I Don't Think It's an Accident that the Defense Looked much Improved...

[OrangeinBoston]

after the Don Brown guy showed up. A coach with a ton of defensive experience, and all of a sudden we get what, 8 sacks, and rattle a freshman QB.

I like Nixon. But, he needs the same experienced consulting that Brown appears to have provided on the defensive side. Nixon at this stage is not experienced and creative enough to scheme around our weaknesses.

Then, Fran should stay out of the way on play calls.

 

[JoeSU]

It seemed that our front 7 was able to pressure the Pitt QB, which they struggled to do in previous games. Maybe Freeney's influence?

 

[AAM62]

Pitt was hurt on the OL

 

[OttoinGrotto]

after the Don Brown guy showed up. A coach with a ton of defensive experience, and all of a sudden we get what, 8 sacks, and rattle a freshman QB.

I like Nixon. But, he needs the same experienced consulting that Brown appears to have provided on the defensive side. Nixon at this stage is not experienced and creative enough to scheme around our weaknesses.

I wouldn't say the issues on offense are due to Nixon's inexperience or creativity. He's not lacking in those traits.

Bottom line is he wants to throw the ball, and is too confident doing that with the current QB, and also when situation dictates you should run the ball. And we've seen now that it can hurt us.

 

[MadNY3]

I wouldn't say the issues on offense are due to Nixon's inexperience or creativity. He's not lacking in those traits.

Bottom line is he wants to throw the ball, and is too confident doing that with the current QB, and also when situation dictates you should run the ball. And we've seen now that it can hurt us.

I think that is right. Nixon is worshipping his pass-first philosophy to a clear fault, pure and simple.

 

[tbonezone]

It seemed that our front 7 was able to pressure the Pitt QB, which they struggled to do in previous games. Maybe Freeney's influence?

well it does help when the QB holds the ball for 10 seconds.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

I wouldn't say the issues on offense are due to Nixon's inexperience or creativity. He's not lacking in those traits.

Bottom line is he wants to throw the ball, and is too confident doing that with the current QB, and also when situation dictates you should run the ball. And we've seen now that it can hurt us.

Yes, that's why a guy with a lot of credibility should be brought in to tell him "look, you can't throw the ball all over the place like you might wish to. Let's put together a plan that is more realistic given the assets we have and the weakness that are clear."

 

[OttosShoes]

I think that is right. Nixon is worshipping his pass-first philosophy to a clear fault, pure and simple.

Yup. We basically run an air raid. Rickie is not an air raid QB. It demands quick and confident reads and throws.

 

[PhatOrange]

Agreed. People were thinking Fran took over the D but imo it was Don Brown. We went into the game with 8 total sacks. Last night We got 7 sacks and 12 TFLs. I even saw us stunting and running delayed blitz into gaps. There's no way that was ERobs doing. A guy stuck in his ways just doesn't flip a switch.

I'll maintain that Nixon is overrated. He's an ok OC and nothing more. He's light on scheme and feel and isnt playing to player strengths. He's the typical trying to jam a square peg into a round hole OC. He could start to maybe get a little creative in the run game.

 

[SyraGus]

Hats off to the defense, they kept us in the game well into Q4 despite all the issues on offense and specials. 7 sacks and 12 TFL against a P4 peer? Hope they can sustain this effort moving forward.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Yes, that's why a guy with a lot of credibility should be brought in to tell him "look, you can't throw the ball all over the place like you might wish to. Let's put together a plan that is more realistic given the assets we have and the weakness that are clear."

Who are you going to find right now that's more credible than the OC that lead the nation in passing and rewrote the school record book last season?

 

[FrancoPizza]

Who is this Don Brown? Is he the head of one of the five families in the tri state area?

 

[djorange1989]

Agreed. People were thinking Fran took over the D but imo it was Don Brown. We went into the game with 8 total sacks. Last night We got 7 sacks and 12 TFLs. I even saw us stunting and running delayed blitz into gaps. There's no way that was ERobs doing. A guy stuck in his ways just doesn't flip a switch.

I'll maintain that Nixon is overrated. He's an ok OC and nothing more. He's light on scheme and feel and isnt playing to player strengths. He's the typical trying to jam a square peg into a round hole OC. He could start to maybe get a little creative in the run game.

