THE SUNDAY AFTER: TCU

[FinalFourCy]

He knew what was happening when he took the position. Gasser and Manning helped CMC with play calling last year and now it's Gasser and Gordon. CMC has been the main play caller since he got here

Doesn’t mean it wasn’t frustrating. Perhaps he thought the training wheels would come off more once he gained experience as an OC.

Like any offense, we’ll be fine once we have an upper level OL and QB to go with the WR and RB talent. But the restrictiveness is costing wins until then. We have enough to have more production than this.

Honestly, when the defense is playing well, it looks as though we’re not even trying to exploit a defense. We go in prevent on offense.

 

[CyTwins]

Doesn’t mean it wasn’t frustrating. Perhaps he thought the training wheels would come off more once he gained experience as an OC.

Like any offense, we’ll be fine once we have an upper level OL and QB to go with the WR and RB talent. But the restrictiveness is costing wins until then. We have enough to have more production than this.

Gained experience as an OC by not calling plays? The only thing he gained experience in as an OC was talking to the media

 

[ArgentCy]

Our offense has become more boring, predictable, and less productive than Brian Ferentz's. That's how bad it has gotten folks.

I watch Iowa play now and think to myself.... I wonder why we don't try that? That is not good.

I've been surprised but Brian has done a pretty good job. Stayed within the same style but mixes it up fairly well. Now I'm going to go boo myself.

 

[runbikeswim]

I am not smart enough to know why our coaches run the offensive schemes they do, but, I can tell that our offense fizzled more because our receivers couldn't get space in TCUs speed defense, and when they did get seperation, Zeb couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Really limits an offense when you can't have a decent passing game. Scheme tinkering and bickering doesn't fix poor passing.

 

[clonedude]

Well you identified your first problem -> watching Iowa

Ha ha..... you're so funny.

I've always said to myself that watching Iowa's offense was just painful, and it is, but now ours is just as painful or more to watch. Nothing creative at all.

 

[FinalFourCy]

Gained experience as an OC by not calling plays? The only thing he gained experience in as an OC was talking to the media

So he wasn’t even involved in the play-calling? Like I said, that had to come with some frustration regardless of what was sold prior to getting the OC title. Hard to advance your skills if your involvement in being an OC didn’t advance past talking to the media, let alone getting a major say in playcalling in your second year.

 

[CyTwins]

So he wasn’t even involved in the play-calling? Like I said, that had to come with some frustration regardless of what was sold prior to getting the OC title. Hard to advance your skills if your involvement in being an OC didn’t advance past talking to the media, let alone getting a major say in playcalling in your second year.

The two people in the box are involved in play calling but CMC is always going to be in charge of it and it will remain that way as long as he's here. Everyone is on the same page about it

 

[CYdways432]

It's hard to not be discouraged but I still have faith in this team to win some games.

Defense is seriously awesome. I think Iowa State really gets the running game going this weekend against Okie State. That should help with the passing game.

 

[isu81]

I'm gonna agree with those on here that say play calling starts with the OL. When you lack confidence in execution on the front line, it makes it very hard to "open up the playbook", so to speak. Sure, they looked OK against TCU, but does it occur to you that TCU sat back a little because they didn't have to take risks? The couple times at the beginning of the second half that they sent extra rushers, they nearly killed Zeb. I was sitting behind the TCU bench and told the guy I was with "they could do that all night and we'd never pick it up". They didn't because they didn't have to. Simply showing that made us crawl back in to a hole with play-calling.

It's why the old "should have beaten X because we only gave up X points" doesn't work. When your offense and particularly OL can't execute, other teams can pack it in both offensively and defensively. TCU and Iowa do this all the time because they have faith that they will out-execute you on the LOS.

 

[FinalFourCy]

The two people in the box are involved in play calling but CMC is always going to be in charge of it and it will remain that way as long as he's here. Everyone is on the same page about it

Oh, so he was doing more than talking to the media? Everyone is on the same page with that being the way it is, so if it becomes frustrating guys will will move on?

There’s the head coach being in control and having the final say, that’s fairly common, but not many have success abusing that power to the point it’s joked the OC is just talking to the media.

 

[CyTwins]

Oh, so he was doing more than talking to the media? Everyone is on the same page with that being the way it is, so if it becomes frustrating guys will will move on?

There’s the head coach being in control and having the final say, that’s fairly common, but not many have success abusing that power to the point it’s joked the OC is just talking to the media.

