Ex-Nebraska QB Adrian Martinez says Kansas State is 'most talented squad' in career

[TGHusker]

20 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

Also, a running QB is a benefit to the OL.  If the defense has to account for that, it changes what they do and how fast they do it.

 

That's probably a decent chunk of the reason that our OL looks even worse this year.

That is very true. If the D isn't worried about a QB run, they can just charge forward full speed.  

[Farms]

18 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

Also, a running QB is a benefit to the OL.  If the defense has to account for that, it changes what they do and how fast they do it.

 

That's probably a decent chunk of the reason that our OL looks even worse this year.

I knew Casey was going to be more of a pocket passer but I guess I have been a little surprised that we completely abandoned the QB run game all together.  I also thought  we'd see Smothers get a series here and there just for a spark/change of pace but maybe that's just not Whipple's MO.  Maybe they take a few more chances with Casey next week since we have another bye following Purdue.

[BigRedBuster]

2 minutes ago, Farms said:

I knew Casey was going to be more of a pocket passer but I guess I have been a little surprised that we completely abandoned the QB run game all together.  I also thought  we'd see Smothers get a series here and there just for a spark/change of pace but maybe that's just not Whipple's MO.  Maybe they take a few more chances with Casey next week since we have another bye following Purdue.

I'm less surprised about that than how surprised I am that we haven't seen more of Frost's run game. I'm thinking more about the Orbit stuff. I guess it's all tied together, because some of that came off of zone reads.

[Mavric]

37 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I'm less surprised about that than how surprised I am that we haven't seen more of Frost's run game. I'm thinking more about the Orbit stuff. I guess it's all tied together, because some of that came off of zone reads.

 

All the more reason why it's weird to me that the major changes we made last year were to fire most of the offensive staff.  That seems really short-sighted on somone's part.  Not sure who that someone is.  Not that Whipple hasn't brought some benefit in the passing game.  But most of our "offensive struggles" were actually special teams struggles.  And the defense wasn't all that great, although they did manage to keep the other team's score down, which is the main goal but the underlying issues were still there.

 

It would have been interesting to see where we would be at this point if we had a new DC and a mostly new defensive staff since December/January.

[Husker in WI]

31 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

All the more reason why it's weird to me that the major changes we made last year were to fire most of the offensive staff.  That seems really short-sighted on somone's part.  Not sure who that someone is.  Not that Whipple hasn't brought some benefit in the passing game.  But most of our "offensive struggles" were actually special teams struggles.  And the defense wasn't all that great, although they did manage to keep the other team's score down, which is the main goal but the underlying issues were still there.

 

It would have been interesting to see where we would be at this point if we had a new DC and a mostly new defensive staff since December/January.

 

It would have been hard to fire the defensive staff given last year was a solid improvement, but many people had been calling for it and it would be really interesting.

 

Also would've loved trying to catch LSU's lightning in a bottle by finding someone like Joe Brady to come on as a passing game coordinator and leave Frost in charge of the offense as a whole. Wouldn't have solved special teams or the issues as a head coach but I do think the running game and even opponent specific schemes have taken a big step back under Whipple, and the passing game improvements haven't completely made up for it. Grant has masked it in a few games, but the run game is very basic.

[Undone]

1 hour ago, Mavric said:

All the more reason why it's weird to me that the major changes we made last year were to fire most of the offensive staff.  That seems really short-sighted on somone's part.  Not sure who that someone is.

 

It's a clusterf*** disaster is what it is. And I highly doubt we had any real read on Thompson when the firings were announced at all. We didn't know we'd be getting a pocket passer out of the portal...right?

 

At the halfway point in this season I feel like the only actual upgrades that mattered were the additions of Thompson, Grant, Palmer,  Washington, & Mathis. And I'll take a bunch of s*** for this one but I'm not even entirely sold on Thompson being that big of an upgrade for the actual outcome of the season.

 

1 hour ago, Farms said:

I knew Casey was going to be more of a pocket passer but I guess I have been a little surprised that we completely abandoned the QB run game all together.

 

His body can't handle it for one thing, and secondly this seems to be the smoke & mirror line fed by the program that "Frost is stepping away from having so much impact on the offense."

