Temujin
11/8/2013, 02:06 PM
I know we're all piling on the offense, and I usually hate to beat a dead horse...but I'm just pissed about this loss in so many ways.
First of all, it wasn't hard to tell where we were headed from the very start. K-State had the blueprint for defeating Baylor, it just didn't have the horses to make it happen. KSU proved that Baylor was vulnerable up the middle. Not only that, but EVERY decent coach knows that the Baylor offense was not something you want to mess with, so KSU held them to 35 points...by HOLDING ON TO THE BALL for 40 minutes. Excellent game plan. Almost worked, if it weren't for the fact that Baylor just has more talent than KSU.
The Game Plan
Knowing all that, what was our offensive game plan after having over a week and a half to prepare, AND after our defense stuffed Baylor on their first drive? The first three plays went like this: WR end around (3 yard loss), WR screen pass out wide (4 yard gain), RB screen (incomplete). You want to put that on the players?
Ok that didn't work...so, you want to run more, right? Let's see how Heupel handles this situation: Our second series, we ran 3 straight QB runs off tackle to the right. The first time it worked - 9 yards for Trevor Knight. Second time - 0 yards. Third time - Bell hit in the backfield and leans forward to only lose 1 yard. Sorry Heupel, but running the same play over and over only works in the pee wee leagues.
In the late 1st/early 2nd quarter, Baylor gives OU the TD, twice. The first time Baylor gift-wrapped 53 yards to the OU offense in penalties, and OU had the ball at the Baylor 7 yard line. DD runs right, stuffed. TK runs (to the right, again) for a 5 yard gain. OU has the ball at the 2. Blake Bell runs right for a 1 yard gain, and then OU gets "sneaky" and hurries up on 4th down, only to get stuffed in the backfield while trying to run (you guessed it) right! GENIUS! Zero points.
The second time Baylor hands the offense a TD, Jalen Saunders returns a safety punt to the Baylor 12. Here's the call from our offensive guru: TK rush right for 3 yards. Screen to Jalen Saunders (hmmm...isn't that the same exact play as the 2nd play from scrimmage? maybe no one will notice) for 4 yards. Crossing route ALL the way across the field to Saunders (incomplete). It wasn't a bad play overall, and it was covered well. The problem? Even if he catches the ball, it's well behind the first down marker and nowhere close to a TD.
"But...WHY is our offense so bad??? Bell is just a bad QB, and so is TK, and so is Landry..."
THIS is the difference between a well-coached team and a poorly coached team, and THIS is also the moment I knew we would lose to Baylor. With 4:22 left in the first quarter and on 3rd and 12, Baylor has the ball and is up 3-0. Mike Stoops has the Baylor offense reeling, and they're clearly confused. Petty thinks he has the play, and just before the snap Quentin Hayes shows blitz. Petty calls the timeout.
No confusion about the offensive play being called, and no mistakes. Petty knew what play he was running WELL before the snap, and upon seeing the late adjustment by the defense, he knew he didn't have the right call, so he went to the sideline. The next play, Baylor converts the first down, and it's rendered null only because the receiver stepped out of bounds. But the important part is that Petty A) knows what play is being run without constantly turning to the sideline, and B) knows when the play is going to fail and when he needs to bail.
Let's contrast that with something that's all too familiar at OU - Bell and the receivers stare over at the sideline to get the call. With 5 seconds left on the play clock, Bell steps up to the line to bark the orders to the OL. The clock counts down and either 1 of 2 things generally happens - the ball isn't snapped in time, or a timeout is called from the sideline. Bell doesn't know WHAT Heupel/Norvell wants to do from one play to the next. They have to look to the sideline to get last minute directions and then they have to hurry the execution.
Why does Bell not know the plays that are going to be called? The coaches talk about execution all the time. We always hear "we didn't execute" after every loss. But, I submit that our players aren't given a fair chance to execute. They're being asked to make last-minute adjustments on the fly almost every play. This used to be a problem under Kevin Wilson, too. It's a bad habit that we've gotten into, and because of the great collection of talent at every position that we had in 2007/8, combined with a brilliant QB in Bradford, it masked the problems that it tends to cause...until we face a team with the talent and intelligence to recognize these weaknesses.
