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jakeboldenbrp said:

Off the Board:

• Channah Gannon, 6'3" C from Coffee County HS (Manchester, TN)
  • #19 in TN, verbal commit to Southern Indiana

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This slipped under my nose last month. Manchester, TN native selects Southern Indiana amongst her 11 D1 offers. Another center off the board.

However we have another Yahtzee watch

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I get injuries limit how exotic a defense can be. We ran a lot more man considering the injuries.

I also know we can’t allow a QB to hit 90% of his throws with limited pressure. If we play like we did Saturday, we won’t win another game this year. We literally only stopped them 1 time and they dropped a TD pass on that drive (not counting the kneel at end of game).

Got try something different or heal injuries faster.

sWiley said:

A bit of semantics. The NFL has essentially stolen the offensive playbook from CFB and modified it a bit to include some traditional concepts. I'm sure when people are describing something as a "pro-style offense" they are doing so with a traditional connotation (I formation, under center, multiple TE's on the LOS, FB's, etc).

There's little to no difference these days with NFL and the majority of CFB Offenses. A few outliers sure but vast majority all run the same stuff. This is a huge factor that has allowed rookies to come in and be superstars across the board at all positions.

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Fair points.

one of the biggest difference between the two (that crosses all boundaries) is complexity. NFL teams carry A LOT more (traditionally)

Parker Hughes out again. Such a shame. I am eager for him to return he's one of the few things left on the team to enjoy at the moment. Mark my words when/if he comes back he will be all over the field making plays.

Two new corners starting this week. Looks like Raby lost his job and I guess the other is maybe injury? I saw some serious loafing in the secondary against WKU. We remain very weak at safety IMO which is crazy considering we were almost like a G5 Safety university for a while with Byard and Blankenship. Unfortunate. With the front 7's inability to put any pressure in the back field it's going to make anybody we put back there look bad. I still think Marvae Myers and Raby are our best corners, De'Arre should have stayed at safety like the previous staff had him in my opinion even if he is a more natural corner we are poverty at the safety position right now.

I just don't see this game going well. Mason talked about this defense not being able to set the edge and you better believe Duke is gonna exploit that, amongst many other things. It won't be as high scoring as previous games simply because that isn't Duke's style but they'll score more than enough to get an easy win.

When I see the roster moves Mason has made it's very clear to me he wants to be bigger at every position. Hopefully he understands that, at the G5 level, you can't have size and speed. You have to pick one. If he is intent on having good size at every position I believe we will continue to get smoked on the back end by any offense with a pulse. Only way this is gonna work is if we can generate crazy pressure in the backfield....and rushing 4 or maybe 5 every time with no creative blitzing isn't going to get that done. This defensive coordinator is gonna have to get more creative.

Mason should have retained Shafer in my opinion. Shafer is almost like a perfect candidate for a D-coordinator for a low level G5 like us. His defenses rarely got outschemed and almost always put our offenses in a decent position to win games. I don't care who he was feuding with within the athletic department, letting him go was a mistake.

AustinLewis said:

Let me be a little blunt.

I am pretty familiar with the origins of Brohm's offense. They watched NFL film when they were working on it. To be sure, there are some spread / AirRaid ideas in there (fwiw, there are AirRaid concepts in pro offenses and pro concepts in the AirRaid).

Modern NFL offense was in the gun 66% of the time in 2023.

And 24 of 32 NFL offenses (if I counted right) were in 11p 50% of the time or more in 2021 (the most recent I could find quickly)

The NFL / pro-style offense has changed dramatically in the last 15 years. Again, pro-style isn't just about having a FB and under center, but it's conceptual too.

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A bit of semantics. The NFL has essentially stolen the offensive playbook from CFB and modified it a bit to include some traditional concepts. I'm sure when people are describing something as a "pro-style offense" they are doing so with a traditional connotation (I formation, under center, multiple TE's on the LOS, FB's, etc).

There's little to no difference these days with NFL and the majority of CFB Offenses. A few outliers sure but vast majority all run the same stuff. This is a huge factor that has allowed rookies to come in and be superstars across the board at all positions.

DisgruntledAlum said:

You just know they will put Stockstill in the HOF at some point and a kick in the groin to all of us.

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I would not be surprised

MT01 said:

Brohm's offense is a modified Air Raid masquerading as a quasi pro-style or using some pro concepts (at best), but the preponderance of the offense isn't using pro concepts. You can call it that all day but at the end of the day, it's a version of the Air Raid.

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Let me be a little blunt.

