Honest tactical question here…

[Travis]

This is an honest question from a guy who isn’t paid big bucks to coach football but does coach other sports that require true tactics to be successful with a mixed match team.  

So if you know you have a bad defense, wouldnt it be tactically sound to do whatever you can to make sure your defense is off the field as much as possible?  Wouldn’t it behoove you to not play hurry up ball and instead eat up as much clock as possible with each drive you have?
 

Am I the only one that thinks we have a HC that enjoys shooting himself on the foot with these tactics? 

[FirefightnRick]

5 minutes ago, Travis said:

This is an honest question from a guy who isn’t paid big bucks to coach football but does coach other sports that require true tactics to be successful with a mixed match team.  

So if you know you have a bad defense, wouldnt it be tactically sound to do whatever you can to make sure your defense is off the field as much as possible?  Wouldn’t it behoove you to not play hurry up ball and instead eat up as much clock as possible with each drive you have?
 

Am I the only one that thinks we have a HC that enjoys shooting himself on the foot with these tactics? 

Yes.

 

Rick

[Travis]

1 minute ago, FirefightnRick said:

Yes.

 

Rick

Yes that we shouldn’t play hurry offense?

or yes that I am the only one who thinks that (and thus is likely wrong)? 😂 

[FirefightnRick]

1 hour ago, Travis said:

Yes that we shouldn’t play hurry offense?

or yes that I am the only one who thinks that (and thus is likely wrong)? 😂 

No I’m in complete agreement.

 

Rick

[C Rod]

9 hours ago, Travis said:

Wouldn’t it behoove you to not play hurry up ball and instead eat up as much clock as possible with each drive you have?

100% yes. This is the Achilles’ heel of the air raid system.

To win consistently with the air raid, a deep defensive bench is needed to keep fresh legs on the field. Otherwise while the offense is high flying, the defense is absolutely gassed come the 3rd and 4th quarters.
 

No disrespect to Mike Leach but I’m over the air raid system. I want to see us run the ball, dominate the line of scrimmage, control the clock, and allow our defense time to rest so they can in turn make stops. This is complimentary football. 

[3_n_out]

EM preaches of complimentary football, but never really practices it. 

[untcampbell]

Making a 3rd and 1, a 4th and 1 and/or a 4th and 2 would have eaten up some clock.

But punting on both of those fourth downs would have turned the field over so at least it would, allegedly, eat more time on the clock before ECU scored again.

 

GMG

[aztecskin]

Yeah the classic Air Raid was about scoring more and zagging when everyone else was zigging. Now that teams are ready for spread, up-tempo, etc, there is a ton of value in controlling the clock. I don't think that necessarily means doing an Army and running it every play but I do think that keeping the defense off balance includes slowing it down and maybe doing a huddle.

I don't know that THIS defense has tired legs. I think they are just small and weak compared to what they need to be. When Morris was talking about "we are not strong enough, not big enough" he was talking about the defense (and a little bit of the offensive line). It is absolutely imperative that we get three or four very good defensive lineman for next year or it will be more of the same. 

[Matt from A700]

I agree, although it seemed we slowed it down a bit yesterday.

That third touchdown drive that lasted 13 plays and 6:59 without a fourth down conversion needed may have been our best drive all season.

[3_n_out]

1 hour ago, aztecskin said:

Yeah the classic Air Raid was about scoring more and zagging when everyone else was zigging. Now that teams are ready for spread, up-tempo, etc, there is a ton of value in controlling the clock. I don't think that necessarily means doing an Army and running it every play but I do think that keeping the defense off balance includes slowing it down and maybe doing a huddle.

I don't know that THIS defense has tired legs. I think they are just small and weak compared to what they need to be. When Morris was talking about "we are not strong enough, not big enough" he was talking about the defense (and a little bit of the offensive line). It is absolutely imperative that we get three or four very good defensive lineman for next year or it will be more of the same. 

I think the type of OL they’re recruiting is based on his uptempo style. He’s probably not going after bigger and heavier guys due to the pace they play…or wouldn’t be ideal. It’s unfortunate coz that’s a huge reason they aren’t successful on short yardage situations. 

