reality check

[gseagle]

89 yds passing
224 yds rushing

yes we are a young team, but those are the stats against a team that is now 0-2 and got waxed by north dakota st last week.

i haven't seen yet what's so great about this hatch attack offense. really, what is it?

whatever it's suppose to be, hope it will improve each week or its going to be a long season.

[GSUEagle4life]

89 yds passing
224 yds rushing

yes we are a young team, but those are the stats against a team that is now 0-2 and got waxed by north dakota st last week.

i haven't seen yet what's so great about this hatch attack offense. really, what is it?

whatever it's suppose to be, hope it will improve each week or its going to be a long season.

We scored 34 with a lot of mistakes with 2 first year qb's and true freshman rbs and a brand new o line

[BillyBob]

You know what the problem was tonight? The offensive line. We still had no time to throw the ball. That's why Chapple was on the bench most of the game. I don't think there were too many sacks but we did use Henton for most of the game and it is still going to be hard to make plays when he has to run around in the pocket. Some people might say catching was not good but we were well over 0.500 in passing.

But yeah, the O-line is a problem. I don't think the protection was really that much better than it was against UGA.

[gsu_paintballer]

You know what the problem was tonight? The offensive line. We still had no time to throw the ball. That's why Chapple was on the bench most of the game. I don't think there were too many sacks but we did use Henton for most of the game and it is still going to be hard to make plays when he has to run around in the pocket. Some people might say catching was not good but we were well over 0.500 in passing.

But yeah, the O-line is a problem. I don't think the protection was really that much better than it was against UGA.

Did you watch the defensive series for GSU? Our D-line SUCKS.

[SouthernBred]

We are a young team . . .defense played much better in second half after the crowd got behind them . . . kudo's to the crowd especially the students.

[GSUwinsagain]

We are a young team . . .defense played much better in second half after the crowd got behind them . . . kudo's to the crowd especially the students.

Our DL is mainly all seniors, the crowd was into game earlier but got bored with lack of effort or scheme by team.

[eaglesrthe1]

Well, I just got back from the game and am purposely posting this before I read anything so that my opinions will not be swayed and be what I'm truly thinking at this moment in time. Perhaps tomorrow I might think differently, but for now I am totally underwhelmed.

It's not all bad, I think that the defense really stepped up in the second half and that they deserve the credit for the W more so than the offense.

Things may become more clear as time goes by, but I really expected GSU to take this game maybe not going away, but certainly not being pushed to the brink. The Eagles have a long way to go, and I don't think that they want any part of a team of the caliber of a NDSU.

As far as the "Hatch Attack" goes I'm more than ready to see it than hear about it. I haven't seen anything "vertical" to speak of yet. To my untrained eyes, everything seems to be East-West, not North-South.

Not a big fan of the all shotgun formation. All the hand offs are done with the RB at a stand still, and it doesn't seem that play action works out of it as well because the RB isn't attacking the line. But, I admit that I don't know squat.

It does seem that Henton has taken the starting spot, but that Hatcher will still give a possession or two to the backup each game. I'd like to see if maybe Collins will be given a shot under game conditions because I'm still not sold on Henton.

It's good that the next week is another non-conference game. The learning curve is going to get much steeper in a hurry. Northeastern might not be the cream of the CAA, but they know how to play football and will be more of a challenge than APSU. The Eagles will have to take it up a notch.

[SouthernBred]

Yes, the defense has experience, I am concerned about how they got pushed around for the first 35 minutes or so . . . but they did stand up in the second half, especially the last 20 minutes or so . . . the crowd got taken out of the game in the 2nd quarter and stayed quiet until they rallied, I really thought they helped energize the defense in the 2nd half when our offense kept putting the ball on the ground. We have to be patient with the offense, they are real young, the O line is going to take time to develop and get comfortable with the blocking scheme. I was really proud of O and D in the 4th quarter. Hopefully we will improve more next week against Northeastern and be ready for SOCON in 2 weeks.

[gsu_paintballer]

I just can't fathom why they would be able to run between the tackles ALL NIGHT LONG.

