Fizzy: Shedding some light on the ECU game

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Editor’s Note: Former Temple player Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub brings a weekly perspective as not only a player but as a coach, educator, and writer. 

By Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub

Random Observations

  • Penalty after penalty – Both offense & defense – Same guys all the time
  • After five games, I’ve concluded it’s (#1) Mack’s fault to not reach the first down marker. Once again in the first quarter, he went out of bounds a yard short.
  • We continue to run the fake jet sweep never having run the jet sweep.
  • Why can’t Russo run?  Why not a bootleg RPO?
  • When Centeio comes in, why can’t there be misdirections with others running the ball after he fakes.  Future opponents will be prepared.  The play sequence is lousy.
  • I know Davis bounces outside, but on short yardage runs isn’t Gardner the power back?
  • On pass defense, it seems the defenders are very slow coming up
  • Even though the running game is successful, why not try to get outside more?  Boring
  • We’ve tried to run a middle screen a number of times – all unsuccessfully.
  • 23 seconds left in the first half – Turnover in red zone.
  • Hurray, hurray – In the fourth quarter of our fifth game, we FINALLY ran a little semi-reverse pitch to Isaiah Wright and he walked into the end zone.  It’s been open all year.
  • Even when the game was secure, one of our defenders had to throw a forearm after the whistle – It was not called.

Summary

ECU was valiant but outmanned. It took much too long for our superior talent to put this game away.  We played disgustingly at times.

weinraub

Fizzy here at the Boca Raton Bowl

Conclusions

As it turns out this year, our conference games look to be the toughest part of our schedule.  And even though we’re going in with a 4 – 1 record, if we continue to play this way, our record will prove to be misleading.  How can we be so sloppy in the fifth game of the year?  Obviously, a major reason is discipline on the field.  How can we continue to take such stupid penalties?  If we do, we’ll have little chance of beating teams equal and better in talent than us.

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We also need to vary our approach more quickly on both offense and defense.  In the first quarter, ECU had us on our defensive heels.  It wasn’t until we finally started to blitz more at the beginning of the second quarter, did we turn it around.  And there must be a rule somewhere against running trick plays.  What the hell is wrong with running some halfback passes, reverses, roll right – throwback lefts, Philly Specials, and fumble-rooskies?  They turn on both the players and the fans.

C’mon coach, open it up.

Wednesday: Could be a special Homecoming

Saturday: Game Day Tribute

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11 thoughts on “Fizzy: Shedding some light on the ECU game

  1. Absolutely, after 5 games the penalty rate is absurd. Clean that up and we have a really good team, but frankly with it, they’re making themselves mediocre. A thought about why: some of these players have a good chance at the next level so maybe are pushing too hard to impress? – altho getting penalized so often doesn’t make a good impression, it hurts the team and the chance to win. I suppose, in a way, it was impressive that there were so many screwups and yet we handled them fairly easily.

  2. That is on Centeio. He tries too much to do it himself. Either that or his reads are wrong. He should pass more since the D is gearing on to him running the ball. We did do a trick play, with our tight end coming into the middle and getting a shuffle pass, and it worked just great. We also did the same play with Gardner twice, and it worked. I would love to see a halfback pass from Isaiah (played some QB in high school. I bet it would shock the other team’s defense. Yes, all the offsides penalties were frustrating, but it happened only once in the second half. The intensity of our team and other teams leads to head scratching mistakes and penalties.In a tough game, it can ride on who makes less of these. ECU used a very fast tempo and hard counts to slow down our pass rush. We adjusted to this late in the first half and into the second half. Mack has dropped a couple of passes, but he is still and very good receiver but needs to make sure to reach the first down mark on his routes.

  3. Reading this post and the comments, one would think that TU lost. Yes, there were many mistakes but in the end TU completely dominated ECU. I have in the past been an advocate for running many of the plays suggested above. Nevertheless, why waste them in a game like this where you can win heads up without trickery. I’m sure Carey has all of those plays in his repertoire and will use them when necessary. The only thing that bugged me to no end were the procedure penalties. There is no excuse for them and they may cost TU a game one day.

    • I think Fizzy makes a lot of good points but, against a team like Memphis, the coach needs to “close it up” and not open it up. Memphis is a lot like Maryland in that it has speed to burn. Against a team like that, got to run the ball, control the clock, and hit some explosive downfield plays in the play-action passing game. When you look at the times Temple has given up the ball, it’s almost exclusively when they have Russo go empty backfield. The defense knows there is no chance at a running play on empty backfield and they sell out on blitzes and get in his face just as he gets the snap causing fumbles and interceptions. Play action and a back in there for protection eliminates those kinds of turnovers. It’s not fair to Anthony. Give the kid a fighting chance to make a play.

    • Our QBs should do what the opposing QBs do to our D-line, get them to jump offsides with hard counts.

      15 just needs to relax, he never looks smooth, comfortable or poised. Maybe getting 16 in the game will help settle him down.

      13 and 23 are playing lights out in the secondary, enough said for impact of the transfer portal.

  4. Fizzy was wright with his alpha and omega: Dumb Penalties. Owls can’t afford giving Memphis extra plays via offside and targeting penalties. The Temple defense and running game can tame the Tigers, but not if they give them extensions.

  5. Memphi’s O-line is not good enough to stand up to this Temple Pass Rush. Have to get a lot of pressure and force Memphis’ QB into easy mistakes. And seriously, I say this without hyperbole, Re’Mahn Davis is the best RB since Bernard. Feed him the ball behind this line 20+ carries, give Russo the RPO Slants he throws very well, and pray that the special teams isn’t a major disaster, and I think you get a nice win over a ranked team.

    • Good analysis. Very impressed not only with Ra’mahn’s speed but his balance and ability to break tackles. I can see his confidence building each game. Run the offense through him and hit some big plays in the passing game off play-action fakes to him. Like to see Isaiah get that jet sweep fake 2-4 times a game and not 1 or 2.

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