Watson a candidate for the Miami(OH) head coach position

[zoogs]

I am not that happy with the offense, but there are bigger issues holding us back than Watson. Those wanting him gone are blindly hoping that he will take all these bad things away with him, and that it will be a quick fix. It will not...

 

That's like objecting to sailors who are rushing to plug a hole in the ship's hull because there is also a fire in the galley and pirates on the horizon. The fact that the offense might have numerous problems should not stop us from fixing a major one when we can.

 

We definitely disagree on whether it is a major one. It is more like wanting to change the ship's sails because we aren't sailing smoothly enough, when the rudder is dysfunctional and there is a hull breach. In my opinion. And sure the sails are not of the highest quality, but we aren't going to replace it with a top of the line, expensive sail either. Maybe changing the sails will do some good, but it is more or less ignoring the heart of the problem, which in football, really begins in the trenches...just me, though

[Lonestar_Husker]

"You will find injuries (even key injuries), youth, inexperience, bad luck, etc. on just about every team. And yet, most don't fold up and shrug their shoulders when they get shutout of the endzone if not shutout altogether. They find a way to carry on."

 

So you're saying that most teams are undefeated this year?

 

It's also time for the Watson haters to realize that there were plays to be made in all of our losses. Dropped balls vs Texass. I don't even want to go into the aTm debacle, suffice it to say that even after the hosing by the refs, there were plays to be made, and like CCG, turnovers that cost us precious points. We are a young team, QB and O-line have young players that should develop. There is not enough evidence that the current offensive staff can't develop these young men. Cody Green needed a redshirt year. Taylor is a redshirt FRESHMAN, perfection should not be expected by reasonable observers.

 

The offense gave us a 17-0 lead in CCG. How does the defense let someone get deep? I knew that they would have to start taking some desperation shots, yet they threw a 50someodd yd bomb for a TD. Virginia Tech a few years ago? Why not the same vitriol?

 

Reasons are excuses depending on one's point of view. How does Garrett Gilbert avg. over 7yds per carry against this defense? His season avg was 3ypc. Texas rushed for over 200 yds against this defense. They averaged 4.5 yds per rush against this defense, a little OVER their season avg of 4.2ypc. Gilbert threw for 10 TDs and 17 ints. No ints against this defense. They were a turnover machine this year and zero vs NU. Texas scored 20 points and we should've scored at least 30+. Dropped balls. Garrett Gilbert runs for 71 yds?

 

OU had a much more potent offense. Landry Jones threw 35 TDs vs 11 ints. 65% completion rate. We did well to hold them to 23 points. They passed for 342 yds. That's a lot of yds against this defense. They put up 454 total yards against this defense. Time of posession favored NU. 32 minutes-28 minutes, so fatigue should not have been an issue. Turnovers: Nebraska=4 Oklahoma=1. They scored 17 points in the second quarter. Over 8yds per pass attempt against this defense. 4 turnovers. 4 turnovers and one in the endzone taking away at least 3 points. Redshirt freshman athletic QB.

 

It's a team game. Turnovers at inopportune times cost us 2 games and dropped balls cost us the third. It wasn't just the offensive coordinator that cost us those games. I fail to see why it's so hard to believe that it wasn't just one guy, a coach, that lost those 3 games. I just don't think that it's all Watson's fault.

 

We finished with the #22 ranked offense with 414 yds per game. 32.7 points per game.

 

Defense was #10 at 304 yds per game. What's interesting is we had 869 plays ran against us for 3,955yds, by far the most plays in the top 15. One extra game, too. OU ran 79 plays. That is a lot of plays. 790 plays is still the most out of the top 10 defenses. Bend but don't break mentality. Turnover margin wasn't as bad as expected. 19 interceptions and only 4? fumbles recovered for the defense vs 7 interceptions and 42(OMG!) fumbles with 15 lost for the offense. There was a huge difference in penalties. 97 for 891yds against NU. Opponents had 60 for 522 yds. That's almost 30yds per game. Whose responsible for that?

 

Long post longer, it's a team game and I think it's unfair to throw one dude(2 dudes?) under the bus. If he's gone, he's gone, we will still need to be balanced to be effective. It's not 1995 anymore, people need to realize this.

[Hercules]

If he's gone, he's gone, we will still need to be balanced to be effective. It's not 1995 anymore, people need to realize this.

