Bend but don't break....

[W.E.D 11,070]

18 minutes ago, DAG said:

It’s probably both but I am thinking it’s more so lack of freaking talent . Sorry I don’t like calling players out but there is one specific safety that, not only does not cover well, he can’t tackle well. How do you scheme for that? You put him in zone and pray he keeps everything in front of him. I watched one of our transfer lose containment on the edge a couple of times and it is like “how many dang times are you going to let a player cross your face mask?”

on one of the TDs a defensive back is completely on his heels and let’s a guy own an dig route on him for an easy TD. These guys just aren’t as good as we thought they would be. But also it’s coaching too. It’s a perfect storm of failure . The problem is there is no light at the end of the tunnel because the recruiting is bad. I would feel better if I saw that we had their players coming in but we aren’t seeing that either. 

Compounding everything it seems like we made some really bad evaluations from portal transfers, especially DB.  We took so many and I'm not sure any are good.  Not sure if we pushed out the TX safety or not, but he was probably missed.  Kaufman has been pretty underwhelming. 

At some point HS recruiting has to get better (hopefully in '23), but if we're missing on a lot of kids I'd really like to see us go Mich State level with poral kids....and not SW Missouri State kids.  Take 18 HS kids, then 12-13 transfers and attempt to upgrade talent through out the class distribution.

[creed 1,683]

1 hour ago, W.E.D said:

So srs question....we saw the points you're making and I don't disagree.  Is it pure talent or lack of coaching where our guys aren't grasping it?  Maybe a little A, little B, little need more time in the system?

I think I'm leaning towards Mason coming back/getting year 2 in a system and hopefully taking a step forward.  It hasn't all been bad, but the bad has been really really really bad.  Dumping Bobo for Kiseau probably isn't a huge transition for the offense and maybe the play calling gets better, but not totally convinced. 

Is it not clear? Are people not watching games, only follow the ball, and don't watch the LOS? Or only look at the score? A game is more than the score. Until we fix the issues on the line of scrimmage (both sides). It will be difficult to maintain any resemblance of consistency. LOS is where games are WON and is a hedge against any team that may "match up" well. Also, if you recruit the LOS, which is the foundation of any real good team, you'll eventually get the QBs, RBs, LBs, etc. etc. that are needed to win big.

[AuburnEagle79 2,171]

1 hour ago, jj3jordan said:

Exactly so why not tell the corner you are blitzing and he will be ready for the slant!! How hard can this be? You take away the hot route by playing close press for 2 seconds and you can get to the qb.  But no we don’t we cushion 5 yards away and it’s an easy play for pretty much any qb.

If we have learned one thing through all of this, especially with how the game is changing, an effective pass rush with 4 linemen is crucial. To keep up in today's game your front 4 have to be disruptive. Not that this is specific to football today vs any other era, but with all the rules that benefit the offense, it's even more important now. 

[EastAl_Tiger 228]

How hard is it for the LB to remember to cover the back out of the backfield? that's not a groundbreaking concept.  I don't mean get there and get beat or get blocked, but they're not even in the same zip code as the RB. 

Shouldn't somebody on the defensive side be reminding them of that? if the players flat out don't have the acumen to make those plays then so be it. but if it's not being coached enough or properly, that's worse

[W.E.D 11,070]

2 minutes ago, EastAl_Tiger said:

How hard is it for the LB to remember to cover the back out of the backfield? that's not a groundbreaking concept.  I don't mean get there and get beat or get blocked, but they're not even in the same zip code as the RB. 

Shouldn't somebody on the defensive side be reminding them of that? if the players flat out don't have the acumen to make those plays then so be it. but if it's not being coached enough or properly, that's worse

If you're talking about the TD, it was the Safety who lagged behind the play 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,838]

I think the main problem has been the secondary was built to be more of an attacking one, and the DBs brought in with Mason’s eye have largely been nonexistent 

The pass rush would’ve been butt with either scheme, but losing most of our reserves from last season has had more of an effect than folks were willing to give it 

[EastAl_Tiger 228]

26 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

If you're talking about the TD, it was the Safety who lagged behind the play 

I mean every game there's busts in coverage of the RB 

[Guest MustardSeed]

6 hours ago, aubaseball said:

I agree with everything you said, but I think he wasn’t even FCS.   I believe he was D3.  

Yep

[bigbird 60,608]

A whole lot of dumb on this thread.

[bigbird 60,608]

3 hours ago, W.E.D said:

If you're talking about the TD, it was the Safety who lagged behind the play 

19 has had terrible angles all year

[AUGnome 91]

When you have players and you don't believe that they have the talent to consistently go toe to toe with your competition, then a "bend don't break" strategy is a reasonable choice. I don't believe I've been an AU fan long enough (25+ years) that I've ever seen a team that I felt that was true for. That is why I cringe at the thought of playing that way all the time, even though it did seem to get a slightly better for a while towards the end of the season, not counting the last two games of course.

[W.E.D 11,070]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

19 has had terrible angles all year

Yes he has. 

[bigbird 60,608]

1 hour ago, W.E.D said:

Yes he has. 

13 should've been playing over him all year, IMO

[W.E.D 11,070]

11 minutes ago, bigbird said:

13 should've been playing over him all year, IMO

Tennison isn't perfect, but he's actually made plays recently.

Wooten seems similar to Knighten.  Plays a lot, plays badly a lot, back up (Riley) seemed to play better in limited snaps.

[bigbird 60,608]

It seems someone's ears were burning...