The Offense

**Peter** · 11-21-2010, 01:35 PM

I think if anyone's job should be in question right now it is Luke Wells. WR's are the one area of this team that has seen zero inprovment since 2009. We have 15 guys on scholarship right now and you would think that a few of them would be able to run and catch on a consistent basis by now.

When you are playing with a young QB, you have to help him make plays. If you are a WR, you can't expect that the ball is always going to be right were you need it to be (and to catch it when it is there!). Right now these guys need the QB to hold their hand on everyplay; you think they would have grown up by now.

Missouri was stacking the box with 8-9 guys last night, and while most D-1 teams would thrown it all over the field on that kind of D, our WR's were just bad enough to make a mediocre defense look like world-beaters.

We need Todd Blythe.

**jbhtexas** · 11-21-2010, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by FootballinTexas

Like we say down here is Texas, you can't get blood from a turnip. OC's have a hard enough job getting results from the guys the recruit. Can you imagine trying to get results from guys someone else recruited. 2011 will be his first real season with "his" recruits at the skill spots...minus Tiller. I think Gary, West, Blanton, Young, Shontrelle and Hollis at RB, Lenz, and even Tiller gives us a more explosive crew at the skill positions. Throw in Barnett and/or Capello at QB, I think Herman will be able to use this offense more effectively. This is no different that any other management job, you have to have "your" guys in place because it gives you a level of comfort and confidence. It will be a learning curve for 2011 because of the inexperience at QB. But the future is definitely brighter because you have guys in your system that are "your" guys.

Can you point to anything on the offense that has improved over the past two years? Even if they aren't "your guys", a coach should be able to take players and make them at least a little better. Wally is doing that on defense. Does ISU have that much better athletes on the defensive side? I find that hard to believe.

As far as I can tell, nothing is improving on offense..QBs, WRs, line play, running game, place kicking. In the 12th game of the season, ISU is still getting bad snaps on place kicks (probably cost the NU game as well, based on what has been posted here). That stuff should be automatic by this point in the season.

Something is not right on the offensive side of the ball, and it's not just that Herman doesn't have "his guys" in place, or that the offensive players are completely devoid of talent. It's more fundamental than that. The offensive coaches aren't making their players better. I hope CPR can figure it out.

**Aclone** · 11-21-2010, 01:56 PM

What, you didn't notice that the loss of perhaps the best lineman on the team, Scott Haughton, left a gaping hole on the offensive line, both interms of talent and experience?

That AA fought injuries all year? Why did you think he wasn't running the ball more in the middle of the season? That shoulder injury was just a boo-boo?

I won't even get into the dropped balls, or other factors that others have mentioned.

How is any of that Herman's fault? Or did you just not bother to think about it???

Is it just easier to make a knee-jerk reaction, and blame the coordinator?

**jbhtexas** · 11-21-2010, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by Aclone

What, you didn't notice that the loss of perhaps the best lineman on the team, Scott Haughton, left a gaping hole on the offensive line, both interms of talent and experience?

That AA fought injuries all year? Why did you think he wasn't running the ball more in the middle of the season? That shoulder injury was just a boo-boo?

I won't even get into the dropped balls, or other factors that others have mentioned.

How is any of that Herman's fault? Or did you just not bother to think about it???

Is it just easier to make a knee-jerk reaction, and blame the coordinator?

I thought it would be better to examine the evidence (i.e. on field performance), rather than stick my head in the sand and pretend that nothing is wrong.

Do what seems best to you.

**Wesley** · 11-21-2010, 02:01 PM

Originally Posted by ajk4st8

We knew before the season started that we were EXTREMELY limited at the WR position.

I was a bit disappointed that we couldnt run the ball better.

I would be curious to see how well any other OC in the country would have done with this skill set.

I do not think rushing is as big a problem of being able to pass over the middle and deeper over the middle or deep. We are a poor passing team. AA stats were less this year than least year with 40 fewer passes and 600 yards. That would mean, he would have had to complete all of those 40 passes for an average of 15 yards to do as well. In fact, Last year our receivers were hurt. This year we see the real receivers. They have trouble masking the tough catch except for maybe 20 times. Something needs to improve because number 100 is not good.

Put another way, our opponents outrushed us by 500 yards and outpassed us by by 550 yards. We did break 2000 yards passing in 12 games.

**tazclone** · 11-21-2010, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by CykoAGR

I know it was only one game but I think that our most glring weakness in the skill positions is WR. Holy crap did they drop some HUGE passes last night and they were WIDE OPEN.

Only one game? Are you kidding me? They have been dropping passes all year. The games where our WR corp played well, we had good offensive output. Texas Tech, Texas, NU. Other than that they have been average to below average. A more accurate QB may help a little but our receivers have to do better blocking, running routes, getting off press coverage, and catching the balls. They al do some of these good but they are not consistent.

