You surprise me.
If the OL comes together, this team will be fine. If it doesn’t, it will be a long season.
QB gets too much credit when a team wins and too much blame when a team loses.
you know this better than anyone.
I saw an in-over-his-head OC run Williams up the middle into a stacked box ad nauseum because he couldn’t come up with anything else. He almost literally threw his hands up and said through his actions, “I have no idea what I’m supposed to do and can’t think of anything else to try.” You see it. You know you do.
I saw 3 yd out routes into 2-3 waiting and un-blocked defensive backs.
I saw Petras miss wide open receivers who had clear green pasture in front of them or at the very least first downs.
All of these things and more are hallmarks of the Petras/BF marriage for the last three years. And the longer it goes on the better other teams are going to get at shutting it down. Our team got absolutely manhandled by a 1AA team that knew exactly what was coming from our offense.
They knew because:
1) It’s apparent to every opponent that our qb produces more turnovers (either INTs or failed 3rd downs) than completions). You can sell out on the run against Iowa with no fear of getting beat.
2) It’s also been said by our head coach and OC publicly that no matter what happens or how bad our QB plays, he will keep taking snaps. Makes a DC’s job easy to plan for, that’s for sure.
3) Brian has a 3-4 play book with the only variation being left hash/right hash, exacerbated by a QB who despite being a really, really good kid can’t hit the broad side of a barn. We run straight up the 3 or 4 gap, a 3-5 yd out route, and a 10-15 yard slant. That’s it.
The punch up the gut is just Brian wasting a down trying to get a RB hurt. I can’t understand that one. It’s not an attempt to set up a pass or screen because defenses know we can’t hit receivers. Brian needs to get creative instead of repeating that constantly.
The short out-routes on 3rd down short of the stick as I said before are futile. They’re futile and even a 1-AA team sees them a mile away. On what planet do you throw short of the stick when to survive you require your receiver to get 5 yds after the catch? Look up the odds of a receiver getting 5 yards after the catch within 10 yds of the line of scrimmage. That’s coaching 101 and defenses know it.
The slants out to the sideline? Great idea. Seriously. But our QB can’t hit a 6’4” All-American caliber tight end. What more can you ask for to throw to?
And that is the end of the playbook and the recipe to lose unless you either get lucky or your defense/punter saves your ass, which isn’t going to happen against good teams anymore.
Brian should see the (repeated and obvious) failings of his scheme and QB and make changes, but the problem is he’s too in over his head to know what to do. He has no resume. He has no experience for a job that chews up and spits out even great football minds. He’s defeated.
One of Kirk’s many jobs is to recognize failure and see when things aren’t working, and force change when his assistants prove themselves incapable. He’s not doing that because he feels untouchable and the coach in question is his son, and to make a change would horribly embarrass both of them (in his eyes). I’m sorry but that is not debatable and it is not conjecture. Find me any P5 OC in any year since the 1800s who has been allowed by his head coach/AD to fail for so long. I won’t wait because it doesn’t exist.
None of what I just wrote was written as a knee jerk tantrum. Everything is right there to see in person or on TV. It is what it is and the leader of the team has come out and said in literal, very clear English that he’s not going to change no matter how bad it gets. If you can’t see negligence in that I don’t know what I can tell you. Your analysis, on the other hand, is based on hope and faith. Hope and faith without action? That’s pretty much just shitting in your hand and staring at it thinking it’s going to turn into a gold bar, friend.
