Is Lester 100% going to be our OC next year?

[PhatOrange]

7 points in each of last two games.

Maine scored more than we did against BC. FIU - 4-8 in the Sun Belt - scored 25 against Pitt.

We had 128 total offensive yards against BC. We had 255 against Pitt. And 224 vs. Duke. The BC game was the 25th-worst offensive game against an FBS team this year - this includes against FCS teams. That is mind-numbingly bad.

Even with injuries, these numbers are off the charts.

I understand all that. The offense made my eyes bleed at the end of the season - but I don’t believe Urban Meyer could’ve done much better under the same circumstances. I’ll reserve judgment when Lester has a full complement of players.

There are some things I hate – namely our use of the run game and it’s design and the use of personnel. I’m pissed we’ve gotten away from establishing (or having) a solid run game. when we couldn’t run we were dead on arrival.

looking at things realistically, I can’t fault Lester yet for missing 3 of the team’s best offensive players – Hunt, Estime and Broyld – a woefully depleted line and a true frosh QB. When you’re moving backup guards to tackle and inserting freshman at guard (or tackle) and playing 1 legged vets nothing good is going to happen.

When a team gets down to the 4th string QB and ends up resorting to the runt true freshman (I think he’s smaller than Nunes) behind the depleted line nothing good is going to happen.

So a few short side option runs aside I think (hope) a lot of the play calling was simply predicated on what we had or didn’t have. I don’t know yet but I’ll reserve judgment when I see what Lester does with a healthy team and a couple of months to prepare.

(you take the pressure off bad QBs by running the football – we couldn’t run to save our lives.) 1st staff change I’d make – TODAY – is firing the pop warner offensive line coach and hiring a varsity guy. the most ominous sign from the Nova game was how badly they blew up our starting offensive line. This was a good unit that had regressed from day 1)

 

[PhatOrange]

True but less than half the compensation of a HC.

I'd weep all the way to the bank making 500K

 

[supp]

Apparently there was an announcement that I missed that said that he was going to be the OC "moving forward." I'm not sure if "moving forward" meant "until the end of the season" (the announcement was made during the season), or if it meant "into next season" and would appreciate clarification.

If it means into next season, then why? Is it a funding thing, is it a misplaced loyalty thing, it is something else, or is it a combination of all of the above?

Shafer has shown on a number of occasions in recruiting and on gameday that what he says and what he does don't quite match up. Who knows? Maybe we're waiting to bring in a bunch of guys for Lester's offense and then we'll see him hire a new OC?

 

[orangeinjersey]

I understand all that. The offense made my eyes bleed at the end of the season - but I don’t believe Urban Meyer could’ve done much better under the same circumstances. I’ll reserve judgment when Lester has a full complement of players.

There are some things I hate – namely our use of the run game and it’s design and the use of personnel. I’m pissed we’ve gotten away from establishing (or having) a solid run game. when we couldn’t run we were dead on arrival.

looking at things realistically, I can’t fault Lester yet for missing 3 of the team’s best offensive players – Hunt, Estime and Broyld – a woefully depleted line and a true frosh QB. When you’re moving backup guards to tackle and inserting freshman at guard (or tackle) and playing 1 legged vets nothing good is going to happen.

When a team gets down to the 4th string QB and ends up resorting to the runt true freshman (I think he’s smaller than Nunes) behind the depleted line nothing good is going to happen.

So a few short side option runs aside I think (hope) a lot of the play calling was simply predicated on what we had or didn’t have. I don’t know yet but I’ll reserve judgment when I see what Lester does with a healthy team and a couple of months to prepare.

(you take the pressure off bad QBs by running the football – we couldn’t run to save our lives.) 1st staff change I’d make – TODAY – is firing the pop warner offensive line coach and hiring a varsity guy. the most ominous sign from the Nova game was how badly they blew up our starting offensive line. This was a good unit that had regressed from day 1)

Want to know why we dont win, that line I bolded right there. The line referencing our best player, who in 3 years has exactly ZERO receiving TD's.

One of our KEY players on the offenseive side of the ball, has never caught a TD in 3 years on the hill. That is a HUGE problem.

 

[nzm136]

Theres nothing wrong with Lester’s design. Does he occasionally get some things wrong (play calling) sure, but I’m also sure your engineer off the street might to. Lester has a proven track record, it’s too bad though he couldn’t have written a change order midseason and then went out and picked up 4 shiny new D10s from CAT to finish his project.

your analogy is dumb because Shafer isnt' running Parsons.

