Thoughts on the Nevada Game

[JasonB]

That was certainly ugly. I'll go through what I learned....

- Penalties are a problem. In the scrimmage I watched there were a lot of penalties (I mentioned it in my game preview). And last night there were a lot of penalties. This is a big challenge for the coaching staff. If you watch soccer or basketball, you notice that in different environments, the game is called differently. In soccer, in Europe the game is clean, they call touch fouls. In South American, it is a very physical game, the tone is set early. As a ref, you give up after a while and let the rough play go and only call the severe stuff. Same thing in basketball - Eastern Conference basketball in the NBA in the 80s and 90s was called very different from the Western Conference. The refs just get overwhelmed with the fouling and give up. The same thing happens at practice in coaching - at some point, your mindset of what is actually a foul changes, because it becomes common. And then your team goes out, plays the same way in a game, and there are penalties all over the place. It isn't a professional approach by the players, and just night and day from what we say last season. You want to play aggressive, and a little cocky. But when that turns into "sh*thousery" as we say in soccer, it goes too far.
- That lack of discipline also showed up in the defensive line play yesterday. Last year's defense was great because all of the players knew their job and did their job as part of the defensive scheme. Yesterday was not that AT ALL. It was a bunch of individuals going out and trying to get sacks and make plays. The line discipline was terrible, both inside and outside, and the mobile QB ate it up. It got better in the second half, but this team is going to get the riot act read to them over the next few days. I suspect this week in practice and the game next week is going to be competition about who is actually doing their job on each play rather than who is necessarily the best athlete.
- I mentioned in the preview about how Preston is at his best in a pass-first offense, whereas Jennings is the grind-it-out RPO QB. You saw that play out last night. With Preston, you have to open things up and let him find his groove. Once he finds his groove he is next level, and that next level is beyond what most teams can offer. His non-play action numbers were terrific last night, and so was his non-screen numbers. But when you ask him to throw a screen or do play-action and take his eyes off the field, his numbers are horrible. His offense is the opposite of Jennings. Now here is the trick. Against bad teams, and in good weather, when we take a pass-first approach, we can get guys open, and Stone is going to tear teams apart. We will beat the crap out of bad teams (4th quarter last night for the whole game). However, against good teams who can guard you in the secondary, if you take that pass-first approach and open the game out, it is a lot of three and outs and a lot of turnovers. Teams like Oregon have elite players outside and they afford to take a pass-first approach against good teams. Do we have that? This is a really hard thing for Lashlee. You watch that GT game against FSU, and GT was able to grind out a win through a physical running game and efficient QB play. If you try and throw the ball all over the place against FSU, they have athletes everywhere. It may not work out for the best. So, I think Rhett's instincts are that to win those hard, physical games we need Jennings, someone who can grind. There are two challenges with that approach. First, with the penalties and sloppiness, you need someone who can make up for negative plays, and that is certainly Stone. Second, what was clear last night is that when we are running an offense close the the LOS and grinding, we aren't good enough to open that up and create chunk plays. You need Stone to stretch the field, get the LBs and Safeties off the line, and then you have the ability to run because we can win when it is hat on hat. Nevada last night had a very multiple front floating around, rushing, dropping into coverage. The 5 yard routes across the middle are a disaster in that look. Second half, we called deeper routes and it worked.
- At running back, I think we have a room of solid guys, and then we have B Smith. Losing Camar is big because he was the one who could have been a real difference maker. Outside of Smith, you don't really see a lot of shift, agility or speed. Challenge is that you really need to limit Smith to 15 touches a game to keep him fresh. Last night he had more than that. We need to be able to start the game with LJ and Rooster and loosen a team up, and then it is B Smith. In fact, especially with Preston, I would let him pass, open the field up, and then I would have B Smith in there after we establish the pass and let him attack space.
- On the OL, it was a real mixed back. PJ was good when he was good. Running off LT worked for the most part. But 3 penalties is terrible, and I think they all came in the running game. So, when he nailed his block it was great running behind him. But he would hold and just kill drives on other plays. He did fine in pass pro. Parr was okay. We didn't really run in the gap between him and PJ much, more attempts between him and Osborne and we did fine. He allowed one pressure in pass pro. Nothing dominant, but nothing great either. Osborne in his first game at center again was up and down. Now, this was a real challenge to call because there were a lot of mixed fronts. It is going to be great tape for him to learn off of. In the running game, he was a real upgrade from Hickman. We ran the ball really well between him and either guard, he got great push off the ball. He really struggled in the passing game. He allowed a couple of pressures, and just wasn't quick enough after the snap to engage a quick burst up the middle. In practice, he is taking on the big fat NT. In this game, he struggled when he had to pop up and handle a quicker LB or DT. He has to come up to speed on that before the TCU game. Clark also was a mixed back. There were a couple of plays where you saw the potential - Osborne and Clark would crash forward and open a big seam. Again, when it was big on big he was ok in pass protection, but man that linebacker just ran by him a couple of times. There are some agility issues there for sure. Sparks came in, played quite a few snaps and just did his job. He was really good in pass protection and not explosive but solid in the running game. This is something to keep an eye on, because the agility issues are maybe why Clark was playing C in the first place. And then finally we get to Nate Anderson, who really struggled. He got bull rushed back into Preston once. We couldn't run the ball off of his side. 4 pressures allowed is way too high. Now, he was much better in the second half. He is inexperienced and this was his first time with live action at tackle, so it is expected to be a bit rough. Need to see significant improvement in the next game.
- WR/TE - Coming in, we thought Smith, Mello, and Hudson had taken a step forward. The reality might be that our corners took a big step back. Hudson and Smith did not do well, and did not separate. Mello had 3 catches on 3 targets, and he was the guy I thought stepped up the most in fall camp, so maybe he is the guy? But it wasn't great. Also something to keep an eye on - Daniels had 4 catches on 4 targets. Bailey had 0 on 6. RDJ really outplayed Bailey and might be the starter moving forward. Passes to Bailey, Smith, and Hudson : 2-13, 30 yards. Passes to everyone else: 21/24, over 250 yards. Nothing from Moochie? RJ of course stepped up in a massive way. This may need to be the 1990s Cowboys offense - Look to Irvin (Brinson), then Novachek (RJ), and then you hit K Williams (RDJ) or the RB. the WR on the left side is just your deep guy you hit every once in a while (Alvin Harper). Preston needs to read right to left. But the problems at WR are going to get worse against good teams, which again is that note of concern for Lashlee.

