I've been following Finley for a few years now. I can tell you he's going to be a superstar for us. All-ACC next year

9/1/2016 10:32:10 PM

STOP SUCKING, JACKSON MAPLES.

[Edited on September 1, 2016 at 10:33 PM. Reason : ^lmfao]

9/1/2016 10:32:51 PM

bring in the clowns?

9/1/2016 10:33:35 PM

Quote :

"Except for some of those calls when we had a first down inside their five and turned it over on fourth, I've been really pleased with the playcalling on offense"

I'm just happy there hasn't been any of that cute bullshit with the weird line formations and terrible trick plays.

9/1/2016 10:35:34 PM

is it racist that finley is better than ta mcclendon?

9/1/2016 10:36:43 PM

Yes because its not really true

9/1/2016 10:40:53 PM

Following Finley for years?

He's played like 5 legit college games since like 2014.

He'll get exposed soon enough. After defenses start crowding the line of scrimmage, he'll be forced to make down field throws where his weak ass arm will be apparent. McClendon will start the entirety of the second half of the season.

[Edited on September 1, 2016 at 10:45 PM. Reason : Mark ma words]

9/1/2016 10:44:52 PM

Quote :

" McClendon will start the entirety of the second half of the season."

Welcome to hell!

9/1/2016 10:52:32 PM

well, been following him for 2 years at least

9/1/2016 10:52:38 PM

Not a lot to be excited about after that game, we looked rough

9/1/2016 11:12:30 PM

The defense doesn't look great

9/1/2016 11:13:05 PM

I thought we looked fine. Barely threw the ball in the 2nd half...no real need to. Will definitely be able to tell more next week vs ecu

9/1/2016 11:52:36 PM

Lol at all the hand wringing about changing QBs every single series.

9/2/2016 12:04:27 AM

As stated. The defense still sucks.

We will get demolished by ACC qbs that are even mediocre.

What a terrible defense DD has assembled.

This is going to be a longgggg second half of the season.


Finley isn't bad. Makes good reads. RBs looked good.


Defense sucks...again.

9/2/2016 12:40:35 AM

i too, can't believe we gave up 14 whole points and only won by 34. burn down the stadium.

9/2/2016 12:48:56 AM

to me the defense didn't look terrible to me.

sure, the secondary wasn't perfect and we all anticipated that being a weakness coming into the season. but for the most part we pressured W&M, stopped the run, and even turned the ball over twice. i'm not saying our D is great. i just don't think it's terrible.

Quote :

" The Tribe managed just two rushes and three passes covering over 10 yards in the game. Four of their possessions netted negative yardage and two ended in interceptions."

http://www.backingthepack.com/2016/9/2/12763782/the-morning-after-with-omega-tribe-called-quest-addition

wait till we gashed by ECU or Wake...then y'all can call the D terrible.

[Edited on September 2, 2016 at 7:37 AM. Reason : f]

9/2/2016 7:36:33 AM

yeah, if you disregard their first drive, we played pretty great on defense

hopefully a slow defensive start won't be a recurring thing

9/2/2016 7:52:18 AM

Yeah very little to complain about last night. I expected us to play worse than we did so I was pleased. Defense sucked on the first drive, but was solid the rest of the game. Offense was efficient and other than Jalan's stupid 3rd down INT that had the net effect of a punt, there wasn't much to bitch about. I was worried the weather may impact the offense, but that did not happen.

Next week will tell us if we have really made any improvement YOY, but complaining about this game is unjustified.

