Lost in the play calling debate

[upperdeck]

would we feel so bad if all the td's that were there for the taking the last 3 weeks had actually happened. Much of play calling is execution. You only get so many chances for easy scores. Lewis who has played well could have had 4 alone. AB dropped one, Estime was overthrown. 2 td's called back. missed fg's and extra points.

You dont even have to change the calls and we could have easily won all 3 games. Play calling probably caused some of it but play execution is causing most of it. The wheel routes have been there, the deep balls have been open, the trick play worked/dropped. Hunt being dinged took away30% of the plays we really want to run.

really watching Hunt make mistake after mistake hurts the offense. more than the calls, and when you add in poor run blocking things start to cascade. All the mistakes and we should have been leading going into the 4th instead we are 2 scores down.

Fix the oline mistakes and then worry about the plays.

 

[Full_Rebar]

I think you need to slow down with the "could have easily won all 3 games" talk. Games could have been different for sure-especially the L'ville game as their offense was brutal, but ND had plenty of their own self-inflicted wounds and Maryland just seemed to want to the 2nd half to end as quickly as possible.

The play calling is bad. Maybe problems with execution are because the players aren't confident that the play will work because it's requiring too much thinking?

Go read this profile on Hal Mumme- http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/11547946/why-nick-saban-college-football-afraid-hal-mumme and check this:

.. He believed artistry would emerge naturally from the simplicity, not the complexity, of his playbook. "There are a ton of great ideas," Mumme says. "And as a coach, you spend all your time thinking about them. But kids? They're thinking about three things, and I promise you none of them are football."

 

[PhatOrange]

you understand its not all about play calling right?

 

[Doctor44]

I think that McDonald's playcalling has been better the last few weeks. He has cut way down on the bubble screens and RB screen passes. That said, he still needs to call plays we can execute. Hunt can complete a deep pass every now and then, but I don't trust him to do that consistently.

He needs to keep us on schedule - 3-4 yards a play. It doesn't help with the false starts and the holding calls that put us back. But he should be looking at plays that move forward quickly and have a high percentage chance of at least gaining 3 yards - as opposed to backwards swing passes. That's why I really like the zone read offense. Off tackle hand off, fake hand off QB keep, and a short TE pass or slant for the first down.

Part of being the OC is more than play calling. It's coaching kids to be able to execute. I don't think that "Well, we called a good game, but didn't execute" is an excuse. The kids need to be pushed harder and coached better to execute - How to read the defense, who to block in which direction, the spacing between QB and RB on options, developing confidence making plays in pressure situations.

 

[Full_Rebar]

Who me? I get it. I also remember Marrone/Hackett simplifying the playbook as they went into 2012 and how certain games they called things over and over (the WVU game where Provo was featured is a great example). College players don't have the time to digest the complex offenses. I fully agree with Mumme's thought simple is sometimes better. In that article he talks about calling one play 53 times in a game- just using different formations/personnel.

 

[sufandu]

For me it's not just playcalling. It's that players don't seem to know what they're doing. I just don't think they're being coached well on a daily basis. The offense looks dysfunctional far too often. Dare I say, it looks Robinsonian.

 

[DPCuse]

Maybe we should have huddled more to slow things down. Seems like everything was rushed. And when Hunt ran the ball, it seemed like he needed time to catch his breathe.