- DL - Tank did okay at NT, plugging his gap. Outside of that, players were all over the place at NT and DT, trying to make plays rather than doing their job. Roberson made some plays which was good to see. Harrison-Hunte showed up late, but IMHO he was the worst offender. There were times in the first 3 quarters that he stood up too much and just got completely blown off the line and turned. Last year, Miller at NT did his job almost every play and he also could tackle and be disruptive. Tank and the other NG held their own, but weren't close to Miller's produciton. And at the other tackle it was a huge drop from Chatman/Levelston. Jefferson I thought did well when he was in there. Based on his play, he should probably be starting at DT next to Tank and then have H-H and Lockhart be the backups. Based on yesterday, though, Roberson should be ahead of H-H. H-H was a big problem in those first 3 quarters. On the end, Roberts wasn't himself. They would move him inside on third down and long, and he was the gap the QB ran at for big chunks. That strategy didn't do well against BC and just may not be great against Mobile QBs. Roberts overall just got caught playing too aggressive a lot. He lost contain on his edge a few times. Harvey started on the other side and didn't have a good game against the run at all. You can see the potential there, but both of the new Miami guys, Harvey and H-H just didn't seem like they wanted to engage physical linemen coming at them. Thibs is not going to like the tape at all. The guy that stood out on the plus side was Turbo (Smith). He played well against the run and had two pressures and a sack. Harvey has an uphill battle to keep his starting spot there. Turbo is a big difference. Overall, the big thing that popped for me was that last year, we had a ton of guys inside that would generate a big push and it caused all kinds of problems in both the running game and passing game. It led to a lot of those sacks last year. The interior isn't getting pushed back, but they aren't disruptive, and that is going to be a big difference in the performance of the defense if they don't improve.

LB - Again, some red flags here. Walker and Wilson were awesome last year, but they struggled in the bowl game against a more mobile QB. We saw that again last night. Wilson in particular took some bad lines to the ball and missed tackles. PFF has them at 5 missed tackles between them. Kilgore looked great. It is going to be really difficult to keep him off the field, and his frame might be a better fit against a more physical ACC. Game speed is different than practice speed, so they should pick up their game as the season goes on. But it just made me wonder if Walker and Wilson are going to struggle a little with increased size and athleticism in the ACC.

S - McGill, NWO and Moses all did well, I'm not going to do much here, they played as expected.

NB - Interesting to see Sanders play just about the entire game and then have McGill play to spell him instead of JMJ. Ahmad Moses deserves his snaps, so it makes sense to get your best players on the field. Sanders didn't have a great game in coverage - 2-2 and then the PI. He was one the underperformers in the game.

CB - Here we can see a real dropoff from Woods and Megginson last season. Not sure who blew the coverage on the big pass play. AJ didn't get thrown at much, but he has limitations. Smoke didn't have a good game. Cross wasn't really thrown at before he got kicked out (but it might have been his blown coverage, not sure). Deuce is the guy that really played well. He has come a long way since the start of camp. Surprised to see no Rogers and no Speedy. I expect to see a ton of rotation here in the next game. With the lack of production from the interior DL, this group is going to get tested more than Woods and Meggs did last year, and right now they aren't near that level. I would expect to see Rogers and Speedy to enter the rotation this week. The thing that concerns me with Smoke is that he looks like a fast guy playing corner. His body isn't positioned to make plays on the ball, he is just focused on staying close with players. If you watch Speedy in practice, he is looking to make plays on the ball. I think it is a matter of time before he enters the rotation this season.

