In which we try to fight the gold demons in our head.
Yuck.
Game Recap in Three Sentences
An early TD drive showed promise but the offense (particularly the ground attack) was smothered for the rest of the game.
The defense was fine, picking up a turnover and holding Notre Dame decently on third down.
Special teams was a complete disaster including a botched FG attempt, a blocked FG, an allowed fake punt, and an allowed fake FG.
Above The Line of the Week
- Third down defense. This has been pretty solid all season at 32% and the 33% against ND was a huge reason this game was within reach for so long.
- New England fall weather. It’s the perfect balance right now; on most days it’s chilly enough that I can wear a hoodie/sweatshirt without sweating, but there’s still enough warmth in the sun that when I go for a run I can wear shorts and short sleeves.
- Turnovers. We’ve taken the ball away at least once in three straight games now.
Unformed Thought of the Week
I know we need the money, but it sucks seeing any empty MBS on TV. I have to imagine that the players hate playing in what seems to be such a dead atmosphere. I’m certainly not going to be in a good mood when it’s filled with 70k georgia fans next year. Money’s cool, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.
5 Star (7 Star, 5 Star) Developmental Program Haiku of the Week
Gold dome trickery
Deserve to miss the playoffs
Everyone is hurt
Precipice
I don’t want to be dramatic, but I feel like we’re standing on the edge of what our season is. Haynes King going down (and Efford as well) is starting to feel like a sliding doors moment separating a season that can be built on from one that leaves a bad taste in our mouths.
I of course can’t be overly mad about losing to Notre Dame (though I can be very mad about the way it happened), but it leaves us with four non-easy games left to get a bowl-eligibility win with a banged-up backup quarterback. I’d feel a lot better if we had a healthy Haynes King under center (or rather, in shotgun) but I guess I’m not sure we’ve even had that to begin with. ND is obviously a great defense (and you never want to draw too many conclusions from one game) yet it’s clear that the offense is not the same with Pyron, especially not when he’s taking huge hits every play. Pyron’s arm is perfectly fine, but the run game suffers without the threat of King’s legs and we can’t afford to be one-dimensional against good teams. Efford’s absence also left a similarly big hole in our run defense. Injuries can always derail the best laid plans (just ask Florida State), but part of being a good program is having the depth to weather those storms.
One more win is all it would take to make me feel good about 2024 and where we could go in 2025. NC State is the most likely candidate, but they aren’t exactly a pushover at 4-4 (and probably likely to finish bowl eligible themselves). I felt okay about Virginia Tech a few weeks ago but there’s been a material change in our situation and now we’re double digit underdogs. I’m trying to fight the sinking feeling that our season is over; I know it’s defeatist, but the recent evidence doesn’t exactly inspire confidence and I’ve been trained by this program to expect nothing. I talked a lot at the end of last season about how making a bowl game would be huge for the direction of this program – the prospect of starting a new bowl streak with two in a row has the same power if not more. Fighting through a really tough schedule to earn a second bowl appearance in two years would be an unmistakable signal that Key and Co. are on the right trajectory; letting it all slip away with a big losing streak at the end would not. I want to be on the right side of that prospect.
Look Ahead
Up next is Virginia Tech (10/26, noon). I’ve become nervous about this game. The Hokies are coming off two straight big wins and absolutely nothing about the ND game gave me any confidence in what we have to offer. We need some of the week-after-a-loss Brent Key black magic as well as a healthy Haynes King (and that’s not looking good). It’s not likely we’ll ever have a worse running performance than we did this past week, but we absolutely have to have our strengths against VT.