9/2/2016 8:34:35 AM

Quote :

"and other than Jalan's stupid 3rd down INT that had the net effect of a punt,"

ehh, it wasn't much of an "arm punt". it was 3rd and 8 at the W&M 38. possibly 4 down territory. the interception was 10 yards downfield. so it was a shitty 10 yard net punt. i know that you're agreeing it was a stupid play...but it was definitely worse than an arm punt.

all in all, we took care of business against an inferior opponent. hard to take a whole lot away from this game (good or bad). i thought finley looked comfortable and calm in the pocket. he didn't throw downfield much. so it was hard to get a real read on his arm strength and downfield accuracy. last year our passing attack lacked any intermediate passes. and the deep passes tended to be mostly misses. iirc, we attempted virtually 0 deep passes by finley. and only slightly more by mcclendon (one to harmon around the goal line comes to mind). i would like to think we were keeping it fairly vanilla against W&M and will learn more next week, but i'm not sure. we kinda said the same thing last year too. mcclendon did not look as comfortable in the pocket to me. probably a product of nerves...it being his first non mop-up duty. finley does have the edge on him in game experience.

9/2/2016 8:50:06 AM

Quote :

"Next week will tell us if we have really made any improvement YOY, but complaining about this game is unjustified."

Don't tell me how to overreact

[Edited on September 2, 2016 at 8:51 AM. Reason : s]

9/2/2016 8:51:15 AM

wait we played yesterday? lmao

9/2/2016 8:53:33 AM

Quote :

"hopefully a slow defensive start won't be a recurring thing"

Have you not seen NCSU Football Defense under DD? It's a specialty.

A top 25 team would have put it to us 48-14 last night.

Our defensive secondary is a HUGE liability.
And that touted D Line? where? they seemed underwhelming.
Hell our O Line couldn't even put the ball in from the half yard line on WILLIAM AND MARY.

9/2/2016 9:20:35 AM

Quote :

"Hell our O Line couldn't even put the ball in from the half yard line on WILLIAM AND MARY."

other than, like, the 7 tds we had. and that we fairly well dominated the LOS

Quote :

"And that touted D Line? where? they seemed underwhelming."

they averaged 2.2 yards per carry. they averaged 3.7 yards per play.

nobody is saying that we looked like a top 25 team last night, but i really don't see where this doom and gloom is coming from. they are not a good team. and we dominated them in every facet of the game.

9/2/2016 9:32:37 AM

the only thing we really have to worry about is special teams

they murdered us with kick returns

9/2/2016 9:50:52 AM

and we kicked one out of bounds smh

9/2/2016 9:53:46 AM

some of you people are insufferable

I thought we looked fine, especially given the amount of question marks we had going into the game.

9/2/2016 9:58:48 AM

Game threads never fail to bring out the insufferable

J Samuels said in the aftergame that they only ran about 30% of the offense, kept running the same plays until W&M stopped them.

Quote :

""Hell our O Line couldn't even put the ball in from the half yard line on WILLIAM AND MARY.""

Finley was supposed to hand it off, but he admitted he got greedy and tried to take it himself.

9/2/2016 10:09:27 AM

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL at the debbie downers. I normally don't post in game threads, but COME ON.

secondary looked suspect, i'll agree there. but the front seven looked solid. and while it's too early to definitively state that the offense is going to be great (based on the opponent), it's ridiculous to definitely state they're going to be lousy. we had, like, 550 yards and 7 TDs. can't ask for much more.

will be a fun game next week.

(I too was pissed about the failed goal line sneak - but more so at the play call. just stupid to sneak with finley when we have RBs who know how to get in the end zone. hopefully they learned their lesson and we won't do that stupid shit again this entire season)

[Edited on September 2, 2016 at 10:13 AM. Reason : .]

9/2/2016 10:11:34 AM

^Sneak was an audible by Finley, coaches never called that. The sad thing is that whole series was about padding Dayes stats. They were intent on him getting that TD, when in reality it should have been Samuels, or hell maybe even Frasier, getting a carry since they're a bit bigger and more suited for goalline work.

Not sure how you can watch that game last night and come away anything less than "pleased".

Offense looked efficient and moved the ball all while not tipping our hand and running a VERY vanilla set of plays. Samuels in the post-game said on one of the 2nd half drives we ran the exact same play the entire way down the field, hell Samuels scored 2 TDs on the exact same play.

