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Is it play-calling or concepts/system?....

Just not seeing how any offensive "innovator" would be doing "amazing" things 12 as their QB. The offense has incorporated a lot more stuff that has been called the last few weeks based on the skillset of 5 (Notice we haven't run a lot of RPO that last couple of weeks?). Playcallers call plays they think will work based on their personnel. As 5 gets better he will be able to do a few more things. Hopefully the first thing he'll be able to do isbeing gett an accurate count of the box and knowing when to get out of a run play because a second level defender is creeping in the box.

Maybe 5 doesn't have the ability to change up plays at the line, but lets be honest....how many redshirt freshman are given the ability in their 2nd start to change plays? The answer is probably not many. 2nd start, rivalry game, etc, etc, etc, why would you want to complicate things?

With regards to more bubble screens...it's been said all year our perimeter blocking isn't up to par. We threw a couple of bubbles against P5 teams and they weren't the most successful. They were successful against FIU and SSU. With that being said we have to choose our spots for the bubble to be effective. We did, and complete a big one for 10 yards in a great spot in the game. Do you realize we had a 5 minute, 40 yard drive where we converted 1 big 3rd down and 1 big 4th down and never gave the ball back. When was the last time we could say that?
 
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One thing I see constantly on these boards is “it’s not the play calling. I was at the game and guys were running wide open all day.”

If that open guy was the 3rd or 4th option, and you know we have a qb that can’t/doesn’t make his progressions, then who shoulders the blame? To me, it’s the one calling the plays. Richt is seemingly always trying to force the square peg into the round hole.

I’ve said before and I’ll say again - I don’t think it’s the “play calling” necessarily; it’s the inability to maximize the pieces you have at your disposal. The inability to adjust.

An example off the top of my head would be the qb draw up the middle at the goalline with Perry. That was a Rosier play. Malik can bang. You’re just asking for Perry to get hurt calling the same play for him that was successful with Malik. Perry should be rolling out with the option to throw or keep/run cause he can be accurate on the run whereas Malik couldn’t.

Fades to Harley, bubbles to Langham, zone blocking with what appears to be power blocking recruits... those are the types of schematic things I question. Maybe a particular play call would work in a bubble, but it seems our personnel isn’t ever considered in the equasion.

In Richt’s defense, he was clearly handcuffed with Malik. And Perry is young and wouldn’t otherwise be ready. But I need to see more out of my OC. We are way too athletic at the skill positions to even be slowed down by some of the competition we’ve faced thus far.
 
The 1st 4 games of the season, "it" was clearly what we said all offseason,...which was not having a good enough QB (i.e., Rosier).

The 5th game of the season, "it" was his a freshman QB's 1st start to change that trend.

The 6th game of the season, "it" was a rivalry game against FSU in what's been known as "their house",...and so you throw out all the expectations short of a win and we'll see again next week.

Which leaves us here @ game 7. The OL is weak,...but it's not the 1st time, and with legit pieces in place @ key positions,...I'm fully interested in seeing where the offense goes/grows from here. But given the above,...I cant really fathom anyone beating themselves up over whether it was the playcalling or not, given a clearly inadequate QB we're moving on from.

Whether the playcalling sucks or not,...there is no "figuring out" what was wrong with an offense led by Rosier.
 
Fawk_U Haters said:
LOL HAHAHA. Or you can give Richt the Heisman winner/5* game experienced QB and an Oline that is consistently one of the best in CFB and lets see what he can do.

Not bagging Riley, but lets not act like the situations are at all comparable. Dude walked into a gift situation after what Stoops built. What did our dude walk into?
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w/ our defense & his innovation on offense + our skill guys we’d be in the national title this season. that’s just my opinion.
 
k9cane said:
Just wanted to ask this question, I see this a lot( and yes, Im guilty of it as anyone, lol) but it never fails that when Miami dials up a run that gets stuffed, you'll hear,"Richt is too conservative'' or 'this is so predictable!!' or 'Richt is too conservative AND predictable!!'

OK, but if that runs gets 7-8 yards, - well, that's a good play call( even if it was predictable and/or conservative), right? Nobody ever complains when this occurs.

The thing is sometimes you absolutely have to run the ball early in games and on early downs because if you talk to any Olineman that has played at this level and they will tell you that the have to be given the opportunity to come off the ball early on and hit the guy across the line from them and begin the process of wearing them down a bit because it aids in their pass blocking later on.

Also, you have run the ball just to give your defense a rest(and this also means producing first downs consistently, of course). So I'm not always a guy that flips out over every 1st down run that creates 2nd and 9. Now, those 2nd and 9 runs up the middle that lead to 3rd-and-8, yeah, those bother me a lot if you do that too often.

But here's my question: is the real/bigger problem the not the actual play-calls but the design of the plays and concepts within the offense? You watch football at all different levels and you'll see schemes that get guys WIDE open and free in space. Im not sure I see that with the Canes offense, currently.

