I've had a day to gather my thoughts on this loss for Tech, so here they are:
First off, I didn’t expect Tech to win this game, but I did expect them to compete. They did not, that is extremely disappointing.
J’Mar Smith played his worst game as a Bulldog quarterback. This was his 23rd career start, and that is not acceptable. It is so frustrating to watch him play the position with all of the deficiencies that he brings. He has not completed 50% of his throws in two consecutive weeks. I know I was on the J’Mar bandwagon for quite some time, but simply put, passing the eye test does not translate into an effective quarterback. His accuracy issues flare up far too often, and he is not in complete control of this team from a leadership standpoint. I’m satisfied with winning, but like many of you have said, this team wins for the most part in thanks to its defense.
I would like to see Westin Elliott get a few drives in these last 4 games. I think Tech has to figure out if Elliott is serviceable. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, but we must find out.
I thought McKnight and Henderson ran hard in the game. I thought Tech blocked MSU better than expected in the run game.
Defensively, it was the worst performance of the year. Ferguson got his two sacks, but the two penalties on third down can’t happen. I blamed it on the refs in the moment, but the bottom line is that happens when you are on the road in the SEC. You can’t let it happen.
The LBs are improved this year within the box, but there are major issues when they are dealing with a mobile QB or a run game that can stretch them wide. There is not enough speed at this spot. They had no shot of running down Fitzgerald.
The secondary continues to have its issues with physical receivers. Far too many guys that were wide open. Fitzgerald was never going to struggle to throw if he was throwing to wide open guys.
Special teams were not good at all. The punt return coverage better get fixed this week.
I did not expect to see Tech play its worst game of the year in the 9th game. Here are the player grades: https://latech.rivals.com/news/pro-football-focus-player-grades-la-tech-vs-mississippi-state
First off, I didn’t expect Tech to win this game, but I did expect them to compete. They did not, that is extremely disappointing.
J’Mar Smith played his worst game as a Bulldog quarterback. This was his 23rd career start, and that is not acceptable. It is so frustrating to watch him play the position with all of the deficiencies that he brings. He has not completed 50% of his throws in two consecutive weeks. I know I was on the J’Mar bandwagon for quite some time, but simply put, passing the eye test does not translate into an effective quarterback. His accuracy issues flare up far too often, and he is not in complete control of this team from a leadership standpoint. I’m satisfied with winning, but like many of you have said, this team wins for the most part in thanks to its defense.
I would like to see Westin Elliott get a few drives in these last 4 games. I think Tech has to figure out if Elliott is serviceable. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, but we must find out.
I thought McKnight and Henderson ran hard in the game. I thought Tech blocked MSU better than expected in the run game.
Defensively, it was the worst performance of the year. Ferguson got his two sacks, but the two penalties on third down can’t happen. I blamed it on the refs in the moment, but the bottom line is that happens when you are on the road in the SEC. You can’t let it happen.
The LBs are improved this year within the box, but there are major issues when they are dealing with a mobile QB or a run game that can stretch them wide. There is not enough speed at this spot. They had no shot of running down Fitzgerald.
The secondary continues to have its issues with physical receivers. Far too many guys that were wide open. Fitzgerald was never going to struggle to throw if he was throwing to wide open guys.
Special teams were not good at all. The punt return coverage better get fixed this week.
I did not expect to see Tech play its worst game of the year in the 9th game. Here are the player grades: https://latech.rivals.com/news/pro-football-focus-player-grades-la-tech-vs-mississippi-state
