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Let's hope we break out of the Nix Zone

Disagree on that being "Nix Zone".

I mean really Lu? What about the utter TRASH the defensive display was?
 
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LuCane said:
But, you also understand that, in the game of football, the offensive style affects the defense, right?
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I appreciate that it's becoming more accepted. Uphill battle, to say the least. From 1988 through the mid '90s I was a frequent guest handicapper/analyst on the Stardust Line in Las Vegas, a very popular 50,000 watt show broadcast from the Stardust sportsbook itself, from 10 to midnight every Saturday and Sunday. From the outset my ongoing themes were personnel and matchups and situational impact, along with emphasis that offense and defense were hardly unrelated. From my early teenage years it's been unnerving frustration that anyone could believe you're free to use any wimpy cupcake style on offense and it will have zero impact on your defense. Listeners from California or Oregon and throughout the West would call the show to attack the theory, along with members of the live audience during commercial breaks. Every season I'd think I was making headway then it was like starting from scratch a year later. Maddening.

The best coordinators adjust seamlessly and immediately based on situation. Example: spread type play busts 45 yards to first and goal at the 5. Offensive players race downfield and set up in a power set, running a basic play and smacking the stunned and vulnerable defense in the mouth, cruising into the end zone. That shouldn't be rare but you almost never see it. I marvel when I do see it, like McElwain at Alabama for several years. Instead, the coordinators invariably adopt one approach and one approach only, stubbornly refusing to adjust. It's tilted toward the finesse level in this era, with young coaches growing up believing they'll reinvent the game.

Fisch today had ideal opportunity to emulate McElwain when the Canes took over first and goal after the fumble and with the 31-23 lead. The opponent is deflated at that point and fully expecting to be physically exploited. Your offensive linemen want to be ridden. That type of success near the goal line can transform the physical mindset of the team going forward, on both sides of the ball. We're tough. We own these situations. Even if you line up in a power set but decide to use a variant out of it there's more opportunity for success than via a pantyhose formation. Instead, Fisch idiotically used an airborne set and I almost want to forget the plays he used. I was cursing as soon as we lined up. It almost reminded me of Nix early in the game at Oklahoma several years ago. I remember today that nothing was basic and physical, the passes were sideways, and the ball never threatened to reach the goal line, even while winging past. The opponent becomes wide eyed when you don't hit them. They perk up. Hey, these guys are still trying to trick us. The defense reinvigorates and so does the crowd. More fourth quarter leads are blown when the leading offense doesn't assert itself. It wasn't far from happening today.

Toward the original topic of this thread, Fisch is scared of the center of the field, for some bizarre reason. Makes no sense. That trend has become so well established I don't think it can be dismissed as game planning for a specific opponent. Last year he'd open up one game after another with a cute short toss to the outside. Normally they worked. When FSU blew it up I was actually pleased, hoping Fisch would shake the tendency. That was the pay to Benjamin, I believe. The ball was stripped and returned for an apparent touchdown along the left sideline but we got a very questionable break and it was overturned. NFL teams take away short to mid centerfield but it's typically readily available in college, particularly if you've done anything to free it up.
 
Larry said:
The SEC dominates because of DLine, and by extension, front seven play...
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Pass defense. That's the common denominator. The national champ is invariably in the Top 10 in yards allowed per pass attempt. I think Auburn 2010 is the only recent exception. They had a strange defense that was often lazy but very talented and could rise to the occasion when Fairley was motivated. Overcoming the 24-0 deficit at Alabama was probably the most impressive comeback in recent college football history, given the caliber of the lead team.

I don't think it's complicated. The Big 12 forged a bubble screen identity and all but ignored pass defense. Those teams become dependent on cheap screens followed by equally lazy pump and go once the safeties rotate forward. That's half the offense in some cases. Oklahoma is often ranked #1 or nearby despite mediocre pass defense. Best of luck with that. The 2000 Oklahoma team that upset FSU in the Orange Bowl for the title had a terrific pass defense all season. Otherwise they've slacked, and been easy go-against when they made it that far. I'll never forget Bradford's stunned facial expression when Florida wiped out cheap bubble screens in vital short yardage plays. Blatantly unfair. All season those plays waltz uncontested into the end zone in Big 12 league play.

Leinart may have picked apart Texas in the Rose Bowl but that Longhorn team was #1 in the nation during the regular season in yards per attempt allowed. Texas under Mack Brown makes an annual attempt to play pass defense, although not always successful. The remainder of the league would just as soon ignore it. Sometimes the Big 12 defensive numbers are hilarious.

The Pac 10 (now 12) has a mixed identity. Further confused with hires like Mora, Leach and Rodriguez in the same year. The SEC was very fortunate to avoid USC a few times, notably 2008 when USC allowed a fantastic 4.7 yards per attempt. Not enough defense in the Pac 12 but athlete to athlete they are very capable, and certainly underrated as a conference by the typical sports fan.

The SEC features not only stalwart front sevens but aggressive defensive backs who ruthlessly deny the short junk. Last season the top four teams in the nation in yards per pass attempt allowed were from the SEC. It was Alabama, South Carolina, LSU and Georgia, in that order. Try to make a coincidence out of that. It's a necessary requirement at the top of that league, and subsequently the trump card variable in major bowls. You invariably see the opponent wilt when the SEC team simply refuses to allow underneath conversions on third down. Get the ball beyond the sticks or you're done.

I do agree that Andrew Luck or Kellen Moore would have been a fascinating test. Incredibly sophisticated schemes. Brandon Weeden's team carried so little defense I know how that one would have turned out. Stanford actually would have been a better test a year earlier, when Shane Skov was healthy.

BTW, when Miami was first ultra legit in 1983, we led the nation in yards per attempt defense. That was my hint to pay attention to that category. It's seldom let me down.
 
