...would he have been good for +1 point for Blue?
...would he have been good for -1 point for FSU?
...would he have been good for -1 point for FSU?
If Peppers played...
- Thread starter BigTenFanatic80
- Start date
If Derwin James did not get hurt we might be in a different bowl game. He was our best defensive player.
The injury game can be played both ways. Derwin James was our Jabril Peppers, and we lost him week 1 of the season. FSU also lost our top 4 safeties including other starter Nate Andrews. We had to move WR Ermon Lane to Safety, and we lost him against Florida. Against Michigan, we played with 3rd string safeties.
No argument there, however, per the question posed by the OP ... Peppers would have made a huge difference.
I agree. Had he played he would have made an impact. The question is how much of an impact? Would he have accounted for points? Or would his impact be limited to a few extra sacks?
We can only guess ... mine is that he definitely would have affected plays that would have stopped several of your drives ... and quite possibly forced a couple of key turnovers. That's college football, the ball isn't round ... you never know how things will unfold.
Congrats first of all...that's one helluva of D-line you have and I knew we would have trouble with your overall speed on defense, we're still lacking some speed/athleticism at the skill positions. The o-line is average at best BUT you lost James on week 1 of the season and you're going to use that as a excuse! The safety play I understand, we lost Peppers 1 day before the game and Butt during the game...no comparison. I'm not on board that Peppers is a great defensive player even though he's listed as such...too much of a popularity hype with the media today, eg Heisman and such. Pepper's speed would have matched up w/ Cook's ability as a receiver...we'll never know though since we all have to go with what we have at the present. Looking at the stats game...Cook was stymied the 2nd half...71 yards of his 75 total came on one freaking huge play. Great call and execution on FSU's part. We came back and had a great chance to win the game but the BIG PLAY got us w/ the kick-off return. Allen's kicks were deep the whole game, the last one was 2 yards deep and after the hesitation, he made the much needed return. It turned into a great game...not sure why we came out struggling like we did, on both sides of the ball. We weren't going to run the ball on FSU, despite our rushing stats of 200+ per game, the oline and backs have struggled the most part all year. Speight, WR and TE's needed to have solid games, didn't happen til late. Need to finish games next fall vs. very good teams. Our 3 losses were very winnable but couldn't close it out.
Sorry St Joe...3 scores, you're dreaming, this was going to be a close game either way. Way too much hype on the Peppers "train"...he's a very good player that hasn't a true position. A player that plays numerous positions and that has great value but never understood the hype the media bestowed on him...wasn't a top 10 Heisman candidate. He was a great competitor and a good team leader...I was very disappointed in him not being on the sidelines last night, instead of in the coaches box. We could have used his leadership early in this game, even as a cheerleader. Wonder if that was his choice or not....wasn't right.
Actually, I thought Michigan looked like the better team for much of the 2nd half. I think if this game is played earlier in the year when both teams were at full strength on a neutral field Michigan wins. 2 very evenly matched teams.
Peppers may have been able to neutralize some of the big gains.
Jourdan Lewis not showing up certainly didn't help our cause.
Peppers may have been able to neutralize some of the big gains.
Jourdan Lewis not showing up certainly didn't help our cause.
Michigan had to play zone D a couple times because of not having Peppers. The long Cook pass would have not happened because Peppers would have been on him. The big TD pass would not have happened if Lewis was not in zone which they had to. Peppers was a huge difference. Either way, if you want the "next man up" philosophy, each player has to step up and we just did not. Bottom line is that our problem was on offense for the most part. When you are at the 1 yard line for a first down and can't punch it in, that's a problem. Speight was way off as were the WRs. Our last 4 games had nothing to do with the defense and everything to do with the fact that our offense just shut down. I really wish we would have given the ball to Evans way more instead of Smith - Smith can not run against a stout defense because he has no moves.
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