I am quite concerned about our 2nd half game plan. We seem to have a first half game plan that is quite successful, often giving us a substantial lead. Then, Franklin seems to shut things down, alloying the opponent back into the game. I saw this at the USC game that we lost in the second half. OSU and MSU last year. UM this year. Secondly, we cannot just throw to Freimuth (as good as he is!) and KJ. We need to quickly develop Shorter to give the defense another player to worry about. Also, screens and slants seem to not be part of our repertoire. Why?
On a downer note
- Thread starter DrJC
- Start date
Wow you pretty much managed to get every bitch into one paragraph. The only thing thats missing is Franlklin's lousy clock management.
Well done.
USC? We were losing at halftime against USC and outscored them in the second half.
As for this year’s team - it’s not a matter of the coaching staff doing anything to “shut down” the gameplan. They run the same plays and take the same shots in the second half to try to score that they do in the first half - people were complaining in the game thread that we were passing the ball too much in the second half against MSU rather than turtling up and trying to run out the clock! At the end of the day, it’s an inexperienced offense whose execution can get a little funky at times, especially when we’ve built a big lead. An inexperienced team learning how to shut the door is part of the process in becoming an experienced team.
Not sure what you’re seeing to say that slants aren’t a part of the offense. We run quite a number of slants - sometimes we hit them, sometimes we don’t. We run a few screens, too, but they haven’t really worked all that well.
While some frustration is understandable, the only real gripe to date is Pitt game, at home, where a mediocre team stayed with us until end. Sure, we can b*itch about UM but that is a good football team with lots of talent, Sr QB and strong coaching. No shame in that one being close now after they destroyed ND. Iowa, at night, after 5 straight losses to PSU? They were frothing to beat us. MSU never got closer than three tds in 2nd half and we had very crummy weather. Let's just enjoy two week break..reality is that we have first year soph at QB, soph playmakers at WR and TE and our best RB is true frosh. Credit JF with getting us to 8-0 with such inexperience (though his clock mgt still sucks)
Agree 100% and we haven't been really good at that--as previously posted its a young team and they execute certain plays well and others eh......
So Franklin shut the game plan down in the second half? That must explain why the team was still throwing passes in lousy weather late in the game rather than running the ball to run out the clock. Honest to god did you even watch the game? Did it ever occur to you that the team isn’t clicking on all cylinders in the second half because of his mass substitutions?
Quite concerned?! I'm ecstatic right now! Are there things the team can improve on? Sure, but I figured we'd be 6-2 or maybe 5-3 at this juncture because of our young skill guys (especially a QB starting for the first time)....so I am elated right now that we sit 8-0 after coming off that brutal 3-game stretch. So yea, there are things the team can do better but that just means potential growth and improvement from here. Just sit back and enjoy the ride and see where it takes us.
Pictures or it didn’t happen.
First, the USC game plan was Moorhead, not Franklin. He had total control.
This nonsense about shutting it down. We played very good defenses that made adjustments. Were you expecting 40+points against three of the best defenses in the BigTen. Not realistic
There was a slant to Shorter knocked down vs Michigan and a slant to Shorter vs MSU where he was held for a penalty. There were also slants to Hamler in both games
This nonsense about shutting it down. We played very good defenses that made adjustments. Were you expecting 40+points against three of the best defenses in the BigTen. Not realistic
There was a slant to Shorter knocked down vs Michigan and a slant to Shorter vs MSU where he was held for a penalty. There were also slants to Hamler in both games
There is still room to improve of course but we went to Iowa at night and won against a team that had everything to play for and did it again at MSU, a team who had our number that last few years and gutted out a win against UM who looked pretty good against, albeit your typical fraud Domer team but did destroy them. We have room to be better and Minny and more importantly OSU will tell the tale. Enjoy the ride, its been a few years that this deep into the season we are right contending for the CFP.
I have no idea, didn't even get to watch the game yet. I did listen to parts of the second half though. Listening to all the drops and right through the hands comments, maybe it was better to go 3 and out and punt then to fumble and give up field position. It got us to 1-0 for the week.
“This was yet another instance where PSU dominated an opponent, yet STILL did not play anything remotely close to a complete game. The offense was inconsistent. The defense dropped a couple of would-be interceptions. The special teams had some issues early on.”-Mark Brennan
I believe Clifford targeted more receivers on Saturday in more areas of the field than he ever has before. And he threw their ball very well given the conditions! Dotson, Shorter, Chisena, Bowers, the RBs....all targeted. I'm not sure what more you could have asked for in this game from a passing perspective (other than the receivers eliminating their costly drops).
Franklin addressed this earlier in the season. He mentioned that it's not that simple with such an inexperienced offense. Relax and enjoy the bye week. It ain't getting easier. The next three opponents could all be ranked when we play them -- with, once again, two of the three on the road.
I beg to differ given that twice already he's completed balls to 13 different receivers in the same game (though some of those might have been Levis, Clifford has spread the ball around more previously for sure).
Fair enough, what games are we talking about? Regardless, the actual "per game" number isn't important to me as it can include mop up action with deep backups like you said. What matters to me is Clifford appeared to be doing a better job on Saturday checking down, and he seems to be throwing more to different parts of the field.
Idaho and Maryland. Take out Idaho because Levis had 11 of our 25 completions. But against Maryland, Levis only had 3 completions, so Clifford had to have hit at least 10 different receivers that night. Against Purdue, he hit 9 different receivers. Even in the rain Saturday night he hit 8 different targets.
You are right though that against Iowa and Michigan he didn't spread the ball around enough. Iowa - 4 receivers, Michigan - 6 receivers.
I think the concerns with the offense are valid. I understand that you can't score on every drive, but the offense has gone long stretches in games where they can't even get a first down.
Don't you love it when you take a shit so large your pants fit better
Even the top teams don't play perfect full 4 quarter games. They will be fine jumping on these teams fast then relying on the defense to hold its ground.
This style of play takes opponents out of its gameplan which plays well for the defense...
