Troy Game And Our Personnel

nautique · October 21, 2007

It was obvious from the get go that their athletes were better than ours. You could tell that during the warmups. UNT when with no speed against a spread team on defense. If you wanted a coaching clinic on how stop the spread, you saw it. (troy's defense vs. UNT offense) Our QB would barely get the snap take a one, sometimes two step drop and the blitz was all over him, the entire day. Our QB got killed. I am not sure how he got up off the ground after being hit like he did. On the other hand, our defense brought very little pressure and Omar had all day to throw. His WR's had constant separation on their routes, UNT WR's were covered like glue because they were never able to get down field to make any moves, or double moves, to get open. Our O-Line play was getting knocked off their feet and getting their ass handed to them.

Dodge got out coached early on with their pressure. He never could find a way to slow down their pass rush.

Our corners and safeties rarely play the ball on the deep routes. The only time they did is when Omar threw those long hanging deep balls. Defense created some turnovers, but lets be real, most of them were when Troy was going for the deep ball or when they were about to score. (except a few in the first half). UNT has NO running game. J-MO (you got to love the kid) but his days are over. Mosely runs harder and wants it more.

The attitude of this team is what needs to change and we just flat out lack speed. We have no speed anywhere. Special teams have no speed and it showed the entire game.

OL puts the points on the board and the defense wins it. UNT has neither. This game wasn't even as close as the score. UNT is not even near being in the league with Troy.

Troy's coach explains it all:

TROY, Ala. – Troy head coach Larry Blakeney saw an opportunity when he studied North Texas’ offense heading into the Trojans’ game against the Mean Green on Saturday.

UNT has two sophomores and two redshirt freshmen on its offensive line who are playing in a passing offense for the first time in their college careers. Blakeney decided the best way to beat the Mean Green was to come after those players and freshman quarterback Giovanni Vizza every chance he had.

That approach paid dividends for the Trojans, who sacked Vizza nine times in a 45-7 win.

“We felt like we had some guys who would really give them problems in the front four,” Blakeney said. “We caught them in some protection schemes that gave us a chance to get someone free. It was a good job by our coaches and the guys executed all day.”

Edited October 21, 2007 by nautique

SilverEagle · October 21, 2007

TROY, Ala. – Troy head coach Larry Blakeney saw an opportunity when he studied North Texas’ offense heading into the Trojans’ game against the Mean Green on Saturday.
UNT has two sophomores and two redshirt freshmen on its offensive line who are playing in a passing offense for the first time in their college careers. Blakeney decided the best way to beat the Mean Green was to come after those players and freshman quarterback Giovanni Vizza every chance he had.
That approach paid dividends for the Trojans, who sacked Vizza nine times in a 45-7 win.
“We felt like we had some guys who would really give them problems in the front four,” Blakeney said. “We caught them in some protection schemes that gave us a chance to get someone free. It was a good job by our coaches and the guys executed all day.”

I was surprised to hear that this is the same coach that Troy has had since they were D-2 and 1-AA. It's now obvious why he's still there....this guy can change and adjust. And he can acquire new assistant coaches who can do the same. Oh, and one more thing. This guy can obviously evaluate JC talent.

I know that Dodge likes to move forward and forget about past bad experiences. But I were him, I'd definitely keep this game film in my "training library".

Edited October 21, 2007 by SilverEagle

greeneagle69 · October 21, 2007

Nailed it on the head !!!! Our o-line personnel are fish out of water with a passing offense. They are slower and dont adjust to rush angles as well as needed. (not being personal here-just observation-I know they play best as they think they can). Our 5 o-linemen cant seem to hold out 4-5 rushers with any consistency. Our oppenents, with mirror images of our offense, do very well keeping us out.

So here is my real fear........with adequate recruiting time this next offseason.....and even getting some of the best linemen out there. As freshmen, will they be ready to help us immediately, or are we still be another year out on development ???

We seem to have a super crew of receivers............totally going to waste when there's no time to find them.

akriesman · October 21, 2007

" or are we still be another year out on development ??? "

I mentioned before the first game, that it might be 3 or 4 seasons before we really start to see this team seriously compete (conference title and some national recognition). A lot of people thought that was too long.

But, facts are facts. Rebuilding jobs just do not happen overnight. And, most freshmen need some college experience before they are able to excel (with a few exceptions).

Not to mention that TD had a very late start in recruiting this year. That alone could set things back just a bit also.

A rebuilding job takes 3 to 5 years before you can really judge the results. That may be too long for some people. I for one am willing to wait that long after seeing this program floundering around since the "Fry" days, which were before my college time anyway.