Defense looked dominant save for 2 drives, and to be fair, 1st drive that WR just made a couple of big catches and the 2nd half drive was a gift with a 15-yard penalty on a long 2nd down play that would have left a long 3rd down.

The only disappointing, but very fixable, things I saw were our atrocious special teams and our penalties. Penalties are easy to fix(like taking your damn helmet off after a huge sack??), we can work on our coverage and pursuit angles, and we can work on blocking for our XPs.

It was a top 10 FCS team with 10 returning all-conference players, but still, not really a good barometer for the rest of our season. We now have a long week to prep for ECU, and I think you'll see more wrinkles in our offense for that game.

Still think McClendon is physically superior to Finley, but until he learns the offense and improves decision-making, we're going to have to roll with the self-proclaimed "game-manager" at QB.

9/2/2016 10:19:53 AM

Quote :

"I too was pissed about the failed goal line sneak - but more so at the play call."

Finley and Samuels said after the game that it wasn't the play call.

9/2/2016 10:27:34 AM

Quote :

"Still think McClendon is physically superior to Finley, but until he learns the offense and improves decision-making, we're going to have to roll with the self-proclaimed "game-manager" at QB."

this is totally fair. mcclendon seems to have the measurables, the arm strength, etc. but he just did not look comfortable out there. don't know if that was a product of not being familiar with the O or just being nervous. i, too, lol'd at Finley calling himself a game manager.

9/2/2016 10:29:19 AM

that toss McClendon made to setup the Frasier score was

wasn't that the longest completion of the game?

9/2/2016 10:33:23 AM

yeah, we're totally boned if finley has to make throws down the field to win us a game.

9/2/2016 10:43:14 AM

McClendon had a nice throw on a 3rd and long in his first series too. That also went to Harmon. His arm strength looks good, but he looks like Ryan Harrow bubble guts in the pocket.

Harmon looks like a beast physically. Excited to see him develop. Reminds me of Cotchery in terms of build, but Harmon is obviously taller.

9/2/2016 10:44:05 AM

^^ehh, he didn't really attempt anything down field so it's hard to say. i think it's no secret that mcclendon has superior arm strength. but based on last night we don't have much to go on RE: finley's arm srength/downfield passing.

9/2/2016 10:54:08 AM

My only real issue, as most things you'd expect in an early season game, was them not putting McClendon back out there after the pick, or letting him take the 2nd series of the game. It was a bad int but he is trying to make a play after seeing his competition move the ball. I almost feel like if it was reversed and McClendon started and got in rhythm just handing it off and a few short throws and then Finley comes in the story could be easily flipped on who looked better. So I'm not sure if that really indicates anything about who should play.

I'd rather see McClendon, I think he is the one with the upside and athleticism that could ultimately help us win games against the schedule we have. If we were Alabama and just physically superior to our opponents then I'd take Finely to manage the game, but knowing that isn't the case I think we need someone back there that can make some plays especially if we fall behind. I feel like with Finely we are a 5-7 win team, and with McClendon we could win 4 games or 10. I'd rather should for the upside knowing this year is tough anyway and he could be really ready to roll next year. If Finely plays all year does McClendon then transfer?

[Edited on September 2, 2016 at 10:57 AM. Reason : .]

9/2/2016 10:57:22 AM

whatever i'm only referring to him as noodle arm finley from now on.

[Edited on September 2, 2016 at 10:58 AM. Reason : All that "the guys are going to alternate series" talk was just a bunch of bullshit.]

9/2/2016 10:57:41 AM

Quote :

"We now have a long week to prep for ECU, and I think you'll see more wrinkles in our offense for that game."

I agree about seeing more of the offense against ECU. JaySam said in a postgame interview that they probably only showed about 30% of the offense. He said on one drive in the second half they ran the same exact play over and over for the entire drive, just marching down the field.