Ive been told by people who have seen our all-22(the only real way to diagnose a game), former players and read guys on this board who really know the X-and-O's of this game - who I defer to on these matters - that the current system is kinda simplistic, if not archaic, in certain ways. One thing Ive heard time and time again is that in our pass game, we have very little in terms of route combinations( as @LuCane has mentioned numerous times), we dont have a lot of 'beaters'(certain route concepts that are used versus various coverages and alignments) and we are waaay to reliant on all-go verticals, where our WR's are just counted on to beat their guy.

And going back to the last game, it wasnt really the fact that Miami kept running - but running the ball into the A-gap not the perimeter(which many of our more knowledgeable posters believed FSU was very vulnerable on the edge). And the one time I recall a true outside running play, Deejay Dallas broke off a big run on a 2nd and 17. But I didn't see a lot of runs to the outside, overall. The point is though, sometimes running is absolutely the RIGHT call, but it matters how you plan on doing it that is key. Context is important in this regard

This is my one real complaint about this offense - we dont have enough easy throws/completions that our QB(whoever it is) can rely on coming into each game. I know some hate the bubble screen(yeah, they've been Patrick Nix'd) but things like that and short passes into the flat to the running backs(like the one Choc caught for about 15 yards vs FSU) need to be utilized more. Short, easy, quick throws that aren't difficult reads. Get the rock into the hands of our playmakers(and yes, we have them all over, even without Ahmonn Richards)

Is that asking for too much?

Plays of this nature on early downs can serve as your running game to a certain degree. It's how Steve Walsh had the table set for him in many games by Gary Stevens.

Please, tell me if Im full of it - Ok, I AM full of it- but lemme know if Im completely off-base here. I can see the current offensive approach if Richt had the 2001 Oline, but guess what, they don't. And as I like to say: thats why our offense looks like Blockbuster Video in a Netflix world

I read on Twitter from our own @Roman Marciante that the leading receiver on this team is Jeff Thomas - he has all of 16 catches(and he basically missed a game) but 16 catches in six games is your leader? I dunno, that doesn't look like an offense taking full advantage of your playmakers. Hopefully things pick up as N'kosi Perry evolves.

But again, maybe it's just not play-calling
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Where does one get access to the All-22? Been looking for years and only get snippets.
 
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I'm still of the belief that Richt has simplified the offense based on the personnel available.

No question we're loaded at WR and RB. The OL has, and still remains, an issue. Perry has started just 2 games.

Has he had to simplify the blocking schemes for the OL as they still try to find the "right" combination? As described in Lance Roffers' fantastic breakdowns, it seems one or more OL always *** up. Adding a more complicated blocking scheme would seem to add even more chaos.

Does Richt not want to put too much on Perry's plate just yet? Perry has shown flashes, but he's still learning the offense so why make it more complicated than necessary.

When Rosier was QB1, Richt obviously tried to call plays based on Rosier's "strengths".

I would like to see someone ask Richt if he has adjusted his play calling based on some of the aforementioned. I may have missed it in one of his pressers, but I don't recall anyone asking.
 
Fawk_U Haters said:
LOL HAHAHA. Or you can give Richt the Heisman winner/5* game experienced QB and an Oline that is consistently one of the best in CFB and lets see what he can do.

Not bagging Riley, but lets not act like the situations are at all comparable. Dude walked into a gift situation after what Stoops built. What did our dude walk into?
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And that conference isn't known for defense.
 
great post.

We have a mix bag offense. Richt obviously wants to get ahead of the chains. Just doesnt have the greta plays set up for that 1st down play.Its like they just call those plays and hope the rb springs something.

This fsu game i honestly thought we could get to the edge fairly easy in the run game...we didnt even try much. I loved the counter off of the Jeff Thomas motion.Me personally i would of ran it back to Thomas and give it to him and bring that play back a few times with DJ Dallas.

The wildcat with Deejay should be used 2-3 times a game honestly.He ran it 2 years in high school and has the vision to perform that pretty well.

All being said...were wayyyy to basic in the run game and passing concepts. Let alone we dont motion which is brought up ad nauseum...but it has to be...because we have guys like Harley and Thomas that are blazers and that eye candy alone is enough to buss something. I know its an ego thing for Richt...but i really wish we can find away to bring another offensive mind into the staff next season. Im fine if he wants to keep the playcalling...but to get to the next level i think another creative guy is needed.
 
gogeta4 said:
great post.

We have a mix bag offense. Richt obviously wants to get ahead of the chains. Just doesnt have the greta plays set up for that 1st down play.Its like they just call those plays and hope the rb springs something.

This fsu game i honestly thought we could get to the edge fairly easy in the run game...we didnt even try much. I loved the counter off of the Jeff Thomas motion.Me personally i would of ran it back to Thomas and give it to him and bring that play back a few times with DJ Dallas.

The wildcat with Deejay should be used 2-3 times a game honestly.He ran it 2 years in high school and has the vision to perform that pretty well.