**FootballinTexas** · 11-21-2010, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by Doc

None of those guys were good enough to beat out any of our top five receivers this year. Unless our WR position is really difficult to learn for some reason, I don't see much reason to put much hope in Gary, Young, or Blanton. Maybe West, if he was just not physically ready to play this year. WR is a position where you don't see many guys develop into playmakers. You either have it or you don't from the get-go.

Get real man. CPR and staff did the right...."political" thing with these guys. You have seniors that have been through hell with several coaching changes. You know that you have at least 5 years. Give these guys the chance to have ownership in the program. I applaud them for that. AA was inconsistent, ARob was unhealthy and average for the most part, the OL was below average, and no explosive plays from the receivers. You think these coaches recruited guys that can't play? If so, they should be fired. I believe if the situation was different, many of these guys would have been benched. IMO.

**tazclone** · 11-21-2010, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by Doc

None of those guys were good enough to beat out any of our top five receivers this year. Unless our WR position is really difficult to learn for some reason, I don't see much reason to put much hope in Gary, Young, or Blanton. Maybe West, if he was just not physically ready to play this year. WR is a position where you don't see many guys develop into playmakers. You either have it or you don't from the get-go.

You have to ignore football in texas. only players from texas and Florida are good enough to be playmakers.

With that said, you make a great point. WR is a position where it is relatively easy to get on the field if you have playmaking ability. It is baffling that no one has been able to displace our starters.

**tazclone** · 11-21-2010, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by jbhtexas

Can you point to anything on the offense that has improved over the past two years? Even if they aren't "your guys", a coach should be able to take players and make them at least a little better. Wally is doing that on defense. Does ISU have that much better athletes on the defensive side? I find that hard to believe.

As far as I can tell, nothing is improving on offense..QBs, WRs, line play, running game, place kicking. In the 12th game of the season, ISU is still getting bad snaps on place kicks (probably cost the NU game as well, based on what has been posted here). That stuff should be automatic by this point in the season.

Something is not right on the offensive side of the ball, and it's not just that Herman doesn't have "his guys" in place, or that the offensive players are completely devoid of talent. It's more fundamental than that. The offensive coaches aren't making their players better. I hope CPR can figure it out.

Agree 100%. REally disappointed in OL and WR this year. They have seemed to regress. QB was status quo as was RB. When none of your units improve it is okay to start questioning the staff coaching them. And I would agree that we need to upgrade talent in some positions but ISU will get beat on the recruiting trail more times than not. That means we have to be better at developing players than other staffs. Rhoads has said as much time and time again. Herman has yeat to develop anyone. Even at Rice.

**SpokaneCY** · 11-21-2010, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by Enginerd

Final home game with a bowl game on the line...the staff and players have to find ways to put points on the board. If the players and staff are not up to it then we need to find those that can. I hope PR has the will to make necessary changes in his staff and with player personnel.

We beat UT on the road. We were a bad toss away from beating NU but beat them last year in lincoln. We were shellacked by some. I'm okay with Tom continuing to build his offense.

And you may as well call for Wally's head because we didn't burn up many of the national categories there either. Pope should be gone because ARob didn't have 1,000 yds. And whomever coaches Mahoney.... Really - other than the guy that shoots the fog when the team enters we should probably just clean house.

**tazclone** · 11-21-2010, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by FootballinTexas

Get real man. CPR and staff did the right...."political" thing with these guys. You have seniors that have been through hell with several coaching changes. You know that you have at least 5 years. Give these guys the chance to have ownership in the program. I applaud them for that. AA was inconsistent, ARob was unhealthy and average for the most part, the OL was below average, and no explosive plays from the receivers. You think these coaches recruited guys that can't play? If so, they should be fired. I believe if the situation was different, many of these guys would have been benched. IMO.

He was talking about receivers and in that case we had one senior receiver. One. Guys like Lenz and Money took snaps from starters so it isn't s seniority issue. Lenz is a sophmore and Money is in his second year at WR. So in short, They have one more year than some of the guys that Herman has recruited and the same amount of time as players like Blanton and Jennert. Both Blanton and Jennert are Herman guys. They were recruited after the coaching change and broke commitments to other schools. Considering Young and Gary were JUCO's they are as physically mature as Lenz and are going to have similar class status. So All of these guys are relatively the same age...all but Lenz were recruited by this staff...yet none of them can get playing time except Lenz. Hmmmm Kinda shoots the "his players" and "seniority" excuses in the ***

The bolded part is exactly what people are talking about as well as player development

**tazclone** · 11-21-2010, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by SpokaneCY

We beat UT on the road. We were a bad toss away from beating NU but beat them last year in lincoln. We were shellacked by some. I'm okay with Tom continuing to build his offense.

And you may as well call for Wally's head because we didn't burn up many of the national categories there either. Pope should be gone because ARob didn't have 1,000 yds. And whomever coaches Mahoney.... Really - other than the guy that shoots the fog when the team enters we should probably just clean house.

If a UT win is what you hang your hat on this year, than that isn't very much. The TT win, NU loss, and MU loss were more impressive than the texas win. Texas is not good this year.