Could we have done what Auburn did?

[SWC75]

Calm down- I know we don't have their talent all over the roster and I'm not talking about SU playing for the national title.

The one area where we might be able to emulate them is in the style of running attack. They were running plays that looked like something from old single wing days, with multiple backs running in different directions, the quarterback being a running back and an occasional pass to keep things loose and take advantage of teams putting too many guys in the box.

We had a young quarterback who at this point is a much better runner than passer, a group of receivers that was questionable at best and four good running backs. If we ran an attack patterned after Auburn's, couldn't we have done a lot better than we did?

Maybe we want eventually to be a much more balanced team but I'd rather see a coaching staff come up with something that works well with the talent they've got.

 

[Libero2]

There is a reason they are running over around and through everybody. Their talent level is high, and Gus Malzhan has created an awesome rushing attack. Next year teams all over the country without elite QB's will be adding the stuff Malzhan has orchestrated into their playbooks.

 

[Upstate]

There's a lot of talk (in the NFL especially) about how cyclical passing vs. running trends are. We're in the midst of the most prolific passing era in NFL (and NCAA) history. Wonder if we're at that stage where the trend will start to lurch back into a more ground-prominent approach.

 

[upperdeck]

nope.. they have a much better oline, its not scheme its talent.

 

[orangepassion]

There is a reason they are running over around and through everybody. Their talent level is high, and Gus Malzhan has created an awesome rushing attack. Next year teams all over the country without elite QB's will be adding the stuff Malzhan has orchestrated into their playbooks.

Why were they so mediocre the year before that the coach got fired?

 

[SWC75]

nope.. they have a much better oline, its not scheme its talent.

They were 3-9 and 0-8 in the SEC last year with mostly the same players.

From the 11/16 SI:

"Malzahn also implemented his fast-paced, spread attack- the system the majority of the offensive players were recruited to play. When Malzahn left in 2012, Chizik replaced him with Scot Loeffler, who installed a pro-style I formation offense- a move that, in retrospect, hastened Chizik's demise. I'll never understand why Chizik switched offenses when all his guys were recruited for the spread", says another SEC coach who faced Chizik several times."

Scheme can matter a lot. You can argue that our players weren't recruited for the spread. I'm not sure what system they were recruited for because we've changed them so often. But I think they could have run something similar to what Auburn was doing. And again, i'm not saying that we would have been as good as Auburn. I'm just suggesting that we would have been better than we were.

 

[SyracuseMiami]

Better question is can we do what Missouri did (we beat them on their home field last year) or can we do what Duke did (they are a small private a school like us) or can we do what Baylor is doing (another small private school). I think the answer is obviously yes, we just need to keep getting and developing the talent. I'm not buying that you need to be a big state school to compete