DRC Article on Spring Practice

UNTLifer · February 13, 2006

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UNTFan23 · February 13, 2006

I'll believe the hype about a passing game when I see it. Every year DD says we'll open it up, and every year we run it up the middle on 3rd and long.

untgeorge · February 13, 2006

Possibly you didn't see the last four games of the regular season, when we used a spread more often, passed 30 times a game, passed from our own 10, passed on 1st down, etc, and did so before we were behind.

meangreen18 · February 13, 2006

Hhhmmmmmmmmmm..... maybe my 3-4 prediction was correct for the Mean Green. I'm interested to know if Bleil has used the 3-4 scheme in the past. It just makes more sense given the strengths and weaknesses of our team (DL and LB). We have quit a bit of speed with our LB's, so I would love to see a more aggressive, blitzing D this season.

UNTFan23 · February 13, 2006

Possibly you didn't see the last four games of the regular season, when we used a spread more often, passed 30 times a game, passed from our own 10, passed on 1st down, etc, and did so before we were behind.
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Yeah have to look at why we were passing so much at the end of the season.

Let's use the FAU game as an example:

We didn't score until the 3rd quarter on a blocked punt returned for a yd TD. NT 6 FAU 17.

Let's move ahead to the 4th qtr ...

FAU scores another TD. NT 6 FAU 23. At this point, we're way behind the 8-ball and go into desperation mode; enter Phillips into the game. We score back-to-back TDs, with a special thanks to a successful onside kick. NT 20 FAU 23. We only passed in this game because it was the only way for us to move the ball in a short period of time.

Passing Breakdown:

1 qtr - 2/3 for 12 yds

2 qtr - 1/9 for 4 yds with 1 INT

3 qtr - 4/8 for 33 yds (Phillips comes in and is 0/3)

4 qtr - 8/15 for 138 yds

1 half - 3/12 for 16 yds (1 pass for 15 yds)

2 half - 12/23 for 171 yds (1 pass for 53 yds)

So why all this passing the ball in the 2nd half? ... Oh yeah, we were down by more then 2 TDs.

NT/FAU Game Stats

The NT/Monroe was much of the same. With the ASU game it seems the game plan was to pass more, we were still 38-22-2 for 218 yds given that ASU had what looked to be an average pass defense (allowed 191.7 passing yds/game). Yeah, it was above our average (129.3 yds/game), but our defense fell apart in the 2nd half and we managed to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory.

Travis · February 13, 2006

Yeah have to look at why we were passing so much at the end of the season.
Let's use the FAU game as an example:
We didn't score until the 3rd quarter on a blocked punt returned for a yd TD. NT 6 FAU 17.
Let's move ahead to the 4th qtr ...
FAU scores another TD. NT 6 FAU 23. At this point, we're way behind the 8-ball and go into desperation mode; enter Phillips into the game. We score back-to-back TDs, with a special thanks to a successful onside kick. NT 20 FAU 23. We only passed in this game because it was the only way for us to move the ball in a short period of time.
Passing Breakdown:
1 qtr - 2/3 for 12 yds
2 qtr - 1/9 for 4 yds with 1 INT
3 qtr - 4/8 for 33 yds (Phillips comes in and is 0/3)
4 qtr - 8/15 for 138 yds
1 half - 3/12 for 16 yds (1 pass for 15 yds)
2 half - 12/23 for 171 yds (1 pass for 53 yds)
So why all this passing the ball in the 2nd half? ... Oh yeah, we were down by more then 2 TDs.
NT/FAU Game Stats
The NT/Monroe was much of the same. With the ASU game it seems the game plan was to pass more, we were still 38-22-2 for 218 yds given that ASU had what looked to be an average pass defense (allowed 191.7 passing yds/game). Yeah, it was above our average (129.3 yds/game), but our defense fell apart in the 2nd half and we managed to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory.
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Damn you and your facts!

mad dog · February 13, 2006

Good stats. I wish there was more of this on the board. No one can argue with stats.

I would, however, respectfully point out that the argument of "we only pass a lot when we're behind" kinda goes without saying. Any team is going to pass a lot more when they're down, because they need scores in a hurry. When we're up, I'm not sure how many deep go routes or playaction posts I want to see. They're just waaay to risky when you have much above a score or two lead, especially when you have a killer run attack as we have had in the past. I'd much rather see our guys pound it out when we have the lead.

UNTFan23 · February 13, 2006

Good stats. I wish there was more of this on the board. No one can argue with stats.
I would, however, respectfully point out that the argument of "we only pass a lot when we're behind" kinda goes without saying. Any team is going to pass a lot more when they're down, because they need scores in a hurry. When we're up, I'm not sure how many deep go routes or playaction posts I want to see. They're just waaay to risky when you have much above a score or two lead, especially when you have a killer run attack as we have had in the past. I'd much rather see our guys pound it out when we have the lead.
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Every coach knows that there are 3 things that can happen when you pass and 2 of them aren't good but with risk comes reward. If a team is worried about getting their defense picked apart, they back off the line and start using their LBs for middle-of-the-field coverage. Since we didn't pass the ball very much, defenses just loaded the box to stop the run, constantly used a run blitz, and dared us to pass. We rarely adjusted to this, in part because we didn't have the personnel; the other ... we don't seem to make in-game adjustments.

I guess we'll have to wait and see how that "killer running attack" will do since our achilles heel has been revealed (ala NT/Soutern Miss 2004 New Orleans Bowl)