🏈 Run blocking

[porkchop]

...we might want to explore that.

 

[NTT]

yeah its getting frustrating.

 

[doemasters]

right at 200 yards with them stacking the box does not seem to bad to me

 

[bamafan4ever]

I agree with Doe. Not picking on you chopper but I heard this on a call from an Alabama fan on XM. The Alabama fan implied the same thing you did and I had to remember how many yards we had rushing. I then just assumed the caller was a Barner in a Tider's clothing. :nana: Since I know you are not a Barner, some others must be thinking this as well. Ba,ma gained 359 total yards and 197 of those were rushing yards. My only concern was some of the play-calling with the insistence of running the ball up the middle. Clearly, Trent was running better off tackle and not into the teeth of a pretty damn good PSU DL. Those suckers were huge and fast. I have never seen Trent get hit as hard as he did today and he never let go of the ball. I think it was a matter of matchups. Vlachos is an awesome C, especially technique-wise. He got overwhelmed against the PSU interior due to his size. Those guys were big and athletic. That being said, the pass protection remained solid despite PSU's best efforts and their LB's rank high on many lists.

AJ looked solid and the defense is going to awesome. We needed to hold our foot on their throat at the end and we didn't. I heard the coach get pissed about that too so I am not worried. Overall, this team made a nice step today in my opinion.

 

[porkchop]

That's all fine and good, but with the exception of a couple of runs we went anywhere from +4 to -3 all game long. If I'm not mistaken, we had 3 or 4 runs all game of longer than 5 yards. One was on Trent's TD run, one came in the first half and one came in the second, after PSU had called it quits. The line wasn't stacked every time we tried to run. We just didn't pick up stunts and backers who read run and shot the gaps. It wasn't like PSU was blitzing us every play.

I'm just concerned about getting into SEC play with the run game as it is. The team did improve its output from week one, so that's a positive sign. PSU is clearly better than Kent, but I just feel like we have a ways to go.

And in conclusion......both of you are barners.

 

[doemasters]

Oh da pain of being called such, this means War :shock:

 

[TerryP]

We are going to play good defense.
We are going to run the ball.
We are going to play physical football to the point we wear you out by the fourth quarter.

Given the circumstances surrounding our two programs meeting each other I'll have to say I'm pretty confident in this football team. They accomplished all three of those and that's all you can ask of a football team on a weekend like this one. I think some folks need to accept the fact we are going to be a pounding football team. Encompassing that thought we need to remember Penn State isn't a bad football team. I don't believe we'll see another defensive line as good as theirs until we see Florida, then LSU.

Overall, good ball game. I left encouraged about the lack of mistakes on offense.

 

[Argo]

One thing that makes the running game look much worse than what it is? Missed assignments and Trent being hit as he's being handed the ball. It was #5 last week, and it was #71 this week. There were a lot of plays like this in the game, where one person missed an assignment that could have otherwise been a big play.. One specific play, if you have the game on DVR, go to the 8:24 mark in the second quarter. Steen pulls, Vlachos completely whiffs blocking #71. If he makes the block, Fluker has perfect back side containment. Warmack blocked down, Steen has pulled and is perfect position to block the end, Barret Jones has made it to the second level and is in perfect position to engage the Mike backer, and Smelley is getting to the gap to pick up the Will backer. If Vlachos blocks #71, it's going to be Trent vs safety near the first down marker. I'll take Trent every time to win that battle and probably take it to the house.

Much like last week, there were a lot of plays being made in the back field, but it's really only one player missing an assignment. It's frustrating for us, I can't imagine had Trent feels about it. If I have time tomorrow, I'm going to go back and take every run that Trent was hit in the back field off his stats and see what his YPC would be.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

I do think we stayed conservative during this game, both due to the crowd, keep our QB on an even keel, and due to what was anticipated to be a defensive mismatch. Terry, your assessment is right on, wear them out. Lacy is no improvement over Trent, just there for the killing blow. When Lacy got dinged after getting a wicked (no call) facemask and had tweaked his shoulder a few carries earlier, Trent's 13 yard TD looked like child's play.

The one thing that concerns me, though, is that for two weeks a standout defensive lineman has had a very good game at our expense (forget the 250 pound quick guy's name for Kent State - single digit I believe - and the 310# number 71 for State. When we get to LSU and others, we'll be facing two or three D-linemen of that quality each week. I saw some criticism of Steen and Vlachos on the open forum - any thoughts on their performances? I always thought of Vlachos as a strong point of our line.

My assessment, by the way, is that you're all barners.

RTR,

Tim

 

[UAgrad93]

We seemed to have more success running off tackle and gashing them with the stretch play the whole game. The insistence of running up the gut was hurting us for the most part. Missed assignments were still visible and they will improve.

