If last week was rock bottom (or Texas..pick your poison), then today was two steps forward, 3 steps back. I think we made a few positive things happen today and I'll discuss later, but offensively we are no threat to be explosive...ever...like EVER and defensively we are receding like my hairline about 5yrs ago 👴🏽. Gimme a break, I'm trying to keep it light in a season that has been heavy on pushing folk to the bottle or worse.
Lets jump into it
QB: jfa (I almost went back to capital JFA) played hard and gives us hope that he can be who we want him to be. He made some nice throws. Some nice runs and made some solid decisions. You almost have to start all over again in terms of his development and because of that (and a horrific oline) you have to give him grace. I will critique and say he holds the ball and doesn't throw wrs open over the middle of the field. It is a skill he can develop...especially if he gets true qb coach help. I appreciated the effort. He still has his warts, but he did some quality things for us.
GRADE: 76
RBs: not quite crow, but 2 played his best game since..maybe forever. He actually made some nice cuts and got in and out of some trash. He was a threat in the pass game (they ran 6 f option quite a bit) and all around was one of our biggest threats today. That version of 2 is what we need. I'll sing his praises every week if he plays as such. 8 came in and fumbled again. After the fumble it felt like he was being timid. At this point I'd like to see more of 0 or 20 if 8 is going to run scared. He's talented but we are a team who needs production. I will say, today looked like the first game I've seen in yrs where there was a clear rotation at rb. That's something 🤷🏽♂️. GRADE: 77
OLINE: Heres an interesting thought. When we were a threat to run or pass the oline was serviceable. When it was clear we needed to pass, they folded like a tent, an envelope, like my wife does laundry. It may have been worse in the 4th quarter today than the uSC game. They aren't very talented...gotit. we understand that, but to ask them to block dline units 5v4 or even 6v4 with a rb or te chip is bad coaching at this point. Turn a weakness into a strength and run draws, screens (to anyone other than 10..or 87) and shuttle passes. The absolute worse thing you can do with this unit is tell a tackle to block down and expect a pulling backside guard to protect the edge...on a slow developing play no doubt 🤦🏾♂️. If we go another game expecting our oline to pass off stunts correctly or block in pure drop back...its coaching. They can't do it vs SEC talent. We need to Maxx protect more and run 2 or 3 man routes in those scenarios. It absolutely could help. GRADE: FAIL
WRs/TEs: Any offense that is built around 10 and 88 is gonna struggle. There are some interesting things to consider about our current offense. It's clear the playcaller coaches TEs...lol. 10 Is not good enough to be the feature. Also 88s role should not be featured wr...lol. Here's my gripe. Only 1 catch to a wr not numbered 88 and 10 is by far and away the most featured offensive weapon and he was thrown multiple screens. The EASIEST catches to que up are screens and sit routes. I'll get to scheme in a sec, but most of both players catches are easily put into another players hand simply by putting them in on those plays. That said let's separate 88 from 10. 88 has earned everything he has coming, but when the game got tight OM simply manned him up and totally neutralized him..poor kid. They wouldn't do that if he was the 3 or 4 in a route concept. He was 1 or 2. Now 10? He's soft and mentally soft. He drops too many balls and has so many brain farts..we've got to have another option. Aside from 13 and 15 idk if another wr had a ball go their way. Maybe 7 once or twice. One other thing..in cuts routes are all anticipation. The qb places the ball where they want the wr to end up. Jackson has to improve there. He only seems to make the throw if it's clearly open...in a clean pocket. GRADE: 68
SCHEME: The 1st half was impressive. Nice mix of run, qb run, attacking the edge, short passes and imagination. I admit, I liked it. Then Ole Miss went to a wide 9 and 2i front in the second half with one backer spying jfa in the second half and they shut everything down. JJF didn't help when we stopped running fhe football. I'll never understand eleventeen TE screens vs wr screens or the idea of a draw, or middle screen for inside pressure. However, i saw JJF run some real Leach principles, especially in the 1st half. We ran "spot" called ( 8 or 618) a few times and hit 10 on sit routes. We also spread the defense out and ran all 6 routes (leach's go routes is a 6 🤷🏽♂️) and allowed the te and rb to run option routes. I like it. There are plenty times when defenses turn and run and that little wrinkle was a welcomed addition.
