The Offense: Putrid & Predictable

[LuCane]

If he’s woefully inaccurate throwing from the pocket what makes you think he’ll be any better throwing on the run?

Except he's woefully inaccurate throwing downfield from the pocket. Saying "we missed a couple bubbles" really isn't saying much. He also hit some shorter passes. Perhaps he's only 'badly inaccurate' throwing the ball on rolls and throwing the ball short or intermediate? He's completed those passes before, so it's not a hypothetical.

One big problem is he basically limited us to playing from the 'Gun, so a lot of the boots and rolls we've seen from Coach Richt have mostly been from under center. Again, Rosier's limitations place Coach Richt in a really tough spot. But, we all knew this. No reason to let Pitt force you into an array of deep 3PTers and halfcourt shots from a blindfolded chucker.

Again, Rosier didn't do anything yesterday he hadn't flashed previously this season. He just got forced into more of it and we couldn't get lucky. So be it. Blaming it all on Coach Richt is nonsense. Blaming it all on Malik seems like a stretch.

 

[Pearson704]

Rosier often makes odd decisions and reads the wrong side of the field. Part of that is coaching, but part of it is Rosier is limited.

With the intent of staying off the board till later in the week, I only jumped into the board because the absolute blame flowing in one direction irks me. We talked about that off the board. Frankly, Rosier's execution is a bigger part of our failure, but come on, we knew this, no?

The 5'9" dude covering our best 6'2" player had 1 arm... Yea...

All that you say is right but he at least lets it fly. He wasn't letting our playmakers compete against inferior athletes with his poor play. You and everyone else should stop nit-picking. He sucked yesterday and from what I gather he owned it.

See you at the end of the week!

 

[LuCane]

Rosier often makes odd decisions and reads the wrong side of the field. Part of that is coaching, but part of it is Rosier is limited.

With the intent of staying off the board till later in the week, I only jumped into the board because the absolute blame flowing in one direction irks me. We talked about that off the board. Frankly, Rosier's execution is a bigger part of our failure, but come on, we knew this, no?

The 5'9" dude covering our best 6'2" player had 1 arm... Yea...

All that you say is right but he at least lets it fly. He wasn't letting our playmakers compete against inferior athletes with his poor play. You and everyone else should stop nit-picking. He sucked yesterday and from what I gather he owned it.

See you at the end of the week!

I didn't aim to nitpick. Just really hate to see players get 100% of the blame.

Makes no difference. Malik is our option at QB and we have a puncher's chance to land ourselves in the college playoffs. Check you guys later.

 

[Pearson704]

Can we please have Rosier on the bootleg more???

He is a mobile QB....unless he is just plain horrible at bootleg pass plays, this would be playing his strength as a mobile QB.

If he’s woefully inaccurate throwing from the pocket what makes you think he’ll be any better throwing on the run?

Pure comedy on this site.

:q3XKXeX:

Hilarious indeed. But, expected from you, who once said Richt was the "innovator of the run and shoot offense." I get it. To you, Richt is never at any fault. Ever. Even last year, when he admitted to being rusty, you still disagreed with him. You're aware of the incredible amount of options that are better than low percentage options inside the pocket from a proven inaccurate QB, right? I guess it comes down to this:

You guys really believe having a wildly erratic - from footwork to mechanics - QB sit in the pocket and make low % tosses downfield is better than...pretty much any other option?

He's done it all year.. All he had to do was complete a pass.

This is Richt's second year with an o-line that has talent and depth issues, an erratic QB, no FB and poor depth at RB and TE. This team, as constructed, is far from being a complete product. Richt is a football genius and if this year's coaching job isn't exemplary I'm not sure what is. You see what Alabama just did with top 3 classes year after year?

 

[LuCane]

Can we please have Rosier on the bootleg more???

He is a mobile QB....unless he is just plain horrible at bootleg pass plays, this would be playing his strength as a mobile QB.

If he’s woefully inaccurate throwing from the pocket what makes you think he’ll be any better throwing on the run?

Pure comedy on this site.

:q3XKXeX:

Hilarious indeed. But, expected from you, who once said Richt was the "innovator of the run and shoot offense." I get it. To you, Richt is never at any fault. Ever. Even last year, when he admitted to being rusty, you still disagreed with him. You're aware of the incredible amount of options that are better than low percentage options inside the pocket from a proven inaccurate QB, right? I guess it comes down to this:

You guys really believe having a wildly erratic - from footwork to mechanics - QB sit in the pocket and make low % tosses downfield is better than...pretty much any other option?

