After the early injuries, our O was no where close to as talented. No TE, lost top receiver and no one to step up lost top QBs, and new O. Big dropoff in all areas that was hard to recover from
With a solid OC this team is
- Thread starter freewillie07
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We have had a string of pretty good SBs over the years and I fully expected Green to be all BIG this year. We for sure had a hole there this year. Bs depend on a good OL and we have not had that. Average IG back is actually pretty good. As far as a back that is both a guy who can run between the tackles and has breakaway speed? Good luck with that as a lot of teams are looking. Better chance if your OL is performing and over the last couple weeks we have started seeing what you are asking for from backups
Completely valid points. However, Do you think at Ohio State they would use - the whole body of work argument ? Not a chance. In fact, it is hard to believe that this was not done during the season. You can't win - unless you commit to winning. In a what have you done for me lately sport - your as good as the current season's record. Which is 3 - 9 last place and the bottom of the big ten.
An embarrassment within the Big Ten to go from 1st to last
Historically good defenses and a down B1G W will do it (not going to apologize for facing an injury depleted Wisky team last season, as the 'Cats certainly have had their share of injury depleted teams).
The B1G W title was long in coming (predecessors to Fitz have won a B1G title quicker).
The 2014 team was hit w/ a rash of injuries (particularly on the O side) and a key transfer, and while the team just missed on being bowl eligible, managed to beat Penn State, Wisky and ND (and should have completed the quad-fecta by beating UM, but awful coaching by the OC and HC).
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I think he pretty much made it clear who was to blame when he canned McCall's inept ass. It takes a lot for Fitz to can someone. This was Colby level production and so the same move was made.
We have been far from complete since McCall has run our offense. We have been one dimensional. Credit Hank for our winning ways. Not Mick McCall. If you can't see that, you're fricking blind.
During the first portion of his tenure, one could make the case that McCall was at least as successful as Hank. There were plenty of posters questioning the prowess of NU’s defense coordinator after the way 2010 and 2011 concluded.
In my view, the beginning of the end for McCall was the Thorson era. While there were some nice moments (@Michigan St 2016 comes to mind), the offense never quite clicked on a regular basis from 2015 onward. It was a real shame because those offenses did had some modicum of talent.
This is an oversimplification, but McCall’s attack didn’t evolve enough as his tenure progressed and the rest of league was able to figure it out. I’m sure Mick could have achieved better results with the calibre/depth of athlete in Ann Arbor or State College at his disposal, but at NU one needs to be able to operate within the limitations at hand. Just part of the gig.
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Dismissing Austin Carr's success at NU as just one unusually motivated guy is a little problematic to me. From whom did he receive this instruction? Carr didn't do all this in a vacuum. On the other hand, why weren't other receivers as motivated as Carr to improve their game? Were there malcontents dragging down the enthusiasm in the WR room? I heard rumblings to that effect a few years ago. J&Js vs Xs&Os.
Larkin and Bowser were considerably better than average Big Ten backs, IMO. Breakaway speed is overrated for RB's, but if you want that combo, we may have a good RB in Azema. Like I've written before, the defense has gotten the lion's share of the incoming talent. There were several years where our best RB's (in HS) were playing defense. Why? I don't know. Fitz's preference? Recruits avoiding our offense?
Who's to blame and who gets fired are oftentimes different people.
I would say 2013 was the beginning of the end, honestly.
National rank: scoring offense / scoring defense
2008: 75/26
2009: 71/55
2010: 65/77
2011: 51/66
2012: 42/29
At this point the defense is better than the offense, but not significantly so, and the offense is getting better every year. Then this happens:
2013: 83/69
2014: 102/46
2015: 114/12
2016: 87/24
2017: 57/20
2018: 101/41
2019: 126/43
Woof. If the upward trend from 2015-17 had continued, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad, but the second crash sealed McCall's fate.
Man, we must be remembering very different things. No one thought McCall was at least as successful as Hank. And I don’t remember anyone questioning Hank’s chops ever.
After NU lost got destroyed by Illinois and Wisconsin in consecutive weeks (as well as being shredded by Texas Tech in the bowl game), there were many complaints centered on Hank throughout the offseason and into 2011.
Several posters were more optimistic on the offense in large part due to the production of Kafka, Persa (strong) and the cobbled together bowl game duo of Colter & Watkins; see Mick McCall, the quarterback whisperer.
While I wasn’t down on Hank during his rough patch, the offense during the early portion of the decade was more than capable of winning games and it was understandable why some fans would have preferred McCall work, at the time. Kirk Herbstreit even gave glowing reviews of Mick’s attack/play calling during the near miss against Ohio State in 2013.
It wasn’t until 2014 (and certainly 2015) that the anti-McCall push really got going.
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Don't honestly don't remember the anti-Hank movement. Hank's worst D's were world's better than Colby's Swiss, and with his chops, I can't believe anyone wavered in their faith.. My discontent with McCall started when we began sitting a future NFL QB to give the ball to a WR who couldn't throw 15 yards (honestly, Aidan Smith's passing ability reminded me of Colter). I will acknowledge that the early McCall years were solid if not outright promising - though I think it a stretch for anyone to favor McCall over Hank at any point. Kafka slinging it around and Persa Strong were good years. I don't know if the game just passed him by and he failed to evolve or what, but our offenses after that resembled nothing of what we saw in those earlier years. I think the Army game did it for me when I knew this guy's offense, playcalling, and personnel decisions were just garbage.
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As mentioned in a thread a week or two ago, there was definitely an anti-Jerry Brown campaign going on in the early 2010s (i.e. comments that alleged that our CBs had been 'Jerryfied'. I believe that some people were sweeping Hank in with the complaints against Jerry in particular and the defense in general.
I remember the anti-Jerry Brown narrative being pushed (by one poster in particular who will not be named) as far back as 2003/2004.