It's a non issue in the coaches room and Manning wasn't frustrated. Not sure how I could make it more clear to you

 

[FinalFourCy]

I'm gonna agree with those on here that say play calling starts with the OL. When you lack confidence in execution on the front line, it makes it very hard to "open up the playbook", so to speak. Sure, they looked OK against TCU, but does it occur to you that TCU sat back a little because they didn't have to take risks? The couple times at the beginning of the second half that they sent extra rushers, they nearly killed Zeb. I was sitting behind the TCU bench and told the guy I was with "they could do that all night and we'd never pick it up". They didn't because they didn't have to. Simply showing that made us crawl back in to a hole with play-calling.

It's why the old "should have beaten X because we only gave up X points" doesn't work. When your offense and particularly OL can't execute, other teams can pack it in both offensively and defensively. TCU and Iowa do this all the time because they have faith that they will out-execute you on the LOS.

OL execution, and execution in general is greatly impacted by play calls and game plans. If you have a weakness, it’s not a great idea to make it easy on the defense. Our offense is one that you typically see when the OL is a strength.

Did our OL get that much worse during the season last year, and now even more so this year? Does it get better when the opposition has a good offense, then regress the next time we play a mediocre offense?

The OL is a big reason why we’re not a top offense and talking about double digit wins. It’s not why we’re so often futile when the other team isn’t scoring.

 

[FinalFourCy]

It's a non issue in the coaches room and Manning wasn't frustrated. Not sure how I could make it more clear to you

Start off with not making stuff up like Manning was only talking to the media, followed by an immediate backtrack.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Just throwing this out as a possibility: is it possible that the offensive game plan was intentionally very conservative, with the thought that we are playing a young back up QB, and have a great defense? Limit mistakes, try to force some mistakes from them. Maybe he thought that was our absolute best opportunity to win? While the offense was very frustrating, and we did lose, the strategy did result in a tie game going into the final minute.

 

[Brandon]

Our oline played the best they have all year. When you have a qb who is no run threat it makes the defensive job easier, then throw in the fact the offensive play calling is extremely predictable. It still baffles me that we have to big capable receivers and dont even throw the ball past the 1st down marker.

 

[Tre4ISU]

I am not smart enough to know why our coaches run the offensive schemes they do, but, I can tell that our offense fizzled more because our receivers couldn't get space in TCUs speed defense, and when they did get seperation, Zeb couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Really limits an offense when you can't have a decent passing game. Scheme tinkering and bickering doesn't fix poor passing.

Given, I have watched every play over and over, but I do remember one 3rd and 4 or so where we were in a 2x2 and both sides had the receivers to the outside running routes within 5-7 yard of each other. That's not setting up anyone for success. That's borderline impossible.

 

[Tre4ISU]

Just throwing this out as a possibility: is it possible that the offensive game plan was intentionally very conservative, with the thought that we are playing a young back up QB, and have a great defense? Limit mistakes, try to force some mistakes from them. Maybe he thought that was our absolute best opportunity to win? While the offense was very frustrating, and we did lose, the strategy did result in a tie game going into the final minute.

I don't know that it was as conservative as it was ineffective.

 

[MeowingCows]

Just throwing this out as a possibility: is it possible that the offensive game plan was intentionally very conservative, with the thought that we are playing a young back up QB, and have a great defense? Limit mistakes, try to force some mistakes from them. Maybe he thought that was our absolute best opportunity to win? While the offense was very frustrating, and we did lose, the strategy did result in a tie game going into the final minute.

I would hope not. Ideally, we gameplan to have the gas pedal down until the game is safely out of hand. Playing conservative from the start is just asking for a close game and/or close loss.

Case in point -- we forced 3 turnovers, yet still lost

 

[FinalFourCy]

Just throwing this out as a possibility: is it possible that the offensive game plan was intentionally very conservative, with the thought that we are playing a young back up QB, and have a great defense? Limit mistakes, try to force some mistakes from them.

Yes, that is the frustration, that it’s intentional futility due to the staff going for conservative and ending up with unproductive.

We can allude to the game plan working because we had a chance to win, but those chances don’t go down with more production from the offense. A well coached team can be productive without greatly increasing mistakes.

CMC is a great head coach, but our handling of losing Park in combination with a mediocre OL has had made finding success on offense harder, not easier. We have so little confidence in the offense we prefer to keep them out of the way...and that’s with guys like DM, Lazard, and Butler. Maybe more, but we have so little diversity it would suggest otherwise.

 

[CyTwins]

Start off with not making stuff up like Manning was only talking to the media, followed by an immediate backtrack.

I didn't say that but OK. Manning knew what he signed up for and was happy with it. He got an NFL opportunity and left. I don't know if you'll find a more honest and transparent coach than CMC. No responsibilities or lack of responsibilities is going to upset them because it was known from the get go