[PX]

Will someone please tell our defensive back #9 (Pasco?)he might get a nice surprise if he would ever turn his head and look for the BALL.....

He also might cut down on the automatic pass interference penalties too...

I don't know why Austin Peay quit throwing to that side of the field as completions or pass interference was gonna happen every time they threw the ball to the receiver this young man was trying to defend.

I know he's young, and Lord knows I had no football skills when I was a young man, but it seems some coach along the way would have picked up this weakness about not looking for the ball a long time before now.


Jesse

[PowerEagle]

- Hatch attack is not impressive to me. We dont get the ball to people in space, we hand the ball off up the middle, or throw to a receiver that is double covered. I agree with others that its time to see something rather than read about it

- The 3-3-5 defense is not good either. We walk the linebackers up to the line, where they were getting blown off the ball by the o-lineman. The LBs are standing up, so theyre at a leverage disadvantage, and they might as well drop into a stance. I agree with the other poster that said that any team that wants to beat us should line up double tight in an I formation and pound the ball. It appeared we had a goalline defensive formation, i dont know why we didnt bring that out on the 3rd or 4th and shorts we had.

- Huge props to the defense for finally showing up in the second half, after getting pushed around in the first half. If our defense spent as much energy wrapping up on first contact as they do trying to pump up the crowd, i guarantee the noise would take care of itself.

- Henton outshined Chapple, but he had a much better opportunity this game. Lots more snaps. He's pretty quick, but not lightning fast, and showed good pocket presence in avoiding sacks and stepping up. Also has a tendency to keep looking downfield instead of running. Nice toss to Raja in the first half.

- The DB's have to learn to turn around and knock the ball down. That sort of thing killed us tonight.

[eagleeye]

we really just don't have much size across the defensive front with the attrition we've faced there over the past several months (injuries and players deciding not to play for GSU ie. two 300-pounders Brandon Daniel & Jerry Barker). I honestly haven't seen much to convince me we are anywhere close to being ready for the Socon....OFF and DEF are inconsistent. Pass coverage and tackling is weak. Nevertheless, I am encouraged by the fact that we are very young, the players are playing hard, and we have the right man in place as coach. I'm hoping with another week of battle training behind us and the fact that we will be getting more players back from suspension this week, we will progress greatly as a team this week and next Saturday.

[1peatfor7]

actually both the ol and the dl got manhandled for the first 35 or so minutes. the d stepped it up big time in the 2nd half. the o would turn around and have 3 and outs. then apsu got fumbiltis 4 straight times and we.took advantage.

[The_Eagles_Cliff]

- Hatch attack is not impressive to me. We dont get the ball to people in space, we hand the ball off up the middle, or throw to a receiver that is double covered. I agree with others that its time to see something rather than read about it

- The 3-3-5 defense is not good either. We walk the linebackers up to the line, where they were getting blown off the ball by the o-lineman. The LBs are standing up, so theyre at a leverage disadvantage, and they might as well drop into a stance. I agree with the other poster that said that any team that wants to beat us should line up double tight in an I formation and pound the ball. It appeared we had a goalline defensive formation, i dont know why we didnt bring that out on the 3rd or 4th and shorts we had.

- Huge props to the defense for finally showing up in the second half, after getting pushed around in the first half. If our defense spent as much energy wrapping up on first contact as they do trying to pump up the crowd, i guarantee the noise would take care of itself.

- Henton outshined Chapple, but he had a much better opportunity this game. Lots more snaps. He's pretty quick, but not lightning fast, and showed good pocket presence in avoiding sacks and stepping up. Also has a tendency to keep looking downfield instead of running. Nice toss to Raja in the first half.

- The DB's have to learn to turn around and knock the ball down. That sort of thing killed us tonight.

Definitely with you there. It's another byproduct of watching too many antics and not enough football in the NFL, just play.

The "Hatch Attack" has yet to surface because our players can't execute it yet. Coach actually mentioned a few times this week that he has lots of plays he would like to run, but that our young guys only know a limited number. When we finally see the offense, it will look a lot like the old triple option when it comes to timing and reads. The QB will learn to throw quicker and the receivers will learn to run their routes better.