 

Why do people say stuff like this? Like the 1995 offense wasn't balanced? If I recall correctly, the first touchdown scored in the national championship game was a passing touchdown, by Nebraska.

 

There are lots of ways to be balanced. You can use the run to set up the pass. The 1995 offense, and basically all of Osborne's offenses, were tremendous at that. They'd go 5 yards up the middle, 3 yards around end, 4 yards up the middle, 4 yards up the middle, 3 yards up the middle, 6 yards around end, and then 40 yards over the top on playaction. Our offense this year has been like that at times, so threatening with big runs on the ground that we've been able to pop Kyler Reed for big plays on playaction.

 

Part of what is disturbing about Watson's offense this year is how much less effective they were running the ball once Martinez was hurt. Once they lost that home run threat, the offense didn't know what it was anymore. Instead of asking 3rd year starter Roy Helu or 2nd year co-starter Rex Burkhead to plow forward for 2-4 yards, we'd go into a west coast styled passing game, where we ask a redshirt freshman QB still raw in the passing game to make short throws that are all about timing and accuracy, and 50% of the time we'd waste a down in the process, also putting us into 2nd/3rd and long situations. Even when we complete those passes, the result is the same as a short run, and doesn't help to set up the run like the vertical passing game does. Rather than play to our strengths, we played to our weaknesses, and we seemed to lack the strategy and commitment needed to set up a strong running game once we didn't have two home-run threats on the field at the same time. That's just something we should be able to do, especially given the tools we had this year even without a healthy Martinez at QB.

[bshirt]

If he's gone, he's gone, we will still need to be balanced to be effective. It's not 1995 anymore, people need to realize this.

 

Yeah, that 95 team was NOT balanced whatsoever so it sucked, right? 93 sucked too then. And 94, 96, 97 & 99.....yeah, they blew chunks. But just for me, I'll take a real identity a thousand times over "balance".

 

It's not 2009 anymore and 2010 is almost done. I've seen enough.

[deedsker15]

If he's gone, he's gone, we will still need to be balanced to be effective. It's not 1995 anymore, people need to realize this.

 

Why do people say stuff like this? Like the 1995 offense wasn't balanced? If I recall correctly, the first touchdown scored in the national championship game was a passing touchdown, by Nebraska.

 

There are lots of ways to be balanced. You can use the run to set up the pass. The 1995 offense, and basically all of Osborne's offenses, were tremendous at that. They'd go 5 yards up the middle, 3 yards around end, 4 yards up the middle, 4 yards up the middle, 3 yards up the middle, 6 yards around end, and then 40 yards over the top on playaction. Our offense this year has been like that at times, so threatening with big runs on the ground that we've been able to pop Kyler Reed for big plays on playaction.

 

Part of what is disturbing about Watson's offense this year is how much less effective they were running the ball once Martinez was hurt. Once they lost that home run threat, the offense didn't know what it was anymore. Instead of asking 3rd year starter Roy Helu or 2nd year co-starter Rex Burkhead to plow forward for 2-4 yards, we'd go into a west coast styled passing game, where we ask a redshirt freshman QB still raw in the passing game to make short throws that are all about timing and accuracy, and 50% of the time we'd waste a down in the process, also putting us into 2nd/3rd and long situations. Even when we complete those passes, the result is the same as a short run, and doesn't help to set up the run like the vertical passing game does. Rather than play to our strengths, we played to our weaknesses, and we seemed to lack the strategy and commitment needed to set up a strong running game once we didn't have two home-run threats on the field at the same time. That's just something we should be able to do, especially given the tools we had this year even without a healthy Martinez at QB.

this is what played to cody greens strengths...the man isn't a great passer but line him up under center to hand it off to our two headed monster and ask him to complete short throws once in a while and he puts on a good performance. Why could watson see that cody could handle a similar style that involved more under center attack with a grind it out philosophy. I still believe that cody green could have and should have done wonders in the big 12 title.

 

Once again, could of does us nothing but why not let him try? Martinez has shown a complete lack of consistency throwing the ball all year long and we rely on his shoulder when the season is on the line. Why?

[Hercules]

If he's gone, he's gone, we will still need to be balanced to be effective. It's not 1995 anymore, people need to realize this.

 

Why do people say stuff like this? Like the 1995 offense wasn't balanced? If I recall correctly, the first touchdown scored in the national championship game was a passing touchdown, by Nebraska.

