It was gonna be a good one, too. I had it all teed up for today, and I was really gonna abandon any pretense of sanity - I made sure to write it all out on Saturday while I was still pissed off. It was gonna be about the quarterback rotation, see, which I'd had completely up to here. Did you know that Mike Rocco was 7-for-9 passing before the fourth series of the game, when David Watford was inserted, and 0-for-a-lot afterwards?
But Mike London must've seen my cheeky, rude tweet from during the game, and decided I was right. So you can thank me, obviously, for the apparent end of the rotation. At least, it sounds like the end of it. Parse this London quote how you like....
“And if it means dialing back some of David’s opportunities, maybe more plays than series, and allow Michael to hang in there a little bit longer and play the game, then we may have to do that.”....but it sounds to me like, come the fourth offensive series of the Miami game, Mike Rocco will still trot out to take the snaps.
So my rant about why this QB rotation has been so detrimental will never see the light of day, as it's nothing more than dead-horse beating now. It's probably for the best. At any rate, one statistic (I had a bunch of them to back up the craziness) does need to survive the purge, and that's this one: In the seven games we've played so far, Rocco is 47-of-67 passing before the first Watford series, and 62-of-115 after. That's just over 70% completion before, and just under 54% after. Combine that with Rocco's superior yards-per-attempt, and you can use your imagine as to how many yards - and maybe points - have been kept off the board by this rotation. QB development is one thing, but program development is more important, and winning = program development.
So I'm hopeful that what we'll see against Miami is that Rocco will be the quarterback, and that what London means by "more plays than series" is that something will be done about having Watford run some things that are more conducive to his skill set. Unpredictability is a good thing, and by now the whole world knows the old pattern.
(I don't mean, by the way, to associate "David Watford" with "offense goes down the drain." That would not be fair. Rather, "quarterback rotation" should be the evil in your mind. Simply subbing Rocco out with an unknown possibility of how permanent that is, is what's causing his play to suffer.)
Let's get the prediction roundup out of the way and then never speak of this game again. Must look forward.
- UVA owns the time of possession battle by about 34-26.
No. NC State by about 32-28.
- If UVA wins the game, the run-pass split will be about 2-1 again.
This was conditional, so I'm gonna cop out and nullify this one. Obviously, having to come back from behind caused the pass to become more prevalent.
- Perry Jones carries for about 120 yards and Kevin Parks carries for about 80.
Gawd, no. Neither came close to happening. Here's a sorry stat: UVA's average starting field position was their 37. If you take away the one very well-thrown bomb from Watford to Tim Smith, not one player totaled enough offense during the entire game to score from the 37 on one drive. (Would've needed 63 yards for that, and the only way anyone made it was that one pass.)
- Clifton Richardson gets minimal or no carries as a precaution.
He got five, which is about normal. So he's healthy, which is good. But NO on the prediction.
- Tim Smith catches at least five passes.
He might have if his hands had been better.
- James Washington carries for between 55 and 75 yards.
Washington had 82, averaging 3.9 per carry, so I'm gonna be a bitch and say "close enough." He would've fallen smack into the middle of the target range if he hadn't been repeatedly handed the ball in an effort to milk clock. Basically, he was who I thought he was, and that's good enough. Because otherwise I'm getting a big ol' 0-fer.
- Mike Glennon gets over 250 passing yards, the majority coming in the second half.
He had 231, which is close, but since I bitched out on the last one, I'll hold myself to the letter here and go with no.
So - 20-for-51 on the season, which sux, and even worse, I drop to 4-3 on outcome predictions and 3-4 ATS. That whole prediction group was predicated on not having a colossal letdown, and a colossal letdown is exactly what happened - particularly from the offensive line which inexplicably could never open a hole to run through.
Chins up, however. There's a tendency among fans, UVA fans in particular, to let the last game define the whole season. Anyone who thinks we should put Watford in permanently to "develop for the future" has got their priorities screwed up beyond recognition. There's still plenty of reason to think we'll go to a bowl, and even more so there's still a huge need to. Fortunately, football coaches aren't so defeatist as to give up on the season and its goals with five games to go - WE STILL HAVE A WINNING RECORD AFTER ALL - and I can't imagine the message that would send to the team, to start playing for 2012 in the middle of 2011.