All in all, I thought the team was flat coming off the buses (doesn't always matter) and remained flat for three quarters. I'm always OK with a learning curve for both sides of the ball, but the fundamental tackling on defense and ball handling on offense was very poor.

We have loads of young talent and I think they know how sloppy they played. I'm looking forward to watching this group grow and I absolutely believe we'll have #7 before this new group graduates.

[ks eagle 76]

I thought we would run AP out of the stadium. I thought they would score 21 against us and they almost did. Problem was I thought we would score in the 50's. Shows what I know. Barely 300 yards of offense against Austin Peay. Maybe it's youth. We won't be able to run the ball aginst the better teams in the SoCon. I think you have to be worried that the Hatch attack didn't work against AP.The defense is basically the same bunch that gave up over 30 points per game last year. Why should they be better? Is it coaching or personel?

On a positive note, the cokes didn't smell and the parking lot was fine.

[eaglewraith]

I thought we would run AP out of the stadium. I thought they would score 21 against us and they almost did. Problem was I thought we would score in the 50's. Shows what I know. Barely 300 yards of offense against Austin Peay. Maybe it's youth. We won't be able to run the ball aginst the better teams in the SoCon. I think you have to be worried that the Hatch attack didn't work against AP.The defense is basically the same bunch that gave up over 30 points per game last year. Why should they be better? Is it coaching or personel?

On a positive note, the cokes didn't smell and the parking lot was fine.

I also thought we weren't supposed to run any more option plays....EVER.....

[eaglefan04]

I work with a guy who played for Hatcher at Valdosta St. and he said that we're gonna continue to see that Hatcher plays his type of offense, no matter what type of defense he's got lined up against him. He's the kinda coach that FULLY buys into a system and the parts are inter-changeable.

Hey, let's just enjoy a win. A young team is a young team.

Georgia Southern is still in a transition period, as Axl Rose once said "All we need is a little patience"...

[MaconEagle]

Guys, come on. Did we not just win this game and put up 34 points. This is a young team that came out flat. Did you think they would be as hyped up as they were last week? I am sure the focus was not there early and there aren't enough seniors on this team to stop let downs like this.

This team will continue to get better on offense and the defense will hopefully learn how to wrap up on a tackle sometime this year.

[eaglewraith]

Guys, come on. Did we not just win this game and put up 34 points. This is a young team that came out flat. Did you think they would be as hyped up as they were last week? I am sure the focus was not there early and there aren't enough seniors on this team to stop let downs like this.

This team will continue to get better on offense and the defense will hopefully learn how to wrap up on a tackle sometime this year.

Unfortunately tackling has been an issue the last few years. Everyone is going for the hit instead of the wrap up and making a good fundamental tackle. For the rest of the season, the entire defense should have to run sprints or something for every poor tackling attempt in every game and every practice....might give 'em some motivation to get better

[GIEAGLE]

Did you watch the defensive series for GSU? Our D-line SUCKS.When you run a 3 man front you better have a "stud" playing for you on the nose that can "eat up" doubleteams.

[gsu_paintballer]

Well maybe last night will show them they can't run a three man front due to lack of a NT.

[GSUEoghan]

I think the D showed up in the second half...in the clutch, they clamped down. Offense, due to lack of pass protection, might start resembling the "Jayson Foster" offense, only bigger and slower. That's GOT to change.

A "W" is a "W" and I'll take it. Section K needs to get it together and show up next week. I saw Kill'em but was afraid to go say hi for fear of catching a GSU cup to the face.

All in all, a good day in the prettiest little stadium in the World.

