Recruiting

[billsin01]

I think WVU did zone blocking those years with Slaton (i could be wrong I will ask my boss since he is a die hard WVU guy) and that allows your offensive line to get a little more depth down field and open lanes. We don't do that and the offensive line's push is a big thing when facing a 8 man front and I think that had a lot to do with it. In fairness I think we are short in talent in a lot of areas and it really hurts the play calling but if you know that going into the season I think it then falls on the staff to find a system that fits the players. I hate the veer option but if our line can't get a push it might be the way to go.

They definitely zone blocked under trickett. I think that's his calling card. Good running teams face 8-man fronts quite often though. It's conventional wisdom to pass vs. this front but good running teams simply continue to run the ball.

 

[billsin01]

Well my argument regardless for Bailey remains the same he did not have the typical fronts most backs face each game. If you look at each SU game the box was loaded the entire time. It's hard for a running back (unless in high school since the talent is watered down) to excel in an 8 man defensive front all loaded in the box. Line play was okay at best had zero push all season and the opposing defense played gap techniques on us up front really limiting holes for Bailey. I think he was under rated this season going over a 1,000 with the things that he had to face was a nice achievement despite the other rushers in the NCAA numbers. I guess what got me ticked was people using the running game as an excuse for Nassib. The running game has zero percent to do with him missing that many deep balls. To me it’s the other way around Nassib’s lack of stretching the field punished our running game.

Yup, Bailey had a nice year. I liked him. I'm with you on that. Nassib's struggles on deep balls were an issue as well. No question. I still think a lot of this stuff is what I'd consider symptoms of the greater problem -- the system. We'll see. I know there are talent deficiencies and I keep hearing that those deficiencies limit play-calling, etc. But I still say you need to get a system and run it -- how do you recruit a kid telling him, "trust me, when you're here the offense will be completely different!" At some point they need to move the ball more consistently. That much is simple.

 

[NovaOrange]

They definitely zone blocked under trickett. I think that's his calling card. Good running teams face 8-man fronts quite often though. It's conventional wisdom to pass vs. this front but good running teams simply continue to run the ball.

Trickett was my coach at Glenville state before he went big time just thought I would add that to or nice lengthy discussion lol

 

[OrangeMojo]

He's merely saying that the 1,000-yard back thing isn't really a viable measuring stick of the running game unless it's b/c you have 2 1,00-yard backs. He's not saying you need to have two 1,000-yard backs to have a good running game. I honestly don't think he was saying the measuring stick has moved from 1000 yard back to two 1000-yard backs.

bingo - simply stating that you can't point to a 1000 yard rusher as proof that you have a credible rushing attack as it's easily reached if you are a featured back over a 12 game season. The point was that the only way having 1000 yards is overly impressive in this day and age is if there's another back on the roster with similar numbers (would mean you didn't dominate the carries and the team was likely good at running the ball based on the combined totals). One 1000 yard rusher and a bunch of backs with almost no yards = bad rushing attack.

 

[DeepThrowIt]

I think WVU did zone blocking those years with Slaton (i could be wrong I will ask my boss since he is a die hard WVU guy) and that allows your offensive line to get a little more depth down field and open lanes. We don't do that and the offensive line's push is a big thing when facing a 8 man front and I think that had a lot to do with it..

Syracuse most certainly does zone block. Zone blocking is the norm in a pro offense.

 

[NovaOrange]

Syracuse most certainly does zone block. Zone blocking is the norm in a pro offense.

Your correct on that they just don't do it very well I am just upset with the line play overall I thought it would be much better with who we have on staff. As for being the norm in a pro offense it depends which type of pro set your running I went over a ton of it at the Glazier coaching clinic in AC last month. Anyways I think we can agree on there is so many different types of zone blocking and I understand they might not be able to do the more complicated stuff since they are limited with the players they have. I guess overall I am a little frustrated with the play of the QB/O-line and schemes we have going into games.