Nixon is fine. Maybe he is still trying to throw the ball, even with a chump like Rickie, because every single team we face can just pin their ears against the run and make us have to throw. Basically make us one dimensional but with Rickie it is zero dimensional. The entire sport of football is dictated by your QB. If your QB is bad, you are doomed, unless you have one of those Iowa defenses from the past decade, and even they got exposed when they stopped playing horrific Big 10 West offenses.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Who are you going to find right now that's more credible than the OC that lead the nation in passing and rewrote the school record book last season?

Someone who will knock him up side of the head with a two-by-four and tell him "You don't have McCord anymore!"

 

[FrancoPizza]

I have to think other teams are going very conservative on offense knowing we are no threat to score and will likely gift them an interception or something stupid. That is probably part of the reason the defense looked better last night.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Someone who will knock him up side of the head with a two-by-four and tell him "You don't have McCord anymore!"

Ok, this person exists?

 

[GoSU96]

after the Don Brown guy showed up. A coach with a ton of defensive experience, and all of a sudden we get what, 8 sacks, and rattle a freshman QB.

I like Nixon. But, he needs the same experienced consulting that Brown appears to have provided on the defensive side. Nixon at this stage is not experienced and creative enough to scheme around our weaknesses.

Then, Fran should stay out of the way on play calls.

When you have a guy that can’t execute the pass game efficiently and an OL that is MUCH better at pass blocking then run blocking, there’s not much you can do .

 

[PhatOrange]

Nixon is fine. Maybe he is still trying to throw the ball, even with a chump like Rickie, because every single team we face can just pin their ears against the run and make us have to throw. Basically make us one dimensional but with Rickie it is zero dimensional. The entire sport of football is dictated by your QB. If your QB is bad, you are doomed, unless you have one of those Iowa defenses from the past decade, and even they got exposed when they stopped playing horrific Big 10 West offenses.

He's fine as in ok

 

[OrangeinBoston]

When you have a guy that can’t execute the pass game efficiently and an OL that is MUCH better at pass blocking then run blocking, there’s not much you can do .

On the other hand, the last two games, the defense couldn't stop the Sisters of the Poor. And all of a sudden, they're respectable.

 

[Dcuse]

I have to think other teams are going very conservative on offense knowing we are no threat to score and will likely gift them an interception or something stupid. That is probably part of the reason the defense looked better last night.

You’ve got to be kidding me with this.

 

[Millhouse]

I have to think other teams are going very conservative on offense knowing we are no threat to score and will likely gift them an interception or something stupid. That is probably part of the reason the defense looked better last night.

Just like the grob years
They did play well last night though

 

[RF2044]

I think that is right. Nixon is worshipping his pass-first philosophy to a clear fault, pure and simple.

The issue IMO is that our OL isn't very good at run blocking. It would be one thing if we could open holes, and hand it off effectively -- but we can't do that. We could -- at least a little more effectively -- when teams were forced to D us up honestly to protect against the pass.

Now that they don't, they can key on taking the run away without worrying about getting burned by the pass.

OL needs to be better.

Speaking of which, how do people think Josh Miller did subbing for Collins?

 

[orangeinohio]

Who are you going to find right now that's more credible than the OC that lead the nation in passing and rewrote the school record book last season?

Billy Napier

(Mostly kidding. Feeling a little desperate after yesterday.)

 

[AngryOtto]

That was an issue I remember with Williams at Purdue. OL was good pass blocking but not really good run blocking. When you have a great qb it’s great not so much now.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

The issue IMO is that our OL isn't very good at run blocking. It would be one thing if we could open holes, and hand it off effectively -- but we can't do that. We could -- at least a little more effectively -- when teams were forced to D us up honestly to protect against the pass.

Now that they don't, they can key on taking the run away without worrying about getting burned by the pass.

OL needs to be better.

Speaking of which, how do people think Josh Miller did subbing for Collins?

When you cannot run on FCS teams, IMO that isn’t a talent issue.

Last year in FBS games we were tied for 123rd in YPC. That wasn’t a Sacks issue either as we were 63rd.

This year we are 131st in YPC. There is no way IMO that is all talent the kart two seasons. We have enough to be a Top 100 rushing attack.