 

There are lots of ways to be balanced. You can use the run to set up the pass. The 1995 offense, and basically all of Osborne's offenses, were tremendous at that. They'd go 5 yards up the middle, 3 yards around end, 4 yards up the middle, 4 yards up the middle, 3 yards up the middle, 6 yards around end, and then 40 yards over the top on playaction. Our offense this year has been like that at times, so threatening with big runs on the ground that we've been able to pop Kyler Reed for big plays on playaction.

 

Part of what is disturbing about Watson's offense this year is how much less effective they were running the ball once Martinez was hurt. Once they lost that home run threat, the offense didn't know what it was anymore. Instead of asking 3rd year starter Roy Helu or 2nd year co-starter Rex Burkhead to plow forward for 2-4 yards, we'd go into a west coast styled passing game, where we ask a redshirt freshman QB still raw in the passing game to make short throws that are all about timing and accuracy, and 50% of the time we'd waste a down in the process, also putting us into 2nd/3rd and long situations. Even when we complete those passes, the result is the same as a short run, and doesn't help to set up the run like the vertical passing game does. Rather than play to our strengths, we played to our weaknesses, and we seemed to lack the strategy and commitment needed to set up a strong running game once we didn't have two home-run threats on the field at the same time. That's just something we should be able to do, especially given the tools we had this year even without a healthy Martinez at QB.

this is what played to cody greens strengths...the man isn't a great passer but line him up under center to hand it off to our two headed monster and ask him to complete short throws once in a while and he puts on a good performance. Why could watson see that cody could handle a similar style that involved more under center attack with a grind it out philosophy. I still believe that cody green could have and should have done wonders in the big 12 title.

 

Once again, could of does us nothing but why not let him try? Martinez has shown a complete lack of consistency throwing the ball all year long and we rely on his shoulder when the season is on the line. Why?

 

I don't really buy into the Cody theory for the Big 12 championship game. He's never shown that he can perform against a team of that caliber, so I don't know why everybody thinks he would have been so much better than Martinez. Maybe he would have, but I don't really think we have any evidence to support that theory. The Colorado game really shouldn't count.

[HuskerGBR]

"You will find injuries (even key injuries), youth, inexperience, bad luck, etc. on just about every team. And yet, most don't fold up and shrug their shoulders when they get shutout of the endzone if not shutout altogether. They find a way to carry on."

 

So you're saying that most teams are undefeated this year?

 

It's also time for the Watson haters to realize that there were plays to be made in all of our losses. Dropped balls vs Texass. I don't even want to go into the aTm debacle, suffice it to say that even after the hosing by the refs, there were plays to be made, and like CCG, turnovers that cost us precious points. We are a young team, QB and O-line have young players that should develop. There is not enough evidence that the current offensive staff can't develop these young men. Cody Green needed a redshirt year. Taylor is a redshirt FRESHMAN, perfection should not be expected by reasonable observers.

 

The offense gave us a 17-0 lead in CCG. How does the defense let someone get deep? I knew that they would have to start taking some desperation shots, yet they threw a 50someodd yd bomb for a TD. Virginia Tech a few years ago? Why not the same vitriol?

 

Reasons are excuses depending on one's point of view. How does Garrett Gilbert avg. over 7yds per carry against this defense? His season avg was 3ypc. Texas rushed for over 200 yds against this defense. They averaged 4.5 yds per rush against this defense, a little OVER their season avg of 4.2ypc. Gilbert threw for 10 TDs and 17 ints. No ints against this defense. They were a turnover machine this year and zero vs NU. Texas scored 20 points and we should've scored at least 30+. Dropped balls. Garrett Gilbert runs for 71 yds?

 

OU had a much more potent offense. Landry Jones threw 35 TDs vs 11 ints. 65% completion rate. We did well to hold them to 23 points. They passed for 342 yds. That's a lot of yds against this defense. They put up 454 total yards against this defense. Time of posession favored NU. 32 minutes-28 minutes, so fatigue should not have been an issue. Turnovers: Nebraska=4 Oklahoma=1. They scored 17 points in the second quarter. Over 8yds per pass attempt against this defense. 4 turnovers. 4 turnovers and one in the endzone taking away at least 3 points. Redshirt freshman athletic QB.

 

It's a team game. Turnovers at inopportune times cost us 2 games and dropped balls cost us the third. It wasn't just the offensive coordinator that cost us those games. I fail to see why it's so hard to believe that it wasn't just one guy, a coach, that lost those 3 games. I just don't think that it's all Watson's fault.

