Sunday Morning QB- Lack of Effort edition

Yesterday really makes for a long day when you play the 11am game and your beloved Bulldogs play like crap. Here we go:

1. Offense– there has to be some changes. I’ve never seen a passing attack that NEVER throws a deep pass, runs a draw, or throws screens. That is just a terrible, terrible scheme. All we do is work the horizontal passing game- and that doesn’t cut it. Now, you may be saying, “But, Coach34, we don’t really have a deep threat?”, and you would be correct. But you still have to throw it deeper sometime just to show the defense that you will. We are playing better defenses now, and their safeties are crowding us. We have to do something besides throwing 15 yard passes. What we are doing now isn’t working.

2. We have 2 running plays- the stretch play to the right, and the counter play to the left. Our scheme is so easily defensed. What the hell? We finally added a little option and ran the zone read with Russell for a TD that surprised the hell out of them because we never do it. Our plan of attack in the run game is as terrible as our passing game.

3, Why have we decided to stop playing Dak? He gets a big 1st down to keep a drive alive- not to mention picking up 15 yards in the process. He made a mistake on his 2nd play by not handing it off, but so what? He is far and away our best option in short yardage and why are suddenly deciding not to use him is insanely stupid.

4. If we decide we still can’t throw the ball deep ever, or throw screens, or run draws- then we need to look at going back to the Spread Option offense and playing Dak more. I’m not blaming Tyler, as he has played pretty well this season. But the whole plan of our offense sux right now- and it’s easily defended with a halfway decent defense. If our WR’s can’t do a better job of getting open, or Tyler can’t get rid of the ball quicker and stop holding it too long- then we will never be consistent on offense. Something has to change. A buddy of mine made the comment to me- “we built the program by running the Spread Option, and now we are going away from it. All we heard was how having Tyler throw it would allow us to score more points vs the Alabama’s and LSU’s- but now we are seeing that was a bunch of crap”. Hard to disagree with his take on it.

5. Why do we continue to go 5-wide???? You go 5-wide to spread the defense and exploit a match-up. Or you have a mobile QB that can take advantage of numbers in the box, much like A&M did yesterday. The first time we go 5-wide A&M showed they were blitzing. Tyler saw it, made a check at the line, and preceded to hold the ball way too long and got sacked. What the hell???? You know the blitz is coming- get rid of the damn football. If nobody’s open, throw it to your Mom in the 10th row. That ended our 1st drive by putting us in 2nd and 21.

6. People bitching about our OL aren’t paying attention. We are doing a pretty damn good job in protection. The QB is holding the ball way too long- that’s not the OL’s fault. This group has been better than I expected this season. Bama was a little rough on them, but they are rough on everybody. And when you don’t run draws or screens to help those guys, don’t blame them for DL’s teeing off and bringing heat.

7. It’s all well and good we have Sr’s playing WR- but our best options to make a big play are Malcolm Johnson, the “Bluesman” Robert Johnson, and Tubby Lewis. Figure out a way to get the ball in the hands of these guys. It’s really not that hard to isolate these guys and get it to them.

8. Bottom line- we need to get a better, more cohesive offensive gameplan. Right now- it’s like we are just running a bunch of plays. We need to identify what our best weapons are on offense, and get the ball in their hands. If it were me, I’d make sure:

Robert Johnson and Malcolm Johnson were working the same side of the defense. They are our best receiving weapons- let them work together.

Nick Griffen and Josh Robinson were running the ball inside to establish a physical dimension to the running game.

Chad Bumphis and Tubby Lewis were working the middle on crossing routes.

LaDarius Perkins was catching 3-4 passes per game out of the backfield.

Dak Prescott was getting enough snaps to make a difference.

The offense needs an overhaul. We aren’t playing Sun Belt teams anymore.

Defense

Our gameplan was awful. Our effort was awful. Our tackling was awful. It was like we hadn’t watched one second of film of them. The defensive gameplan was so bad, it was a Sylvester Crooms offensive gameplan bad.

If we play a 3-man front for another play this season, Chris Wilson should be fired immediately. We don’t have the personnel to do it. You have got to have a big, physical NG that commands a double team to run a 3-man front. And until Nick James is ready to play, we don’t have that. It’s a waste of prep time, a waste of practice time, and a complete waste of gametime.

The D-line is the key to every defense. It’s why the SEC separates itself from every other conference in the country. And ours is not very good right now. We supposedly have some talent there. We have players that some very good schools wanted. Our S&C program is very good. So something is missing. Not sure if it’s coaching fundamentals, scheme, lack of motivation, too much youth…but the problems on defense start there. When they run the ball on 3rd and 11 for a 22 yd TD and nobody even gets a hand on the RB- we have real problems on the DL.

I would work Deonte Skinner as a DE in our nickel package. He weighs around 245-250 and should be able to outquick some OT’s to rush the passer. Slide Eulls inside to DT with Boyd. That group, along with Autry should be able to get a damn pass rush and handle some business. We have talent- we need to use it properly.

We didnt blitz 2 guys inside to force the pocket back in Mamziel’s face- you do that a few times and make sure your DE’s stay wide to contain. You have to bring one more than they have blockers- 6 beats 5. Your secondary guys lock up man and take away the inside throw- forcing the longer outside throws. Never saw any of that yesterday.

Poor, poor tackling. Tackling is instinctive as well as fundamental. We’re missing tackles due to being out-athleted at times, sloppy arm tackling, or trying to strip the ball instead of making the tackle. It’s got to get better. Being put in better positions by our DC would be a start in the right direction.

Moving forward, I hope the coaches spent last night and today evaluating themselves and what they are doing. We need an overhaul and it needs to be done quickly. Our players need to get off their asses and keep playing hard. We have 2 more wins this season to get and then a quality bowl game as a reward. We don’t need to let this slip through our fingers.

P.S- I dont understand all the fellating of Coach Freezus on our message boards. They have beaten a terrible, terrible Auburn team. They have beaten a terrible UPig team that came from behind in the 4th quarter yesterday to beat Tulsa. They had a total of 72 yards of offense in the last 42 minutes of gametime yesterday vs Georgia. Too many of our fans spend too much time trying to give our rival credit. They haven’t given Mullen credit for one damn thing since he took over as coach. Stop tripping over yourself to give them credit. They already have an inflated sense of self- no need to help those people.

In Mullen We Trust,

Coach34