To be honest with you guys, I think you are all Barners running this great board!! LOL

 

['65 Cobra]

One thing that makes the running game look much worse than what it is? Missed assignments and Trent being hit as he's being handed the ball. It was #5 last week, and it was #71 this week. There were a lot of plays like this in the game, where one person missed an assignment that could have otherwise been a big play.. One specific play, if you have the game on DVR, go to the 8:24 mark in the second quarter. Steen pulls, Vlachos completely whiffs blocking #71. If he makes the block, Fluker has perfect back side containment. Warmack blocked down, Steen has pulled and is perfect position to block the end, Barret Jones has made it to the second level and is in perfect position to engage the Mike backer, and Smelley is getting to the gap to pick up the Will backer. If Vlachos blocks #71, it's going to be Trent vs safety near the first down marker. I'll take Trent every time to win that battle and probably take it to the house.

Much like last week, there were a lot of plays being made in the back field, but it's really only one player missing an assignment. It's frustrating for us, I can't imagine had Trent feels about it. If I have time tomorrow, I'm going to go back and take every run that Trent was hit in the back field off his stats and see what his YPC would be.

Good example and assessment. In my mind, Vlachos is the weakest link and the Vlachos-Steen gap is where we see the most problems. Vlachos was none too impressive last year quite often as well. I thought Barrett Jones did a better job at center than Vlachos and wouldn't mind seeing that move made permanently and plugging in Cyrus and letting him have his baptism by fire. Vlachos is just getting pushed around too much.

 

[kc]

Good example and assessment. In my mind, Vlachos is the weakest link and the Vlachos-Steen gap is where we see the most problems. Vlachos was none too impressive last year quite often as well. I thought Barrett Jones did a better job at center than Vlachos and wouldn't mind seeing that move made permanently and plugging in Cyrus and letting him have his baptism by fire. Vlachos is just getting pushed around too much.

Glad someone else has seen this and said something about it. I have not been happy at all with the play from the middle three(mainly the center/guard gap on the right side). Vlachos is getting pushed around, just like last year. They moved #71 over, at some point in the game, to be on the right side of our line. I could be wrong but I thought he started at RDE or RDT...I need to watch the relay. Will get to it tonight. Steen was getting pushed around as well. Saw him on his knees one time getting whooped by a DL.

 

[planomateo]

one of 3 lineman to get recognized this week in the SEC...

WILLIAM VLACHOS (Alabama) -- Received the top grade on the Alabama offensive line against Penn State. Allowed no sacks, no pressures and did not get called for any penalties.

http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/NEWS/tabid/473/Article/227914/sec-football-players-of-the-week.aspx

 

[Hoos4Tide]

Is there a difference b/t not doing anything wrong and doing everything right?

But yes, I think this week, after the hostile environment in Happy Valley we'll start to see CK at LT and BJ moved back to RG where I think it will stay for the rest of the year. I think someone has said this on another topic but I feel like they wanted more experience while at Penn State whereas they'll really cement CK into the line against North Texas this week.

 

[RollTideinGA]

Good example and assessment. In my mind, Vlachos is the weakest link and the Vlachos-Steen gap is where we see the most problems. Vlachos was none too impressive last year quite often as well. I thought Barrett Jones did a better job at center than Vlachos and wouldn't mind seeing that move made permanently and plugging in Cyrus and letting him have his baptism by fire. Vlachos is just getting pushed around too much.

Are we talking about the starting Center for the past three years? Seriously?

 

[psychojoe]

I haven't seen anyone comment on this, but I'll throw it in here since it is related to blocking. After CNs comments about Smelley hitting the wrong hole on the fake punt I went back and watched that play in slow motion several times. All I could think of was dang. If he cuts outside left tackle he's running free in the secondary with Hightower and Barron leading him. Twenty yard at least, and he might have scored. I can see why he's not a running back.

 

[JoshB]

I haven't seen anyone comment on this, but I'll throw it in here since it is related to blocking. After CNs comments about Smelley hitting the wrong hole on the fake punt I went back and watched that play in slow motion several times. All I could think of was dang. If he cuts outside left tackle he's running free in the secondary with Hightower and Barron leading him. Twenty yard at least, and he might have scored. I can see why he's not a running back.

Oh yeah, I said it when I saw it. Instead of busting it up the gut, had he just cut to the outside that woulda been a HUGE gainer.

 

[UAgrad93]

Joe, I damn near threw up in my mouth when it was run live! My 10 yr old even yelled, "Why didn't he follow his blocks!"

 

[shipley00]

PSU did stack the box, but for the second game in a row, defenders were going untouched to the RB. It's one thing to get stuffed at the line, its another thing entirely to get shoved back and have the opponent spend as much time in the backfield as the RB does. I've seen far worse OL play from Alabama under Shula, but I hope we can all agree that we are not playing like one of the top OLs in the SEC.

 

[Argo]

One thing that needs to be pointed out if it hasn't yet, the pass blocking is exceptional. The scheme is good. I think the run blocking scheme is good, it's just a few players missing assignments or being beat off the snap.

Something I noticed that was very effective in the running game was the stretch plays. I think we'll see more of that, and I think we'll see most of the productive rushing yards will be to the right side of the line. At least, that's how it looks early.