What happens when Riley gets his guy at QB.

Red_Payne

Red_Payne

Four-Star Recruit
First Thread; didn't see this come up, and things are slow so I thought I'd contribute after creeping for about a year.

What offense do you think we run when Riley get a QB he falls in love with. I'm talking a true prototypical drop back passer. Do you see us running a traditional balanced offense (ala. early-mid 2000's USC); or do you see us running a modern/Shotgun-heavy/pass-heavy offense (somewhat like what you see in the pros; SD, NE, NO, any team with an elite QB).

 
If they have it their way it will be the latter. Recruiting certainly points that direction. Heavy emphasis on WR and TE with very little attention to RB compared to what we are used to. FB appears to get more attention than RB right now.

If the culture and the fans get their way (this happens if we lose 5+ this year) we will see a more balanced approach.

 
My view is we are recruiting the best talent at all positions. I think QB is a position which will gravitate towards pocket passer moving forward as we have seen, but I don't think the fact we have a number of top WRs committed and interested is an indication we are exclusively gearing up for a pass happy offense. I think it's a product of an amazing coach and recruiter in Keith Williams. We took a four star RB last year in Tre Bryant and have offers out to top RBs this year. As such, the offense will be geared to the talent we have on hand year to year.

 
Red_Payne said:
First Thread; didn't see this come up, and things are slow so I thought I'd contribute after creeping for about a year.

What offense do you think we run when Riley get a QB he falls in love with. I'm talking a true prototypical drop back passer. Do you see us running a traditional balanced offense (ala. early-mid 2000's USC); or do you see us running a modern/Shotgun-heavy/pass-heavy offense (somewhat like what you see in the pros; SD, NE, NO, any team with an elite QB).
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In my opinion, and that is really all any of us can say. I believe it will be close to what he ran at OSU

 
If Riley gets his guy at QB, I would expect him to run a pretty pass-happy offense. That's just the type of offense he likes to run. He has said numerous times that he prefers to use the pass to set up the run, and he has a lot more patience in the passing game than the run game.

 
Surprise, surprise .... the fate of the team will depend on defense as much as it does QB.

The linebacker and defensive back corps are the concern for the defense. We were facing a rebuild with the LBs last year. Plus side, I saw some definite LB development and some coaching ability from Riley and Banker that provided protection for those guys as they found their way.

Now, considering the exodus from DL, we need to develop more there and recruit more.

The LBs and line work hand in hand really. A good defensive line, when playing aggressively, creates play making chances for the LBs. If your LBs aren't that good, a strong but conservative Dline will allow the linebackers to flow toward the play without worrying that a mistaken assignment leads to a long TD run. Now that the line is weaker, or at least potentially weaker than what it was, the linebackers will have to read and fill with an aggressive mind set to clog up holes, make plays, and, at times might be asked to challenge offensive linemen directly... tough job there.

Offensively, we are putting a bow on the TA era at the QB spot.

We have a couple QBs on campus and one on the way. Maybe we can get a good passing QB in the next few years as we settle in and develop the other guys on offense.

Through that development, an offensive style will emerge.

With projects on both sides of the ball, however, the important thing will be to manage the game now and get as many wins as possible so that the recruiting can keep getting better.

Best projection has us contending for a conference title in three or four years.

At worst, we lose too many, fire the AD and coach and have this discussion all over again in two ....three years tops.

 
This is just my own opinion but I think Riley would be closer to a balanced offense than Langsdorf will be. Riley called the plays most of the time at Oregon State. Langsdorf had play-calling duties for awhile but they Riley took them back.

Last year in the regular season we called at least 453 pass plays (attempts plus sacks) against 434 rushing attempts which is 51% passing. There would be a few more called passes that turned into scrambles so I would guess Langsdorf called about 54-55% passes.

In the bowl game - after Riley spent a month talking about how he wanted to run the ball more - we had 19 pass attempts and 62 rushing attempts (76.5% runs). I'm not saying Riley would always run the ball that much but I think he gave Langsdorf some not-to-be-misunderstood instructions to run the ball more and when it was working well they finally stuck with it.

54-55% passing isn't bad in and of itself but when we were only the 87th best passing team in the country (percentage-wise) and #123 in the country in interceptions, I can't imagine him ever having less incentive to call passes as we go forward. Perhaps a slight dip this year if he learned anything from the UCLA game but I wouldn't be shocked if it doesn't increase to 60% if we have a 60% completion percentage QB.

 
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I think a lot of it moving forward is going to be how you look at it. I would also expect a more balanced attack (fingers crossed) if what Mavric suggests above is accurate.

But even if we have a 50-50 blend I expect more long passes that go for big gains and TD's than I do big runs. I base this off what we have at receiver and what we have coming in. We got used to seeing a RB break off a huge chunk of field, I think WR and TE will be the stars now and RB will be more of short and consistent clock managing approach. Then again, Ozigbo really has me excited so who knows.

 
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For the LOVE of all that is HOLY!!! He has stated over and over and over, he wants a balanced attack. He wants to be as close to 50/50 as possible. That doesn't mean every game is 50/50, he is saying overall. Some games we will be pass heavy based on the defenses we are seeing and some we will be run heavy. Also, depending on whether our Blackshirts can stop anyone will dictate our offensive attack.

If you really think about it, being 50/50 is really the best offensive game plan. It makes the defense play straight up, they cant lean to one side or the other on their attack. I would bet if you looked at most NFL team statistics you would find the best ones are close to the 50/50 mark.

Now can we stop with the "what kind of offense do you think" threads.

 
I am curious as to some names of QBs that are considered "Riley's guy' by way of examples? To me, I think Riley will take a Tommy Armstrong that is an excellent passer. I don't think he would oppose recruiting a strong running QB provided he has a great throwing capability. The NFL prefers QBs that can avoid the rush and pick up a couple first downs on scrambles. Going back decades, the NFL has had quite a few who were pretty capable with their feet. Johnny Unitas was NOT one but certainly Fran Tarkenton was known as 'the scrambler'. POB is supposed to have some decent run skills and I would hope can avoid the sacks reasonably well. It won't do us any good to complete 62% of a bunch of passes if we have 5 or 6 ugly sacks for a loss of 75 yards and several more punts.

 
The offense they have designed is dependent on the talent available, or so they say anyway.

But from what I watched of them at OSU and this past year I think we throw slightly more than we run. And if we have the right guys at QB an every where else we will be fine.

 
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