No he doesn't. This is the first BCS school that he has ever worked for...in any capacity. The only other FBS school that he worked for was Western Michigan as a QB coach. Other than that, he has spent his time bouncing around the D3 and HS ranks. Sure, he eventually made HC of a D3 program, but how great of an accomplishment is that really? In my mind, other than failing at Syracuse, the guy has no track record, let alone a "proven track record."

 

[PhatOrange]

Heres a question for the pro lester guys, if Lester is such a strong candisate, why wasnt he hired as the OC from the get go? It has only been 1.5 years, what has Lester shown, (that is quantifiable in our QB play) that he deserved a promotion.

I'm not exactly pro Lester I’m just taking a rationale stance. My theory on the original OC hiring? Shafer rolled the dice on the hot shot WR coach with the big recruiting reputation. He had to pry him away from a solid SEC job and he wasn’t going to get him here to coach WRs.

IMHO, MacDonald’s problem wasn’t the design, I think his problem was the execution. Things sure seemed to run a lot smoother once Lester took over - now he needs to regroup this offense and produce.

 

[PhatOrange]

Want to know why we dont win, that line I bolded right there. The line referencing our best player, who in 3 years has exactly ZERO receiving TD's.

One of our KEY players on the offenseive side of the ball, has never caught a TD in 3 years on the hill. That is a HUGE problem.

That’s true so they need to recruit more talent because talent is a huge issue (this season will only mark their second full class - based on the first class their doing a job of upgrading talent).

TD catches or not though, Broyld isn’t a take it to the house kid. He’s a kid who has NFL athletic ability for his size and makes people miss but his hands are shoddy.

In fairness to Broyld, he came in as a QB. 2 staffs have tried him as a RB, TE, HBack and WR; and to boot he largely missed his entire 3rd season.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

Great, next years excuses for abysmal offensive results is already being baked in...

"Guys, we are working with a 1st year OC!"
"Guys, this is the first year of installing a new offense!"
"Growing pains guys, give it some time, patience!"
"Guys, this is hunts first year with the new offense, its going to take time to complete 10 yard seams up the middle"

These excuses could all be used with a new hire as well.

 

[Crusty]

I have to say that I am disappointed that Lester was unable to install a few plays for the Red Zone that worked. Impoverishment there would gone a long way and might have won a couple of games. What we got was a trick play featuring a defensive lineman - really brilliant.

This is a team that he watched in practice for a year and a half and I would have thought he would have been able to come up with better than he did. I wasn't expecting a huge improvement but we seemed to get worse. I am very concerned.

 

[PhatOrange]

I have to say that I am disappointed that Lester was unable to install a few plays for the Red Zone that worked. Impoverishment there would gone a long way and might have won a couple of games. What we got was a trick play featuring a defensive lineman - really brilliant.

This is a team that he watched in practice for a year and a half and I would have thought he would have been able to come up with better than he did. I wasn't expecting a huge improvement but we seemed to get worse. I am very concerned.

how many redzone TD passes did Ben Lewis drop this year - 4? or how many did the team drop?

We must have lost around 10 red zone TD's due to drops or penalties this season.

 

[Crusty]

how many redzone TD passes did Ben Lewis drop this year - 4? or how many did the team drop?

We must have lost around 10 red zone TD's due to drops or penalties this season.

I think he dropped one - the lame duck on the reverse. He also made a fantastic catch.
Do you think other teams don't drop passes or have scores called back by penalties?

We were 125th out of 128th in the nation in RZ TD conversion %. Give me a break.

 

[PhatOrange]

Do you think other teams don't drop passes or have scores called back by penalties?

We were 125th out of 128th in the nation in RZ TD conversion %. Give me a break.

This year? One team? Nowhere near as many as we did and several changed the outcome of games.

conversion percentage based on how many attempts? what were the stats?

 

[orangeinjersey]

how many redzone TD passes did Ben Lewis drop this year - 4? or how many did the team drop?

We must have lost around 10 red zone TD's due to drops or penalties this season.

Everyteam drops TD passes and has them called back for penalties. I think we were almost last, so whatever factor we go up accounting for these dropped TD passes and penalties, every other team ALSO moves up for the same reason, resulting in us, still being almost last.

 

[Crusty]

This year? One team? Nowhere near as many as we did and several changed the outcome of games.

conversion percentage based on how many attempts? what were the stats?

SU was 125th out of 128 in RZ TD conversions - we converted 14 of 35 for 40% about 20 points lower than the middle of the ACC. BC and MD were about 20 points higher.
And yes, other teams dropped as many as we did. You can't put lipstick on this pig.