BigRedBuster
International Man of Mystery
After a few days to digest the win and going back and watching the first half again, here is what I think is happening.
Playing freshmen is great when you have one or two on the field along with 9-10 experienced upper class men. However, as pointed out last week, we have 11 players in the front 7 two deep that are anywhere from true freshmen to sophomores.
What does that do? It limits you on what you can do in games with adjustments. If you have 9-10 very experienced guys on the field, you can huddle them on the side lines or at half time and say..."We are going to this scheme....it's similar to what we used against XYZ team last year." Then, those guys can go out and make sure the one or two guys that aren't experienced are in the right places...basically baby sit them on the field.
We don't have that luxury. Now...I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing. I still believe from what I saw flashes of on Saturday that we have some extremely talented kids on defense. BUT...what it does is makes in game coaching that much harder.
It was the first game for many of these kids. Their heads were spinning they were, in some ways, just trying to make sense of the entire day. Think of someone like Gerry who last year at this time was probably playing in front of a thousand people and most. NOW...he is stepping on the stage of 92,000 people in the stands and millions more watching on TV...and oh by the way....he is against other people that are college level talent too. I thought he did an admiral job on Saturday. I am excited to see what he can become the next four years.
Now, I'm not trying to make excuses for the coaching staff. I'm sick and tired of the 600 yard games also. I was very disappointed Saturday night even though we won. BUT, I think this is the type of year where the old adage is true where the biggest improvement is from game one to game two.
Playing freshmen is great when you have one or two on the field along with 9-10 experienced upper class men. However, as pointed out last week, we have 11 players in the front 7 two deep that are anywhere from true freshmen to sophomores.
What does that do? It limits you on what you can do in games with adjustments. If you have 9-10 very experienced guys on the field, you can huddle them on the side lines or at half time and say..."We are going to this scheme....it's similar to what we used against XYZ team last year." Then, those guys can go out and make sure the one or two guys that aren't experienced are in the right places...basically baby sit them on the field.
We don't have that luxury. Now...I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing. I still believe from what I saw flashes of on Saturday that we have some extremely talented kids on defense. BUT...what it does is makes in game coaching that much harder.
It was the first game for many of these kids. Their heads were spinning they were, in some ways, just trying to make sense of the entire day. Think of someone like Gerry who last year at this time was probably playing in front of a thousand people and most. NOW...he is stepping on the stage of 92,000 people in the stands and millions more watching on TV...and oh by the way....he is against other people that are college level talent too. I thought he did an admiral job on Saturday. I am excited to see what he can become the next four years.
Now, I'm not trying to make excuses for the coaching staff. I'm sick and tired of the 600 yard games also. I was very disappointed Saturday night even though we won. BUT, I think this is the type of year where the old adage is true where the biggest improvement is from game one to game two.