I am pretty familiar with the origins of Brohm's offense. They watched NFL film when they were working on it. To be sure, there are some spread / AirRaid ideas in there (fwiw, there are AirRaid concepts in pro offenses and pro concepts in the AirRaid).

MT01 said:

Pro-style is generally going to use a full back and be under center more than shotgun. This is not Jeff Brohm's offense. Louisville and Purdue before that were 10 and 11 personnel in shotgun almost the entire game each week.

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Modern NFL offense was in the gun 66% of the time in 2023.

And 24 of 32 NFL offenses (if I counted right) were in 11p 50% of the time or more in 2021 (the most recent I could find quickly)

The NFL / pro-style offense has changed dramatically in the last 15 years. Again, pro-style isn't just about having a FB and under center, but it's conceptual too.

RaiderDoug said:

When you put up 500+ yards of offense, it's hard to say that the offense was THE problem. Yes, we stubbed our toe and didn't put the #'s on the scoreboard that the stats would indicate that we should have, but to be honest, watching that game I never felt that the offense was the limiting factor.

We need to fine tune on offense, clean and tighten it up, but it's not broken.

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Stats are for losers. WKU was playing off and giving us free underneath routes all second half. We racked up a free 50 yards before half time on a bogus play with 3 seconds left that never had any chance of scoring. We hit a few over the top of them too but that's because their secondary has been suspect at best this year. Blind squirrel finds a nut on occasion if you will.

Again, stats are for losers. It's always the losing team looking for silver linings with the box score. You can say we put up 500 yards but there is so much context and nuance in football. The offense failed and couldn't get it done when the chips were on the table. That's what matters. When the game was close we didn't do much, and it wasn't close for very long because of a total failure on defense and mostly failure on offense.

SpaceRaider said:

The Class of 2024 includes:

Jeff Beachum, baseball – Four-year starter at shortstop who started 223 of 225 career games. Three-time All-Sun Belt Conference. All-time hits leader in Sun Belt Conference history.

Marvin Collier, football – The 1985 Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year. He led the Blue Raiders to an 11-0 record and No. 1 national ranking in 1985. Ranked first for career total offense at the completion of his decorated career.

Kermit Davis, men's basketball – The all-time winningest coach in MTSU and Sun Belt Conference history with 332 wins. Led MTSU to one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history vs. Michigan State (2016) and followed that with an upset of fifth-seeded Minnesota (2017) to reach the Round of 32 in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history.

Jamari Lattimore, football – The 2010 Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Lattimore helped lead MTSU to consecutive bowl appearances and capped his career second all-time for sacks.

Ebony Rowe, women's basketball – Five-time All-American and the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Lady Raider history. Only MTSU player, male or female, to amass 2,000—plus points and 1,000-plus rebounds. Conference USA Female Athlete of the Year (2014).

2024 Hall of Fame Class to be inducted Sept. 20 - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Middle Tennessee Athletic Department has announced the Class of 2024 Blue Raider Hall of Fame inductees. The five new class members this

goblueraiders.com

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You just know they will put Stockstill in the HOF at some point and a kick in the groin to all of us.

Depth Chart for Duke can be found on Page 9 of the Duke Game Notes

MT's Depth Chart can be found on Page 11 of the MT Game Notes

The Class of 2024 includes:

Jeff Beachum, baseball – Four-year starter at shortstop who started 223 of 225 career games. Three-time All-Sun Belt Conference. All-time hits leader in Sun Belt Conference history.

Marvin Collier, football – The 1985 Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year. He led the Blue Raiders to an 11-0 record and No. 1 national ranking in 1985. Ranked first for career total offense at the completion of his decorated career.

Kermit Davis, men's basketball – The all-time winningest coach in MTSU and Sun Belt Conference history with 332 wins. Led MTSU to one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history vs. Michigan State (2016) and followed that with an upset of fifth-seeded Minnesota (2017) to reach the Round of 32 in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history.

Jamari Lattimore, football – The 2010 Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Lattimore helped lead MTSU to consecutive bowl appearances and capped his career second all-time for sacks.

Ebony Rowe, women's basketball – Five-time All-American and the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Lady Raider history. Only MTSU player, male or female, to amass 2,000—plus points and 1,000-plus rebounds. Conference USA Female Athlete of the Year (2014).

Brohm's offense is a modified Air Raid masquerading as a quasi pro-style or using some pro concepts (at best), but the preponderance of the offense isn't using pro concepts. You can call it that all day but at the end of the day, it's a version of the Air Raid.