[wardly]

23 hours ago, Travis said:

Yes that we shouldn’t play hurry offense?

or yes that I am the only one who thinks that (and thus is likely wrong)? 😂 

We hired a coach that runs the Mike Leach run and gun offense.The concept is score fast which puts the defense on the field for a lot of the game. We knew this when we hired him so why are we surprised that this is what he is doing? The problem is that we have a shit defense to begin with, and when we go 3 and out they don't have time have a brief rest between possessions . If he can fix the defense net season we should be okay. If not make a another coaching change that based upon our history will change nothing.

[MAX KOCH]

Run the damn ball

[SilverEagle]

10 hours ago, MAX KOCH said:

Run the damn ball

Well MK, we have been running the damn ball.  I believe I'm correct in stating that our leading rusher is Shane Porter, a 186lb WR transfer with (near as I can tell) a bum shoulder from Kansas State. He averages 7.2 yards per carry. McGill averages 5 yards per carry, and occasionally Sibley (#21) gets into the game. None of these guys was a starter in the beginning of the season. We have lost the services of Ragsdale, a very promising D. Harris (#44) who averaged 8.8 yards before he got injured, and Evans (#26) who was averaging 6.4 before he was injured.

We have rushed for 1737 yards, and our opponents have put up 2269. Although sometimes it seems like much more.  All things considered; I'd say that (except for very short yardage) we were running the ball pretty good. And this doesn't even take into account how many starting linemen we have lost since the first game of the season. 

What I think would have made almost as much difference as anything for us would have been the presence of 3 or 4 effective run disrupters in the middle of our defense. 

Edited November 25 by SilverEagle

[aztecskin]

15 hours ago, 3_n_out said:

I think the type of OL they’re recruiting is based on his uptempo style. He’s probably not going after bigger and heavier guys due to the pace they play…or wouldn’t be ideal. It’s unfortunate coz that’s a huge reason they aren’t successful on short yardage situations. 

I don't mind the up-tempo, but I think we should be able to mix it up. The main thing about our offense that needs improvement is in short-yardage, catching the ball, and a deep threat outside. They all compliment each other. 

 

ex. Stretching the defense deep opens up the underneath zones, making those catches easier. Short yardage effectiveness opens up the playbook, and puts less pressure on the pass game to execute. 

[greenminer]

19 minutes ago, aztecskin said:

ex. Stretching the defense deep opens up the underneath zones, making those catches easier. Short yardage effectiveness opens up the playbook, and puts less pressure on the pass game to execute. 

I don't understand the reluctance to incorporate some short-yardage options from under center.  You can still be air raid or whatever you want the other 90% of the time.

It's so limiting to not have it.

[untjim1995]

Yall can lay the blame of this all at the feet of the Pirate. Leach having some success at Texas Tech, at a time when A&M fell apart and Baylor was non-competitive, while nobody else but Texas was a Big 12 school, led to him getting some kind of legendary status. And his influence on TX HS football went off the charts, because it was “more fun for the kids”…and it basically destroyed the development of linemen on both sides of the ball and made defense a part of the game that just needs a stop or two per half. Hell, Art Briles said that out loud. Just get a stop or two. 
 

So now, we get the luxury of seeing a short yardage situation have the QB in shotgun, with a running back behind him, all about 4-5 yards behind the line of scrimmage, trying to get a yard. And then the coaches look exasperated when we don’t pick up the first down/TD, as we get tackled behind the line of scrimmage.

[Andrew]

On 11/23/2024 at 10:25 PM, Travis said:

This is an honest question from a guy who isn’t paid big bucks to coach football but does coach other sports that require true tactics to be successful with a mixed match team.  

So if you know you have a bad defense, wouldnt it be tactically sound to do whatever you can to make sure your defense is off the field as much as possible?  Wouldn’t it behoove you to not play hurry up ball and instead eat up as much clock as possible with each drive you have?
 

Am I the only one that thinks we have a HC that enjoys shooting himself on the foot with these tactics? 

