Welcome back boys and girls. It was a lovely 8 day hiatus. I hope you all missed me. I especially hope a certain poster missed me. (He knows who he is; he'll read this as he reads all my posts.)
On to the game. Well, what more can be said that hasn't already be said. I am sure some of what I am about to say has already been said, but oh well. Read it. Don't read it. Do what you want.
OFFENSE
We severely overrated the talent that was left on this team when Franklin left. The recruiting rankings say this offense shouldn't be that bad. The recruiting rankings were wrong. Let me start with there are really only 2 or 3 playmakers on this offense. That would be Trent Sheffield, Darrius Sims, and Scheu (who had an uncharacteristically quiet game). Ludwig has to do something to get the ball in these guys hands. I have a few thoughts on how to do that, and I will share them later. On to the offensive line. The only word that I can think of to describe that performance is BARF!! Holden and Bernstein were straight dumpster juice all night. There is one play that really sticks in my mind that shows us just how bad they were all night. That play was the scramble where Johnny was tackled on the 1 yard line. Bernstein gets beat by his man like he stole something. Jake barely put up any sort of fight. This caused Johnny to scramble in the pocket and ultimately take off for the goal line. This brings me to William Holden. And his excuse for what he calls a block. He plays patty cake with his guy. Never touching him. His guy is rushing up the field essentially taking his ownself out of the play. All Will has to do is use the DL momentum against him and push him upfield. But no, Will being lazy and not finishing his block (heck, he never even really started the block) lets his guy go and he is the one that tackles Johnny at the 1 yard line. 2 plays later, well, we all know what happened. Pulley was the only "decent" offensive linemen of the night. Both Gouger and Fromang were equally bad as Holden and Bernstein. Dowling got pushed around by guys 40-50 lbs lighter than he is. The moral of the story is this: Franklin missed on A LOT of OL recruits. Gouger, Bernstein, Holden, Fromang, Dowling, Valedon, McCoy (complete waste of a scholarship - he'd rather be a preacher than play football..which there is nothing wrong with this, just don't do it under the guise that you want to play serious college football). Did I miss anyone? The only OL that have amounted to anything decent are Jelks, Crooks, Pulley, and Townsend. If Crooks is able to go on Saturday, this is the OL I am starting: Crooks-Hardin-Pulley-Skule-Holden (and I am only starting Holden because we literally don't have enough tackles). This OL will never be able to push anyone around, though.
On to the QB. I want to see more zone read. It worked somewhat in the game, but we stopped. Is that because Johnny was hurt? I don't know, but I did see a noticeable limp. Johnny has to make decisions quicker; he also has to make better decisions. He routinely threw into double and triple coverage. It is almost as if he locked onto his target pre-snap and said he is throwing that direction regardless of what the defense gives him. The first pick he threw he had Scheu wide open. He waited too long, the defense read his eyes, and it was just an easy pick. However, Scheu has to play defense there. He just gave up on the play. Commit OPI, do anything to prevent that INT. Johnny did make some nice throws, though. That DROP by Marcus was a thing of beauty. The throw to Caleb Scott on the 2 minute drive was a bullet. The TD pass to Trent. But the missed throws to Webb and Rayford (both of which would have gone for 6) are just inexcusable to miss.
On to the skill positions. As stated above, Nathan Marcus had an awful game. He dropped a sure fire TD and on the 2 point play (no, I did not like the play call) he ran a route short of the goal line. On a do or die play like that, you don't run a route short of where you HAVE to be. Flood the goal line and at the very least when you catch it, you don't have 2-3 yards to go.
What I Would Do on Offense:
I would put as many athletes on the field as possible. I would run a lot of zone read. I would put Trent in at QB with Sims lined up in the backfield with him, and I would run a version of the wild cat. Ludwig has used read concepts in the past so this is nothing new to him. If this team continues to run pro style sets, it will most certainly fail. This defense is good enough to give the offense a chance.
Now on to the defense:
The first thing to say is I was impressed. Mason can call a defense and he put his guys in position to make plays. My biggest concern is that we still can't finish sacks. I can't remember who it was that ran right past Doughty but it was very cringe worthy. The CB blitz that resulted in a Herndon sack was a thing of beauty. Other issues is that we're still not generating enough of a pass rush. The run defense was something to be reckoned with and will be put to a monumental test this Saturday trying to stop Chubb and Michel. Both of those backs will play on Sundays.
WKU did help us out with a few drops, and they had the defense completely fooled on that trick play. If that WR catches it, he is likely still running. But alas, he did drop it. While they helped us out a bit, I count that we left around 31 points on the field (2 EZ picks, missed FG, and those 2 horrible missed throws by Johnny) on Thursday. So those of you that want to make the argument that the only reason it was close is due to WKU miscues, don't cherry pick and ignore the other side.
MY CONCLUSION:
I haven't come to one. The team looked infinitely more prepared and Mason looked like he knew what the heck he was doing. There was only one point in the game where I think Mason made a gaffe was on a 4th and 4 play, the offense was slow to the line, and resulted in a delay of game and a punt. I think Mason should have ran up there to take a TO. Other than that, he looked competent.
Do I know that Mason is the guy? No. I don't know that he is the guy anymore than you know that he isn't the guy. I do know one thing though...save the "THIS TEAM WAS 9-4!!" argument because it doesn't work. The team that Mason took over is not even close to the team Franklin won 9 games with. This was most certainly a rebuild job, most of us were just too blind to see it.