Pro-style is generally going to use a full back and be under center more than shotgun. This is not Jeff Brohm's offense. Louisville and Purdue before that were 10 and 11 personnel in shotgun almost the entire game each week.

MT01 said:

You’re mixing terms. If you want to call what Brohm did “pro style” ok that’s fine. But he wasn’t lining up with two and three tight ends very often. Brohm used tight ends effectively but mostly by spreading everyone out and throwing the ball 70% of the time. That’s not what Mason is talking about doing here.

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FWIW, "pro-style" doesn't necessarily mean 2/3 TE packages.

And yes, Mason's offense - or what he wants the offense to be (as he talks about it) - is a bit concerning. I'm not sure you can win at MT running what Stanford (high use of 12 / 13 / 21 personnel) ran when Mason was DC. Even his buddy Harbaugh diversified & was a lot of in the last few years with more 11 personnel groups.

But again, it's also HOW you use the personnel. Do you see the TE as another run blocker or a chess piece.

MT01 said:

You’re mixing terms. If you want to call what Brohm did “pro style” ok that’s fine. But he wasn’t lining up with two and three tight ends very often. Brohm used tight ends effectively but mostly by spreading everyone out and throwing the ball 70% of the time. That’s not what Mason is talking about doing here.

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I don't think I am.

I'm not just dealing with personnel packages, but with concepts, formations, etc. The whole package.

And yes, the Brohm offense is pro-style (conceptually) with influences mixed in to create this hybrid attack.

AustinLewis said:

Other schools have successfully ran pro-style / pro-style hybrid offenses (WKU did with Brohm).

Recruiting the DUDES for the OL is hard.

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You’re mixing terms. If you want to call what Brohm did “pro style” ok that’s fine. But he wasn’t lining up with two and three tight ends very often. Brohm used tight ends effectively but mostly by spreading everyone out and throwing the ball 70% of the time. That’s not what Mason is talking about doing here.

MT01 said:

It also doesn’t work in G5 circles unless you’re Boise and can recruit men. There’s a bit of reality slapping folks in the face right now. I personally don’t see this style working here and have said that from the beginning. But unlike basketball where I 100% knew his style wouldn’t work here I’m only about 75% confident with the football situation, because there are more dynamics at play. That said, I also want to believe Mason is different and it’s not all just catchy one liners and win the media days. I want to believe there is substance behind his persona and that he can recruit and develop the type of people needed to match his philosophy, but that’s a)going to require recruiting unlike we’ve ever seen or been able to do here and b) definitely going to take time to figure out. Time we don’t really have. And that’s kind of the issue.

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Other schools have successfully ran pro-style / pro-style hybrid offenses (WKU did with Brohm).

Recruiting the DUDES for the OL is hard.

RaiderDoug said:

Just a thought - it's long been said that the way for talent deficient teams to win vs higher talent was to run those spread, high tempo, get guys in space and make things happen. The smaller programs and G5 have led the way there, but it's now pretty much the defacto offense even amongst the biggest teams - Tennessee, Bama, Ohio State, Oregon.

What if we're seeing the pendulum swing back? Controlling the clock, run the ball, keep it away from those offenses. Also, maybe you portal proof yourself a little bit - if you're successful with another system, maybe your players aren't looked at as a farm team by the bigger fish?

I'm not saying we're going back to 1985 pro-style, but it's not the worst idea in the world to zig when everyone else zags.

Yeah, might be playing 4D chess here, but it is an idea that popped up to me.

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I've wondered the same (with Titans & MT)...But I think you still need to be dynamic & explosive. It's just too hard to go on a 10 play, 75 yard drive in football.

You don't have to run the latest offense (veer and shoot), but you do need to find a way to be explosive / dynamic within the confines of a pro-style offense.

RaiderDoug said:

When you put up 500+ yards of offense, it's hard to say that the offense was THE problem. Yes, we stubbed our toe and didn't put the #'s on the scoreboard that the stats would indicate that we should have, but to be honest, watching that game I never felt that the offense was the limiting factor.

We need to fine tune on offense, clean and tighten it up, but it's not broken.

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Part of this is because it was pretty clear they just said F it at half time and they decided to call the plays that these guys are used to running. They still couldn’t run the ball. It was an acknowledgment that they can’t run what Mason wants to run right now. It will be interesting to see what they do rest of the way. I don’t know how much air raid stuff Bodie has in his playbook but that’s probably where they need to go for the remainder of this season if they want to have any chance at winning another game. Aside from better tackling I’m not sure what can be done with defense. We’re going to have to outscore opponents.