Welp…. edit: To be fair, both of those posts are valid and except for some very questionable officiating, misses by Hooker and decisions by Heupel, this game should have been the runaway we thought it was going to be.
Optimistic: Heupel is very good at game-planning Pessimistic: Heupel is not good at adjusting. I think the fact that the second half is almost always in between the two indicates that it’s not all adjustments, but it seems like a week of film has us ready to dominate at the start.
Think we have already gotten spoiled a little. Close to 300 rushing. Nearing 700 total offense. Should have had 3 or 4 more tds to wide open wrs and people are talking about bad playcalling or bad game by our qb who threw 5 tds and almost 400 yards. Always search for improvement and no coach or player is perfect but lest we forget from where we came offensively.
We've just flipped the script. Under Pruitt, we had games where defensively you were so confident that you knew if you got a gap, we'd win. UK 2018 and The latter half of 2019 specifically. The last half of 2019 Shamburger blitzing from the nickel was a cheat code to stop drives, just like going deep to Tillman is nowadays. And just like that defense still gave up some points, this offense leaves a lot of drives on the board. And just like the offense under Pruitt kept putting us in losing positions all throughout the Pruitt era, this defense has done the same. And honestly, outside of Burrell and Beasley getting torched all game long, it didn't play THAT bad. There was a stretch in the third quarter where neither offense was doing anything. The game was a fight, which, if you weren't expecting it, you haven't watched either team play.
I’ve said this a couple times, but the fact that Hooker and the offense in general never totally looked in sync and we still put up 600 yards and 45 points is incredible and a testament to the staff. But we left so many points on the board with missed deep balls, and how many times did Hooker fumble? I think I remember four—that kinda screams “off day.” And yet he had 500 total yards and 5 TDs. We’ve got a good thing going with this offense. Only thing that really looks bad is our short-yardage game—that’s bit us a lot this season and needs to be addressed (possibly with more creative play-calling, possibly just with better OL recruiting/development).
I swear every other quarter I was super impressed and then super depressed by our defense. And it comes out if you look at the stats too. They put up 600 yards and averaged 11 yards per pass attempt. They also threw 3 picks and went just 6/17 on 3rd/4th down. Give you either of those last two sentences in isolation and you’d think our defense had their worst game of the season or their best game of the season. But it was really all about the big plays—they did so much good and lost the game on the busts.
we won't, but we need to be able to line up under center and have a fullback. All teams do on the goalline is run blitz sending players after the rb and qb. We need to be able to go straight at them or cut/toss outside. Also need to be able to throw a quick fade. Missing out on PI's and auto first downs by overthrowing
Heupel seems like he’s sharp enough to figure out the kinks and get them ironed out. He also seems smart enough to not let his ego get in the way of the team’s success, unlike the last few coaches we’ve had around here…
I thought he should've given his RT help. Reminded me when we didn't chip Alex brown We also misused timeouts. Thought we shoulda called one immediately. Not sure what to do on D except get players who can win their 1 v 1 matchups
Ale Alex Brown made an entire career out of that one game… we’ve made a bad habit of getting Florida players paid.
i know thats why i mentioned we probably wont. Just saying I'd like to see Heupel make an adjustment and put in a couple sets from under center. I hated it from the 1 yard line when we did it with Dobbs and I hate it now
I’m not sure the shotgun in short yardage is as bad as it seems at first blush. If you’re in 11 or 12 personnel under center, the mesh point is going to be 5 yards deep on everything but a QB sneak. Even teams that go under center with 21 or 22 personnel limit FB carries to dives. I think the bigger issue in short yardage is play selection and creativity. We seem to run inside zone almost exclusively. That’s hard to execute in short yardage where the defense can send double A gap pressure. I’d love to see some 21/22 personnel out of the gun and more creative use of the TEs in short yardage.
Am I crazy to think we could make things happen from a full house T? Lots of chances for misdirection, and we have TEs who could leak out as pass-catchers when the D is selling out against the run. It’d obviously be a gimmick and may not be worth the practice time, but still
Scripted plays helps. Happens a lot in nfl too. Then defense drops 7 or brackets Tillman after the first drive or 2 and forces us to be adjust and be patient.