I thought it worked to an extent but really stood out against Tech, Tulane, and Army. I figured in our to be army we would simply need to eat up more clock than them. We decided to do the opposite. 

[3_n_out]

58 minutes ago, aztecskin said:

I don't mind the up-tempo, but I think we should be able to mix it up. The main thing about our offense that needs improvement is in short-yardage, catching the ball, and a deep threat outside. They all compliment each other. 

 

ex. Stretching the defense deep opens up the underneath zones, making those catches easier. Short yardage effectiveness opens up the playbook, and puts less pressure on the pass game to execute. 

As I’m halfway into your podcast, your buddy brought up a really good point about the offense. Maybe some plays are not well schemed. Feels as if they’re utilizing multiple guys as decoys only to free up space for the main target. Once defenses gets a read on that, they key in on that main receiver and shut it down before it can ever get started (see DT). And, I’ve noticed they barely run any play action. If they do run it, it looks half-assed where no one falls for it. Basically, it’s been predictable. Predictability makes it easier to scheme against…and here we are. 

[817Fan]

I think it's all about possessions. They value possessions above everything. Not stops, or time of possession, just as many series with the ball as they can get.

Edited November 25 by 817Fan

[meaniegreenie]

56 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

Yall can lay the blame of this all at the feet of the Pirate. Leach having some success at Texas Tech, at a time when A&M fell apart and Baylor was non-competitive, while nobody else but Texas was a Big 12 school, led to him getting some kind of legendary status. And his influence on TX HS football went off the charts, because it was “more fun for the kids”…and it basically destroyed the development of linemen on both sides of the ball and made defense a part of the game that just needs a stop or two per half. Hell, Art Briles said that out loud. Just get a stop or two. 
 

So now, we get the luxury of seeing a short yardage situation have the QB in shotgun, with a running back behind him, all about 4-5 yards behind the line of scrimmage, trying to get a yard. And then the coaches look exasperated when we don’t pick up the first down/TD, as we get tackled behind the line of scrimmage.

This also roughly coincides with the explosion of the popularity of 7on7 football.

BTW, here's an interesting article on it with a lot of local ties:

https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/how-seven-on-seven-turned-texas-into-a-quarterback-factory/

[meaniegreenie]

On 11/23/2024 at 10:25 PM, Travis said:

This is an honest question from a guy who isn’t paid big bucks to coach football but does coach other sports that require true tactics to be successful with a mixed match team.  

So if you know you have a bad defense, wouldnt it be tactically sound to do whatever you can to make sure your defense is off the field as much as possible?  Wouldn’t it behoove you to not play hurry up ball and instead eat up as much clock as possible with each drive you have?
 

Am I the only one that thinks we have a HC that enjoys shooting himself on the foot with these tactics? 

To your point, even if you are intend to run a hurry-up offense, there are times when it makes sense to SLOW TF DOWN. 

Too many times our D would finally get off the field, either by a punt or score, then the offense would start at the 22 and run 3 plays that took only 0:50 seconds off the clock.  This might consist of a caught pass and a running play, after which we would snap the ball with 20+ seconds on the play clock.  Add in one incomplete pass and your 3-and-out not only rested the D for less than 5 minutes (3 minute commercial and 2 minutes of execution), but it took less than a minute off the clock, lengthening the game.  This happened numerous times.  An air-raid offense should only have the rare 3-and-out from their own 20.  We usually had at least 2 per game.  Often on the opening drive.

[TheTastyGreek]

On 11/25/2024 at 1:25 AM, MAX KOCH said:

Run the damn ball

[3_n_out]

There’s no checks and balances on our offense since our HC is also our OC. Nobody is going to tell him to slow down, kick the FG or go for it on 4th and whatever in our own territory…and I believe that’s how he likes it. No matter how much it hinders the team or the defense, he’s ultimately the HC. He feels he can do whatever he wants since he’s got a 5 year contract and they wouldn’t dare fire an Air Raid disciple especially if he keeps talking about Mike Leach. 

[UNTcrazy727]

On 11/23/2024 at 10:25 PM, Travis said:

This is an honest question from a guy who isn’t paid big bucks to coach football but does coach other sports that require true tactics to be successful with a mixed match team.  