He's done it all year.. All he had to do was complete a pass.

This is Richt's second year with an o-line that has talent and depth issues, an erratic QB, no FB and poor depth at RB and TE. This team, as constructed, is far from being a complete product. Richt is a football genius and if this year's coaching job isn't exemplary I'm not sure what is. You see what Alabama just did with top 3 classes year after year?

Coach Richt's done a few things to help Malik this year. To me, it seemed like he thought he could get by Pitt without pulling another one out till the ACCCG. I do acknowledge this season has exceeded my expectations and so I'm not going to be upset with any outcome. We got lucky earlier in the year. Would have naturally preferred to close it out against a lesser talented squad yesterday. It happens. I get it.

 

[Pearson704]

Rosier often makes odd decisions and reads the wrong side of the field. Part of that is coaching, but part of it is Rosier is limited.

With the intent of staying off the board till later in the week, I only jumped into the board because the absolute blame flowing in one direction irks me. We talked about that off the board. Frankly, Rosier's execution is a bigger part of our failure, but come on, we knew this, no?

The 5'9" dude covering our best 6'2" player had 1 arm... Yea...

All that you say is right but he at least lets it fly. He wasn't letting our playmakers compete against inferior athletes with his poor play. You and everyone else should stop nit-picking. He sucked yesterday and from what I gather he owned it.

See you at the end of the week!

I didn't aim to nitpick. Just really hate to see players get 100% of the blame.

Makes no difference. Malik is our option at QB and we have a puncher's chance to land ourselves in the college playoffs. Check you guys later.

You can check my history and should know it since you choose quote me; I've always believed Malik was a "gamer" who's capable of performing at a high level and have been defending him on threads since Brad left. I don't make it a point to bash the kid despite consistently mediocre performances, but his play yesterday was awful by anyone's standard.

 

[TemplarCane]

If he’s woefully inaccurate throwing from the pocket what makes you think he’ll be any better throwing on the run?

Except he's woefully inaccurate throwing downfield from the pocket. Saying "we missed a couple bubbles" really isn't saying much. He also hit some shorter passes. Perhaps he's only 'badly inaccurate' throwing the ball on rolls and throwing the ball short or intermediate? He's completed those passes before, so it's not a hypothetical.

One big problem is he basically limited us to playing from the 'Gun, so a lot of the boots and rolls we've seen from Coach Richt have mostly been from under center. Again, Rosier's limitations place Coach Richt in a really tough spot. But, we all knew this. No reason to let Pitt force you into an array of deep 3PTers and halfcourt shots from a blindfolded chucker.

Again, Rosier didn't do anything yesterday he hadn't flashed previously this season. He just got forced into more of it and we couldn't get lucky. So be it. Blaming it all on Coach Richt is nonsense. Blaming it all on Malik seems like a stretch.

I do not blame everything on Malik. He has his limitations. Richt should have done more to adjust to Rosier’s deficiencies. He has done so in previous games. He was outcoached by Narduzzi this time. Or, he under-coached himself. Bad day by all concerned.

If the OL had gave some credibility to a running game, that would have helped. Perhaps some calls to higher percentage passes could have helped open that up. Something to get 3-4 yards a pop, at the right time. I would like to see Homer and DJ Dallas catch a few more passes out of the backfield. Both are capable. And let’s not forget our underused friend, TE Christopher Herndon IV.

On to Charlotte.

 

[Pearson704]

If he’s woefully inaccurate throwing from the pocket what makes you think he’ll be any better throwing on the run?

Pure comedy on this site.

:q3XKXeX:

Hilarious indeed. But, expected from you, who once said Richt was the "innovator of the run and shoot offense." I get it. To you, Richt is never at any fault. Ever. Even last year, when he admitted to being rusty, you still disagreed with him. You're aware of the incredible amount of options that are better than low percentage options inside the pocket from a proven inaccurate QB, right? I guess it comes down to this:

You guys really believe having a wildly erratic - from footwork to mechanics - QB sit in the pocket and make low % tosses downfield is better than...pretty much any other option?

He's done it all year.. All he had to do was complete a pass.

This is Richt's second year with an o-line that has talent and depth issues, an erratic QB, no FB and poor depth at RB and TE. This team, as constructed, is far from being a complete product. Richt is a football genius and if this year's coaching job isn't exemplary I'm not sure what is. You see what Alabama just did with top 3 classes year after year?

