Lets talk offensive schemes!

[Turk]

Last year i had no idea what on earth McCall was thinking but he obviously banked on a solid power blocking OL.
It didnt happen fellas and after 5 years of epic failure along the OL i hope McCall puts down his bongpipe and comes to the realization that our OL can not be trusted because they dont know what they are doing. 38 qb sacks and several dozen qbh is ample evidence that we have to do things differently.

1. Stop lining up the offense as clay pigeons stuck as statues. Incorporate motion.

2. Incorporate mostly a zone blocking scheme where Jackson/long/anderson can make that one cut.

3. Insert more zone read for our QB.

4. PLAY ACTION PLEASE!
Especially play action and move the pocket with some rollouts.

Having power schemes and a QB lining up exactly in the same spot so that defenses know exactly where the qb will be is helping the continual onslaught of our qb we have been accustomed to seeing. Im not saying McCall is stupid but he obviously doesnt recognize some clear and present issues and seems to be in an endless motion of trying to pound a square peg in a round hole.

I can deal with losing but i cant deal with the continual insanity of our extremely unimaginative OC.

I think McCall has been stuck in a rut because i thought he functioned better in years gone by. Lets hope we dont go through several qb injuries again.

And yes i know the pollyannas and Fitz damage control guys think McCall is the greatest but our offense needs a serious reinvention. Sorry.

Go cats!

 

[chicagocatfan24]

It shocks me that you're not a B1G offensive coordinator with your wealth of knowledge!!!!

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Last year i had no idea what on earth McCall was thinking but he obviously banked on a solid power blocking OL.
It didnt happen fellas and after 5 years of epic failure along the OL i hope McCall puts down his bongpipe and comes to the realization that our OL can not be trusted because they dont know what they are doing. 38 qb sacks and several dozen qbh is ample evidence that we have to do things differently.

The intro paragraph is why it's hard to take much of what you post on here seriously. I hope you now fully acknowledge your "troll role" around here because you were able to keep it together on the podcast with CJ and TJ. Not sure how being an abrasive troll on here is fun for you, but just... stop. It often makes it very un-fun for others.

Anyway:

1) There's motion on almost every play we run.

2) The second half of last year was almost exclusively a zone scheme, which is a big part of the reason that our run game improved so much over the course of the year.

3) A good portion of our runs last year were read-option, but Trevor had much more restrictions on when he could pull the ball. I would anticipate we see a lot more pull reads with Thorson having more latitude to pull the ball based on his athleticism.

4) We also ran a decent amount of play action last year, but were unable to move the pocket because of Trevor's ankle. I would anticipate a lot more moving pocket first because Thorson can do it and second because I think our OL is going to need it.

 

[Evanstonian]

We are a read option team, but last year we did not have a legitimate running threat at QB, which is part of the reason that we struggled offensively. Although I think that we would have fared much better if our wide receivers had not dropped so many passes. This year Thorson will be a true dual threat QB, and though he might struggle initially, he should be able to run the offense the way it's designed, which will be very hard for defenses to stop. When the read option is run effectively, you don't need play action because the defense has to account for a possible QB run on every play.

 

[Figrating]

> 4) We also ran a decent amount of play action last year, but were unable to move the pocket because of Trevor's ankle. I would anticipate a lot more moving pocket first because Thorson can do it and second because I think our OL is going to need it. <]

Play action with a disabled QB kinda cancels itself.

 

[NUCat320]

The intro paragraph is why it's hard to take much of what you post on here seriously. I hope you now fully acknowledge your "troll role" around here because you were able to keep it together on the podcast with CJ and TJ. Not sure how being an abrasive troll on here is fun for you, but just... stop. It often makes it very un-fun for others.

Anyway:

1) There's motion on almost every play we run.

There's motion for purposes of moving guys (basically, a shift) and motion as a weapon. Last year, NU rarely used motion as a weapon, which is to say, NU rarely used a threat of a jet sweep or got a RB moving laterally just before a snap, in the way that innovative offenses like Auburn or Baylor or Oregon do.

Now, that said, I don't think McCall has ever done much of that, but I agree with Turk that it's a missed opportunity.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Play action with a disabled QB kinda cancels itself.

Not really... defenses still have to respect the fake handoff to the running back.

 

[Turk]

What fa

Not really... defenses still have to respect the fake handoff to the running back.

What fake handoffs? Very few. Worst yet is that our tendenies were so bad that everyone in the stands knew what was going to happen. Ball handling was done much better with persa or Colter as i dont recall TS ever doing any real faking other than a small little ball pump that didnt force any respect. And our OL lined up pretty bad with tendencies, so bad that we not only knew when the passing downs came but we also got flagged on occassion because of one OL lining up halfway in the backfield...one game he got flagged twice for this.
Where is the coaching on the splits and tendancies?

 

[TXnumbCAT]

The intro paragraph is why it's hard to take much of what you post on here seriously. I hope you now fully acknowledge your "troll role" around here because you were able to keep it together on the podcast with CJ and TJ.

As we used to chant in NUMB, "ignore them, ignore them, maybe they'll go away."

 

[Purple is Forever]

Last year i had no idea what on earth McCall was thinking but he obviously banked on a solid power blocking OL.
It didnt happen fellas and after 5 years of epic failure along the OL i hope McCall puts down his bongpipe and comes to the realization that our OL can not be trusted because they dont know what they are doing. 38 qb sacks and several dozen qbh is ample evidence that we have to do things differently.

1. Stop lining up the offense as clay pigeons stuck as statues. Incorporate motion.

2. Incorporate mostly a zone blocking scheme where Jackson/long/anderson can make that one cut.

3. Insert more zone read for our QB.

4. PLAY ACTION PLEASE!
Especially play action and move the pocket with some rollouts.

Having power schemes and a QB lining up exactly in the same spot so that defenses know exactly where the qb will be is helping the continual onslaught of our qb we have been accustomed to seeing. Im not saying McCall is stupid but he obviously doesnt recognize some clear and present issues and seems to be in an endless motion of trying to pound a square peg in a round hole.

I can deal with losing but i cant deal with the continual insanity of our extremely unimaginative OC.

I think McCall has been stuck in a rut because i thought he functioned better in years gone by. Lets hope we dont go through several qb injuries again.

And yes i know the pollyannas and Fitz damage control guys think McCall is the greatest but our offense needs a serious reinvention. Sorry.

Go cats!

Unimaginative isn't the right word. It has been worse than that. I'm not going to blame McCall, although some of this falls on him. The big problem is the offensive line. Could any Offensive Coordinator look good with an underperforming offensive? Turk, in your view, why is our offensive line such a struggle? Northern even controlled the line of scrimmage against them last year.

 

[Turk]

Unimaginative isn't the right word. It has been worse than that. I'm not going to blame McCall, although some of this falls on him. The big problem is the offensive line. Could any Offensive Coordinator look good with an underperforming offensive? Turk, in your view, why is our offensive line such a struggle? Northern even controlled the line of scrimmage against them last year.

I think it starts with the talent level that Fitz has brought in, and then the lack of physical development insomuch that they struggle with power blocking DL. But the pass blocking was also awful so it has to be coaching as well.