***************************************************************
Next section is Senior Seasons. I must impart to you that the GP South Blue Devils lost their final game, to semi-powerhouse Marine City, but it mattered not as they were already qualified for the playoffs. In the first round they'll host Detroit Martin Luther King this Friday. Go South. Now for the part where you give a damn:
St. Joseph 58, Pleasantville 2: Max Valles returned a fumble for a touchdown; this game was over after the first quarter with the score already 44-0. I ain't makin' that up. St. Joseph is 6-0.
Franklin 47, North Hunterdon 7: Kye Morgan scored three touchdowns and would've had a fourth if not for a penalty on the play. Franklin is 5-1.
Malvern Prep 42, Penn Charter 6: Not often I get to put the O-linemen's schools in the upper section, but Michael Mooney came in for individual praise for a pancake block that opened the path for Malvern's second touchdown. Malvern is 6-1.
Central Bucks South 50, Hatboro-Horsham 21: Matt Johns only threw the ball 16 times, but completed 11 for 197 yards and three touchdowns. He ran for two more. CB South is 5-3.
Landstown 19, Green Run 14: Kyle Dockins had 3 catches for 18 yards. Landstown is 6-2; Green Run is 3-5.
Bayside 38, Princess Anne 0: Anthony Cooper caught two touchdowns - and two passes thrown by the Princess Anne quarterback as well. Bayside is 7-2.
Norfolk Christian 49, Norfolk Academy 14: Wil Wahee and Mario Nixon each caught a touchdown pass and Kwontie Moore ran for two more in the rout. NCS is 6-2.
Varina 69, Henrico 28: Maurice Canady only threw the ball six times, but four were for touchdowns, and a total of 138 yards. Varina is 6-1.
Victory Christian 62, Central Florida Christian 0 (Demeitre Brim - VCA is 6-2.)
Buford 28, Greater Atlanta Christian 0 (C.J. Moore - Buford is 9-0.)
DeMatha 21, Archbishop Carroll 20 (Michael Moore - DeMatha is 5-2.)
Eastport South Manor 13, Harborfields 12 (Sean Karl - ESM is 3-4.)
Stratford 51, Magnolia West 13 (Kelvin Rainey - Stratford is 5-3.)
Choate Rosemary Hall 24, Worcester Academy 21 (Canaan Severin - WA is 3-2.)
Hampton 42, Menchville 3 (Jamall Brown - Hampton is 6-2.)
Hermitage 31, Deep Run 7 (Andre Miles-Redmond - Hermitage is 7-0.)
Last week:
Brunswick 44, Wayne County 13: Greyson Lambert was 20/48 with 1 TD, 1 INT, and 240 yards.
One regular season is now complete: the powerhouse that is Buford has a bye next Friday before the Georgia playoffs begin in two weeks and some poor hapless fool has to start their playoff run by getting destroyed by the Wolves. Buford hasn't had any trouble with any of its opponents, and the GAC game this week was supposed to be a showdown. It wasn't. GAC hasn't been shut out since 2003. Buford has won the last four Georgia AA titles; no school in Georgia history has ever won five in a row.
***************************************************************
Some extras:
-- The recruiting board gets a quick (very quick) update this week after sitting for who knows how long. Ken Ekanem dropped UVA, is why.
-- So the Maryland game won't be on any ESPN networks. That sucks.
-- Buuuut, there's the Miami game on Thursday. There is a possibility I skip class for that. Either that will be a Twitter game (follow @MaizeNBlueWahoo for that) or it will be a belated Twitter game with me picking up in the second half (still follow @MaizeNBlueWahoo for that.)
-- I've never had to deal with a Thursday night game, so that screws with my schedule. Here's how I think we're gonna do it this week: game preview Wednesday night, no post on Thursday at all, then reaction on Friday plus maybe a recruit profile, and ballot on Sunday as usual.
-- If you aren't voting for Chase Minnifield every single day, you're doing it wrong. Lowe's Senior Class award. Seriously. Every day. Do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment