I loved all of the fullback traps on 3rd and 8 in 2003. It was the only play you knew Barney would call on 3rd down.I hope you're all ready for Barney Cotton, OC version 2.0 if your blind hoping comes true. Bo can't sacrifice his ego to make a splash outside hire.
The comment about our sub-par players was a tongue-in-cheek jab at all the complaining about how this staff can't recruit. I find it humorous how many complain about how the staff can't recruit, doesn't put enough effort into recruiting, we only get the leftover, three-star players, our strength and conditioning is terrible, our defensive scheme is terrible, our OC is terrible at play calling, we're always losing to teams we shouldn't and not beating the best teams. But despite all that, we've been one of the most constantly good teams over the last six years, both in terms of number of wins and statistics. It's just simply not possible for all that to be true. But many seem to think it is. We're one of a handful to have won nine games the previous five years. We've been in the Top 10 in several major defensive and offensive categories each of the previous four years. Yet many think we are "mediocre" bash on the players and want the coaches fired. Then we wonder why the team might have a little to much "us against the world" personality.Mavric - I disagree that we've had sub-par talent on offense the past 2 seasons. I believe the main problem has been an inconsistent quarterback who turned the ball over a lot, who was our only option until he was finally too hurt to play & an offensive coordinator who tends to outsmart himself when things are going good or just goes away from what is working; and usually goes into panic mode when things go bad causing the game to get even worse for us. An example of Tim Beck going into panic mode is the 2012 B1G CCG. Beck went into panic mode when we were down 14-28 early; completely abandoned the running game which resulted in quick 3 & outs & putting our defense right back on the field. I honestly believe the final score would not have been nearly as bad had we tried to slow the game down early by establishing our running game.
Maybe Tommy Armstrong is the guy that makes it all "look" better next year. The numbers are hard to argue with although the schedule was favorable this season. Still, I never felt, just watching the games, like we looked like a very good offense. I never felt good about the llacalling all year. What do I know. I guess all is well according to the numbers.Seems to me as if a little perspective is in order. We were #19 in rushing yards per game this year - #11 among BCS conference schools. Of the 10 schools ahead of us, only six averaged more passing yards per game - Ohio State, Wisconsin, Oregon, Baylor, Washington, and Missouri. None of those teams had nearly the quarterback injury issues we had and I'm pretty sure none had worse injury issues on the OLine.
Last year we were #3 among BCS schools in rushing and only Oregon had more passing yards. And all that is with the sub-par players we've recruited over the last several years. I'd say some need to have more realistic expectations but those numbers are far beyond what many seem to think we've accomplished lately.
Doesn't mean all is well. But we're not nearly as bad as many like to think. A lot of people don't realize that the things that happen to us happen all over the place. We just notice ours more because we're watching closer.Maybe Tommy Armstrong is the guy that makes it all "look" better next year. The numbers are hard to argue with although the schedule was favorable this season. Still, I never felt, just watching the games, like we looked like a very good offense. I never felt good about the llacalling all year. What do I know. I guess all is well according to the numbers.Seems to me as if a little perspective is in order. We were #19 in rushing yards per game this year - #11 among BCS conference schools. Of the 10 schools ahead of us, only six averaged more passing yards per game - Ohio State, Wisconsin, Oregon, Baylor, Washington, and Missouri. None of those teams had nearly the quarterback injury issues we had and I'm pretty sure none had worse injury issues on the OLine.
Last year we were #3 among BCS schools in rushing and only Oregon had more passing yards. And all that is with the sub-par players we've recruited over the last several years. I'd say some need to have more realistic expectations but those numbers are far beyond what many seem to think we've accomplished lately.