[01Eagle]

I hope our guys know now they cant play like that if we want a winning season in the SoCon. I dont even want to think what a better team would have done running off tackle like ASPU did last night. ouch, we were getting blown off the ball by probably the smallest O line we will see the rest of the year (not sure about NE). I also think we gave their QB about as much time as we gave UGA's QB last week. It seems like we have great players on D, is this a coaching thing? Our O? can we not get one stinking WR open with the spead formation. We made the ASPU secondary look better than UGA. Henton had that one long pass to Raja that he had to climb a tree to get, that was about it for striking down the field. I just thought i would see more short passes to open WR. As far as flat, maybe its the home opener, I thought i was watching the same team that played West GA last year. Boys in Blue need to dig deep and find another gear. Go Eagles

[Gsuwinsudont]

I do this to myself so i really cant complain but damn if there is not a better way to lose the good feeling about a win is to come on here and hear the whining. Thank god we won. Ill take a W ANYWAY we can get it. Save the style points for the BCS. We came out flat made lots of freshman mistakes while AP was hyped yet still won the game. The D line "sucks" yet forces and recovers two huge fumbles? The D "sucks" but only allows 2 sustained TD drives all night and shuts AP down the second half? There is no winning with a win with most of you.

I know the responses will now rain down with all the coaching points as to why the sky is falling but thats to be expected. We now stand at 1-1 not .5-1 not .2345-1 and all our goals remain intact.

[gsu_paintballer]

I hope our guys know now they cant play like that if we want a winning season in the SoCon. I dont even want to think what a better team would have done running off tackle like ASPU did last night. ouch, we were getting blown off the ball by probably the smallest O line we will see the rest of the year (not sure about NE). I also think we gave their QB about as much time as we gave UGA's QB last week. It seems like we have great players on D, is this a coaching thing? Our O? can we not get one stinking WR open with the spead formation. We made the ASPU secondary look better than UGA. Henton had that one long pass to Raja that he had to climb a tree to get, that was about it for striking down the field. I just thought i would see more short passes to open WR. As far as flat, maybe its the home opener, I thought i was watching the same team that played West GA last year. Boys in Blue need to dig deep and find another gear. Go Eagles

You sort of are. What the difference? No #4. Now, don't get me wrong...I am not one to live in the past and talk about how we can't succeed without graduated players. But, you have to face it. We weren't good last year. One man saved the team.

[Hamfan]

The "reality check" is that we have a very young, not very deep team who has a long way to go. All of us should know that and probably do deep down, but watching it play out can be tough at times. Expectations for this season are probably too high, but who knows?

I think part of the problem was that the players were a little too happy with themselves for "only" losing to thUGA by 24 pts. They played with great intensity last week because they were likely afraid of humiliation while at the same time wanting to "shock the world". This week, the shoe was on the other foot and Peay was the team with the intenstity. Like someone else said, that was probably a blessing in disguise. Hatcher can easily fix that and hopefully make the team realize that to have a chance to win any of the remaining games they are going to have to give it their best. All of our remaining opponents are likely superior to Peay.

It is easy for us old timers to get down on the guys when they don't blow away a team like Peay. Yes, we stunk on toast for most of the game. But, the guys did not get down, they did not quit, and they pulled it out. I think that is a lot better for them going foward than a blowout victory would have been. The last thing we need is any reason to get full of ourselves as every week from here on out is going to be a war.

As far as not being "impressed with the Hatch Attack", it is way too early to go there. This is really the first season of the Hatch Attack as last year was the Foster free for all. Combine that with all the youth we have on offense, and the "reality check" is that we are going to need lots of patience. I watched the Tech game yesterday before heading to Statesboro. I bet a lot of Tech fans might be wondering what the big deal about PJ's vaunted offense is at this point.

How about the student fans? Last night may have been the biggest contingent of them I have seen and they stayed for the whole game. We've complained about them not showing up for years. That part of the program is most certainly heading in the right direction. At this rate, it won't be long before they pack that whole side of the stadium and the grass. I am really happy with them!

[parr90]

We struggled yes and we will some more this year. I have said all along that people better get ready for some struggles over not just this year but the next 2 or 3 years. There have been several factors that took our program down and it will take time to get it back. It kills me to watch us struggle to win against Aus-Pea but we did win and had to come back fighting to do so which is a plus. We have a very good coach in my opinion but its not going to happen over night. I too do not like the 335 defense, but if thats what they intend to run then they might as well do it now so they can recruit for it and get better at it.