"But, our OL is constantly whiffing on run blocks! They're terrible!"
I know that some/many like to put the poor execution on the OL. I understand that from casually watching the game. But this is the exact same OL that put up 212 yards against a MUCH more physical and much better run defense in Notre Dame. This is the exact same OL that went for 202 yards against TCU. The OL might have some issues, but if it can be effective against those very good and extremely physical defensive teams, why can't it run all over Baylor the way KSU did? KSU had 327 yards against Baylor on the ground.
Here's how Heupel's indecision-making hurts the OL. If you're going to run the ball effectively, you need to identify your target and be prepared to attack him. For the OL, getting the plays in at the last moment isn't a recipe for success for passing or running, but it's especially bad for running plays. It doesn't give you time to identify your target. Moreover, our OL lines up with the intention of passing on every play anyway. They're in pass block mode from the very beginning, because that's been our traditional offense over the last several years. Run blocking requires different positioning than pass blocking.
So here's how the shortened time frame hurts our OL: 1) It doesn't give the OL the time to identify their target. 2) There's not enough time to transition your weight for the appropriate position to maintain a run block. 3) You don't have enough time to psych yourself up for a physical push by the DL. This is all because of the last-minute play-calling that our staff has gotten used to.
Conclusion
My theory overall? This team has LONG lost its fundamentals, particularly on offense. Bob fell in love with the no huddle, thinking it gave more control to the coaches. And it's much easier for a head coach to put his trust in a seasoned football coach than it is to put your trust in an 18-22 year old kid...especially at the critical quarterback position. The coaches may have also fooled themselves into thinking that the players aren't capable of handling a complex offense, so they've dumbed down the playbook to run the same predictable plays over and over...when in reality, the problem is that they're not giving them enough time to fully prepare for the play in between downs.
Hey, it's all just a theory, and all I can do is observe and report. But that's what we do as fans. We look at our teams and how they perform and when they disappoint us, we try to rationalize why. So, this here is my rationalization for what might be the worst offense I've ever seen.
Temujin
First of all, it wasn't hard to tell where we were headed from the very start. K-State had the blueprint for defeating Baylor, it just didn't have the horses to make it happen. KSU proved that Baylor was vulnerable up the middle. Not only that, but EVERY decent coach knows that the Baylor offense was not something you want to mess with, so KSU held them to 35 points...by HOLDING ON TO THE BALL for 40 minutes. Excellent game plan. Almost worked, if it weren't for the fact that Baylor just has more talent than KSU.
The Game Plan
Knowing all that, what was our offensive game plan after having over a week and a half to prepare, AND after our defense stuffed Baylor on their first drive? The first three plays went like this: WR end around (3 yard loss), WR screen pass out wide (4 yard gain), RB screen (incomplete). You want to put that on the players?
Ok that didn't work...so, you want to run more, right? Let's see how Heupel handles this situation: Our second series, we ran 3 straight QB runs off tackle to the right. The first time it worked - 9 yards for Trevor Knight. Second time - 0 yards. Third time - Bell hit in the backfield and leans forward to only lose 1 yard. Sorry Heupel, but running the same play over and over only works in the pee wee leagues.
In the late 1st/early 2nd quarter, Baylor gives OU the TD, twice. The first time Baylor gift-wrapped 53 yards to the OU offense in penalties, and OU had the ball at the Baylor 7 yard line. DD runs right, stuffed. TK runs (to the right, again) for a 5 yard gain. OU has the ball at the 2. Blake Bell runs right for a 1 yard gain, and then OU gets "sneaky" and hurries up on 4th down, only to get stuffed in the backfield while trying to run (you guessed it) right! GENIUS! Zero points.
The second time Baylor hands the offense a TD, Jalen Saunders returns a safety punt to the Baylor 12. Here's the call from our offensive guru: TK rush right for 3 yards. Screen to Jalen Saunders (hmmm...isn't that the same exact play as the 2nd play from scrimmage? maybe no one will notice) for 4 yards. Crossing route ALL the way across the field to Saunders (incomplete). It wasn't a bad play overall, and it was covered well. The problem? Even if he catches the ball, it's well behind the first down marker and nowhere close to a TD.
