I'm surprised that so many of our fans, particularly our diehard message board followers, are shocked that we laid an egg last weekend.
It was the first game of the season, we were breaking in a ton of inexperienced kids on defense, the weather was awful, etc., etc. The type of offense we play certainly isn't one where, even on our best day, impose our will on our opponent by pushing them around up front. Without the passing game clicking, we're no more imposing than a Big Sky team. That's what you get with the air raid.
Yea, the loss was hugely embarrassing, and I'm in no way giving Leach a pass on it. If anything, it confirms one of my biggest concerns with our offense. We need everything to break our way for the offense to click. Good weather conditions, good QB play, pass protection, timing, WR's not dropping the ball, etc. If those things aren't there, we struggle.
We don't have a plan B offense where we can bring in 2 tight ends, move to traditional o-line splits, and play more conservatively with added emphasis on running the ball, and using only dual WR routes. It's all or nothing with our version of the air raid, and that's a problem, especially for a Northern climate team. Last week, most of the other Power-5 schools would have shrunk their playbook and focused on wearing down the smaller opponent once it was obvious that the weather was limiting the original game plan.
We don't have versatility, which means we're going to occasionally look like the keystone cops on offense, and it really doesn't matter who we play. When we have games like that on offense, coupled with our continued lousy play on defense and special teams, there are a lot of teams that can beat us.
This is why I've been saying over and over again that it's absolutely essential that we build one of the best special teams units in the conference. We need guaranteed FG's when the offense stalls inside the red zone. We need a booming punter who can allow us to defend a long field. We need kickoffs that fly through the end zone, eliminating the chance for long returns. We need sure handed return specialists that don't make game changing mistakes. We need a defense that is fundamentally sound, takes proper angles, keeps things in front of them, and is good at EITHER run stopping or pass protecting. If you're not big up front, at least be fast in the back 7. If you're not good (or experienced) in the back 7, cheat guys up and bring pressure. Do at least SOMETHING well.
I don't think it's accurate to say that Leach has lost it, or that he's a fraud, or that the air raid sucks. Our team would perform exponentially better if we had a special teams group that was dynamic. That's a correctable problem, even for a challenged program like ours. Big Sky teams have better kicking specialists than we do.
It was the first game of the season, we were breaking in a ton of inexperienced kids on defense, the weather was awful, etc., etc. The type of offense we play certainly isn't one where, even on our best day, impose our will on our opponent by pushing them around up front. Without the passing game clicking, we're no more imposing than a Big Sky team. That's what you get with the air raid.
Yea, the loss was hugely embarrassing, and I'm in no way giving Leach a pass on it. If anything, it confirms one of my biggest concerns with our offense. We need everything to break our way for the offense to click. Good weather conditions, good QB play, pass protection, timing, WR's not dropping the ball, etc. If those things aren't there, we struggle.
We don't have a plan B offense where we can bring in 2 tight ends, move to traditional o-line splits, and play more conservatively with added emphasis on running the ball, and using only dual WR routes. It's all or nothing with our version of the air raid, and that's a problem, especially for a Northern climate team. Last week, most of the other Power-5 schools would have shrunk their playbook and focused on wearing down the smaller opponent once it was obvious that the weather was limiting the original game plan.
We don't have versatility, which means we're going to occasionally look like the keystone cops on offense, and it really doesn't matter who we play. When we have games like that on offense, coupled with our continued lousy play on defense and special teams, there are a lot of teams that can beat us.
This is why I've been saying over and over again that it's absolutely essential that we build one of the best special teams units in the conference. We need guaranteed FG's when the offense stalls inside the red zone. We need a booming punter who can allow us to defend a long field. We need kickoffs that fly through the end zone, eliminating the chance for long returns. We need sure handed return specialists that don't make game changing mistakes. We need a defense that is fundamentally sound, takes proper angles, keeps things in front of them, and is good at EITHER run stopping or pass protecting. If you're not big up front, at least be fast in the back 7. If you're not good (or experienced) in the back 7, cheat guys up and bring pressure. Do at least SOMETHING well.
I don't think it's accurate to say that Leach has lost it, or that he's a fraud, or that the air raid sucks. Our team would perform exponentially better if we had a special teams group that was dynamic. That's a correctable problem, even for a challenged program like ours. Big Sky teams have better kicking specialists than we do.