Great to comeback and get a win, but that was an ugly game with a lot of red flags for me. I'm looking forward to seeing if we can keep our discipline next week and will be watching the performance at WR, RT, DT, NG, and CB really closely. I don't think that we are "bad" at any of those spots, but those are the areas that will cost us against good teams. And I want to see if we come out and throw the ball in the next game, or if we care going to go RPO/run first.

[PNW_Stang]

Thank you for the write up.

On the DL - we see now that Chatman is probably making the Giants roster, and Miller is hard to replace. Even though we added some, mostly backups, on the DL from P4 schools, it will be hard to get the same production in game one that we got last year. Chatman and Levelston were at SMU for years and not here mostly because of NIL. The interior DL is our major “mercenary” transfer position, and it seems like that showed.

[RunningStang]

Thanks for the write up. I think they will be fine. I blame Vanderbilt for chickening out for yesterday’s bad start. We will be fine.


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[JasonB]

Thank you for the write up.

On the DL - we see now that Chatman is probably making the Giants roster, and Miller is hard to replace. Even though we added some, mostly backups, on the DL from P4 schools, it will be hard to get the same production in game one that we got last year. Chatman and Levelston were at SMU for years and not here mostly because of NIL. The interior DL is our major “mercenary” transfer position, and it seems like that showed.

The replacement for Miller are just different. Tank and Lockhart are space eaters, they aren't penetrators into the backfield. Miller was great (and rare) because he could eat space, but if you took him 1v1, he had the athleticism and strength to destroy and get in the backfield. Even if he didn't make a tackle, he would push the pocket back. Last night we didn't collapse the pocket from the point of attack much at all. They weren't driving us off the ball (with the exception of H-H a few times), but we didn't get in their backfield frequently either.

At DT, Chatman and Levelston weren't perfect, but they were a great complement to what Miller did. There is a ton of potential at the spot, but you have to be able to penetrate while taking on a blocker. We were trying to blow by guys without engaging, and that leaves a gap. I suspect we will see more Jefferson at DT this week rather than playing him at NG.

[tristatecoog]

I missed this but why didn't Camar Wheaton play against Nevada and will we see him in the next couple games? I liked what LJ brought in the fourth quarter and Smith was pounding away and getting pounded.

[PNW_Stang]

I believe Camar injured his knee on a non contact injury second day of camp and out for the year

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

Correct. He had surgery just before the season started and will not return this season.

[EastStang]

Jason did you think Nevada had better than expected corners or in the first half was the weather affecting Stone.

[Topper]

Nevada did a good job of disrupting our quick pace offense but all of the yellow flags (mostly ours) didn't help. Sloppy play to that degree is inexcusable. I am very concerned that our rushing game was unproductive and Preston could have easily been picked off at least twice more. We are going to need to control the clock against some of these upcoming opponents and that means taking control of the LOS. We should tear HCU apart which could be dangerous because I don't want our coaches and players to totally put this Nevada game behind us.

[JasonB]

Jason did you think Nevada had better than expected corners or in the first half was the weather affecting Stone.

24, Chad Brown, was great. He looks like a real player.

I don't think the weather had a big impact on Stone. He doesn't do as well in a run-first, playaction pass offense. He needs to get into rhythm. He didn't have the opportunity to do that in the first half. Second half they went out and let him throw the ball.

[panhandle_pony]

they "let him throw the ball" because we couldn't run the ball

[birddogger]

JasonB, your analysis is spot on and sobering. I was the most disappointed in the lines’ play and our receivers’ apparent inability to create separation.

The game reminded me of the Mike Tyson quote: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” We got punched but at least we got back on our feet and won the game with a fourth quarter that showed how well the team can actually play. But I hope the boys are humbled and chastened by this game.

[leopold]

Am I crazy or could Nevada be good this year?

They fired their last coach and went out and hired a proven winner whose resume might be better than Lashlee's and he promptly brought in a bunch of P5 transfers.

The P5 transfer QB handed the ball to a P5 transfer RB (who we offered by the way) who ran behind a P5 laden O line. Then the P5 QB threw TD passes to P5 transfer WR and TE's. What program does that sound like?


If UNR has six wins or more at the end of this season I won't be surprised and I say that knowing their schedule. If that happens then it's not a case of under performance but rather escaping a legitimate threat the first game of the year.

Feast, Pack. You actually have a good team this year.

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

Last thought I'll express on Nevada before we turn the page to HCU.

I listened to the Walking Strong podcast with Billy Embody and Bill Armstrong this morning. At one point in the recording (14:30 in the audio pod; 12:30 on the Youtube video) Bill described how he was feeling when there was 10 minutes left in the game, the Ponies were down by 11, and we got the ball on our own 2.

All I'll say is that I think Bill expressed how everyone in Mustang Nation was feeling at that very moment. I cracked up this morning when I heard it; I was thinking "Yep". And then right at that moment that Bill described, everything turned around.

The first time I listened to the Walking Strong podcast, I thought it was brutal. But I have to admit, it grew on me over the course of last season. And they've had some cool guests on there too. Now I listen to it every time.

[jpe747]

Agreed about 'On the Pony Express' with Billy Embody. It is highly informative. For a broader look at the entire ACC let me suggest the 'Locked on ACC podcast'.