried to throw. There where 8-9 guys in the box and blitzing a ton and at times we did not have enough blockers. I wonder if it has to do with Oladokun's lack of time with the offense. No adjustments at the line and repetitive(screens) passing plays. One thing to note is that Schleusner is the pass coordinator so he could have some responsibility with the play calls. We got the W but we defiantly have room for improvement.

[JACKGUYII]

I give the defense a lot of credit in the second half as they made Sac State ground out long drives to eat up a lot of time. On the other hand, the Jacks throwing on first down in the 4th quarter and stopping the clock was not helping the cause. I'm sure there were several things the Sac State defense was doing to dictate some of the play calling, but with a 21 point lead in the second half the clock was our friend and a more deliberate approach that kept the clock running would have been much smarter as it wasn't like Sac State was making explosive plays and scoring quickly. Some of the mental penalties that put us in situations where we had 2nd or 3rd and long played a role too. I like keeping the foot on the gas and being aggressive, but so frustrating to see some of the play calling in the second half that could have cost us the game. Even though the trick play worked it was so unecessary to run a gadget play at that time rather than line up and just go get the first down. Took me back to the USD game!

[MontanaRabbit]

One thing is certain. If we would have run the ball time and time again and it still came down to an onside kick recovery there would have been a whole bunch of posters complaining about not keeping our foot on the gas.

[Mr_Tibbs]

One thing is certain. If we would have run the ball time and time again and it still came down to an onside kick recovery there would have been a whole bunch of posters complaining about not keeping our foot on the gas.

If we would have run the ball time and time again, there wouldn’t have been the second Sac State td and therefore no onside kick attempt. I posted that earlier, but even most of our 11 run plays in the second half were on the last two drives. Run it 6 more times in the third and early fourth and we burn another 3+ minutes off the clock. Plus we probably would have sustained a drive or two by running it more, burning more clock. I think everyone would have understood the idea behind running the ball, even if it didn’t work. I’m not sure people would have been clamoring for a bunch of passing with a two score lead and an all American line and backfield.

[91jack]

If we would have run the ball time and time again, there wouldn’t have been the second Sac State td and therefore no onside kick attempt. I posted that earlier, but even most of our 11 run plays in the second half were on the last two drives. Run it 6 more times in the third and early fourth and we burn another 3+ minutes off the clock. Plus we probably would have sustained a drive or two by running it more, burning more clock. I think everyone would have understood the idea behind running the ball, even if it didn’t work. I’m not sure people would have been clamoring for a bunch of passing with a two score lead and an all American line and backfield.

This has a little to do with the USD game, too. If we run the ball more on jet sweeps or by pulling a lineman to run off tackle, more time would run off the clock. The plays last longer and it takes longer to spot the ball. Instead we run the ball right up the middle.

I do not want Davis to get ran down but he gained 38 yards on 8 carries in the 4th. He also gained 11 yards on two carried in the 3rd. (I think)

We will need to find some way to move the ball with 8 defenders "in the box". If we can't move it with running or passing; we need to figure out jet sweeps, short slants, throw it to the TE's just over the defenders or something since 6 blockers can't block 7/8 defenders for long.

[Mr_Tibbs]

This has a little to do with the USD game, too. If we run the ball more on jet sweeps or by pulling a lineman to run off tackle, more time would run off the clock. The plays last longer and it takes longer to spot the ball. Instead we run the ball right up the middle.

I do not want Davis to get ran down but he gained 38 yards on 8 carries in the 4th. He also gained 11 yards on two carried in the 3rd. (I think)

We will need to find some way to move the ball with 8 defenders "in the box". If we can't move it with running or passing; we need to figure out jet sweeps, short slants, throw it to the TE's just over the defenders or something since 6 blockers can't block 7/8 defenders for long.

Agreed, and that’s a good point. It might be time to start running a few QB powers with Chris. I know the risk of injury is a big deal, but that would really throw teams for a loop. They haven’t prepared for it all season and I’m guessing the coaches have been waiting until deep in the playoffs to use it. I think that would really give us an edge on the ground that would be very tough to stop and open up some major play action passing too.

[salemjack]

Running with the QB gives you an huge numbers advantage. NDSU used Patterson and Miller for a lot of QB runs this past weekend. At any level of football it seems like once teams hit the playoffs you see the QBs running it a lot more. Chris isn’t the same runner as Mark though so maybe it’s not in the playbook.


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[Gojacks2487]

Agreed, and that’s a good point. It might be time to start running a few QB powers with Chris. I know the risk of injury is a big deal, but that would really throw teams for a loop. They haven’t prepared for it all season and I’m guessing the coaches have been waiting until deep in the playoffs to use it. I think that would really give us an edge on the ground that would be very tough to stop and open up some major play action passing too.

And if we are worried about the QB being hurt run the wildcat with Davis as QB and PS2 that is a scary combination.

[SteelSD]

And if we are worried about the QB being hurt run the wildcat with Davis as QB and PS2 that is a scary combination.

I'm not as hip on that, but why do we not run more sets with both Davis and Strong on the field? They can both catch the ball, so put them both out there and if the opponent counters with an extra run stuffer you can always flank them out as a receiver. Likely they are going to be covered by a LB or a hybrid player, which is a Yes, please situation as well. Get your playmakers on the field! Good grief, we have time to draw up the Geico/Tom Brady play but don't have time to draw up more ways to involve both our All American RB's on the field at the same time outside the same Wildcat type play? To me our offense should consist of our 5 O-lineman, Oladokun, and a combination of Strong, Davis, Janke 1 and 2, Heins, and Kraft depending on the set you want to run/rest break. No offense to players like Bauer, but every time I see one of those guys on the field instead of Davis/Strong I'm wondering WTF we are doing. This is playoff time, put your best out there.

And I agree about the use of Oladokun more in the running game. Hell, even use him more on keepers in the read option. Imagine a situation where you have both the back in the game and he runs an option fake to one of them challenging a D-end. So many times this year I've seen the DE collapse on the runner and CO still hands off. Keep the damn ball and run to the edge. Forcing a D player to still key on the QB will only open up more holes for the running game. Yes we are risking him a bit, but we need the extra threat and protecting him only to lose the game really doesn't help us anymore.

[ringthebells]

Not a huge fan of CO running more. Occasionally, yes, but we have two all-american type running backs and #3 is pretty dang good as well. Follow Belichek's plan from last night. Run, run, run. If they put 8 in the box, run, run, run. Don't stop until they prove they can stop us. Kraft and Heinz can have a huge second half along with some big plays when the Janke's slip by safeties that have moved up to stuff the run. Best part...the defense stays off of the field. Our defense when rested if great. When they get gassed, we're f-ed.

As far as the Tom Brady play, we've run that basic play a million times. A direct snap to the RB. The only difference is CO under center to get them to jump then in motion to the sideline versus standing next to the ball carrier. Not a huge change. He maybe was a bit over dramatic during his walk, but I'm not theatre critic. I was ok with the play. I've watched a thousand teams try a hard count then call a time out. We got a hard count, some motion and the play they would have run anyway. I guarantee if we line up, run the ball and don't get the 1st down, some clown on here would complain that we went to conservative.

[91jack]

If you want a QB that runs, how about putting Voss in the game? You could even change it up and have him throw the ball once or twice to throw every fan watching the game off. I guess he does have 3 passes ( on the season) so some people might actually expect the QB to throw the ball instead of run it.