The offense…

[Jake]

It’s borderline ridiculous to me how quickly and efficiently Nixon has installed this highly complex offense.

New QB, new receivers, new linemen..and a whole new offense.

The variety of plays off his base formations is really impressive. It’s not just McCord that’s playing at a high level. It’s the entire unit.

It looks like this unit has been playing together For 4 years..

So now think about this…we’re 2 games into a whole new system and we haven’t burned a time out because of incorrect personnel. Haven’t had a false start and haven’t put the ball on the ground.

The first play of the Doug Marrone era we snapped the ball 5 feet over the QBs head. And he put together a pretty damn good offense…in year 3.

 

[upperdeck]

The design of the plays has been fun to watch

We have decent WRs outside and 2 guys who run from the slot/TE that are hard for the teams 3-4th best DB and LBs to handle.

Then when teams play off that he has hit them with the RBs out wide and a couple well thought screens

Still waiting on deep balls to be hit.

 

[SU91]

Yeah, Nixon has been my MVP. Quite remarkable as you say. There’s no doubt McCord has helped immensely as I don’t think this engine would be running anything close to what it is without him behind center. However, as you mentioned, the entire unit is functioning at a fairly high level, not just the QB.

Can they get even better this year? Can they still protect McCord when the pressure is turned up by better teams (GT does not have a great pass rush)? That would put the team in rarified air.

 

[SU91]

I’m also curious how they might integrate Ross-Simmons into the offense and what impact that could have.

 

[David321]

On one of Pena's TDs he was running a wheel route while two other receivers right next to him ran a go route and hook route. McCord threw it exactly where it needed to be even before Pena got there. It looked like an NFL offense.

 

[GoSU96]

Want at least two more years of this. Without a 4th yr film rat qb that is great presnap, this doesn’t work as well.

Nixon has done a great job.

The challenge will be playing a team that can bring early pressure with just four.

 

[SUFan44]

Want at least two more years of this. Without a 4th yr film rat qb that is great presnap, this doesn’t work as well.

Nixon has done a great job.

The challenge will be playing a team that can bring early pressure with just four.

At the college level, unless you’re in the SEC, that’s rare.

 

[richmondcuse03]

Want at least two more years of this. Without a 4th yr film rat qb that is great presnap, this doesn’t work as well.

Nixon has done a great job.

The challenge will be playing a team that can bring early pressure with just four.

The two work together perfectly. It’s a great advertisement for our next qb - you’re a film rat that wants to get to the nfl? We have the OC for you.

Nixon trusts Kyle a lot and lets him adjust.

 

[texascpa]

One thing to keep in perspective is the number of Juniors and Seniors we have starting. These guys have played a lot of ball and you would expect have the football acumen to be able to adjust well.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

One thing to keep in perspective is the number of Juniors and Seniors we have starting. These guys have played a lot of ball and you would expect have the football acumen to be able to adjust well.

We’d been fed a line for years that experienced proven OL were impossible to find and everyone else was after them.

I think we probably have a couple legit starters behind our first 5 like Wolabaugh.

 

[PhatOrange]

Want at least two more years of this. Without a 4th yr film rat qb that is great presnap, this doesn’t work as well.

Nixon has done a great job.

The challenge will be playing a team that can bring early pressure with just four.

Hard to see a team on the schedule that’s going to get pressure with just 4.

 

[sutomcat]

Hard to see a team on the schedule that’s going to get pressure with just 4.

Miami. VT had a great pass rush last year. Pitt usually has a couple really good DEs. Not sure if any are left.

Maybe NC State will get their act together.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

Miami. VT had a great pass rush last year. Pitt usually has a couple really good DEs. Not sure if any are left.

Maybe NC State will get their act together.

What is wrong with NC State? Their Oline and dline are completely inept.
Miami looks good right now. Both lines are strong and Cam Ward is for real. Can you imagine the Dome against Miami? Might be an ACC semifinal game.

 

[JRHEETER]

Nixon has been beyond impressive.

What really impressed me was that 3rd and 1 qb sneak/run they tried that got stopped.

No one knew it but in his head we were going for on it 4th down if we didn’t make it.

We got stopped short, he ran the same exact formation and play on 4th down. GT saw it and recognized it.

Only problem was, they had thrown a wrinkle in it and it was an option play. GT never bothered to cover Lequint and McCord pitched off to him and he was off to the races.

A brilliant sequence of plays and a great move of deception of setting up plays for the future.

Extremely excited about where this offense can go

 

[PhatOrange]

Miami. VT had a great pass rush last year. Pitt usually has a couple really good DEs. Not sure if any are left.

Maybe NC State will get their act together.

Miami is it and they’re the last team on the schedule. Everyone is going to have to blitz from multiple locations to speed McCord up and that’s going to be dangerous. Nixon has proven he will call plays to mitigate this.

 

[sutomcat]

What is wrong with NC State? Their Oline and dline are completely inept.
Miami looks good right now. Both lines are strong and Cam Ward is for real. Can you imagine the Dome against Miami? Might be an ACC semifinal game.

Robert Anae has to be feeling some pressure. He is making big bucks, has been gifted with two highly rated QBs to work with from the portal the past two years (Brennan Armstrong and now Grayson McCall) and has not gotten good results.