JJF absolutely took the baton and did some good things with it today, but was it enough. He kinda peed down his leg in the second half. Ole Miss turned the game into our oline vs their dline and we never did anything to get them out of it. If you watch the second half...their wide 9 got wider and wider and wider. Anything underneath their DEs up on to the backers was WIDE open and any draw or shuttle was wide open. It'll be interesting to see how he builds upon today. Hey...at least I got to watch x's and o's today. GRADE: 68...EHHH 70
DLINE: 65 is really good. Like really good. Kid is all over the field and constantly disrupting other teams. I have a lot of respect for our guys on that front. Between 56 and 95 and 52 they hold up. And 30, 32, 40..they play hard AND they get held. There's clearly a higher level as we've all seen the past 2wks. But i have no issues with our crew. We get better players and this group will only improve. GRADE: 82
BACKERS: 10 is officially our best backer again. 28 is boom or bust and still solid but his angles and tackling leaves a lot to be desired. The other backers seem to not really be locked in. 11 is around the ball but not really pulling the trigger. We have to include 1, 24 and 5 into this group. I love what we're doing with 1 and 24, but 5 needs to sit. He doesn't help in the pass defense and isn't physical in any way. I think we rotate too much. Guys don't a feel for the game. 10 and 28 are playing well but the depth, not so much. Ohhhh....my biggest gripe is expecting backers to read RPO and also zone up in pass coverage. Nearly impossible. Its why we get murdered in any type of action with incuts or under routes. GRADE: 75
DBs: it's bad. They're the oline of the defense. It's time to scrap the match up zone. And if they're going to run it, it has to look like hard man presnap. Floating in no man's land presnap is no good. The zone doesn't work if wrs run right by us with no reroute. Safeties cover entirely too much grass. We never really drive on in cuts or undercut deep crosses. We're generally the guy making the tackle after the damage is done. A lot of people watch us get beat and think it's man, but most often it isnt (doesn't matter tho as the matchup zone means the guy is generally their "man"). If you ask me...we need to create havoc. Our offense needs it. I'd play much more pressure..especially on passing downs and live and die by a sword that creates pressure and turn overs. Our dbs haven't held up, mainly cbs (the pup still does a good job) and we die a slow death every week. ALSO....where's 19? He looked good in September and clearly isnt playing offense. GRADE: FAIL
SCHEME: I think we are better than the results on the field. Aside from the cb position and really just 1 cb spot, we are competently talented in most other areas. Part of me understands why they play bend but don't break. A couple early big plays and we're in extreme trouble. However, i think our defense is regressing because they're playing not to lose instead of using a unit that could bring a lot more pressure and playing more true "that's my man and I got him". Our LBs are good enough to play in space. Gimme more Cover 4 zone blitz (easily disguised as man) and true 1 man with qbs having to speed up their clock and the potential for more explosive plays. We aren't sound enough (or physical) on defense to play off and constant zone. GRADE: 64
FINAL THGT: Coaches are playing for their lives. Last time OU had a losing season the HBC got fired. Granted..he lost 3yrs in a row, but our offense leaves a lot to be desired. Our offense got a little better today, but we have a long way to go. Jfa improved, but also has a long way to go (btw...his slides erk me when he could just fall forward and get 3 or 4 more yards). I'm excited to see who we get as our new OC. I'll continue to watch games for this season, but we're so bad and i do believe the product (and some coaches) will look much different next season. From here on out I'm going to key more into player effort and technique as i see some giving up and others playing hard. We'll see how the last 3 or 4 games play out.
I imagine 5-7 gets us into an early bowl game? Aside from Mizzou with a hurt qb...idk if i see a W on the schedule and expect Maine might be a lil more excited to play us..lol
Lastly...JJF didn't have the worst first interview for OC, but he didn't do anything to make anyone thinks he deserves it. If anything the qb coach made jfa look as good as he has all season.
Today told me more than ever that not only do we need an OC that can call plays, but one who brings cashe and, well...players. My search would start and end at the top of the SEC or a few other really good programs...namely Ohio State or Oregon or a few others. I cant think of 2 small time oc's who have come into the SEC and won. So the Texas States, UNLVs and Libertys of the world aren't it for me. If I'm Joe C a guy coming in with connections (maybe even a qb) and players is needed. It's literally a part of the game.
Coley initially came to mind, but aTm and LSU both have very functional offenses..and players. As does Penn State and a few others. BV is gonna have a ton of heat if the season ends the way we think it could. Shanny and IU may be the floor of the level of play caller we need (and I love his stuff). Anything below him is a failure in my book.
#Boomer
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