Coaching, the O-line, etc.

[SCglory]

The defining moment of last night's latest debacle, and the one that caused so many other bricks to fall was the ability of UM's d-line (Just 3 of them) to manhandle and dominate the weak, fat, and slow o-line of the cougars. Their coach did the obvious thing: knowing he had raw rookies and weak links in the secondary, trusted that his 3 guys could handle not only pressuring a very poor Luke Falk but take care of the running game too. Three guys. If that gamble doesn't work, they have to bring LBs up to help their d-line and all of a sudden, Marks & Co have more room to run. But it does work.

The announcers were right to call it, and they were right to be astounded that their 3 guys could handle the cougars' FIVE (+ the running back). The gophers played what was basically a variety of the prevent defense, flooding the seams and back space, and it worked. And Leach had no answer. It was one of the most pitiful performances by a position group AND by the coaches of the entire year. It was obvious what their coach was doing, and the cougs were absolutely powerless to do anything about it.....

 

[CougPatrol]

WSU is (was) regarded to have an exceptional offensive line, and Leach throughout his career is considered to be one of the best at developing pass blocking linemen.

Your point is legit though. They played poorly last night up front. Falk didn't help them much either. It was a defensive struggle, so for God's sake, throw the damn ball away. Step up in the pocket. There were at least 5x I can remember where he had ample time to get rid of the ball, but took sacks or dove for a yard.

Back to coaching. At halftime, leading 6-3, you could tell that Minnesota wasn't going to blow the doors off of us with their offense. Given that, and the way their defense was playing, why not add a wrinkle and turn the game into a brawl? We have depth at offensive line and RB. Take some pressure off of the clearly struggling Falk and the WRs by countering their defense with an extra lineman, or at least go 2-RB and pound the ball to force 3rd and 4, not 3rd and 9.

 

[ElComanche]

I have always questioned the O line coach but it was hard to argue with the perceived success. i often wondered if a real O line coach would get more out of these guys.