 

We finished with the #22 ranked offense with 414 yds per game. 32.7 points per game.

 

Defense was #10 at 304 yds per game. What's interesting is we had 869 plays ran against us for 3,955yds, by far the most plays in the top 15. One extra game, too. OU ran 79 plays. That is a lot of plays. 790 plays is still the most out of the top 10 defenses. Bend but don't break mentality. Turnover margin wasn't as bad as expected. 19 interceptions and only 4? fumbles recovered for the defense vs 7 interceptions and 42(OMG!) fumbles with 15 lost for the offense. There was a huge difference in penalties. 97 for 891yds against NU. Opponents had 60 for 522 yds. That's almost 30yds per game. Whose responsible for that?

 

Long post longer, it's a team game and I think it's unfair to throw one dude(2 dudes?) under the bus. If he's gone, he's gone, we will still need to be balanced to be effective. It's not 1995 anymore, people need to realize this.

 

1. Quit buying into the coach speak. Yes this is a team game, but we know where the games are lost on this team and you better believe Pelini knows it to. He will tell all the media it is a team game, but deep down he knows the offense is the problem.

2. You don't have to be balanced to be effective...you just have to execute at a high level in whatever you run. Basically have an identity which we don't have.

3. There is something very wrong with Watson. I don't know if he isn't a good teacher, can't see talent, overthinks the playcalling, etc, etc...but there is something wrong there and he doesn't get the most out of his players for whatever reason.

[shyndy]

"You will find injuries (even key injuries), youth, inexperience, bad luck, etc. on just about every team. And yet, most don't fold up and shrug their shoulders when they get shutout of the endzone if not shutout altogether. They find a way to carry on."

 

So you're saying that most teams are undefeated this year?

 

It's also time for the Watson haters to realize that there were plays to be made in all of our losses. Dropped balls vs Texass. I don't even want to go into the aTm debacle, suffice it to say that even after the hosing by the refs, there were plays to be made, and like CCG, turnovers that cost us precious points. We are a young team, QB and O-line have young players that should develop. There is not enough evidence that the current offensive staff can't develop these young men. Cody Green needed a redshirt year. Taylor is a redshirt FRESHMAN, perfection should not be expected by reasonable observers.

 

The offense gave us a 17-0 lead in CCG. How does the defense let someone get deep? I knew that they would have to start taking some desperation shots, yet they threw a 50someodd yd bomb for a TD. Virginia Tech a few years ago? Why not the same vitriol?

 

Reasons are excuses depending on one's point of view. How does Garrett Gilbert avg. over 7yds per carry against this defense? His season avg was 3ypc. Texas rushed for over 200 yds against this defense. They averaged 4.5 yds per rush against this defense, a little OVER their season avg of 4.2ypc. Gilbert threw for 10 TDs and 17 ints. No ints against this defense. They were a turnover machine this year and zero vs NU. Texas scored 20 points and we should've scored at least 30+. Dropped balls. Garrett Gilbert runs for 71 yds?

 

OU had a much more potent offense. Landry Jones threw 35 TDs vs 11 ints. 65% completion rate. We did well to hold them to 23 points. They passed for 342 yds. That's a lot of yds against this defense. They put up 454 total yards against this defense. Time of posession favored NU. 32 minutes-28 minutes, so fatigue should not have been an issue. Turnovers: Nebraska=4 Oklahoma=1. They scored 17 points in the second quarter. Over 8yds per pass attempt against this defense. 4 turnovers. 4 turnovers and one in the endzone taking away at least 3 points. Redshirt freshman athletic QB.

 

It's a team game. Turnovers at inopportune times cost us 2 games and dropped balls cost us the third. It wasn't just the offensive coordinator that cost us those games. I fail to see why it's so hard to believe that it wasn't just one guy, a coach, that lost those 3 games. I just don't think that it's all Watson's fault.

 

We finished with the #22 ranked offense with 414 yds per game. 32.7 points per game.

 

Defense was #10 at 304 yds per game. What's interesting is we had 869 plays ran against us for 3,955yds, by far the most plays in the top 15. One extra game, too. OU ran 79 plays. That is a lot of plays. 790 plays is still the most out of the top 10 defenses. Bend but don't break mentality. Turnover margin wasn't as bad as expected. 19 interceptions and only 4? fumbles recovered for the defense vs 7 interceptions and 42(OMG!) fumbles with 15 lost for the offense. There was a huge difference in penalties. 97 for 891yds against NU. Opponents had 60 for 522 yds. That's almost 30yds per game. Whose responsible for that?