So if you know you have a bad defense, wouldnt it be tactically sound to do whatever you can to make sure your defense is off the field as much as possible?  Wouldn’t it behoove you to not play hurry up ball and instead eat up as much clock as possible with each drive you have?
 

Am I the only one that thinks we have a HC that enjoys shooting himself on the foot with these tactics? 

Morris has his scheme and identity. I think its a big reason we've had so much offensive success the last two year and I don't want him to change it.

BUTTTTTTTT I do think he needs to improve his situational awareness and I'll give 3 examples...

1. Late in the FAU game we broke the 34 yard run to get to the FAU 5 with 1:43 left...at this point the clock is on our side and we should run it down and force FAU to burn their timeouts. But instead, Morris has us run to the line and snap the ball before any time can run after they reset the chains. Luckily, FAU stuffed us and eventually burned their timeouts and we scored with 58 seconds left. But imagine if we scored after the big run and gave FAU the ball back with 1:40 and 2 timeouts? Who would feel good about our chances stopping them then???

2. Our defense shocks everyone and forces Tulane to punt on their first drive. Tulane then executes a great punt and downs it at the 6. We then come out and throw a pass for -1 yards, no huddle and quickly throw an incomplete pass, and on 3rd down its another incomplete pass. So, we're forced to punt the ball from our own 5 yard line after only having the ball for about 25 seconds. Evans has a measly 39 yard punt and 7 plays later Tulane scores a TD. IMO, its a prime example of Morris not understanding the situation and putting his defense right back on the field in a tough spot. Instead of quickly snapping after the -1 yard loss, we should have slowed down and made sure we called the best play to get us a first down.

3. And like others have said, it PISSES me off he refuses to run QB sneaks under center when we need less than a yard. You can make the case its a big reason we lost to Navy last year and it cost us this year against Army. I'd much rather Chandler Morris fall forward for a foot than snap it back 5 yards and hand it to our 5th string RB. There are other teams like us that strictly run shotgun, but are still able to lineup under center and fall forward. The only reason we don't is Coach Morris' ego. 

[3_n_out]

33 minutes ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Morris has his scheme and identity. I think its a big reason we've had so much offensive success the last two year and I don't want him to change it.

BUTTTTTTTT I do think he needs to improve his situational awareness and I'll give 3 examples...

1. Late in the FAU game we broke the 34 yard run to get to the FAU 5 with 1:43 left...at this point the clock is on our side and we should run it down and force FAU to burn their timeouts. But instead, Morris has us run to the line and snap the ball before any time can run after they reset the chains. Luckily, FAU stuffed us and eventually burned their timeouts and we scored with 58 seconds left. But imagine if we scored after the big run and gave FAU the ball back with 1:40 and 2 timeouts? Who would feel good about our chances stopping them then???

2. Our defense shocks everyone and forces Tulane to punt on their first drive. Tulane then executes a great punt and downs it at the 6. We then come out and throw a pass for -1 yards, no huddle and quickly throw an incomplete pass, and on 3rd down its another incomplete pass. So, we're forced to punt the ball from our own 5 yard line after only having the ball for about 25 seconds. Evans has a measly 39 yard punt and 7 plays later Tulane scores a TD. IMO, its a prime example of Morris not understanding the situation and putting his defense right back on the field in a tough spot. Instead of quickly snapping after the -1 yard loss, we should have slowed down and made sure we called the best play to get us a first down.

3. And like others have said, it PISSES me off he refuses to run QB sneaks under center when we need less than a yard. You can make the case its a big reason we lost to Navy last year and it cost us this year against Army. I'd much rather Chandler Morris fall forward for a foot than snap it back 5 yards and hand it to our 5th string RB. There are other teams like us that strictly run shotgun, but are still able to lineup under center and fall forward. The only reason we don't is Coach Morris' ego. 

Coach Leach must speak to him in his dreams. Besides, he can talk about coach Leach all he wants, but coach Leach made his offense significantly successful compared to EM’s.