It seemed like today's game was scripted by someone other than McCall. Some similarities, but enough difference to cause one to wonder what is transpiring. Has McCall finally woken up? Has Fitz intervened? Did someone other than McCall write the game plan? I really am not looking forward to the same old, same old on offense next year. We got a breath of fresh air toward the end of last year and finally at the end of this year. But these continual slow starts and the offense being bailed out by the defense are really not necessary. Today we had balance, finally, and if it was not McCall responsible, then he should be gone.
With a solid OC this team is
- Thread starter freewillie07
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ok I understood your post to suggest that if the changes you want to see don’t happen you will no longer support or be a fan. But you will, eventually, when things are done according to your preferences. Certainly your prerogative.
If I grant you that personnel is the problem (which I don’t believe), how would we fix that problem with the same coaching staff? What would we have to sell to better recruits?
And a 1-win season in last place in the B1G.
It's easy to show great performance when you arbitrarily pick starting and end-points. If you were a financial advisor, you'd be sanctioned by the SEC for making up performance metrics to mislead clients.
Look at the whole body of work for the last decade.
Yesterday you saw how badly an offense can deteriorate when it looses its QB and doesn’t have an adequate replacement. No OC or offensive system can overcome deficient play at key positions like QB and OL.
wait, you mean finishing #123 out of 130 in the nation in total offense doesn't inspire offensive skill players to want to come here, precipitating a further downward spiral on offense?
I'm shocked! Will be interesting to see if Corbi responds to you.
Imagine if NU could get guys like Wandale Robinson, David Bell and A.J. Henning. Wonder why they ultimately choose not to come to NU?
There is plenty to sell with our program. Talent recruitment and development on the OL has been the main culprit that has held the Offense back over the last decade. That problem has been addressed and the early results on the OL development and recruiting front are encouraging. The QB problem this year is an anomaly in my opinion. A temporary gap in our QB depth chart caused by an unfortunate string of bad luck recruiting at the position. NU has always been able to find QBs that fit it’s system.
I am not picking arbitrary end points. I am pointing out the multi year trends that were established before this season, which I believe is an anomaly. Putting more credence in the results of one season over the results of a multi year trend is illogical.
Do you go to the same restaurant over and over if the service is below par even if you like their menu? I suspect after experiencing it a few times, you would stop your patronage until they got their act together.
You can tell yourself that.
But I see no mention of WR recruiting and development, which has been mediocre to middling. It has been years since NU was able to roll out 3 receivers at a time who can all threaten the opposing defense. Austin Carr's one massive season aside (which I chalk up purely to a guy who is self-directed and motivated like few in the world), I can't remember the last NU receiver to crack an all-Big Ten team. Probably the Zeke/Brewer era.
Superback recruiting has been just plain weird in recent years, with the staff apparently content to take the local guy. Trey Pugh has dealt with injuries, so maybe that excuses his awful play against the Illini. Thomas Gordon will hopefully be good. But beyond that? Yikes.
And as much as NU prides itself as a run-first team, the backs before and after Justin Jackson have been about average for the Big Ten, but not great. I will concede that Bowser had a great second half to his true freshman season, and he could very well be a nice player throughout his time here. But where is the back that runs tough between the tackles AND has the breakaway speed once the new-and-improved OL starts to create holes? Is McCall's system of constant inside zone runs appealing to a guy like Will Shipley?
But yes, as always, just blame not having the perfect McCall QB for these systemic issues.
I am not telling myself that. That is exactly what I believe based my observations over an extended period of time. Let me clue you in to one other guy I think sees it the same way. His name is Pat Fitzgerald.
What makes you think he sees it that way? Do you have any corroboration from within the program via anonymous sources?
We’ll see. If a change is being made, you’ll hear about it very quick. The Atkinson situation creates some plausible doubts in my mind as well but I still think it is highly unlikely.
Nothing concrete other than listening to his press conferences. I didn't hear him say once that he thought our offensive schemes were problematic. I did hear him say repeatedly that this season was an anomaly caused mostly by not having a player ready to play at the QB position.
Please show me the Illini’s offensive stats over the same period I gave you. I’d be willing to be dinner they’re better even know their team has sucked.
How does that help us get the difference maker at WR and RB that we desperately need, especially WR? Nobody in that room right now actually threatens a B1G defense. None. Nobody.
The multi year trends for the offense are not good. Not good at all.
Please show me Illinois record over that same period of time. I'd be willing to bet you your entire net worth that Fitz's record is better over that entire period of time. Football team's that play complementary football win games, not individual units. You can't separate the won and loss record from the other statistics.
Right back at you. We currently have one of the best recruiting classes in recent memory committed to come to NU. If you don't see that, then I don't know what else to tell you.
Does “complementary football” mean “not scoring a touchdown for 13 consecutive quarters, especially when it is a continuation of declining performance?”
The scheme has been stale for years. We don’t have the personnel to threaten offenses. We need change in coaching and scheme if we want to fix both those problems.
If you want to put the fault for this season on any one individual, then you should be putting it on Pat Fitzgerald. He is more culpable for what happened this season than anyone else affiliated with NU.
I’ll always be a fan. But this offense was once again painful to watch this year - especially when its predictability made it easy for an opposing player to hurt HJ - and I’m too passionate to get burnt out cheering for the same old bad scheme. If nothing ever changes then nothing ever changes.
Unless we upgrade the offensive system, I don’t see how we’ll improve appreciably in a more competitive B1G even with the nice recruits and some injured players returning.
We can keep going around and around on this. The offense sucked this year because we didn't have a QB that was ready to play in the Big Ten. End of story. If you want to blame an individual for why that is, I think you should be blaming Pat Fitzgerald and I think he would be the first one to agree with that.
As head coach, sure. As the one responsible for the offense, kind of.
Either way, that is an argument for making change rather than the status quo.
It would be weird not to blame the offensive coordinator and QB whisperer for the failure of the offense and for the inability to develop a quarterback (and for the willingness to watch two months of Smith and conclude he was the best option).
I've never said McCall doesn't deserve some blame or criticism for the QB recruiting failures and lack of QB development that led us to this point. He does but so do the players themselves and so does Fitz.
That's not the question you should be asking. The questions you should be asking are can the "problem" be fixed without making any changes and, if we do make a change, what are the odds that we come up with a better outcome. I am not interested in firing someone to "punish" them for this season. That's what irrational, emotional fans want. I am interested in making a change only if that is the only way to fix the problem and only if I am very confident that I can find a better replacement.
No. I do not think our problems can be fixed absent staff changes. There are schematic, development, and recruiting problems. That’s basically the trifecta.