"But...WHY is our offense so bad??? Bell is just a bad QB, and so is TK, and so is Landry..."
THIS is the difference between a well-coached team and a poorly coached team, and THIS is also the moment I knew we would lose to Baylor. With 4:22 left in the first quarter and on 3rd and 12, Baylor has the ball and is up 3-0. Mike Stoops has the Baylor offense reeling, and they're clearly confused. Petty thinks he has the play, and just before the snap Quentin Hayes shows blitz. Petty calls the timeout.
No confusion about the offensive play being called, and no mistakes. Petty knew what play he was running WELL before the snap, and upon seeing the late adjustment by the defense, he knew he didn't have the right call, so he went to the sideline. The next play, Baylor converts the first down, and it's rendered null only because the receiver stepped out of bounds. But the important part is that Petty A) knows what play is being run without constantly turning to the sideline, and B) knows when the play is going to fail and when he needs to bail.
Let's contrast that with something that's all too familiar at OU - Bell and the receivers stare over at the sideline to get the call. With 5 seconds left on the play clock, Bell steps up to the line to bark the orders to the OL. The clock counts down and either 1 of 2 things generally happens - the ball isn't snapped in time, or a timeout is called from the sideline. Bell doesn't know WHAT Heupel/Norvell wants to do from one play to the next. They have to look to the sideline to get last minute directions and then they have to hurry the execution.
Why does Bell not know the plays that are going to be called? The coaches talk about execution all the time. We always hear "we didn't execute" after every loss. But, I submit that our players aren't given a fair chance to execute. They're being asked to make last-minute adjustments on the fly almost every play. This used to be a problem under Kevin Wilson, too. It's a bad habit that we've gotten into, and because of the great collection of talent at every position that we had in 2007/8, combined with a brilliant QB in Bradford, it masked the problems that it tends to cause...until we face a team with the talent and intelligence to recognize these weaknesses.
"But, our OL is constantly whiffing on run blocks! They're terrible!"
I know that some/many like to put the poor execution on the OL. I understand that from casually watching the game. But this is the exact same OL that put up 212 yards against a MUCH more physical and much better run defense in Notre Dame. This is the exact same OL that went for 202 yards against TCU. The OL might have some issues, but if it can be effective against those very good and extremely physical defensive teams, why can't it run all over Baylor the way KSU did? KSU had 327 yards against Baylor on the ground.
Here's how Heupel's indecision-making hurts the OL. If you're going to run the ball effectively, you need to identify your target and be prepared to attack him. For the OL, getting the plays in at the last moment isn't a recipe for success for passing or running, but it's especially bad for running plays. It doesn't give you time to identify your target. Moreover, our OL lines up with the intention of passing on every play anyway. They're in pass block mode from the very beginning, because that's been our traditional offense over the last several years. Run blocking requires different positioning than pass blocking.
So here's how the shortened time frame hurts our OL: 1) It doesn't give the OL the time to identify their target. 2) There's not enough time to transition your weight for the appropriate position to maintain a run block. 3) You don't have enough time to psych yourself up for a physical push by the DL. This is all because of the last-minute play-calling that our staff has gotten used to.
Conclusion
My theory overall? This team has LONG lost its fundamentals, particularly on offense. Bob fell in love with the no huddle, thinking it gave more control to the coaches. And it's much easier for a head coach to put his trust in a seasoned football coach than it is to put your trust in an 18-22 year old kid...especially at the critical quarterback position. The coaches may have also fooled themselves into thinking that the players aren't capable of handling a complex offense, so they've dumbed down the playbook to run the same predictable plays over and over...when in reality, the problem is that they're not giving them enough time to fully prepare for the play in between downs.
Hey, it's all just a theory, and all I can do is observe and report. But that's what we do as fans. We look at our teams and how they perform and when they disappoint us, we try to rationalize why. So, this here is my rationalization for what might be the worst offense I've ever seen.
Temujin