cockyhawkfan
Well-Known Member
I don't want to go down the path of bashing coach Ferentz for this loss. I did that a few years ago when we lost to Pitt and I regret having done so. We're not always going to agree with how how the coaches manage OUR football team, or how they manage the game itself. It's what makes us so passionate about OUR team that we all love. And hate at times.
But here's what I will say...And this was mainly sparked by a comment Herbstreit made last night during the MU/OU game. MU had just perfectly executed the hook and lateral. At the time Missouri had the lead. Herbstreit commented that, "Missouri was playing to win". I'm not talking about come from behind miracles like we did last year at MSU, or Michigan State did to Notre Dame on the fake FG earlier this season.
I'm talking about stomping on the head of our opponents once we get the lead. Keeping our feet on the gas so to speak. Against teams like the Wisconsin's the OSU's, etc that not always realistic. But the pick by Greenwood yesterday was our chance to do exactly what I speak of. And we got conservative. It was the 3rd quarter. Coach had witnessed the entire game, what the Wisky offense was doing to our D. We needed 7 to allow ourselves some breathing room. And we got lucky that we got 3, with the way our kicking game is this year.
I'm not totally against the way we KF runs the show with his, "playing to not lose" philosophy. It has brought great fortune to OUR football program. But the margin of error with this philosophy is very small, as Michigan and Wisconsin showed us in the past couple weeks.
I'm not suggesting drastic changes to our offensive or defensive strategies mind you. A few extra blitzes per game or having the corners play more press coverage against offense's like Wisconsin or Arizona. We have these capabilities. We've seen it work when the coaches have called it. The same goes for the offense as well. We scored 30 points yesterday. And we could have scored 10-14 more without trying. Wisconsin's D was horrible. These are all suggestions of things that would require nothing more than a slight adjustment to a game plan. Unfortunately I think it's going to take a little more than that from Coach Ferentz to actually make it happen. But I'd like to see us, "play to win".
But here's what I will say...And this was mainly sparked by a comment Herbstreit made last night during the MU/OU game. MU had just perfectly executed the hook and lateral. At the time Missouri had the lead. Herbstreit commented that, "Missouri was playing to win". I'm not talking about come from behind miracles like we did last year at MSU, or Michigan State did to Notre Dame on the fake FG earlier this season.
I'm talking about stomping on the head of our opponents once we get the lead. Keeping our feet on the gas so to speak. Against teams like the Wisconsin's the OSU's, etc that not always realistic. But the pick by Greenwood yesterday was our chance to do exactly what I speak of. And we got conservative. It was the 3rd quarter. Coach had witnessed the entire game, what the Wisky offense was doing to our D. We needed 7 to allow ourselves some breathing room. And we got lucky that we got 3, with the way our kicking game is this year.
I'm not totally against the way we KF runs the show with his, "playing to not lose" philosophy. It has brought great fortune to OUR football program. But the margin of error with this philosophy is very small, as Michigan and Wisconsin showed us in the past couple weeks.
I'm not suggesting drastic changes to our offensive or defensive strategies mind you. A few extra blitzes per game or having the corners play more press coverage against offense's like Wisconsin or Arizona. We have these capabilities. We've seen it work when the coaches have called it. The same goes for the offense as well. We scored 30 points yesterday. And we could have scored 10-14 more without trying. Wisconsin's D was horrible. These are all suggestions of things that would require nothing more than a slight adjustment to a game plan. Unfortunately I think it's going to take a little more than that from Coach Ferentz to actually make it happen. But I'd like to see us, "play to win".