Concern was our supposed larger more athletic offensive line had about the same push into the defense as our line from last year. In other words the defense was in our backfield way too often, & that was only a fcs front. If rushing was 118 yards last week we may be lucky to get 50 this week. Better step up with passing game. Holden needs at least half a dozen touches. Proved his YAC ability all year long in 2023.
FOOTBALL Tennessee Tech @ Middle Tennessee Game Thread
- Thread starter Shayne_Pickering
- Start date
The bottom line is we have the same problem we had under CRS for the past decade.
The OL blocks about as good as intramural rules. Can’t run when you need to run except for the QB who is doing all the running. For his life that is when it’s a pass play.
This is not an indictment on DM. It’s a reality of how bad a shape the OL was with poor recruiting, zero development over the past few years of returning players, and decimation from the damn portal.
This does not tell us what DMs tenure is going to be like but it gives us a really good preview of how much this team is going to struggle in ‘24.
DM has two choices. One is to stick with his philosophy to instill what he wants it to be going forward even if it means 1-11. Or two try to win as many games as you can this year with what he has. And that second option is going to mean he’s going to have to modify philosophy to fit the roster that he has. In my opinion the best coaches do the latter because you’re not always going to have all the exact pieces of the puzzle you want in each year.
What this means offensively is it’s going to need to look a lot like it looked under the Stockstill tenure with spread formation, WR screens, bubbles screens, quick hitters on the hashes, and throwing to the RB out of the backfield. If he tries to establish the run game between the tackles every week this team is going to get destroyed more often than not this season. The short passing game is going to have to compliment what little we run the ball.
On defense it’s going to have to be soft in the secondary, bend and don’t break and hopefully shorten the games. This is the only way we get close to .500 this year. Or like I said he can try to instill Derek ball now, win one or two games, and hope that decision pays off in the out years.
The OL blocks about as good as intramural rules. Can’t run when you need to run except for the QB who is doing all the running. For his life that is when it’s a pass play.
This is not an indictment on DM. It’s a reality of how bad a shape the OL was with poor recruiting, zero development over the past few years of returning players, and decimation from the damn portal.
This does not tell us what DMs tenure is going to be like but it gives us a really good preview of how much this team is going to struggle in ‘24.
DM has two choices. One is to stick with his philosophy to instill what he wants it to be going forward even if it means 1-11. Or two try to win as many games as you can this year with what he has. And that second option is going to mean he’s going to have to modify philosophy to fit the roster that he has. In my opinion the best coaches do the latter because you’re not always going to have all the exact pieces of the puzzle you want in each year.
What this means offensively is it’s going to need to look a lot like it looked under the Stockstill tenure with spread formation, WR screens, bubbles screens, quick hitters on the hashes, and throwing to the RB out of the backfield. If he tries to establish the run game between the tackles every week this team is going to get destroyed more often than not this season. The short passing game is going to have to compliment what little we run the ball.
On defense it’s going to have to be soft in the secondary, bend and don’t break and hopefully shorten the games. This is the only way we get close to .500 this year. Or like I said he can try to instill Derek ball now, win one or two games, and hope that decision pays off in the out years.
The more I go back and watch this game the more I chalk this up to 1st game jitters on staff or CDM & OC was just playing a hard game of chess with play calling/personnel leading up to Ole Miss or even WKU. OL play & defense needs to step it up big time, but that offense looked very vanilla with the weapons. Not to mention the revolving door of WRs & TEs the entire game. How does any rhythm get going? Hard on a QB too.
59 new players takes time to gel and just about every team that had 40+ new players struggled in week 1. With that said, Ole Miss is gonna rip us in half. Furman made the FCS playoffs last year and we saw what went down.
unfortunately, that's not the same Furman team from last year, they had a huge Sr class and the returners that could ball transferred to FBS. With that said, Ole Miss wins by 35
If I were CDM, I'd spend more time in 11/12/21 personnel & find ways to get the athletes the ball in space.
He can be faithful to physical / tough / intelligent without abandoning the offensive scheme. In 12 personnel groupings, split Holden Willis out like a big WR & suddenly, the defense has to decide : Do I play nickel & put a CB against him or do I play base & split out a LB/roll down a safety. Either one presents a matchup advantage for MT.
In 21 personnel, you can do RPO Inside Zone right and rocket the other back to the left on a swing. You're still physical (IZ / downhill rush attack), but the RPO element forces defense to decide HOW to play. Better chance of getting a numbers advantage in the box (or getting someone like Bretton / Middlebrook out in space)
Use quick game with constraints off the quick game. Slant converts to sluggo when defense bites. Tunnel screen converts to tuggo (inside WR bluffs the block & goes deep when defense bites).
I think you saw a lot of that when they had success with Holden whether it was getting him the ball or an Ole Miss penalty. Something that really seemed to have success was moving him across the formation pre-snap and then get him in the flat or up the seam. I would probably expect that to continue
Again hate to beat a dead horse, but just a smidgen of watching film from last year would have shown putting Willis in motion was absolutely successful! If he doesn’t get the ball he sure pulls some attention opening up others!
The struggle for football coaches (and probably all of us) is we ALL believe our way is the best way of doing it. Coaches believe their scheme is the best way to use personnel, attack defenses, etc.
Ken Whisenhunt (when he was HC of Titans) was the perfect example. He always seemed to think he was smartest guy in the room, even when the offense was falling apart & they were losing games right / left.
Completely agree. If the offense isn’t opened up this week, then a lot of conversations will be very different imo
Well conversations should be starting! Pathetic defense & offensive play calling & personnel. Willis 1 target all half. We should have 21 points at least right now.
Based on what I've seen in the first three games, both coordinators need to be fired immediately.
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FOOTBALL Middle Tennessee (1-1) vs WKU (1-1) (ESPN+), 6PM, Saturday, September 14, 2024
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