Snowflake Thread: Offense Vs. Air Force

Look what good ole Jedd pulled out today.  

Lots of missed blocks, OL not picking up blitzes, OC is expecting RBs to beat unblocked defenders which they cannot do, running plays designed to go directly into pile ups, tepid QB play, missed catches, inoppurtune penalties. I think they were shell shocked at how fast and physical AF defense was.

This group has potential, but needs more experience, needs a leader on the field and the O line has to pick it up.

Honestly, it looks a lot like a Borges/Nussmeier offense right now w/o the Gardner /Robinson turnovers.

I do think it will get better.

Hoping we were just keeping things conservative because we have Don Brown and physically overmatched AFA.

But I do want DPJ to overtake Crawford at this point.

People will hate to hear this but the fact is Jedd Fisch's departure has hurt us and maybe Pep Hamilton isn't the man for the job. Its hard not to notice that UCLA's offense has been on fire this year with Fisch as their coordinator. 

Somebody lost a helmet today!

basically LSU now?

When did Drevno move up into the box? He used to be on the sideline with Harbaugh. 

Is it possible Drevno not that great an OC

That rarely uses its tight end?

Same guys calling plays that you all called genuises and talk about creative pro-style contstraints, multiple TE matchups, yada yada yada.

The fact is that Jesus could be calling plays and if the OL can't block people, it doesn't mean squat.  When the OL is stuggling, your RBs look like they have poor vision, the QB looks like a bad decision maker with poor accuracy, the WRs/TEs look like they can't get open, and the OC looks like a grab-bagger.

It's the biggest knock on the Harbaugh-Michigan short tenure that we didn't immediately secure a huge haul of great OL recruits in the first  full class (2016), then follow that up with something similar this past cycle.  In year 3 with Harbaugh, Drevno, and company, we should have a very good young promising OL and it's just disappointing as hell that we don't.  I hope I'm wrong about this.  

Seth pointed out to me that Kugler got hurt and couldn't push off one leg, and when we looked to see who went in, they chose to stick with a one-legged Kugler and that was very telling in my opinion.

If you can't block good defenses (and hold your own against great ones) you can't win championships, period.

He was again the leader in the rushing game, at least until they took away his helmet. Any word on his status? Concussion protocol?

The coaches seem to realize that he is a mess and are avoiding forcing him to make plays. That's probably smart, but it means we're fucked against good teams again. Crawford is bad bad bad.

Methinks Rosen wishes he could go back in time and make a different decision. UCLA is a dead end (outside the incredible education).

I think the red zone issue is a byproduct of a different problem - our offense can't get out of its own way, they're way too inconsistent. Although, some playcalls in the red zone were definite WTF moments for me.

But overally, it was a team effort in not getting any TDs until the time-killing drive at the end. Nobody was great...Speight was again not particularly good, OL pass pro was crap (run blocking was spotty at best), RBs outside of Isaac were bad until Isaac left, and even Isaac himself had a few wtf moments...WRs weren't getting open, and then one critical drop in the 4th quarter.  Team effort. Lots to work on...they cannot fail on so many drives to score against better teams and still expect to win.

Thank GOD we have a field goal kicker this year.

hopefully theyre saving things for later games

QB can't make touch passes.  Doesn't look off receivers to draw the defense.  Doesn't get the ball to open receivers quick enough.

Receivers aren't catching everything that hits their hands.  Even when they do catch, it's with their body and it takes so long to haul it in, they aren't able to make plays with their feet.

Offensive line struggles to block blitzes and stunts up front.  

RBs dance too much.

It all falls back on the coaches.  

I don't think it's as much about scheme as it's about getting these guys to get it together during practice.  There's nothing wrong with this scheme.  Those quick throws to the sideline work all day in the NFL when DBs are playing off of receivers like they were today.  When the defense knows that the first thing the QB looks at is where he'll throw and then it takes a long time for the QB to get the ball there...and then whether it's on the WR or QB, the catch is rarely clean, it's not going to work.  It's not the scheme.  It's the execution.  These athletic WRs should've been killing those young DBs out in the flats.  

Didn't get to watch the game. What if the team chemistry between speight and the rest of the offense isn't there. Speight strikes me as someone who isn't likeable.

I think the piling on Wilton is a bit much, I didn't think he was THAT bad today. His worst play was the fumble. Outside that he was mediocre, not good, not bad. The offense as a whole played worse than Wilton. Little wr separation, blown assignments all over the place up front on blitz pickup. Evans' fumble really changed the tragectory of the game I thought. Get out to a lead and AF's offense is forced to pass, other than a bust the D ate that up. Needed to get to that point earlier in the game, and the fumble killed it. I am optimistic that the combination of individual improvement from young players, and getting more of the play book in (especially on bye week), will get us to where we want to going into the tougher stretch of games. Need the D to carry us next week though, that's looking like a tougher and tougher game.

Same story different week. This offense will cost the team at least 2-3 games unless drastic improvement happens. Maybe even more.

No turnovers today was nice, but when they weren't running right into 8-9 man boxes, they were killing themselves again with stupid, STUPID penalties. Young team I know, but these mistakes will cost you the game against Penn State, Wisconsin, and OSU.

With the way the offense looked today, Rutgers might be the only game left on our schedule that I feel somewhat comfortable with.