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Someone posted last night (wish I could give credit to the OP but can't find it this morning) that this game plan is a complete outlier from the previous 12 games called by Fisch at UM, as well as completely in-congruent with the style that Golden has been accustomed to running throughout his entire coaching career. The only conclusions that I can surmise from this is:

1. Game plan was installed through out camp specifically for BC
2. Game plan was devised and installed for BC but also to give KSU more to prepare for.
3. Fisch and Golden have abandoned the Pro-style principals in favor of an uptempo spread attack.
 
This was more Art Briles-esque than Nix. Please lord don't ever bring Nix into a conversation with Fisch. Insult to Fisch and his family.
 
Hegemon said:
Disagree on that being "Nix Zone".

I mean really Lu? What about the utter TRASH the defensive display was?
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I'm not comparing Fisch and Nix. I'm calling the "Nix Zone" the 12 yard (vertical) and 53 yard (horizontal) rectangle within which we played.

No one is arguing the defense is trash. I think the defense will be better than what they showed yesterday. I think the offense, in its current form, will be worse than what it showed yesterday.
 
tsimonitis said:
Someone posted last night (wish I could give credit to the OP but can't find it this morning) that this game plan is a complete outlier from the previous 12 games called by Fisch at UM, as well as completely in-congruent with the style that Golden has been accustomed to running throughout his entire coaching career. The only conclusions that I can surmise from this is:

1. Game plan was installed through out camp specifically for BC
2. Game plan was devised and installed for BC but also to give KSU more to prepare for.
3. Fisch and Golden have abandoned the Pro-style principals in favor of an uptempo spread attack.
Click to expand...

We abandoned the pro-style principles in this game alone imo. We saw something in BC the same way Maryland last year saw something in us.
Sometimes you go with instincts. That's why Golden said "we almost ditched the fast paced after first couple possessions, but Jedd and I talked it over and we wanted to stick with it because we thought minus a couple drops it was going to work."

Well it did
 
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LuCane said:
Hegemon said:
Disagree on that being "Nix Zone".

I mean really Lu? What about the utter TRASH the defensive display was?
Click to expand...

I'm not comparing Fisch and Nix. I'm calling the "Nix Zone" the 12 yard (vertical) and 53 yard (horizontal) rectangle within which we played.

No one is arguing the defense is trash. I think the defense will be better than what they showed yesterday. I think the offense, in its current form, will be worse than what it showed yesterday.
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Yin-Yang

That's how it usually happens after a crazy game 1 opener on the road. We'll find our balance and rhythm around game 4-5 and have more of an identity.

And we return everybody on offense next year (minus James) so what we see at end of season this year is what we got. I'm excited.
Fisch is a more organized, balanced version of Whipple in some regards. Great route designs, likes to attack early and after turnovers or momentum plays. Where Fisch gets it... is he doesn't try to force what's not there.
 
I'm just not of the opinion that college teams philosophically change for one game--unless there's an injury or something along those lines that forces them to scale back for instance. It's hard for me to believe that this is not just what we want to do. I'm not saying that it will be this drastic for the entire season, but it takes a lot of time to get college players (FRESHMEN) in tune with a quick hitting offense like that. I can't fathom that we have entire other offensive identities that we've also got these freshmen in tune with. I guess we'll see.
 
I think we'll see different looks each game. They'll gameplan accordingly for each defense.
 
GhostofVenice01 said:
Playing to the strengths of his QB IMO


Its what we should of done with Brock 2003-2004 but didnt instead of forcing him under center
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^ This. The D'Onofrio second guessing I can understand but people need to chill on Fisch. The Nix comparison is laughable. He took what the defense gave him, didn't ask Morris to do too much and we put up points. Relax and let's see what adjustments he makes for K State.
 
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Pennmed Canefan said:
I'm just not of the opinion that college teams philosophically change for one game--unless there's an injury or something along those lines that forces them to scale back for instance. It's hard for me to believe that this is not just what we want to do. I'm not saying that it will be this drastic for the entire season, but it takes a lot of time to get college players (FRESHMEN) in tune with a quick hitting offense like that. I can't fathom that we have entire other offensive identities that we've also got these freshmen in tune with. I guess we'll see.
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If that's true, Penn, I'm simply concerned. The most uncomfortable place to be playing against a quick-hitting, spread offense, should be for those opposing OLBs or Nickel DBs. They should be worried about the balance between the run game and the horizontal passing game AND they should be worried about eventually getting hit over the top as they inch forward. If that latter threat isn't there, it becomes infinitely easier to play defense.

I guess we'll see.
 
JimmyJohnsonsHair said:
GhostofVenice01 said:
Playing to the strengths of his QB IMO


Its what we should of done with Brock 2003-2004 but didnt instead of forcing him under center
Click to expand...
^ This. The D'Onofrio second guessing I can understand but people need to chill on Fisch. The Nix comparison is laughable. He took what the defense gave him, didn't ask Morris to do too much and we put up points. Relax and let's see what adjustments he makes for K State.
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Yet again, people fail to understand that there isn't a comparison being made to Nix. The "Nix Zone" is the 12 yard (vertical) by 53 yard (horizontal) rectangle within which we primarily played yesterday.

You guys are either intentionally being dense about understanding that or you are creating straw man arguments.
 
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Cityboy4life82 said:
The offense was great today. The fast pace and quick passing was refreshing. We marched down the field with ease and people are complaining. Also had close to 500 yards total offense. Enjoy the win and stop over thinking
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You could have 10,000 yards but it doesn't mean jack if they aren't scoring points.
 
Having James go east west with the sweeps and tosses like he is Duke

Not taking chances down field with Scott or Dorsett

And then our absolutely turrible red zone offense

Fisch should be taking a ton of blame
 
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