This might get a little lengthy so I hope you'll bear with me...
This was a game that was winnable for us - with the right scheme. We might not have won it at the end, but we should have at least been in it.
But, we weren't. And the reason - scheme.
TCU's strength, of course, is their offense. Their weakness, their defense. This team could be scored upon.
The plan should have been to run the ball all night. Stick with it, and wear them down. Most importantly, keep the clock moving and keep TCU's vaunted offense off the field.
Surprisingly, we have been very successful running the ball. Without being exact, I would guess we are averaging somewhere in the vicinity of 5 yards a carry. Also, we have been doing very well in getting to 3rd down and short.
Then the wheels fall off... and its scheme.
That's when we go to the weakness of our offense, (and the weakness of every offense - the deep ball). We have done this, if I recall, about 8 times tonight and been successful once.
The reason this is schematically wrong - before we blame the QB and receivers - is that even if you complete the pass even the best teams are only successful around 30% of the time. Add to the fact that the receivers are freshmen/first year players still learning how to play the ball (and not very good at it) and you are playing into the weakness of your own team.
Now, what's truly wrong here is these are really the only routes being run. It's throw the deep ball because that's the only route being run.
Instead of staying with the bread and butter, what keeps the clock running and the ball away from TCU, and allows the game to stay manageable going into the 4th quarter, was abandoned because we got impatient and didn't take what the defense was giving us - the run and everything underneath. Just because they are playing us man up doesn't mean the only route has to be a deep low percentage one.
It has been this way all year - not just this game. Bad decisions in game management and planning.
Oh, and the bonehead move of the night. Passing the ball on 1st down from your own 9 with the opportunity to run out the clock and only be down by 10 going into the half. Different story if they have 2 timeouts left or you get the ball back to start the half. NOPE! Give them a free time out, and give them the opportunity to put themselves up by essentially 2 touchdowns AND get the ball back to start the half.
These types of mistakes are the ones we saw when Stew was here... and they are being repeated again. Maybe history should repeat itself....
This was a game that was winnable for us - with the right scheme. We might not have won it at the end, but we should have at least been in it.
But, we weren't. And the reason - scheme.
TCU's strength, of course, is their offense. Their weakness, their defense. This team could be scored upon.
The plan should have been to run the ball all night. Stick with it, and wear them down. Most importantly, keep the clock moving and keep TCU's vaunted offense off the field.
Surprisingly, we have been very successful running the ball. Without being exact, I would guess we are averaging somewhere in the vicinity of 5 yards a carry. Also, we have been doing very well in getting to 3rd down and short.
Then the wheels fall off... and its scheme.
That's when we go to the weakness of our offense, (and the weakness of every offense - the deep ball). We have done this, if I recall, about 8 times tonight and been successful once.
The reason this is schematically wrong - before we blame the QB and receivers - is that even if you complete the pass even the best teams are only successful around 30% of the time. Add to the fact that the receivers are freshmen/first year players still learning how to play the ball (and not very good at it) and you are playing into the weakness of your own team.
Now, what's truly wrong here is these are really the only routes being run. It's throw the deep ball because that's the only route being run.
Instead of staying with the bread and butter, what keeps the clock running and the ball away from TCU, and allows the game to stay manageable going into the 4th quarter, was abandoned because we got impatient and didn't take what the defense was giving us - the run and everything underneath. Just because they are playing us man up doesn't mean the only route has to be a deep low percentage one.
It has been this way all year - not just this game. Bad decisions in game management and planning.
Oh, and the bonehead move of the night. Passing the ball on 1st down from your own 9 with the opportunity to run out the clock and only be down by 10 going into the half. Different story if they have 2 timeouts left or you get the ball back to start the half. NOPE! Give them a free time out, and give them the opportunity to put themselves up by essentially 2 touchdowns AND get the ball back to start the half.
These types of mistakes are the ones we saw when Stew was here... and they are being repeated again. Maybe history should repeat itself....