"We seem to have a super crew of receivers............"

I agree. We do have a nice set of receivers. But, good receivers will never be hard to recruit with this offensive system in place.

Edited October 21, 2007 by akriesman

KingDL1 · October 21, 2007

" or are we still be another year out on development ??? "
I mentioned before the first game, that it might be 3 or 4 seasons before we really start to see this team seriously compete (conference title and some national recognition). A lot of people thought that was too long.
But, facts are facts. Rebuilding jobs just do not happen overnight. And, most freshmen need some college experience before they are able to excel (with a few exceptions).
Not to mention that TD had a very late start in recruiting this year. That alone could set things back just a bit also.
A rebuilding job takes 3 to 5 years before you can really judge the results. That may be too long for some people. I for one am willing to wait that long after seeing this program floundering around since the "Fry" days, which were before my college time anyway.
"We seem to have a super crew of receivers............"
I agree. We do have a nice set of receivers. But, good receivers will never be hard to recruit with this offensive system in place.

You are right, I think it will be the 2009 season before we see things getting really turned around. But the green blood in me feels like next year we will see a winning season.

pollock · October 21, 2007

Hey, it's just like Dodge said, "When you blitz, somebody's fight song is about to be played."

Yeah, YOURS!

Travis · October 21, 2007

You are right, I think it will be the 2009 season before we see things getting really turned around. But the green blood in me feels like next year we will see a winning season.

I am not so confident as you are. though, i truly hope so too.

MeanGreengdub · October 21, 2007

Great post Nautique. Especially about Jmo. I love the guy and he WAS great but his days are over and it's time for a change.

stebo · October 21, 2007

We need speed, strength, and conditioning. This will come with different recruits and better conditioning. You forget, Dickey was such a "players coach" that he would have the Spring game BEFORE Spring Break so that the players could go party in South Padre Island. You can't undo all of that neglect in a half season. Dodge needs time and recruits with more speed.

nautique · October 21, 2007

Dodge is going to have to take some of the heat on this one and take some off his players. He finally figured out during the game that they were on to his hand signals, that is why you saw Tune and one of the other coaches signally in the plays in the second half.

Dodge will also have to go to some H back, TE looks, for pass protection. If you look at Florida, Missouri, Texas and so many others, the TE stays in when they sense maximum blitz. TD is learning on the fly just as much as anyone. This doesn't make him a bad coach but he is learning at the collegiate level.

Coach · October 21, 2007

I thought Tune and Ford were signaling the plays in from the beginning of the game?

bigntex · October 21, 2007

I thought Tune and Ford were signaling the plays in from the beginning of the game?

I do know Dodge, but no one else. I saw Dodge doing his hand signals on TV, I believe.

Smitty · October 22, 2007

I thought Tune and Ford were signaling the plays in from the beginning of the game?

I think the radio said UNT started the game using multiple people to signal in the plays, with one of them real and the other (or others) decoys.

KingDL1 · October 22, 2007

I thought Tune and Ford were signaling the plays in from the beginning of the game?

That was the word before the game!

stebo · October 22, 2007

Thats correct, Dodge, the WR coach, and Nathan Tune were all signalling plays in but only the team knew which one to look at. Anytime there was a substitution, the new player would let the team know which play caller to watch for the next few series. This was not an adjustment during the game, Dodge made the change before the game started. George and Hank were talking about it during the pre-game show.

UNTFan23 · October 22, 2007

I saw another program using multiple people to get signals in this past Saturday. I forget who though.

Cerebus · October 22, 2007

You forget, Dickey was such a "players coach" that he would have the Spring game BEFORE Spring Break so that the players could go party in South Padre Island. You can't undo all of that neglect in a half season.

Come on now. Dickey did that so that there would be more time to heal, and so that players could then spen the rest of the semester on classes.

Everyone called that genius when Dickey was winning.

No doubt in five years whether we call Dodge a genius or idiot will depend 100% on his winning percentage. Way of the world I guess, but still sad.

Got5onIt · October 22, 2007

Dodge will also have to go to some H back, TE looks, for pass protection. If you look at Florida, Missouri, Texas and so many others, the TE stays in when they sense maximum blitz. TD is learning on the fly just as much as anyone. This doesn't make him a bad coach but he is learning at the collegiate level.

Ding Ding Ding. I was mentioning this during chat on Saturday. They'll have to go max protect and keep an extra player in for pass protection other than the RB.

Pass blocking is the hardest thing for O-Lineman to do and many are not very good at it to begin with. Let's hope the improvement comes as these guys notch their belts with playing time. I have confidence that it will.