webb99

I'm new to the board, and signed up so I could put in my 2 cents worth. Agreeing with most guys, I thought the game plan was too conservative. But, we did need to run the ball, take time off the clock, and keep USC off the field. A shoot-out with them would have only made our db's look worse than they did. No matter how we look at it, it's hard to win on the road, at night on national tv, playing one of the best teams in the country. In those games, you have to play flawless, and we didn't. We all sat and watched the game wondering why the heck we weren't passing the ball. Run on 1st, run on 2nd, run on third, punt. Why? Who knows. We have one of the best passing quarterbacks we have ever had and one of the best receiving corps too. Why not use them? It's almost like Callahan is dead set on running the ball now. We either run the ball well and win, or we're going to lose. But we're going to run the ball just to show we can, or on Sat night that we can't. It's almost a complete opposite from his first year here. Then it was we are going to pass, win or lose, but we are going to pass just to show that we can. I was at the Southern Miss game in 2004. I believe that was Callahan's 2nd game here. We were struggling passing the ball all day, and S Miss had taken the lead. Late in the 4th quarter, we put a great drive together, and marched down the field to win the game. It was a great drive because we finally decided to run the ball. Ross was getting 5-10-15 yards at a crack, and next thing you know it's first and goal. The defense was tired, on their heels, and we had 4 downs to run the ball 7-8 yards. No problem, right? Wrong! Callahan/Norvell calls 3 straight passsing plays, all incomplete. Fourth down of course we have to pass, and Dailey gets chased out of bounds, we lose. The entire crowd was yelling to run the ball, but we never did. I know coaches get paid to know their players a whole lot better than us, but there were 78,000 people there that knew we needed to run the ball to win. I swore to God that on that day at that game, that Callahan said we are going to pass the ball and win, or we are going to lose. But we are going to pass because that's what I want to do, right or wrong. And I think that mentality echoed throughout his first year here. Sadly, we had Dailey that year, and not Zach Taylor. Now we have Taylor, and Callahan seems set on running the ball. Why? Who knows? Maybe because he took heat all last year because we couldn't. But it seems to be back to we are going to run the ball, win or lose, but that's what we are going to do. I'm not trying to bash on Callahan, but some of his game plans seem flawed to me. I'll go back to he gets paid to do this, knows his players better than us, knows how to call plays, knows football, etc. I don't think anybody will argue he knows a whole lot more than any of us will, but then how does he seem to miss the obvious play calls during a game. I'm not saying a pass play would have worked on the downs that we ran, but I know the run plays didn't work at all. The first year I thought he wanted to show the world we would pass the ball to get some better recruits and open up some eyes. Win or lose, we were going to throw the ball because that's who he wanted us to be. He confirmed that at every press conference and in every game. Now it's come full circle. Now he wants to pound the football, win or lose, and that's who he wants us to be. And now he has confirmed that we are going to pound the ball. I guess I'm confused. I thought the WCO was about balance and being able to pass and run. The good thing is, if we are all guessing, so are the opposing teams.