As in, the receivers, Allen, Applewhite and Johnson all screwed up to not call a time out the moment Allen waived the only receiver on that side to go into motion.
My guess was Bonner was supposed to be on the line, but who knows. You can see Leslie look at the sideline like someone is yelling at him before the snap and you can see Leday confused when trying to line up and Allen have to tell Leday to go in motion.
Leday is a decent player, but he canât move laterally at all. They basically use him on the shovel passes and quick screens so that he can build up speed and go around the edge. The only time they throw to him down field is on fly routes as thatâs the only route heâs good at. Great straight line runner which is perfect on kick returns.
As far as what happened prior to this year? Weâve had 4 WR coaches in less than 4 years, 1 was fired with the old staff, 1 tried to go to Rutgers and be an OC and was run off to UT to be a WR coach again after one year. The next one was fired after spring camp because the WRs looked terrible.
It is hard to tell how good the RBs and OLine is when your read option offense is a handoff EVERY time. The DE or LB ALWAYS crashes down on the RB because they KNOW that Allen is not good no to pull the ball out and run. It makes everyone look bad.
We must have a dual threat QB for this O.
I just think this unit is bad at run blocking. Last year, going by Football Outsiders OL stats, we were among the worst in the nation in regards to run blocking. Ward was able to cover some of that up. This year, I wouldnât be surprised to see that we are again among the worst in the nation (stats arenât released until after week 7). I wouldnât blame Allen for that, maybe Levine/Herman for not recruiting OL very well or Applewhite/Johnson for sticking Allen out there instead of a more mobile QB to help hide that deficiency.
http://www.footballoutsiders.com//ncaaol2016
Big reason we were successful in 2015 was we were a good run blocking team. Thing was, we had a senior heavy team and line (Cooper, Wall, Dew, Johnson, Parris). Since then, weâve been lacking.
Itâs something to follow past this year. Will Applewhite stick with the RPO if we canât recruit guys that can run block or should he move to a more passing-focused offense. Good coaches fit their coaching style to the players, bad ones try to fit the players to their style.
Yep. Lots of Oline injuries last year too. I havenât heard how long Fontana and Eloph are out. Hope they can make it back.
Saw where Leday missed most of '13 and '14 with injury. Is that why he canât go sides very well?
The reason i have a hard time believing it is a read option is looking at Catalonâs first run. Tech has 5 men on the line, 7 in the box, no one following King in motion. If Allen keeps the ball, he has King to seal off the outside linebacker and Corbin to seal off the Safety running up. Allen would have had 3 yards easily before forcing the safety to make an open field tackle to save it from being a very long run. Instead, he hands off to Catalon who runs straight into a pile of 6 blockers and 6 defenders, 2 yards past the line of scrimmage and gets nothing more. That was the third series and our second rushing attempt of the game.
@15:35
Another weird thing is that Birdenâs first run was a 5 yard run on 2nd and 3 in the first series. His second run was a 6 yard run on 1st and 10 in the fourth series. His 3rd run came on 2nd and 9 ⊠in the second half.
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I havenât the done the homework you did Jim, but I swear I saw the same thing at least a half-dozen times during the game. I was convinced Allen was told not to run. Period.
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Agreed
If that is true, it would explain why the running game was least effective in the third quarter. In our first six series, Birden and Catalon were a combine 6 for 39 running the ball. We were moving the ball but turnovers, errant passes and penalties slowed us down. After that Birden and Catalon were a combined 9 for 16 until Postma came in. It is not a far reach that Techâs booth recognized that Allen was never keeping the ball when the o-line was run blocking and it allowed the linebackers to be more aggressive against the run. Someone tried to say we pass block every down but I watched all the runs in the first half and they were pushing back the line one ore two yards every play. They werenât making holes every time but they werenât stepping backwards either. Halfway through the second quarter Gibbs could have easily instructed the outside linebacks to watch if the o-line stepped forward at the snap or backward at the snap. Once Postma came in and started running, all bets were off.
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Excellent analysis. From the stands it sure looked like he was exceptionally smooth in handing the ball off low, i.e, smooth execution. As you observed, the defense appeared to follow the RB each time, and it appeared to me KA could have easily picked up 4+ yds on at least a half dozen carries. Never tried to run once unless it was an obvious QB run. He had to have seen some opportunities â I would think. What do I know.
Itâs not like heâs slow. I wouldnât think they are looking for him to break long runs ala GW. Just mix it up enough to keep the D honest. I didnât think I could get more frustrated than I was at the Arizona game.
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Possible, but could be that itâs just the way he is. Some guys are track fast and can run very fast in a straight line (Leday), some guys arenât as fast, but can change direction on a dime (Ayers).
Donât get me wrong, I love what Leday brings as we need a deep burner in the worst way and he fits that bill. Just wish weâd look at him more in that role. The few times Allen has tried to hit him down field this year, heâs underthrown him. Kid is great on kick returns, though, as he hits those holes quickly. Blocking has been great on kick returns.
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Fontana is out or the season
so his college career is over or can he red-shirt?
Over
Keenum got a medical redshirt after getting injured in the 3rd game of his senior season.