Good McNulty/Bad McNulty

Aldo · September 11, 2015

Great writeup. I hope we can see more of this. All of last year, I had this theory (purely anecdotal, I never looked at film to support it) that the offense suffered from not taking advantage of the whole field. It felt like they were working in the first five yards of the line of scrimmage, and targeting the sidelines on comebacks and outs. They rarely used the deep sidelines, and almost never the intermediate to deep middle third. If the other guy knows you're not going to attack half the field, it makes it look like they have 18 guys out there.
The GIF above where McNulty throws the pick is a great example of that. The defense is all jammed down into the box because there are no deep routes to stretch downfield. Then, the (mike?) spies the QB, reads 3 step drop, follows AM's eyes and jumps the route. I'm not sure the inside slot WR blocked the right guy, either, but still...
What say you? Any validity to this idea on the tape you watched?
Thanks much!

Very true. From the top of my head I'd say UTEP and UTSA games had a lot of these short gainers on the sidelines where the receivers didn't have much room to run. Canales, man.

NT93 · September 11, 2015

Wait. There's a good McNulty????

MeanGreenTexan · September 11, 2015

Very true. From the top of my head I'd say UTEP and UTSA games had a lot of these short gainers on the sidelines where the receivers didn't have much room to run. Canales, man.

Canales can only call what he thinks his QB can throw. Stretching the field equals McNulty having to muster up all of his strength to throw a duck up there for a possible INT.

Aldo · September 11, 2015

Canales can only call what he thinks his QB can throw. Stretching the field equals McNulty having to muster up all of his strength to throw a duck up there for a possible INT.

McNulty may not have the zip or the release for the quick screen game, but I'll give credit to McNulty's short to intermediate accuracy. McNulty can throw a ball down the middle with much better accuracy and placement than to the flats/outside imo because of just that. He may not throw bullets, but he has the ability to place balls in the right spot against zone.

In regards to Canales, he really likes the horizontal game as an extension of the run game and to increase efficiency. It may just be me but i don't likey. With our new crop of WR - and their size (Thaddeus, Rutherford, Goree) - I expect/hope we can exploit man coverage better.

KRAM1 · September 11, 2015

Nicely done. Thanks for that. I really do enjoy all of you guys @Aldo, @BillySee58, @Cooley, @aztecskin and others that take the time to break things down and have genuine discussion on the good and the bad of things.

Go Mean Green.

100%...totally agree! When this forum gets into one of these "genuine discussions", it really is a very enjoyable, informative and entertaining thread.

I have heard Wilson may not play. No reason was given but source quoted was as of last Thurs. and is completely reliable.

Heard the same thing....and something about another key player hurt and possibly out. Don't want to say here as this is a public forum, and well....you know SMU.

Aldo · September 13, 2015

I saw the same mistakes as last season, and saw the same mistakes at the first open scrimmage of the spring (not sure what other folks were seeing).

Same playcalling, except at a faster pace. I will say that the uptempo was impressive, sometimes catching the d before they were completely aligned. I'll give credit to McNulty here for the ability to run the offense pre-snap.

Unless McNulty throws two picks in the first half of rice, we see a new qb to start the 3rd quarter of the Iowa game.

TIgreen01 · September 13, 2015

One question I had watching the game last night was why was the short to intermediate over the middle route always 2 or 3 reads into the progression when it was obvious that schmoo was leaving that part of the field uncovered much of the night. That was driving me crazy. If everyone in the stadium can see that the middle is going to be empty, why can't we make a hot read and adjust?!

Got5onIt · September 13, 2015

One question I had watching the game last night was why was the short to intermediate over the middle route always 2 or 3 reads into the progression when it was obvious that schmoo was leaving that part of the field uncovered much of the night. That was driving me crazy. If everyone in the stadium can see that the middle is going to be empty, why can't we make a hot read and adjust?!

I had the same questions last night. Purely speculative here, but my thought is the play being called is based on the strength of the QB. We all saw what passes looked like when AM had to throw 10yds+. With an uber conservative coach like Mac, it's all about the highest percentage success rate, least risk possible. SMU gave the offense a soft cushion in the middle of the field on passing downs (which it seemed like every 3rd down was) and played a lot of man coverage all night. I saw the SMUt safety on numerous passing downs slowly stroll over to cover the slot, 15yds off the ball. Zero respect for the offensive passing capabilities. I remember a 3rd down where AM hit a player near the left flat and SMU just ate it up like a hobo on a ham sandwich. The intermediate middle was open and there was no pressure but AM didn't even look there. That had to be the primary for it to be thrown that quickly. I guess he saw a potential blitz, hell who really knows....

MeanGreenTexan · September 13, 2015

I jumped on the McNulty bandwagon (mainly because I was forced to) because of the players' faith in him to elect him a captain. I'm afraid all of our faith was misplaced, sucks for me/us fans... catastrophic for the players.

I just don't know what else McCarney needs to see. I hope he understands he wasnt lined up against a very good team last night. I understand he sees John Elway at practice, and Einstein in comprehension of the offense, but he has to see the Helen Keller out there on gamedays.

Put Smith out there, and if he's as careless with the ball as Dajon was, then bench him and trot Greer out there.