Like most I have calmed down (a little) from the debacle that was Saturday night. I did some thinking. Are we simply, bad, stupid or are schemes at fault.
Initially I really started to buy into the whole "Hard to recruit at NU", but then I looked at the most recent top 20
USA Today Poll RK TEAM RECORD PTS 1 Alabama (58) 5-0 1474 2 Oregon (1) 6-0 1411 3 South Carolina 6-0 1345 4 West Virginia 5-0 1296 5 Kansas State 5-0 1216 6 Florida 5-0 1165 7 Notre Dame 5-0 1152 8 LSU 5-1 961 9 USC 4-1 940 10 Oklahoma 3-1 872 11 Florida State 5-1 819 12 Georgia 5-1 761 13 Clemson 5-1 759 14 Oregon State 4-0 691 15 Texas 4-1 663 16 Louisville 5-0 628 17 Stanford 4-1 577 18 Mississippi State 5-0 558 19 Rutgers 5-0 410 20 Cincinnati 4-0 365 21 Texas A&M 4-1 208 22 Boise State 4-1 197 23 TCU 4-1 194 24 Louisiana Tech 5-0 131 25 Iowa State 4-1 73
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The schools highlighted in RED do not exactly strike me a destination hot spots or programs with a storied history or even nationally recognized programs or facilities. I figure that it can't be we are bad as our talent and recruits should easily be on par with those listed above in red. Our O is putting up a crazy amount of points per game. Generally we have scored enough to win every game we have played. I figure elite programs do not give up 60+ points EVER, but then I looked at WVU against Baylor and UT. SC hanging 30+ on UGA and UGA only getting 7 IIRC. So comparatively speaking, we are not bad. Even on D I think we are 49th overall D so far this year.
We make an incredible amount of penalties. Another poster showed that we are basically a bottom feeder when it comes to discipline. Against lesser opponents it doesn't hurt as bad, but against BCS or ranked foes, it is a death sentence. Some from the stupid, I will say we are as it relates to discipline and mistakes.
Bo was heralded as a Defensive guru when he was brought here. With his time so far, that reputation has slipped. Having SUH, Haag, Gomes, Prince, Dennard, David etc has helped and now their absence makes the scheme look bad unless we have a 1st rd pick somewhere on the field. This year we do not IMO. No can can "stop" a mobile QB, but majority of teams have schemed to "slow" them. I think in Bo's tenure he has shown the inability to scheme properly. As another poster stated ref the O and D not being on the same page again goes to scheme. D needs a breather and Beck decides to go big or go home and call plays that result in either a quick score or a quick 3 and out. Again scheme. Same with playing slower guys across the board because they "know the scheme". IRCC, Bo's scheme is predicated on every person knowing their position and responsibilities and that of every other player on the D. If one person misses a shift, motion or signal then the entire D falls apart. One person "fails" the whole team suffers. Again, scheme. Reading about Bellicheck bringing in "smaller and quicker D lineman against Denver to get to Peyton. Again he changed the scheme to win.
IMO, it is not talent. We easily have talent to compete with 75-80% of the teams in the top 25 above. We make mistakes that kill us and that hurts, BUT the biggest issue I see is the scheme on both sides of the ball. beck calls plays that work and then stops or calls plays that do not go to the strength of the guys we have on the field. Same with D, we continue to play a 2 gap without the horses or the speed to do it. We do not blitz or apply pressure when needed and choose guys who "know" the complex system over perceived play makers.
Bo is at a cross roads. I really think that a simplification of schemes would pay huge dividends immediately. IIRC, we supposedly went to a 1 gap against Wisky and it worked. Get the athletes on the field. Go with speed over size and athleticism over knowledge. Go to a more simplified gap style over the 2 gap. All during the off season I heard about this new "attacking D" and have yet to see it.
Bo and Co are not "bad coaches", they are bad managers. They need to change the schemes to get the guys in a position to play and get the athletes on the field.
Initially I really started to buy into the whole "Hard to recruit at NU", but then I looked at the most recent top 20
USA Today Poll RK TEAM RECORD PTS 1 Alabama (58) 5-0 1474 2 Oregon (1) 6-0 1411 3 South Carolina 6-0 1345 4 West Virginia 5-0 1296 5 Kansas State 5-0 1216 6 Florida 5-0 1165 7 Notre Dame 5-0 1152 8 LSU 5-1 961 9 USC 4-1 940 10 Oklahoma 3-1 872 11 Florida State 5-1 819 12 Georgia 5-1 761 13 Clemson 5-1 759 14 Oregon State 4-0 691 15 Texas 4-1 663 16 Louisville 5-0 628 17 Stanford 4-1 577 18 Mississippi State 5-0 558 19 Rutgers 5-0 410 20 Cincinnati 4-0 365 21 Texas A&M 4-1 208 22 Boise State 4-1 197 23 TCU 4-1 194 24 Louisiana Tech 5-0 131 25 Iowa State 4-1 73
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The schools highlighted in RED do not exactly strike me a destination hot spots or programs with a storied history or even nationally recognized programs or facilities. I figure that it can't be we are bad as our talent and recruits should easily be on par with those listed above in red. Our O is putting up a crazy amount of points per game. Generally we have scored enough to win every game we have played. I figure elite programs do not give up 60+ points EVER, but then I looked at WVU against Baylor and UT. SC hanging 30+ on UGA and UGA only getting 7 IIRC. So comparatively speaking, we are not bad. Even on D I think we are 49th overall D so far this year.
We make an incredible amount of penalties. Another poster showed that we are basically a bottom feeder when it comes to discipline. Against lesser opponents it doesn't hurt as bad, but against BCS or ranked foes, it is a death sentence. Some from the stupid, I will say we are as it relates to discipline and mistakes.
Bo was heralded as a Defensive guru when he was brought here. With his time so far, that reputation has slipped. Having SUH, Haag, Gomes, Prince, Dennard, David etc has helped and now their absence makes the scheme look bad unless we have a 1st rd pick somewhere on the field. This year we do not IMO. No can can "stop" a mobile QB, but majority of teams have schemed to "slow" them. I think in Bo's tenure he has shown the inability to scheme properly. As another poster stated ref the O and D not being on the same page again goes to scheme. D needs a breather and Beck decides to go big or go home and call plays that result in either a quick score or a quick 3 and out. Again scheme. Same with playing slower guys across the board because they "know the scheme". IRCC, Bo's scheme is predicated on every person knowing their position and responsibilities and that of every other player on the D. If one person misses a shift, motion or signal then the entire D falls apart. One person "fails" the whole team suffers. Again, scheme. Reading about Bellicheck bringing in "smaller and quicker D lineman against Denver to get to Peyton. Again he changed the scheme to win.
IMO, it is not talent. We easily have talent to compete with 75-80% of the teams in the top 25 above. We make mistakes that kill us and that hurts, BUT the biggest issue I see is the scheme on both sides of the ball. beck calls plays that work and then stops or calls plays that do not go to the strength of the guys we have on the field. Same with D, we continue to play a 2 gap without the horses or the speed to do it. We do not blitz or apply pressure when needed and choose guys who "know" the complex system over perceived play makers.
Bo is at a cross roads. I really think that a simplification of schemes would pay huge dividends immediately. IIRC, we supposedly went to a 1 gap against Wisky and it worked. Get the athletes on the field. Go with speed over size and athleticism over knowledge. Go to a more simplified gap style over the 2 gap. All during the off season I heard about this new "attacking D" and have yet to see it.
Bo and Co are not "bad coaches", they are bad managers. They need to change the schemes to get the guys in a position to play and get the athletes on the field.