The wind was coming off of the Atlantic and rolling over the burren at a steady 35-40 mph. The rain was termed by the locals as a friendly mist and a bit fresh, but even with complete rain gear, my undergarments were matted to my body. Walking was challenging enough, but trying to focus on the task at hand was nigh impossible. But enough about my golf adventures, you want to hear about the game. Although as it turned out, the golf was way more satisfying.
Much like me attempting to extricate my ball from a wee fairway bunker on the coast, the Noles could not get out of the mud this game. It honestly felt like I was watching an entire team operating in slow motion. I know that DJ was not blessed with Noah Lyles speed, but holy Soprano cement shoes, that boy moves slow. It was a throwback to the GT staffer Chris Weinke with his alacrity. And I know the signalcaller has an earpiece this year, but was he listening to Fitz and the Tantrums making his hands clap? The boy must have paddy caked 30 times before every ball was snapped. The glacial pace of this offense was more Jimbo than Mike, and kids that is not good. Down by a TD in the fourth, we took over 8 minutes to drive the field, needing two conversions to finish the job. We never got the ball back.
Maybe we got into Dublin too late in the week to have the kids adjust. Maybe we were so concerned over injuries that the practices were not physical enough, or maybe our fat kids on the line were just not very good - but we were manhandled by an average football team. Here is what I do know. We romped down the field on the opening drive acting like it was a practice against a scout team. We were so arrogant, I think we had 7 different skill position players touch the rock. It was like an Oprah episode…You get the ball and You get the ball, and even You true freshman get the ball! That drive happened and the Tech staff made an overhaul to the defensive gameplan. After that score, they had eight bodies in the box and all eleven close enough to sing backup to DJ’s headset. Meanwhile, we spent the next 5 offensive series banging a square peg. On defense, it was clear right out of the box, that GT knew they had a numbers advantage with the QB run in play, and we did next to nothing to adjust. Only the first play of the second half when Shy blitzed and the Jacket got by him for 50, and the last three plays of the game did our stubborn defensive staff give our front an opportunity to match up.
So other than being outcoached and outphysicalled, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln? Well, the venue was very cool. The rolling roof was way more impressive than the pictures. No one appreciates spiffing your entitlement sponsor more than I, but the only thing moving slower than DJ’s feet was the Aer Lingus jet on that arcing “flyover”. The opposite sideline was pointing at the lumbering jet as it came over, and 45 seconds later, we saw it finishing the loop. How a 747 can go that slow and not fall out of the sky was impressive. The pregame Irish dancing and clog fest was fun. The walk from our local pub to the park was lovely as we sauntered down gorgeous tree lined neighborhood streets with thousands of Noles at this Tech “home game”. Having the GT announcer making every first down and defensive third down sound like a WWE highlight package was slightly annoying. But the Irish fans behind us completely clueless about this mess of a game in front of them and listening to Melanie and Debbie do football for dummies was enjoyable. The venue has literally an eight beer per person limit (how can you not love the Irish!) and yet we saw no obnoxious behavior at all. It is imminently possible that by Saturday, our collective tolerance for massive quantities of Guinness had reached respectable measures, so we all left our drunken tomfoolery in Temple Bar midweek.
Coach Norvell has earned the right to have a clunker, and make no mistake, this was a sunk Bundt. From a personnel standpoint, my opinion is not yet out of the oven. The receivers that were allowed to make plays made em. Ja’khai made an incredible toe tapping key grab and was open all day. Malik ran great routes and made every grab. There was a sprinkling of catches from other dudes, but lack of a downfield (middle preferably) passing game was stunning. Yes, Tech was smashing the box, but the tackles were getting whipped. Robert Scott was so ineffective, he was pulled. We were forced to bring in an extra TE, but he never slipped out into the area wider than the River Liffey right in front of him. The backs did what they could and I still like em, but again…the numbers game was not in their favor to get a good read. Kam Davis is a beast of a specimen, and his front side blocking was impressive, but that drop might have been a touchdown.
On defense, I am equally clueless. I will say that our backers inability to hit the right holes was a massive issue. Every Tech cutback - and there were about 900 of them - hit a hole where a Nole was supposed to be. So, it is brutally tough to judge an interior defensive line when they do their job and occupy bodies only to have.a kid skate through a gap a teammate was supposed to be hanging out. MJJ and Pat Peyton did a miserable job of setting the edge, which is why they were on the bench for much of the last drive. If Adam Fuller does not find a solution to facing an offense with a running QB that does not include five dudes 30 yards from the center, this is going to be a long season. Just for the hell of it, let’s try three linebackers once in a while and let our all conference corners do their job.
Tough to not mention our kicker. That was awesome to see Ryan nail both of those bombs, and there will not be anyone on our schedule who will have better special teams than our boys. Eighty percent of the stadium were Noles and when that kick went through just before the half, the place exploded.
This was an epic trip and the hospitality of this country in general and Dublin for the game were incredible. They literally have walking signs to get to the stadium from 5 miles in every direction on game day. If you meet an angry Irishman in a pub, it is probably after 2 am, and time to go home anyway. So, let’s leave all this in the rear view and head back to the States, get some sleep, do some massive hitting in practice and come out like an angry tribe of cornered Noles on Monday night. Unconquered.
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