Those UVa fans who loved Beck and hated Anae might have been dead on.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

On one of Pena's TDs he was running a wheel route while two other receivers right next to him ran a go route and hook route. McCord threw it exactly where it needed to be even before Pena got there. It looked like an NFL offense.

If it’s the play I am thinking of (right corner) you can see Meeks signaling touchdown as the pass is being thrown. He knew it was money. That shows a deep understanding of personnel and coverages.

 

[Dinkyspond]

We’d been fed a line for years that experienced proven OL were impossible to find and everyone else was after them.

I think we probably have a couple legit starters behind our first 5 like Wolabaugh.

Enrique Cruz was a starter last year but is second team right now. Wohlabaugh, before he got hurt, was a starter too last year, and is second team too. Fran upgraded the Oline with Spoon and Washington. Tells you something right there.

 

[upperdeck]

On one of Pena's TDs he was running a wheel route while two other receivers right next to him ran a go route and hook route. McCord threw it exactly where it needed to be even before Pena got there. It looked like an NFL offense.

if you had the all 22 view you would see how ridiculously early some of these throws are.

Go to the 2nd Pena end zone route and watch the replay. Meeks is running a route inside of him, He sees the throw go up and starts to celebrate before he even turns around. Like the knew what was gonna happen with the defense.

 

[swish7]

It’s borderline ridiculous to me how quickly and efficiently Nixon has installed this highly complex offense.

New QB, new receivers, new linemen..and a whole new offense.

The variety of plays off his base formations is really impressive. It’s not just McCord that’s playing at a high level. It’s the entire unit.

It looks like this unit has been playing together For 4 years..

So now think about this…we’re 2 games into a whole new system and we haven’t burned a time out because of incorrect personnel. Haven’t had a false start and haven’t put the ball on the ground.

The first play of the Doug Marrone era we snapped the ball 5 feet over the QBs head. And he put together a pretty damn good offense…in year 3.

Honestly, the lack of mistakes is as stunning to me as the quantity of touchdowns.

The D & A in DART.

Love it. Huge change from prior regimes.

 

[OmahaCuse]

One thing to keep in perspective is the number of Juniors and Seniors we have starting. These guys have played a lot of ball and you would expect have the football acumen to be able to adjust well.

Thats huge and returning the inside of the O-LIne, Allen, Mang, Villari, OG, Hatcher. Plug in a great QB and boom. like the new OTs but we would have been ok with Cruz and Mang also…QB is really it.

 

[NKR1978]

It’s borderline ridiculous to me how quickly and efficiently Nixon has installed this highly complex offense.

New QB, new receivers, new linemen..and a whole new offense.

The variety of plays off his base formations is really impressive. It’s not just McCord that’s playing at a high level. It’s the entire unit.

It looks like this unit has been playing together For 4 years..

So now think about this…we’re 2 games into a whole new system and we haven’t burned a time out because of incorrect personnel. Haven’t had a false start and haven’t put the ball on the ground.

The first play of the Doug Marrone era we snapped the ball 5 feet over the QBs head. And he put together a pretty damn good offense…in year 3.

I was cautiously optimistic with the Nixon hire. I trusted Fran and that trust goes a long way, but I was nervous about all these position coaches in HC and coordinator roles. And our last NFL position coach to OC was a disaster. But other than his first series when I got flashes of Marrone's debut against Minnesota, he's been nearly perfect. Helps when you have the talent on offense we do, but his play calling and timing is so good. And we've never looked disorganized or confused on offense in the two games.

This staff is going to be looked at very fondly in the future.

 

[sandman525]

I was cautiously optimistic with the Nixon hire. I trusted Fran and that trust goes a long way, but I was nervous about all these position coaches in HC and coordinator roles. And our last NFL position coach to OC was a disaster. But other than his first series when I got flashes of Marrone's debut against Minnesota, he's been nearly perfect. Helps when you have the talent on offense we do, but his play calling and timing is so good. And we've never looked disorganized or confused on offense in the two games.

This staff is going to be looked at very fondly in the future.

Nixon was most recently a RBs coach but don't forget his years of experience at Baylor as co-OC and playcaller.

"Nixon joined the Panthers after a three-year stint as Baylor's co-Offensive Coordinator and play caller. In 2019, the Bears finished with an 11-win season, an appearance in the Big XII Championship game and Allstate Sugar Bowl. While running the offense, the unit averaged 431.2 yards per game and ranked 17th nationally in scoring offense (35.2 points per game)"

 

[Chip]

Miami. VT had a great pass rush last year. Pitt usually has a couple really good DEs. Not sure if any are left.

Maybe NC State will get their act together.

The players would never want to hear this, but I think the OL was either sleepwalking a bit thru that VT game last year or they were just so intimidated early that it just carried through the game.

I don't expect to see anything like that in the Dome for this year's game.

 

[billsin01]

Yeah, Nixon has been my MVP. Quite remarkable as you say. There’s no doubt McCord has helped immensely as I don’t think this engine would be running anything close to what it is without him behind center. However, as you mentioned, the entire unit is functioning at a fairly high level, not just the QB.

Can they get even better this year? Can they still protect McCord when the pressure is turned up by better teams (GT does not have a great pass rush)? That would put the team in rarified air.

I think this is the big question. McCord has looked really, really good thus far but we've done a nice job keeping him clean. Can we do that as the competition ramps up? If he does face more pressure, how does he handle it? It'll be interesting to watch but obviously super encouraging so far.