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I assume you all know this but let's state it for what it is....ULM isn't a good football team. This is a historically bad program that has 2 winning seasons in the last 43 years. We beat ULM last year 48-24 with that crappy old offense everyone complained about. And with no turnovers and almost 500 yards in total offense.

That is my issue with the new offensive scheme. I have no doubt we will get better. I'm sure we can recruit different players over time, assuming we can win and make bowl games, I know you don't master a system in one off season.

But I keep coming back to the fact that ULM isn't good. And we looked bad. And it was in line with comments from Monken post scrimmages, and the few clips I had seen on twitter alluded to this being bad.

So my concern becomes what happens when we play a good team? Good teams likely won't spot us 10 points defensively. Really good teams will dismantle this scheme.

Remember, we had the advantage of ULM really having no footage or film. What happens then? Let's be clear we are gonna play a horrid Delaware State team, which as a side note I'm not in favor of ever playing an HBCU, and then it's UTSA, Syracuse, Boston College, Troy, LSU. Guys we are staring 1-6 in the face then maybe we catch a break vs UMASS and then to Air Force.

So here's the deal. Early season momentum matters and frankly as losses mount there becomes less and less to play for and less and less buy in. Seniors are moving out the door and underclassmen will lose confidence in the coaching. Our staff is potentially going to be in the position that they have to try to sell the change in scheme as necessary and the kids are gonna know the results on the field have potentially made them less competitive. And that my friends is a really bad spot to be in.

Look I hope I'm wrong and something magical happens. Maybe. But I've seen enough football in my life to know how this goes. Good teams win the games they should. They dominate teams that are bad. They are highly competitive when overmatched. Even with new players and new systems. Those things happen all the time. We put in a new defensive scheme with Nate Woody. The difference was immediate. We've turned over different position coaches and continued on. But yet somehow we just had to change scheme.

I'll be interested to see how Air Force does this year and how they've changed. But make no mistake we are going to see a tale of two cities when we get to the first CIC game. And that may be when we realize how either great of off beat this whole thing is.

In the mean time BEAT Delaware State!

PD

It’s hard to argue with the evidence. At the start of the second half we started to move the ball a bit (but still could not score in the red zone) and I had some hope. Then the last 6 minutes flushed that down the toilet.

The effectiveness of the new offense is a significant concern, but the lack of discipline and complete collapse worries me even more. Too many penalties, too many turnovers and too many big plays allowed. I am not used to seeing that from an Army team under JM.

I am not sure how any football fan can look at last year's Air force game, which was the ugliest bunch of ugliness I have seen in my lifetime, and then say "oh we need to keep everything exactly the same."

Do you think Monken is dumb? I mean, seriously. Do you think he is dumb? Cause I think he is probably one of the top 5-10 coaches in college football. And I don't think he goes down this path with the Nebraska guy and Drinkall unless he thinks it is going to work.

Its one (awful) game (against a bad opponent) and you want to just give it all up and call it a huge loss. Me? I'd rather not see Tyler running 19 quarterbacks draws for 2 yards a pop.

We had to do something. We did it. Now we have to give it time to work. And I think that means 2023 is going to be very ugly.

I don't think Monken is dumb. I do think he wants out of West Point and a chance at a P5 job. And this was more about his way out than the need for change.

Fact: Brad Roberts lead the NCAA in rushing last year between the tackles. He wasn't top 25, he wasn't top 10, he was number 1 in rushing yards in all of NCAA FBS schools. That is the fullback at Air Force and they were under center 90% of the time. Brad Roberts is also significantly lighter than Buchanan and Riley and has the conditioning to run the ball 30 times in a game. He carried it 33 times against us for 135 on the ground. That game was won with the AF center, guards, and fullback.

