Hold on to the BALL!!!

[bshirt]

The same way we got our defense to play with emotion, tenacity, and a hard-nose edge starting in 2008.

 

Change the coaches.

 

Bingo.

[BIG ERN]

Graduation solves 2 problems -- Helu and Paul. Now we just need to fix Martinez, I love the kid at QB, but if he cant fix a few things such as ball security, mechanics, and pocket presence I would love him at WR. I am definately not giving up on him yet since he started off GREAT for a freshman and injuries hurt him, but practice needs to be put in over the off-season.

 

Plus he is going to play WR/PR & KR at the next level anyways.

[zoogs]

at anyone who thinks Helu is a problem.

 

Kid is a freaking baller and has played amazing for us this year. Look at his production, it really speaks for itself.

[BIG ERN]

at anyone who thinks Helu is a problem.

 

Kid is a freaking baller and has played amazing for us this year. Look at his production, it really speaks for itself.

 

 

His production has been solid, but so has his fumbling issues. Him and Paul make big plays that others cant then turn around and drop passes and fumble. You have to factor that in. It also shows late in games that the coaches feel the same way when Burkhead is always in and no Helu.

[CFHusker]

at anyone who thinks Helu is a problem.

 

Kid is a freaking baller and has played amazing for us this year. Look at his production, it really speaks for itself.

 

I have really enjoyed Helu and will miss his running style. But his fumbles are inexcusable for a SR running back. This will probably be big reason he is not drafted. The offense needed leaders to step up. Unfortunately Paul and Helu made Freshman/Soph mistakes that really hurt the team.

[Big Red 40]

If it was all coaching and drills Burkhead would be fumbling all the time too. he rarely does.I agree that Martinez needs some coaching on how to carry the ball.

[Chaddyboxer]

I'm sure that having an 80lb dumbell on the floor would violate... something. I'm not sure what, but it seems like it would

 

I think that some of the coaches on offense are coaching with a pro mentality and missing *some* fundamental stuff. Remember under Coz how none of our D would wrap up? I wonder if it was something that BC ingrained in his staff-- skip fundamentals, get to the complicated stuff! They should know this by now!

 

It's easy to think that way at the college level (in the classroom, too).

Also remember how our defensive linemen admitted that they were taught to NOT put their hands up in the air to bat a pass? That's pretty pathetic..

 

To me, not fumbling is based on good fundamentals and discipline as a running back/WR. For a quarterback, it's all about pocket presence and fundamentals. One knock I have on Helu's fumbling is that he will hold the ball out in front of himself with one arm, leaving the ball open to a hit.

 

Martinez will fumble because he doesn't keep the ball where he should, either.

 

Quite a few fundamental elements are lost on this offensive staff.

This is straight up coaching! The players need to be made aware to hold onto the damn ball..

[Hujan]

90% of the fumbling this season was done by four guys: Cody Green (10%), Niles Paul (20%), Roy Helu (20%), and Taylor Martinez (40%). (The other 10% is bad snaps or exchanges that can't really be pinned on any one player.)

 

Cody Green seems to have figured out his issue, which was not only holding the ball loose, but fighting for an extra yard or two. Not worried about this.

 

Niles is Niles and his issues will be solved by him graduating.

 

Roy Helu, as much as I love the kid to death, has had a problem holding onto the ball. It's like Tiki Barber before Tiki learned to carry it high and tight. Again, this will be solved by him graduating.

 

That leaves Taylor. Taylor's fumbling problems are two fold. The most glaring is his inability/refusal to simply throw the ball away when plays breakdown. He takes a lot of sacks and any QB is going to have a difficult time holding onto the ball when they take a lot of sacks. In addition, if you notice, a lot of times when the pocket is collapsing on him, he'll kind of step forward into the line of scrimmage. This would be okay, I guess, except that he needs to learn to bring both arms across his body to protect the ball. (This assumes he didn't just throw it away to begin with.) These fumbles should be pretty easy to fix.

 

Taylor's other problem is that he, too, holds the ball like a loaf of bread when he runs and doesn't tuck it high and tight. I have a feeling this will be a hard habit to break with him.

 

I think our fumbling issues will be drastically reduced next year even if, God forbid, we keep the same coaches.

[zoogs]

Hujan, interested in hearing your opinion (or anyone's) about Roy's fumble against OU. I watched it and my thought was that he was not exposing the ball, just carrying it while running in open space. He could have wrapped it up with both hands, but you don't really do that when you are taking off in open space. I felt the OU defender just got a good position on the hit, and he definitely went right at the ball. I feel this is not a forced fumble in every sense instead of ball security issues, and wanted to know if anyone could add to/disagree with that.

 

I don't think Roy has ever had a fumbling problem really. He may have had a few this year but how many does he have over his career? It would seem to me to be a couple bad breaks for us, but I can't really say.

 

I don't remember most of Taylor's fumbles specifically but I did see last night's 3rd Q fumble up close again and that one is easy to pin down on him. Sometimes you got to tuck the ball down and take the sack. He was in full take-the-sack mode but he was standing still there and waiting for the hit. Got to tuck the ball down and go down with the defenders instead of waiting for them to get to you and do whatever they want. Similar to the interception he had, I don't think Taylor has developed a proper sense of "Live to fight another day." Sometimes a play is just blown and you have to give up on it.

