Fourth quarter futility: Tmart or Beck ?

Comish

Comish

All-Conference
As frustrating as it was watching Taylor somewhat revert during our 4th quarter offensive series, I think some of the questioning needs to be directed at Beck. (Let me state at the outset that I am NOT one of the posters who is going overboard and demanding coaching changes after one subpar outing). But, no one is above a little criticism.

It appears to me that (eerily similar to last year), when we get into MUST drive situations that the play calling goes into panic mode as much as or more as the players trying to execute them. Saturday, we saw how we abandoned the run and went strictly pass the last few forgettable series. That, to me, smacks of panic by Beck as much as by players.

Feel free to disagree……..

 
I'm gonna say 70% Beck. When we were down by two points, he was calling plays that would have been better suited if we were down by 2 scores. We had run the ball successfully prior to that, and I'm not sure what made him think throwing it was a good idea.

 
Beck admitted to making a mistake which, while admirable, doesn't fix the problem. He didn't learn after he did that at Wisky last season so he needs to figure it out. Obviously I can't say for certain, but if we would've continue to run, as it was working, we probably would've drove down the field and scored on some level, field goal or TD. It might've won us the game, but we don't know that. When your running backs are getting 5 to 7 yards a carry why go away from that? I'm giving T-Mart the benefit of the doubt based on O-line play at the end of the game and play calling at the end of the game, but yes he did regress in the 2nd half which should be expected. I don't think folks understand how important muscle-memory is when you are trying to change something from the way you've done it. I also don't think we are giving UCLA's defense enough credit and we tend to do this with a loss.................it's always what did we do wrong, not what they did right.

 
I know there is some frustration going on here, but I also know there are a couple of realities that have to be acknowledged. First off, T-Mart was guaranteed to take a step back. He played so well in week one, but he also got some lucky breaks in week one, passes that weren't all that great found their mark against SM thanks to some nice plays by the receivers. Also he got away with a couple bad decisions.

Speaking of SM game, Nebraska engineered a late first half scoring drive based on passing plays and everyone hailed it as genius. When it was going on, I remember thinking that it might have been a better idea to sit on the ball and get to half up four points.

A pick there would have put SM in the lead and put us behind the eight ball to start the second half. Remember that SM got the ball to start the third and drove down field quite a ways before giving the ball up on a fumble.

There was potential for bad. We passed. We scored. And the fans loved it.

We did seem to be running it well there in the latter stages of the UCLA game, but had we run it, and failed, everyone would have pointed to the late first half score against SM and said, hey, why didn't we run the two-minute pass offense?

Bottom line here is that the plan didn't work, regardless of whether it was a good plan or not.

We can be upset as fans, but we must admit that had it worked, we would have thought it was a great plan, regardless of whether it was or not.

 
Beck.

Martinez showed he can't make good decisions under pressure time and again, so it is up to Beck not to put him under that pressure.

For example, Martinez threw the ball up for grabs as he was being sacked. That almost turned into a costly interception except his knee was thankfully down by then. Now fast forward to the safety. As he was going down, once again he threw the ball up for grabs. Evidently Martinez didn't stop to think that giving up a touchdown would be far worse than giving up a safety.

I am not dissing Martinez. What you see is what you get, both good and bad. It is incumbent on the coaching staff has to work with what they have. Don't give Martinez the read option in the end zone. Put a fullback in the backfield, give it to the I-back and let the other ten guys on the field help get out of the end zone.

 
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Beck.

That is not how you use Taylor. I don't get the stubborness. And Beck knows it is what I cant figure! If you know its a problem make yourself a note or something to remind you to get back to what works if you have to. Don't just embarrass yourself time and time again

 
I would say maybe 50-50. Much more on Beck on that safety, but much more on Taylor for that pick. Both were ultimately killer. In total I would say Beck dropped the ball more, but that is with consideration to the entire second half of offense screw-ups, outside of those two plays I am thinking of.

 
If you would have told me that we would score 30 points without Burkhead, Cotton, and even Bell for the majority of the game and we would hold them to nine points in the 2nd half I probably would have taken it and seen where we were at.

My point, Saturday is very hard to put my finger on.

 
Beck. We drove down the field with that power sweep and then decided to get stupid again.

Marrow is a blocker. 3rd and 1 you are not going to surprise a defense with a fullback dive. That is a one or two a game type of play, and it is when the defense is expecting outside runs.

 
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BIGREDIOWAN said:
Beck admitted to making a mistake which, while admirable, doesn't fix the problem. He didn't learn after he did that at Wisky last season so he needs to figure it out. Obviously I can't say for certain, but if we would've continue to run, as it was working, we probably would've drove down the field and scored on some level, field goal or TD. It might've won us the game, but we don't know that. When your running backs are getting 5 to 7 yards a carry why go away from that? I'm giving T-Mart the benefit of the doubt based on O-line play at the end of the game and play calling at the end of the game, but yes he did regress in the 2nd half which should be expected. I don't think folks understand how important muscle-memory is when you are trying to change something from the way you've done it. I also don't think we are giving UCLA's defense enough credit and we tend to do this with a loss.................it's always what did we do wrong, not what they did right.
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This. The best way to help out a defense still stuck at home in Lincoln is for the offense to have long extended drives. UCLA was blitzing like mad, and we made them pay for it a few times with the run. The OL was doing ok. Abdullah and Heard were playing great. We should have stuck with the TO motto of grinding it out even when we were behind. It wasn't as if Maher's punting ability was doing us any favors either. For Martinez to have success, we have got to be a run first team. We don't have Peyton Manning out there. UCLA definitely has athletes on defense. However, if they continue to blitz like they did against Rice and us they will absolutely get torched by USC.

 
Obviously, nobody likes the kind of criticism we give here. Nobody likes the armchair offensive coordinator.

Just one comment on this topic for me, though: The zone read out of the end zone that lead to the safety. The zone read being one of the slowest developing offensive plays available in college football. That one upset me. Run a dive or trap, something with a short, quick hand off to get some separation from the end zone. But not the zone read.

They broke through so quickly with a blitz on that play that it didn't matter whether Taylor kept the ball or handed off. They were on top of us in the back field (in the end zone) before the play could take off. Not the right play for taking a snap in the end zone.

 
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100% Beck. Just like last year's Wisconsin game. Run the ball! It was working! Plenty of time! Run the ball! Unless it was Taylor that called that zone read at the 5 yard line then it's all on Beck. He called a fair game until the end when he lost his patience.

 
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