 

Long post longer, it's a team game and I think it's unfair to throw one dude(2 dudes?) under the bus. If he's gone, he's gone, we will still need to be balanced to be effective. It's not 1995 anymore, people need to realize this.

one of the main reasons we have so many plays against us is because we either score in 3-5 plays or go 3 and out.

[Hunter94]

there is a pattern here with Watson, the issues have been going on for quite a while, time to cut our losses.

i think his play calling is the biggest problem. wrong personnel for wrong plays.....basic stuff we have all seen before.

[Big Red 40]

The 95 team won because they executed the plays they were told to run at a very high level,and had superior athletes at every position on the field, not because of any brilliant play calling. They didnt drop 8 passes in a game, have 16 penalties (justified or not),and they damn sure didnt fumble 44? times that year. Call them excuses if you want, but things like that are what separate national champions from 3 loss teams. Im not a huge Watson fan, but i wasnt a big Osborne as OC fan either.I just think people put too much emphasis on the OC either way. Execution by the players is the most important factor IMO.

[STOOBIE]

My old man always told me, "Before you quit your job, make sure you have another one."

 

9th in RYPG, 28th in PPG.

 

Who is going to step up?

[kchusker_chris]

My old man always told me, "Before you quit your job, make sure you have another one."

 

9th in RYPG, 28th in PPG.

 

Who is going to step up?

Take ONLY our 10 conference games and we're at 42nd in PPG. And that's against 5 teams that fielded something like 90+ ranked defenses. Our offensive stats are next to meaningless this year going up against the worse defenses in the nation. Using them to defend Watson is like using Lohan's few days of sobriety at Betty Ford as an argument that she's recovered. As soon as she's out and sobriety isn't forced upon her she flops on her face. It would be IMPOSSIBLE "NOT" to put up a ton of points on a few of these guys.

 

Wait until next year when we're playing 6 or so teams w/ top 30 defenses - we've proven we can put up HUGE numbers against those teams .

[zoogs]

If you are only going to take our conference games, you cannot stack them up against other teams' point averages that include their non-conference games.

 

I agree with Big Red 40. You can talk about coaches, but in the end the biggest thing will always be the players - and the coaches who went and got them. Some of that is luck. Are we pulling in film rats like Lavonte David, or airheads who aren't dedicated to their craft? Things I will criticize coaches on, beyond recruiting, are laziness, stubbornness, or inability. It's why Barney or Gilmore will get a bad rap from me, but Beck gets neither credit for Burkhead's balls-out demeanor, nor blame for Okafor's falling behind. I think all other coaches currently on this staff I am fine with, though the armchair coach in me would have called different plays/done different things, etc.

 

Mike has been the best OL this year, though Williams/Henry have been decent/solid. Our WR corps has been completely invisible, thanks to its cover boy Niles making gaffe after gaffe. There are far too many holes on the roster, both in talent and in "it" factor. We have some capable running backs, but where are the Fonzie's and Davids of the offense? Waiting in the wings or taking freshman lumps, I hope. Or part of this recruiting class. Can't tell me you aren't excited about Jamal Turner, or Aaron Green.

[Lyons in the Sea of Red.]

I guess the problem I have is Watsons inability to realize what we are and what our strengths as a team are. I honestly believe we could have lined up under center all year and ran burk and helu down throats. But Watson just wouldn't do it. Often times when we did, we would get 3-5 yards. Seems like Watson is intent on hitting the homerun every drive. Yes we have a great strength in taylors running ability, so boot him out occasionally and incorporate the zone read at a limited amount. Our o line performs best when its straight ahead blocking with a pulling guard, and the idea of whoever is in your way, you put them on their ass and keep going. We can do this well. I mean, I've had junior high players point these same things out.

[zoogs]

Really hope this is the last time it will need mentioning that Taylor is not a roll-out passer, or an under-center quarterback (yet, anyways).

 

Bo wanted to put us in the shotgun a lot, anyway. I think you hit the nail on the head with the OL strengths not being in tune with the offense we are stubbornly sticking with running. Although, actually, having two pulling guards on a run play has been a staple lately that I've noticed, and it's often worked pretty well for us.