[GSU90]

When you look at last season's numbers, it becomes clear that much (if not all) of our success was due to the "Jason Foster Show". I have mentally prepared myself for a year of struggle and have confidence that we will emerge from it a much stronger tream. I have faith that our very young team will continue to improve and that Hatch will guide the way.

Am I dissapointed in the stats from last night? Sure. But I do remmber Erk's favorite logic: 34 is more than 20...

[ks eagle 76]

I also thought we weren't supposed to run any more option plays....EVER.....

Do you really think that CCH wanted to run the ball 44 times last night? 89 yards passing? That's not the "Hatch Attack". That is a good coach doing what it takes to win. I could be wrong but most of those running plays didn't look like options to me. QB faked the handoff, didn't ride the guy looking for which way the defense would react. I'm all for putting Barney at QB and running the spread option if that's the best we can do throwing the ball.

[Klak]

Do you really think that CCH wanted to run the ball 44 times last night? 89 yards passing? That's not the "Hatch Attack". That is a good coach doing what it takes to win. I could be wrong but most of those running plays didn't look like options to me. QB faked the handoff, didn't ride the guy looking for which way the defense would react. I'm all for putting Barney at QB and running the spread option if that's the best we can do throwing the ball.

Did we not do okay running the ball last night? You're right, Hatcher is going to do what it takes to win. If we have the same offensive game plan all season as we had last night and it comes to the same outcome (a GSU win), then who cares?

[SouthernBred]

The offense needs time to gel . . . the line is inexperienced and is learning as they go. You have not seen the Hatch attack . . . you have only seen a couple of pages in the book. Give it time, and give the players time . . . we all know this is a rebuilding year. Heck, we are so young that we have to change our diapers at halftime . . . c'mon people
now, smile on your brothers . . .

[eaglewraith]

Do you really think that CCH wanted to run the ball 44 times last night? 89 yards passing? That's not the "Hatch Attack". That is a good coach doing what it takes to win. I could be wrong but most of those running plays didn't look like options to me. QB faked the handoff, didn't ride the guy looking for which way the defense would react. I'm all for putting Barney at QB and running the spread option if that's the best we can do throwing the ball.

How many times has Hatcher said he'll adjust to whatever it takes to win? You act like he's stuck in this one mindset like the former coach was. He's not. If we run better he'll run it. Put some faith in a coach who has proven he has the winning drive and will continue to make this team better.

[GSUEoghan]

Ok, the game was ugly. The play was subpar...etc etc etc. But for cryin out loud on a donkey people, we WON the game.

Now, next week we have to do it again.

GATA Eagles!

[KJ Eagle]

Ok, the game was ugly. The play was subpar...etc etc etc. But for cryin out loud on a donkey people, we WON the game.

Now, next week we have to do it again.

GATA Eagles!

agreed. Who cares how ugly the game is if we come away with a W? As young as we are, I'll take a W no matter how it comes. 70-7 and 9-8 still look the same in the win loss column.

[maconeagle13]

Does anyone on this board remember our home opener last year? We ALMOST lost to D-II West Georgia. The same thing happened in that game. We came out and scored early, they fought back a little and it took us the rest of the half to figure out how to react. The fact remains that an "almost loss" = a win and I'll take it every freakin Saturday.

[Indy]

Now we know why we were starting a true freshman in the DL last week. With him gone there's real weakness there and in the Oline. It's very difficult to cover for those weaknesses. Until the lines of scrimmage are improved it will continue to be a grab bag on offense and defense. Hopefully they will get better as the year goes along.

[ks eagle 76]

How many times has Hatcher said he'll adjust to whatever it takes to win? You act like he's stuck in this one mindset like the former coach was. He's not. If we run better he'll run it. Put some faith in a coach who has proven he has the winning drive and will continue to make this team better.