9/2/2016 11:00:34 AM

yeah to me this looked like the staff was already mostly sold on Finley and was just hoping to confirm that hunch in the game. which is fine...they've seen more of the guys than we have. but the fact that they held out for so long makes me think they know/believe McClendon has the higher ceiling if he can just harness that potential.

9/2/2016 11:06:34 AM

or they didn't want McLendon to transfer.

9/2/2016 11:10:20 AM

to me, the most disappointing thing about the game was that they only got Samuels 3 TDs instead of 5 or 6

9/2/2016 11:14:53 AM

^^well i mean yeah.,..because they know he has a higher ceiling and can contribute in the future.

9/2/2016 11:18:41 AM

I'd say if he's not starting by midway through this season, he won't be here next year. Of course the guy is going to have Ryan Harrow Bubble Guts™, he hadn't played a meaningful snap since high school.

But we're not going to compete in the division with noodle armed qbs who can only throw screens and passes to the flats.

9/2/2016 11:28:35 AM

Mcclendon has already redshirted right? So if he wanted to transfer he'd only have his sr season to play. And hope he wins the job there. I guess he could go down a level and play immediately..

9/2/2016 11:32:56 AM

When is the last time Finley made it through a season without getting hurt? The chances of him getting injured are high and McClendon will be there when it happens.

9/2/2016 11:42:20 AM

Yeah it sounded like Finley was the guy based on practice but they wanted to make sure he played well in the actual game.

I think McClendon just needs to learn the offense and gain some confidence. I felt bad for the kid when he didn't get a chance to come back in after the pick, and then to pull him after his 4th and 1 conversion was cold-blooded. He just had no confidence to me, he botched 2 snaps and then made that horrible throw on the pick(albeit a tipped pass). If he ever figures out the offense and/or gains confidence, he'll have a good shot at winning the job. I actually think the staff recognizes his skills and how good he COULD be, but they know they need to win now and Finley is clearly the best option.

If McClendon chooses to transfer, nothing they can do about it, but he'd be transferring somewhere to sit 1 to play 1 unless he graduates early. Also sounds like the staff is pretty high on the kid coming in next year, McKay, so perhaps they'd be fine rolling into next year with Finley, Meyers, and McKay.

9/2/2016 11:44:46 AM

Quote :

"Mcclendon has already redshirted right? So if he wanted to transfer he'd only have his sr season to play. And hope he wins the job there. I guess he could go down a level and play immediately.."

which is why doeren didn't want to say finley was the starter. if mclendon transferred and sat out this season, he'd have 2 years to play. but do you really see him just hanging out here for 3 seasons behind finley? i don't.

also, i think we've seen the last of meyers at QB.

9/2/2016 11:55:35 AM

or mcclendon could transfer down to fcs and not have to sit out, i believe.

Quote :

"When is the last time Finley made it through a season without getting hurt? The chances of him getting injured are high and McClendon will be there when it happens."

i can't really tell if you're joking or not. i mean, he got hurt the one season he played in.

9/2/2016 12:00:13 PM

I mean we got an entire coaching staff fighting for their job they are gonna go the safe route rather than the development route.

I know almost nothing about the team because I didn't watch us play last season except three games I think. But dayes looks like a good player. If the qb can keep drives going our defense had a good effort last night.

Beating a top 10 fcs team handIly means we are probably at least the 50th-60th best team in the country with potentially more upside. Typically teams outside the top 75 struggle against anyone.

So last night alleviates a lot of the concerns with our floor. My guess is we are even money with ECU next week. I'd probably bet on ECU just because that place is gonna be intimidating for our young squad but I'm terrible betting cfb

[Edited on September 2, 2016 at 12:05 PM. Reason : A]

9/2/2016 12:04:48 PM

Quote :

"I mean we got an entire coaching staff fighting for their job they are gonna go the safe route rather than the development route. "

this is fair, imo.

if this was Year 1 of a new staff, you might go with the guy with more potential in the long run. but in Year 4 with some fans getting restless, you're more apt to go with the guy more likely to win games this year, right now.

9/2/2016 12:14:02 PM