If you want to bitch about the old offense bitch about the execution of it. That was very clear all year. And it was very clear between the tackles. Most people watch the game and watch the ball. Watch the O line. That tells the story of our offense the last couple of years. This whole thing about cut blocks on the perimeter is a farce and a cover to change the system and scheme. We didn't struggle against Navy last year because of cut block rules. Nor did we struggle against Air Force or Troy or GA State because of cut block rules. Or Coastal Carolina for that matter. Those teams weren't tremendously more talented than we were. We just didn't execute in all phases of the game the way we could.

And if we are changing the scheme the minimum expectation would be not to have 5 turnovers. Even if we didn't execute well. But again it's not that I want to throw the whole thing out it's that we played a bad team and looked horrific. Monken knows this. Watch him in the post game presser. He's at a total loss and very different than other losses he's had.

I've said this all along, I'm happy to be wrong about this in the end. So maybe there's way more to this than I realize but for now we are 0-1 with a horrid showing offensively. And barring Del St we have the toughest 5 games stretch we've had in decades. So buckle up because if this thing doesn't catch hold fast it's about to get real bumpy and LSU is gonna have a field day with this.

PD

I agree with you that they shouldn’t have completely done away with the flexbone and that this new offense will ultimately not work. But it is a little too early for you to start taking victory laps.

It took Monken 2 full seasons to implement the type of offense he wanted when he took over for Ellerson and those were similar schemes. It’s pretty clear that they don’t have the personnel to run it properly. We don’t have the benefit of the transfer portal.

BTW on the subject of Air Force and Brad Roberts he had 345 carries last year and rushed for over 100 yards in 12 of 13 games and had 90 in the one game he didn't break 100. He had 299 carries in 2021 and had 5 100+ yard games. Air Force won 20 games between 21 and 22. In that same span we've had a fullback go over 100 yards in exactly 1 game. 1 game. Now that is because we have run Fullback by committee to some extent but it's also because we have traded athleticism for size. I would contend we've done so to offset losing the battle up front. The bottom line is this, the flex bone works but you have to commit to the fullback and the play between the guards. And if you don't then every other option is limited. In fact our fullbacks combined last year had about 230 carries which is 120 less than Roberts. Think about that. Rule changes haven't stopped AFA from running under center and heavy with the fullback and they are not changing this year. However we seem to believe there is some major shift happening that requires us to do it differently.

PD

The line may be weighing in at over300lb per man but that doesn't mean increased strength along with increased poundage.Wwe sure as hell did not control the line of scrimmage.

PD - Has Air Force run the flex bone exclusively the past few years? I know they are an option team; however. I remember watching them play at Army about 5 to 10 years ago. The quarterback was about 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage and was throwing to some very tall wideouts. Last year, I remember the color commentator stating that Air Force was also running straight power with one back in the backfield. They didn't seem to rely on cut blocks. Are we trying to move to an Air Force like scheme?

Air Force has done different things over the years but recently they have gone back to the Flexbone though they do use different formations. They are primarily under center.

Here is a link to the highlights from their game last week. You will see every play here is under center and with a traditional fullback. Sometimes with just one halfback and different receiver sets but still running the fullback and the QB power. In fact you can see the OL play where they down block on the front side of the play and cut off on the backside, FYI you can still cut block inside the tackle box.

Air Force vs Robert Morris 2023

Now if that doesn't appease you here is Air Force beating Baylor in the Armed Forces Bowl. They are in the traditional Flexbone all but one of these highlights and the one time they went with an empty set they still ran QB draw. They beat Baylor soundly in this game as a reminder. But you see more true flexbone looks in this highlight. But many times they break that standard formation but still stay under center with a fullback. They threw 7 passes in this game out of 74 plays.

2022 Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force vs Baylor

Hard to imagine that playing a P5 school like Baylor in a bowl game and they cut block rule wasn't a severe disadvantage.

Hmmmmm.....you guys say what you want but all this stinks to high heaven. We don't need to change scheme we need to recruit and execute!

Again I'll be happy to be wrong on this one for being early I'm just saying that the signs don't all add up and Saturday night left me entirely concerned given both the level of play and the opponent.

PD

PD - Thanks for the explanation