Season so far, the QBs and the different Units

outoftown · October 13, 2014

Sorry for the length of the post.

ok, So here is my take on the season:

I thought we'd be worse than last season, but I got myself deluded that with the teams on the schedule and things turning out ok and development being good under coach Mac we'd go 7-5 or so. Evidently I was on green koolaid. I had underestimated/ conveniently forgotten how lucky we were injury wise last season. We are not quite that lucky this season, although it could still get worse. I had understimated the impact of the lost players and overestimated the developing speed of our coaches. And finally I had conveniently forgotten that C-USA overall really had a down-year last season. C-USA still isn't great, but it is a lot better this season, meaning there are no super horrible teams left. Even FIU is improved, meaning there will be no gimmes and right now getting to 6-6 looks more of a hopeful conjecture than a high probability.

What has me particularly disappointed is that actually the units that brought back the most people are faring darn bad too, those that had to replace almost everybody are not actually the problem... except QB. Yest the team is bad in a lot of phases, but it still starts with unstable QB play. DW shouldn't be a starter, he should be the first backup of the bench and get meaningful snaps but not have to carry the whole load of responsibility right now. It is evident he is not ready for it, and I am not sure it helps his development.

a) My biggest disappointment is the O-line. Yes we have some immobile QBs, and some QBs who don't really have the timer in their head screwed on right, and generally some weird butterflies therein, but we get too darn many sacks and we can't properly run block either, and some of that is totally on the O-line. The O-line really lost only one player last season and was supposed to be really good with NFL caliber players. Lemon for example is my adopted player. And I will say it: I am disappointed there right now, and I am currently not seing anyone getting drafted.

b )The secondary. It was supposed to be the only defensive unit with a very real shot at improving from last season....but if this is improvement then i don't want to see stagnation.

Things I am not disappointed with:

a) the D-line. My expectation wasn't high, but it has been met or even surpassed. Despite bringing pretty much nobody back our main problem isn't the run it is our secondary.

Things that are as bad as one had to fear:

WRs and RBs. They are not horrible, but none of them is a brelan chancelor or a lance Dunbar meaning that there is no player that can turn the momentum of a game by himself in absence of help from the O-line and/or the QB. BC and LD could.

That brings me to the QB question: QBs and do we miss DT? answer we miss the hell out of DT. Yes he was unsepctacular, yes there are 50 QBs with his numbers or better in FBS every season. Yes he also had a lot of INTs and we tended to run our TDs in instead of getting there by passing. But hell no, last year he did not have as many INTs and boneheaded TOs as the current crop, and he did what was necessary, was juuust mobile enough and the timer in his head was synced correctly, and he made his decision usually fast enough. In short he helped the O-line getting some super sack stats. None of our current QBs can even remotely say the same. Sadly enough this had to be expected.

As for what we have seen so far from the different QBs: So far we have gone the trial and error method in trying to find the right QB, and have only come up with errors. I am with SP: people are really surprisingly easy on DW right now, if one remembers how hard they were on Greer. Greer, came out rattled, deer in the headlight look, and our coaches put him into the worst sitaution possible for that state of mind, in the Texas game. The situation -on a psychological level - was better for DW who also looks psychologically slightly more stable, but our n is small. Still Greer cannot honestly say he did not get a fair look. He did and it was pretty bad to watch. DW has now also gotten a fair shake, and honestly it is pretty bad to watch too, and the he is young and has upside excuse is just that to me until he corrects it: an excuse. In order not to lose the team Coach needs to be fair, and 4 INTs is just..... I mean this was not the real alabama we were playing it was Alabama Birmingham, and if 4 INTs has no consequences and he just gets to start again, then coach will lose credibility with some players.

Sad as it may sound: the only one (except for Means whose redshirt we probably want to retain) not having gotten a real start this season is minimac. He had some snaps, and has not exactly looked good so far either, but if he can just bring a yota more stability and rythm to the offense, then I say give him a real look. I mean maybe he is the one who fares the best when really in charge of the team (it's not probable, but we haven't tried really getting him the reigns yet), and since at the QB position we seem to be using the trial and error method this season, we might as well give him a start. That is not to say we should give up on DW, but maybe getting him 30% of snaps and using him consistently for certain packages would actually be better for his development, than trying to have him be good at the whole playbook right now.

Edited October 13, 2014 by outoftown

UNT90 · October 13, 2014

I think you should be disappointed in the d line. No secondary is going to play well when there isn't consistent pressure on the QB. There hasn't been. Also, the d gave up 364 yards rushing against Indiana. Todd Dodge, anyone?

Tackling throughout the defense has been just aweful. We have gone from one of the best tackling teams to one of the worst in FBS football, with some of our surest tacklers last year being some of the worst offenders this year. I really don't know how that happens.

