Thoughts

[Coach MC]

I needed a few days to really process what I saw Saturday. Like most others, I knew what was inevitably going to happen as soon as the collapse started. Wasn't sure how we were going to give the game away, but I knew somehow we would. All the momentum belonged to ULM over the last six minutes or so. Really disappointing loss to a team that will be lucky to win 4 games.

Valiant effort by the defense for most of the game, in fact they were the only reason we were in said game. They can be excused for faltering late. It was close to 100 degrees on that field with humidity to boot. They just ran out of gas. Our secondary will be a strength this year. But it did highlight a couple issues we have going back to last year. One is the inability of the defensive front to remain stout vs inside runs. We are undersized or outmanned on the line of scrimmage, and if the run fits of our linebackers are wrong, we give up the big play. We also have very little pass rush, and the inability to move QBs off their platform is really going to hurt later in the schedule when we face the Grayson McCall's and Frank Harris's.

Offensively, I'm continually at a loss to explain what we are trying to do. I'm assuming we wanted to find a way to continue running the ball without having the QB under center. Fair enough. But it doesn't matter where the QB/C mesh point is. Our offense has been and continues to be predictable and boring, which is okay until defenses that are strong enough to eliminate the inside run and fast enough to defend the perimeter game take away what we want to do. It's almost humorous that we continue to run QB power and RB up the middle and off tackle, just out of a different set now. There was no hint of triple option Saturday. We ran jet sweep to Marshall once with great results, and never went to it again. The passing game seems like it will be predicated on slants, crossers, and stick routes. We were promised quick screens as an extension of the run game, but I don't remember seeing any of that or any deep shots. I would assume they were trying to keep it simple in game 1, but then why on that successful first drive, force the pass rather than see what we could get on the ground and worst case kick a field goal to get on the board early. I didn't love the play calling throughout the evening to be honest. 5 turnovers will doom any team, especially one that needs perfect execution to win like we do. But JM alluded to issues with ball security when discussing the scrimmages.

The success of our offensive coordinator from what I could gather was based on a really dynamic QB who could carry an offense at times. Really great QBs can carry any offense. When we had Bradshaw under center, we would have been fine regardless of the alignment. Interested to see now how they will diversify what we do. I'm sure they will experiment with much more of the playbook vs Delaware State. I also think an issue is that we continually recruit undersized QB's who really seem like glorified slotbacks under center. Daily is a decent sized kid and I think there is a 6'2 freshman, but we probably have close to 10 similar sized QBs on the overall roster. In this offense, might be time to recruit some bigger QBs with live arms who can run with authority and have the size to throw over the defensive front. I also think this new offense will relegate Buchanan and Riley to window dressing in the game plan. I only saw Riley in on a handful of snaps early. There seems to be no role for them other than short yardage and goal line, and it looks like Reed and Stewart will be the go to backs. For what it's worth, I think our freshman center is going to be very good. The moment wasn't too big for him. His snaps seemed consistent, he moved around well, and think I even saw him dive on a fumble.

I agree with P & D. One of my thoughts during the game was why we haven't really looked at what Air Force does offensively. Each year, they are consistently one of the most effective offenses in the country no matter the personnel. They run a version of the flexbone, but often break it and work out of one and two back sets. Most of the work is done with the QB under center. Teams know what they are going to do, but can't stop it. The way they play offensively would seem to be a natural progression if we wanted to change things up. Perhaps it is our intense dislike for them that prevents emulating their approach, who knows. I really thought our new offense would have a two back base set, and function kind of like the old Bill Yeoman veer teams at the U of Houston many years ago. That was a triple option of sorts, with a dive back and a QB on the perimeter with the option of keeping and turning it up or pitching to a trail back depending on whether the DE or OLB crashed down or played the pitch back.

All things being said, we really need to continue to upgrade our recruiting. The college game is now so much about athleticism, strength, and maturity these days. And the transfer portal, extra years, and NIL's have us playing against guys that should have been out of school two years ago. We need to recruit kids that are ahead of the curve athletically and are not projections physically down the line. We have what seems like close to 200 kids in the program, and we really need to bring in some dual threat QBs with size and big athletic kids for both lines, especially defensively.

We put ourselves in a bad spot with that loss. Hate to view the first game as a must win, but that's kind of what it was. The schedule is a meat grinder, and there could be some real tough moments this year. It will all depend on the swing games like UTSA, BC, Troy, UMass, Air Force, Coastal, Navy. The coaching staff will have their work cut out for them putting these kids in a position to win each week and making sure they focus on one game at a time. I don't think all is lost, but this ain't going to be easy. We have a team that plays so hard, the defense is feisty and opportunistic, and I'm assuming this offense has to get better. But it may not be reflected this year in the overall record. One game at a time. On to Delaware State on CBS.

[PrideandDream]

I appreciate these thoughts and obviously an in line.

I really wish when we got into the red zone we just went straight under center and put Buchanan in and just pounded away. Maybe this new system is ok between the 30 yard lines but when we get in range we need to grind it out and put the ball in the end zone. Hell I'd at least give them credit for some kind of red zone change but alas we kept in the same formation.

PD

[hrm]

... we really need to bring in some dual threat QBs with size....

I also agree with Coach MC's astute observations and want to echo one of his key suggestions (above). For years I've been harping that it's simply inexcusable that we can't land dual-threat QBs big enough to absorb hits. Until we pose a credible pass threat, defenses will continue to load the box and degrade our run attack. This isn't rocket-science.