[butterswolfman]

Hujan, interested in hearing your opinion (or anyone's) about Roy's fumble against OU. I watched it and my thought was that he was not exposing the ball, just carrying it while running in open space. He could have wrapped it up with both hands, but you don't really do that when you are taking off in open space. I felt the OU defender just got a good position on the hit, and he definitely went right at the ball. I feel this is not a forced fumble in every sense instead of ball security issues, and wanted to know if anyone could add to/disagree with that.

 

I don't think Roy has ever had a fumbling problem really. He may have had a few this year but how many does he have over his career? It would seem to me to be a couple bad breaks for us, but I can't really say.

 

I don't remember most of Taylor's fumbles specifically but I did see last night's 3rd Q fumble up close again and that one is easy to pin down on him. Sometimes you got to tuck the ball down and take the sack. He was in full take-the-sack mode but he was standing still there and waiting for the hit. Got to tuck the ball down and go down with the defenders instead of waiting for them to get to you and do whatever they want. Similar to the interception he had, I don't think Taylor has developed a proper sense of "Live to fight another day." Sometimes a play is just blown and you have to give up on it.

 

I agree, No player runs in open space with both hands on the ball. From what i saw he was actually heading to the ground and the defender just got a good angle on him. More of a fluke than anything. Roy has had his worst year this year as far as fumbles are concerned. But looking at his career he has been sure handed. Last year he fumbled a lot due to his banged up shoulder in one game. Other than that he single handedly won the KU game for us. I will miss Roy.

[tschu]

Anyone think its because of the balls we use? The old worn in ones, people have said they use cause they are easier to throw. Those balls dont seem to have any grip on them. Many times it just looks like its slides out of their arms rather than being knocked out.

 

The older balls are more grippy actually. I think Bo should find some of those $3 Walmart rubber footballs, maybe put a little bit of grease on them and have the team practice with those.

[Hujan]

Hujan, interested in hearing your opinion (or anyone's) about Roy's fumble against OU. I watched it and my thought was that he was not exposing the ball, just carrying it while running in open space. He could have wrapped it up with both hands, but you don't really do that when you are taking off in open space. I felt the OU defender just got a good position on the hit, and he definitely went right at the ball. I feel this is not a forced fumble in every sense instead of ball security issues, and wanted to know if anyone could add to/disagree with that.

 

I don't think Roy has ever had a fumbling problem really. He may have had a few this year but how many does he have over his career? It would seem to me to be a couple bad breaks for us, but I can't really say.

 

I don't remember most of Taylor's fumbles specifically but I did see last night's 3rd Q fumble up close again and that one is easy to pin down on him. Sometimes you got to tuck the ball down and take the sack. He was in full take-the-sack mode but he was standing still there and waiting for the hit. Got to tuck the ball down and go down with the defenders instead of waiting for them to get to you and do whatever they want. Similar to the interception he had, I don't think Taylor has developed a proper sense of "Live to fight another day." Sometimes a play is just blown and you have to give up on it.

 

I agree, No player runs in open space with both hands on the ball. From what i saw he was actually heading to the ground and the defender just got a good angle on him. More of a fluke than anything. Roy has had his worst year this year as far as fumbles are concerned. But looking at his career he has been sure handed. Last year he fumbled a lot due to his banged up shoulder in one game. Other than that he single handedly won the KU game for us. I will miss Roy.

 

You can't say that Roy's had a lot of fumbles this year, had a lot last year (due to banged up shoulder or not), and then conclude that Roy has been "sure handed" for his career. It just ain't so. I don't know what the problem is, but he is good for a costly fumble every other game, it seems. And they tend to turn into points for the other team. Think about that fumble deep in our own territory against Texas. The fumble against ISU this year. And obviously the big one against OU. There's been others, I'm sure. The kid makes up for it in a number of ways, though.

[zoogs]

Can anyone dig up statistics on how many he had? I don't lay blame to Roy for that fumble but obviously it was just one specific situation. I would look to ESPN's page for Roy but they don't seem to keep fumble statistics.

[Danimal]

This definitely needs to be addressed. Who knows what our record would've been this year if we didn't LEAD THE FREAKING NATION IN FUMBLES. Fumbling is a great way to lose games. I hate to think about what our giveaway/takeaway ratio on fumbles is.

 

Beck needs to make this a priority and get in Bo's ear about working with qb's on toting the rock. Come the offseason have the rb's and qb's work on their own on protecting the damn ball. Some fumbles are bad-luck/good contact right on the ball but too many were just bad ball-handling.

[Ziebol]

This definitely needs to be addressed. Who knows what our record would've been this year if we didn't LEAD THE FREAKING NATION IN FUMBLES. Fumbling is a great way to lose games. I hate to think about what our giveaway/takeaway ratio on fumbles is.

 

Beck needs to make this a priority and get in Bo's ear about working with qb's on toting the rock. Come the offseason have the rb's and qb's work on their own on protecting the damn ball. Some fumbles are bad-luck/good contact right on the ball but too many were just bad ball-handling.

Agreed. There will always be fumbles, but it's different when a defender makes a great play. To many times this year it's like the ball just squirts out of one of the players hands. This is a big issue and Beck needs to address this as well as Bo, because you can't expect to be a threat on offense when most of the time you put the ball on the ground and that's a fact. The point is when a defender makes a play that's one thing, but bone headed and costly fumbles from not wrapping up the ball is inexcusable and was a major cog in the offensive letdowns we saw this season.