…Cam looks like he did last year. If his reads aren’t there, the happy feet start and he makes bad decisions.
UCLA ran 97 plays in 90 degree weather
- Thread starter ttowncoug
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Again, I'd love to see an all 22 after this game.
Most plays it looked like FUCLA dropped at least seven players. To exacerbate matters, their DL ate our OL's lunch pretty much every play. That being said, the AR is designed to have open players on virtually every play. The QB's who have mastered the AR, such as Minshew, Gordon, et al know where the open WRs will be before the ball is snapped - this is not an ability that CW seems to possess. If I'm right about that, I don't see it changing this season and it will continue to be the bane of this offense.
He should run the ball. If the blocking is suspect and guys arent open, tuck and run. Slide. Move the chains. Take the yards. First downs lead to touchdowns. Dont find yourself indecisive or making a bad throw. Make the defense defend the run.
Or continue to be a stubborn air raid system that refuses to adapt and evolve.
The air raid is the new wishbone.
OL looked totally confused and unprepared for what they saw saturday. 6 on 3 and they get whipped? put a body on the closest guy to you at least, hit somebody onc in a while
In the first 4 games that was one of his strengths, running. He didn’t hesitate , ran & moved the chains. Against ucla he reverted to holding the ball, getting any and then running when it was too late.
Think a lot of that was ucla getting to him with 3. I didn’t see if they were using a spy on him (dropping 8 vs AR you basically have a couple of spies by default) but it makes a big difference with the one extra guy in coverage. Once he couldn’t find anyone open the first couple times he started panicking. Hopefully UCLAs front three are that good. Any other team we go against that has the same level of talent on the line, we are gonna be F’d.
There were a lot of whiffs. It wasn’t just UCLAs talent…they are good, but just some piss poor blocking technique too. Get in their way at least even if they run you over. Maybe it was the heat? I haven’t seen a Coug line get whipped that bad since the zombi corpses game.
For the air raid offense to evolve to the defenses they are seeing the qb has to run the ball. Or, draw becomes a staple run play. You will not force the defense out of a 3 man front unless you run the ball. Or start adding tight ends to out number them with big bodies. But once you add 2 tight ends… are you an air raid scheme any more?
If your QB is confused by his reads, limit his reads. If it’s not there run. Dont hesitate.
Show me an air raid OC that commits to running the ball and I will show you an OC that breaks defenses. The field is too big to defend everything.
Did you notice the OL pretty much took the day off?
For those of us that watched the game, adding a TE didn't help. Adding two TEs didn't help. The longest rush was 11 yards by Ward. The OL was literally not blocking.
But by all means continue your bitching.
Do you have a suggestion on where he should have run? What I saw was UCLA consistently collapsing the pocket with a three man rush.
And, if you slide...make sure you slide after you cross the first down marker, not a yard short.
I agree with this. The O-line was awful and there’s no scheming nor QB switching that will rectify this. But, for those frustrated with Cam, maybe he couldn’t do anything physically behind that shitty of a line, but isn’t it on him as a captain to get his line to pull their heads out? I’m not directly questioning his leadership but I have seen guys will their teammates to another level over the course of a game. The line needed a kick in the ass, and nobody seemed to be able to provide it, coaches or players.
On the failed 4th down attempt to end the game, I watched one OL run all the way through the play without touching anyone. Pretty sure he even pulled from the opposite side, ran across the play movement, and ended 3-4 yards downfield...so he moved himself 10-12 yards without touching a single defender. That takes effort on a play like that.
Of course, it was Hilborn. He's made a habit of imitating a turnstyle ever since the bowl game against CMU. But it kind of summed up the OL play for the day.
This game lands squarely on the OL. They flat out failed to show up, and they lost the game. UCLA spent the whole game rushing 3, and they still couldn't give Ward much time, and they still couldn't open running lanes. They were pathetic.
It should not have been close, given the OL performance. The defense kept us in the game, in spite of 4 turnovers, and in spite of being on the field for 97 plays. Practice this week should consist of the defense lining up to take turns kicking the OL in the nuts.
I think today is film day. That should be fun for the players. I remember those in HS football. Coach would take some dumbass play and replay it again and again. I was on the punt return team as a scrub Junior, and we would run downfield and set up the picket fence. Well this one team did a fake punt from like their own 10. Oblivious to it, me and several teammates are running downfield to form the fence, and their punter is running right behind us. Coach replayed that about 10 times. I wanted to crawl under a rock.
Speaking of this "Air Raid" that we supposedly run. It's not really, correct? We run a tight end, we don't do the wide line splits, I don't recall seeing those crossing routes that were an Air Raid staple.
I was watching the game from the stands....and from my vantage point, the o-line did a reasonably good job (most plays) blocking but the receivers were covered well. UCLA was putting their guys in coverage. Their were lanes for Cam to run but he didn't run. When he did run, he slid too early on the missed first down or danced around too much and got nothing.
Commit to the run after you determine your guys are covered.
That's why we should have thrown Mateer in for a series or two. He would have run and would not have slid. A QB can learn a lot watching from the sidelines.
Considering the vantage points I’ve had from the Rose Bowl, I could understand where it might be hard to tell how the O line is playing. Or who has the ball. Or if there’s a football game or a soccer game going on.
I support a full metal jacket style of punishment. Have the OLine stand around and eat doughnuts (basically what they did Saturday) while the rest of the team does up downs.
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