And how many times has he said that he wants to throw the ball, thta last year was not his offense. Like I said previously, last night was the mark of a good coach doing what it takes to win. WE WON'T WIN CONSISTENTLY WITH THE PERSONEL WE HAVE RUNNING THE BALL. HENTON DOESN'T PUT UP THOSE NUMBERS AGAINST THE CREAM OF THE CROP. Just my opinion. I must have forgot that it's about winning championships, let's just be happy we beat Austin Peay. I'm out.

[eaglewraith]

And how many times has he said that he wants to throw the ball, thta last year was not his offense. Like I said previously, last night was the mark of a good coach doing what it takes to win. WE WON'T WIN CONSISTENTLY WITH THE PERSONEL WE HAVE RUNNING THE BALL. HENTON DOESN'T PUT UP THOSE NUMBERS AGAINST THE CREAM OF THE CROP. Just my opinion. I must have forgot that it's about winning championships, let's just be happy we beat Austin Peay. I'm out.

And as long as he does that...what do you have to complain about?

[pete4256]

And how many times has he said that he wants to throw the ball, thta last year was not his offense. Like I said previously, last night was the mark of a good coach doing what it takes to win. WE WON'T WIN CONSISTENTLY WITH THE PERSONEL WE HAVE RUNNING THE BALL. HENTON DOESN'T PUT UP THOSE NUMBERS AGAINST THE CREAM OF THE CROP. Just my opinion. I must have forgot that it's about winning championships, let's just be happy we beat Austin Peay. I'm out.

Our season will ride on whether we can start breaking big plays. This is not a "rhythm offense." I think Henton and company can get yards on the ground, but not enough to offset the passing display we've seen the last two weeks.

I'm not sure we have a lot of playmakers, especially big-play runners. None of the RBs has shown me that they're ready to make a difference yet. Hopefully Zeke will show us something different this week, but I'm not holding my breath.

[ks eagle 76]

And as long as he does that...what do you have to complain about?

His coaching ability will not overcome the lack of experienced talent.

[GIEAGLE]

And how many times has he said that he wants to throw the ball, thta last year was not his offense. Like I said previously, last night was the mark of a good coach doing what it takes to win. WE WON'T WIN CONSISTENTLY WITH THE PERSONEL WE HAVE RUNNING THE BALL. HENTON DOESN'T PUT UP THOSE NUMBERS AGAINST THE CREAM OF THE CROP. Just my opinion. I must have forgot that it's about winning championships, let's just be happy we beat Austin Peay. I'm out.If I'm a D coordinator I'll come into a Georgia Southern game with a defensive game plan to take away all the "dinks & dumps". We better find a way to win with some sort of "running game". Balance. When you play good defensive teams you better be able to do both if you want to keep your defense on the bench & score more points than the other team. 3 & outs get you beat.

[gsugt1]

My thoughts are that we came out flat I expected this after playing UGA. Our defense showed up in the 4th quarter and saved our ***. Moving forward I expect us to get better. As CH has said expect a wild ride. Some good and some bad. I will add though I would like to see us pass the ball more down field some. I think getting Zeke back this week will give us a boost.

[GSUNCSU]

My thoughts are that we came out flat I expected this after playing UGA. Our defense showed up in the 4th quarter and saved our ***. Moving forward I expect us to get better. As CH has said expect a wild ride. Some good and some bad. I will add though I would like to see us pass the ball more down field some. I think getting Zeke back this week will give us a boost.
I agree with this, we are still suffering from a little bit of a hangover from the energy it took for the UGA game, we are very young, I was following both games at home and had to go back and look at the roster a few time. We are still looking for our GO TO GUY and our playmaker, he'll show up hopefully sooner rather than later. This will be an interesting season with ups and downs (we'll beat someone we shouldn't somewhere along the way and may end up in a brawl with someone we should beat - is that what happened with APSU?) Patience must be our watch word... This week should give us a better idea as what to expect and then the next and so forth and so on...

[eaglefan04]

With our past offenses, I got a little spoiled with the big play potential.

Sounds like there aren't a whole lot of "home run" threats on this offense. As long as they can be consistent and not make huge mistakes or turn the ball over, I'm ok with the offense as long as it produces and make plays when it has to.