All being said...were wayyyy to basic in the run game and passing concepts. Let alone we dont motion which is brought up ad nauseum...but it has to be...because we have guys like Harley and Thomas that are blazers and that eye candy alone is enough to buss something. I know its an ego thing for Richt...but i really wish we can find away to bring another offensive mind into the staff next season. Im fine if he wants to keep the playcalling...but to get to the next level i think another creative guy is needed.
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geta, it's interesting you mention the Dallas-cat, Ive noticed that the Saints have created a specific role for Taysom Hill(former BYU QB, who basically cost Manny Diaz his job at Texas, lol) a role where his job is to come in for a few plays and basically move the chains in the Wildcat set

Now, this doesn't necessarily mean Im advocating for more Dallas-cat but it can be used as a specific niche

But what's interesting to me is that there is a belief by some that every offense thats productive has 3 or 4 future NFL Olineman upfront and that's the minimum prerequisite to have a unit that can churn out yards and points consistently
 
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Loose Cannon said:
I love the work of @Roman Marciante as much as anybody, but I would recommend to all to never miss an @Lance Roffers game break downs. Read them both, and read them every week.

What I'm learning from Lance pushes me into the direction that scheme/system comes down to personal preference. Some guys like this, some guys like that. But the success of any scheme or system comes down to execution. What I see when I read Lance's work is that every play we call has a very good chance for success until someone fvcks up their assignment. Whether it's a missed block, missed read, or a bad route run, there's at least one guy on every single failed play that you can put a bullzeye on, and he's wearing a helmet, not a head set.

The single biggest play I've heard the most criticism about from Saturday was the empty set QB draw play that everyone including the announcers knew was coming. The reason I can't criticize that play call? It was there. The O-line did their job and there was a lane big enough for a dump truck. Perry just bent his cut wide and missed the lane. He should have scored standing up.

Right now we are a team that has talent and experience. The problem is that the talent and experience are usually not found in the same players. Our experienced guys are not very talented, and our talented guys have no experience.
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Great Post! Like you pulled each word straight out of my brain.
 
gogeta4 said:
great post.

We have a mix bag offense. Richt obviously wants to get ahead of the chains. Just doesnt have the greta plays set up for that 1st down play.Its like they just call those plays and hope the rb springs something.

This fsu game i honestly thought we could get to the edge fairly easy in the run game...we didnt even try much. I loved the counter off of the Jeff Thomas motion.Me personally i would of ran it back to Thomas and give it to him and bring that play back a few times with DJ Dallas.

The wildcat with Deejay should be used 2-3 times a game honestly.He ran it 2 years in high school and has the vision to perform that pretty well.

All being said...were wayyyy to basic in the run game and passing concepts. Let alone we dont motion which is brought up ad nauseum...but it has to be...because we have guys like Harley and Thomas that are blazers and that eye candy alone is enough to buss something. I know its an ego thing for Richt...but i really wish we can find away to bring another offensive mind into the staff next season. Im fine if he wants to keep the playcalling...but to get to the next level i think another creative guy is needed.
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I keep hearing posters say how the run concepts are basic can you please describe how our run conepts are "so basic" please? Cause i doubt we're doing stuff that is SO BASIC but everyone else is doing such great things and killing it. How is our stuff basic? You've said it numerous times.
 
I ran a Post pattern this a.m to Einstein Bagels....not only was it complete, but without a doubt call of the yr....
 
I agree that we have a basic offense, but with such a high level of talent at the skill positions, I don't think we need tons of bells and whistles. What we do need, in my opinion, is to do a better job taking what the defense is giving, finding that soft spot in the defense and exploiting it.

Part of why it doesn't seem we are doing this effectively lately might be because Richt isn't allowing Perry to audible yet. I certainly don't know that for sure, but we do know that Richt is a stubborn old cuss, so I could see him not allowing Perry to audible until he gets to a certain comfort level. So we go with what play is called, and if it works, great, but for example, if FSU is crowding us up front and we have an inside running play called, maybe there isn't much of a mechanism for changing that play on the fly to something more favorable right now. Again, pure speculation, but sometimes this is what it looks like to me when it appears that we pointlessly try to run into a brick wall.
 
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OL quality, depth, and execution... We don't have the OL yet to line up and run smash mouth like Richt did at UGA or Saban runs at Baga... We have all the other pieces but until our OL gets fixed we can't run what we want to run. People call Richt conservative but this stuff will work and be successful once the pieces are in place. If we get Evan Neal, Dontae Lucas, Michael Tarquin, and Kingsley Eguakun to go with our young OL we have... Look out.
 
I think we should just look at the way things are progressing generally and not nitpick as much about specific tendencies or plays.

Let's face it, last season we were absolutely horrendous at 3rd down efficiency, short yardage (especially in the redzone) and converting turnover chain moments into TDs.

This year we are doing a much better job in all three of those aspects. And looking at the teams left on our schedule I think we will continue to progress in these areas.

Continuing to improve each week and winning is what I like to see.
 
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My short take on this is the following:

Our system is simple but it gets guys open. Rosier missed a ton last year and we saw Perry miss a few against FSU. I have no issue with the pass game and I think as Perry gets more comfortable we’ll see consistency and big plays.

Our run game sucks. The concepts suck because there aren’t enough wrinkles. We killed ND last year with the counter to Homer. If you’re going to pound it inside you have throw in some different things once in a while.
 
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