 

1 hour ago, Mavric said:

It would have been interesting to see where we would be at this point if we had a new DC and a mostly new defensive staff since December/January.

 

I really think Scott was trapped in some kind of Chip Kelly-style wet dream where he thought with the right tweaks we'd be scoring 40 in conference games and the two other phases of the game just didn't need to be focused on.

I've finally come to the place where I'm really glad he's gone because he just didn't get it at all.

[admo]

Not sure if I miss a running, scrambling QB to be the best option for your passing game offense, but the stats don't always lie. 

 

A QB with quick decision-making intelligence and a quick release can help a lot more IMO (CT).

 

3rd Down %  (The most difficult down)

2022 41-88 (46.59 %)  - With CT
2021  66-160 (41.25 %) - 2AM
2020 38-104 (36.54 %) - 2AM
2019 77-187 (41.18 %) - 2AM

 

We've all seen the games.  3rd downs this year have not been "3rd and short" that often.  In fact, the Husker 3rd downs this year have typically been 5-9 yards to convert a first down.  The percentage of converting 3rd downs has been very good and a huge improvement over the previous years. 

 

Sitting in the pocket, going through progressions without making a decision, then running and scrambling to hopefully convert a 1st down is not ideal for your team on 3rd down pass plays.  I am more impressed with who and how we do it this year than in the past.

[Mavric]

31 minutes ago, Undone said:

It's a clusterf*** disaster is what it is. And I highly doubt we had any real read on Thompson when the firings were announced at all. We didn't know we'd be getting a pocket passer out of the portal...right?

 

The firings were in-season, so no.

 

31 minutes ago, Undone said:

At the halfway point in this season I feel like the only actual upgrades that mattered were the additions of Thompson, Grant, Washington, & Mathis. And I'll take a bunch of s*** for this one but I'm not even entirely sold on Thompson being that big of an upgrade for the actual outcome of the season.

 

And Palmer.

 

And I totally agree that we didn't upgrade at QB.  But I've always been a 2AM supporter.

 

31 minutes ago, Undone said:

I really think Scott was trapped in some kind of Chip Kelly-style wet dream where he thought with the right tweaks we'd be scoring 40 in conference games and the two other phases of the game just didn't need to be focused on.

 

This is entirely possible.

[Undone]

3 minutes ago, Mavric said:

The firings were in-season, so no.

 

Yeah I meant the question to be semi-rhetorical.

 

4 minutes ago, Mavric said:

And Palmer.

 

Ha, not sure how I missed him in the list of names. Added him to my post.

 

We could maybe split off some of these comments into a different thread. The big thing to remember is that Chinander's pathetic soft zone (and complete inability to adjust in-game) is definitely what lost us the Georgia Southern game, and it's probably fair to say it's what lost us the Northwestern game.

 

We got robbed of at least three points I'd say in the Northwestern game also by that fumble call in the first half.

 

Anyway, the point is that again for the second straight season - or at least the first half of it that we've played - the offense wasn't really the problem in the games we lost. Kiiiiiiiiind of seeing a trend there...

[Dogs In A Pile]

2 hours ago, Mavric said:

It would have been interesting to see where we would be at this point if we had a new DC and a mostly new defensive staff since December/January.

 

Or even more interesting would have been if we had a new Head Coach, OC & DC which is what should have happened IMHO.

[Mavric]

6 minutes ago, Dogs In A Pile said:

Or even more interesting would have been if we had a new Head Coach, OC & DC which is what should have happened IMHO.

 

That is true as well.  I was still operating under the assumption that Frost got another year.

[suh_fan93]

 

[BigRedBuster]

 

[TGHusker]

45 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

What a difference coaching and having a valid OL makes.   When you aren't under duress trying to get passes off, you passes tend to be more accurate. 

[ColoradoHusk]

5 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

What a difference coaching and having a valid OL makes.   When you aren't under duress trying to get passes off, you passes tend to be more accurate. 

Mike'l Severe had a tweet pointing out that K-State is also 107th in explosive passing plays, so it's a very low-risk, low-reward offense.  I'm not saying it's bad, but it's a contributing factor to the lack of INT's.