Edited October 13, 2014 by UNT90

DallasGreen · October 13, 2014

I can see giving Mini MAC the start. Four interceptions and generally a poor attitude do not make a leader. Go with the experience and salvage what you can of a lost season.

Ben Gooding · October 13, 2014

I agree with almost everything you stated, even giving McNulty a shot to be a bus driver. The one thing I disagree with is the DL comment. And I am not particularly disappointed with the players themselves. They got rolled out on to the field. Yeah, they have been making their fair share of mistakes, but when you're that undersized bad things are going to happen. So, to me, the discrepancies with the DL don't really fall on them or the DL coach. It falls on recruiting/developing. Kevin Patrick can't coach setting edges with 220-230lb defensive ends bc even with great technique they are going to give ground. The secondary has admittedly underperformed, but with a subpar DL any defense will be on roller-skates while second guessing everything.

GOMG2013 · October 13, 2014

DW should have been getting reps last year. We still would look bad now, but at least La tech would have been winnable and we could have been sitting at 3-3. DT could have pulled out la tech.

DW even with his mistakes, looks better than Greer. Stop bringing Greer up. Maybe McNulty. No to Greer. He should have killed SMU.

Our OL is not good. wasnt good last year. A good dominating OL can run the ball. Even at times when there are 8 in the box.

Our secondary has been exposed. Period. Has NOTHING to do with pressure. No safety back there. Lining up outside with no safety in the middle. Post patterns all day. We gave them up last year. We gave them up this year. They are blowing by buyers and Jjones.

BillySee58 · October 13, 2014

DW should have been getting reps last year. We still would look bad now, but at least La tech would have been winnable and we could have been sitting at 3-3. DT could have pulled out la tech.
DW even with his mistakes, looks better than Greer. Stop bringing Greer up. Maybe McNulty. No to Greer. He should have killed SMU.
Our OL is not good. wasnt good last year. A good dominating OL can run the ball. Even at times when there are 8 in the box.
Our secondary has been exposed. Period. Has NOTHING to do with pressure. No safety back there. Lining up outside with no safety in the middle. Post patterns all day. We gave them up last year. We gave them up this year. They are blowing by buyers and Jjones.

You made a good point early in the year about how when you bring in a JUCO, you hope he can play like a junior or RS Soph, and not like a true freshman. Greer looked like a true freshman out there was your point.

And Dajon has too. He's looked like a talented true freshman. A talented one, but he's still looked like a true freshman. Giving him reps last year wouldve helped that, and also him having taking the offseason seriously would've helped that as well. But because those two didnt happen, he looks like a true freshman.

meangreendork · October 13, 2014

DW should have been getting reps last year. We still would look bad now, but at least La tech would have been winnable and we could have been sitting at 3-3. DT could have pulled out la tech.
DW even with his mistakes, looks better than Greer. Stop bringing Greer up. Maybe McNulty. No to Greer. He should have killed SMU.
Our OL is not good. wasnt good last year. A good dominating OL can run the ball. Even at times when there are 8 in the box.
Our secondary has been exposed. Period. Has NOTHING to do with pressure. No safety back there. Lining up outside with no safety in the middle. Post patterns all day. We gave them up last year. We gave them up this year. They are blowing by buyers and Jjones.

Williams should've seen a lot more reps last season. McNulty as well. Limiting most of the passing to just Thompson was a bad idea - not only did it risk injury, but it also meant cutting the experience feed off to two guys that would really need it. I agree about Greer, too. I feel bad about saying this, but he doesn't seem to be the right stuff at QB. Maybe he can switch positions, but QB just isn't in the script for him. He makes a lot of odd mistakes that someone wouldn't expect from his experience level.

SilverEagle · October 13, 2014

Last year our defense, and in particular special teams, scored almost as much as our offense did. Our defense bailed our offense out of a lot of situations last year. We don't have that defense back this year and it really shows. I think that last years offense would do only minimally better in our games this year....if at all.

We got hammered Saturday by a team that was coached by this guy....

http://www.uabsports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/bill_clark_883272.html

First year, no SEC skins,

.....and this OC...

http://www.uabsports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/bryant_vincent_885735.html

also no SEC or ACC skins...

and this DC....

http://www.uabsports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/duwan_walker_885736.html

also no SEC skins. His only college experience has been at Jacksonville State

And the team was led by this guy.

http://www.uabsports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/cody_clements_913751.html

They (the coaches) all came on board at the beginning of this year and recruited/found/developed/coached enough players to kick our sorry asses.

We have had four years of our head coach and OC (both of which always reminding us of their skins on the wall) running things and recruiting with no dominating DL players and a QB situation that is.....well.....tenuous at best.

Why don't we look at that situation rather than have a "do we miss DT" debate......of which I admit to have participated in.