I'm sure I missed some stuff and I'm sure I'll get called an ostrich. I'm sure someone will report this post as offensive to him and his daughter. Oh well. #yolo
On to the game. Well, what more can be said that hasn't already be said. I am sure some of what I am about to say has already been said, but oh well. Read it. Don't read it. Do what you want.
OFFENSE
We severely overrated the talent that was left on this team when Franklin left. The recruiting rankings say this offense shouldn't be that bad. The recruiting rankings were wrong. Let me start with there are really only 2 or 3 playmakers on this offense. That would be Trent Sheffield, Darrius Sims, and Scheu (who had an uncharacteristically quiet game). Ludwig has to do something to get the ball in these guys hands. I have a few thoughts on how to do that, and I will share them later. On to the offensive line. The only word that I can think of to describe that performance is BARF!! Holden and Bernstein were straight dumpster juice all night. There is one play that really sticks in my mind that shows us just how bad they were all night. That play was the scramble where Johnny was tackled on the 1 yard line. Bernstein gets beat by his man like he stole something. Jake barely put up any sort of fight. This caused Johnny to scramble in the pocket and ultimately take off for the goal line. This brings me to William Holden. And his excuse for what he calls a block. He plays patty cake with his guy. Never touching him. His guy is rushing up the field essentially taking his ownself out of the play. All Will has to do is use the DL momentum against him and push him upfield. But no, Will being lazy and not finishing his block (heck, he never even really started the block) lets his guy go and he is the one that tackles Johnny at the 1 yard line. 2 plays later, well, we all know what happened. Pulley was the only "decent" offensive linemen of the night. Both Gouger and Fromang were equally bad as Holden and Bernstein. Dowling got pushed around by guys 40-50 lbs lighter than he is. The moral of the story is this: Franklin missed on A LOT of OL recruits. Gouger, Bernstein, Holden, Fromang, Dowling, Valedon, McCoy (complete waste of a scholarship - he'd rather be a preacher than play football..which there is nothing wrong with this, just don't do it under the guise that you want to play serious college football). Did I miss anyone? The only OL that have amounted to anything decent are Jelks, Crooks, Pulley, and Townsend. If Crooks is able to go on Saturday, this is the OL I am starting: Crooks-Hardin-Pulley-Skule-Holden (and I am only starting Holden because we literally don't have enough tackles). This OL will never be able to push anyone around, though.
On to the QB. I want to see more zone read. It worked somewhat in the game, but we stopped. Is that because Johnny was hurt? I don't know, but I did see a noticeable limp. Johnny has to make decisions quicker; he also has to make better decisions. He routinely threw into double and triple coverage. It is almost as if he locked onto his target pre-snap and said he is throwing that direction regardless of what the defense gives him. The first pick he threw he had Scheu wide open. He waited too long, the defense read his eyes, and it was just an easy pick. However, Scheu has to play defense there. He just gave up on the play. Commit OPI, do anything to prevent that INT. Johnny did make some nice throws, though. That DROP by Marcus was a thing of beauty. The throw to Caleb Scott on the 2 minute drive was a bullet. The TD pass to Trent. But the missed throws to Webb and Rayford (both of which would have gone for 6) are just inexcusable to miss.
On to the skill positions. As stated above, Nathan Marcus had an awful game. He dropped a sure fire TD and on the 2 point play (no, I did not like the play call) he ran a route short of the goal line. On a do or die play like that, you don't run a route short of where you HAVE to be. Flood the goal line and at the very least when you catch it, you don't have 2-3 yards to go.
What I Would Do on Offense:
I would put as many athletes on the field as possible. I would run a lot of zone read. I would put Trent in at QB with Sims lined up in the backfield with him, and I would run a version of the wild cat. Ludwig has used read concepts in the past so this is nothing new to him. If this team continues to run pro style sets, it will most certainly fail. This defense is good enough to give the offense a chance.
Now on to the defense:
The first thing to say is I was impressed. Mason can call a defense and he put his guys in position to make plays. My biggest concern is that we still can't finish sacks. I can't remember who it was that ran right past Doughty but it was very cringe worthy. The CB blitz that resulted in a Herndon sack was a thing of beauty. Other issues is that we're still not generating enough of a pass rush. The run defense was something to be reckoned with and will be put to a monumental test this Saturday trying to stop Chubb and Michel. Both of those backs will play on Sundays.
WKU did help us out with a few drops, and they had the defense completely fooled on that trick play. If that WR catches it, he is likely still running. But alas, he did drop it. While they helped us out a bit, I count that we left around 31 points on the field (2 EZ picks, missed FG, and those 2 horrible missed throws by Johnny) on Thursday. So those of you that want to make the argument that the only reason it was close is due to WKU miscues, don't cherry pick and ignore the other side.
MY CONCLUSION:
I haven't come to one. The team looked infinitely more prepared and Mason looked like he knew what the heck he was doing. There was only one point in the game where I think Mason made a gaffe was on a 4th and 4 play, the offense was slow to the line, and resulted in a delay of game and a punt. I think Mason should have ran up there to take a TO. Other than that, he looked competent.
Do I know that Mason is the guy? No. I don't know that he is the guy anymore than you know that he isn't the guy. I do know one thing though...save the "THIS TEAM WAS 9-4!!" argument because it doesn't work. The team that Mason took over is not even close to the team Franklin won 9 games with. This was most certainly a rebuild job, most of us were just too blind to see it.
I'm sure I missed some stuff and I'm sure I'll get called an ostrich. I'm sure someone will report this post as offensive to him and his daughter. Oh well. #yolo