Coach Richt's done a few things to help Malik this year. To me, it seemed like he thought he could get by Pitt without pulling another one out till the ACCCG. I do acknowledge this season has exceeded my expectations and so I'm not going to be upset with any outcome. We got lucky earlier in the year. Would have naturally preferred to close it out against a lesser talented squad yesterday. It happens. I get it.

OCs job is to create 1 on 1 opportunities that players have to execute. Richt did his job in spades and, if Malik didn't airmail everything, we could have won the game.. Not here to bash Malik or any player, but likewise, i'm not gonna let the "magic playbook" crowd overrun the site either.

 

[Hurracanes]

I know we had guys open but I still wish we were more creative on offense

wide open guys are good enough for me.

One game sample vs two years? That’s not good enough for me...

It is not a one game sample. It is that we lost so everything has been under the microscope. Mallk has played like trash most games this year save a couple year here and there. Because he has been able to dig us out of hole he put us in, he has gotten a pass for the most part.

Thank you for this. The people who know the least are the most outraged about what happened yesterday, and look for reasons to blame coaching for an abysmal performance by Malik. You have to at least give your playmakers a chance to make plays and Malik wasn't able to do that yesterday.

Take nothing away from Pitt who had a solid offensive game-plan and a defense that came to play, but if Malik could hit the broad side of a bard yesterday we win that game and aren't having this discussion.

Uh, the Offensive struggles is a continuous discussion on this site for two years now. I don’t know what games you’ve been watching but our problems go much deeper than Rosier. For an example, Pitt rushed for 150 yards while we rushed for 50. Malik ran for 30 of those yards. That’s unacceptable. That’s on CMR as well. But clearly you know more about football than I do...

 

[Pearson704]

I’ve said many times Richt could be better, but I think he’s squeezed about as much as he can out of Rosier.

If Richt absolvers would take this approach, I'd have no problem with it. I think Rosier is exactly what he's shown to be. He looked worse yesterday because Narduzzi literally forced him into the lowest % throws possible and we didn't really try anything else. So all that means is blame should be shared to at least some degree. Some people can't handle that, I guess.

Nah, Narduzzi had a good game plan and his kids played hard, but if Malik even under-threw most of those deep balls we win the game. Throws he's made all year he couldn't make yesterday, down to bubble screens and bombs against 1-arm midget defenders. He laid an egg. Not the worst performance in history but it was on him...

“[Pitt] didn’t really mix their coverages and throughout the game" -Malik R.

“I missed multiple receivers and that is something I have to fix and have thick skin. It can’t happen next week. The big thing is to just learn from this experience. There are multiple times where we play lackadaisical in the first half and in the second half we come out and explode. That just didn’t happen this week. That is something I have to fix and motivate those guys in the first half so that the second half doesn’t have to be a miracle.” - Malik R.

“I knew that if I kept making mistakes, I was going to get pulled,” Rosier said. “He wound up pulling me. I felt like it was one of those moments as a starter where I haven’t lost yet and I guess I got complacent. I was just out there to be out there. I was just going through my reads and not dialing in and focusing on every snap. After that, it put the football game in perspective that at any moment I could get pulled.” -Malik R.

https://247sports.com/college/miami...-His-Performance-Against-Pittsburgh-111034877

He would casually run off the field after 3 and outs and be no more focused on the next drive; unappreciative of the tremendous defensive effort being put forth or the effort by the offense. Kid didn't look like he wanted to be there and his comments (that I just read) above say as much. However, despite his own words, people want to nit-pick coaching. "Some people can't handle that, I guess"

 

[deleted7012]

You can count on one hand the amount of times we had any pre-snap motion yesterday.

Why does Richt refuse to do this regularly? The few times we have, it’s been successful: Berrios jet-sweep vs Virginia Tech, Fake Jet Sweep Counter vs ND (?) where Herndon pulled leading Homer for 20+ yd gain.


If Richt insists on RPO can we fake a jet-sweep for ****’s sakes? Maybe move Thomas, Dallas or Richards around to create some matchups? These aren’t radical concepts folks.

The offense, for a majority of the season, has been unimaginative and predictable. We absolutely can beat Clemson, but that **** will get us stomped next week.

CMR and Co. tailor the gameplan each week depending on the opponent. Against VT and ND, teams with reputable defenses up until the point they played us, Richt got creative and threw in a bunch of pre-snap motion plays to give us an edge. Pitt's D wasn't highly rated, so we went with our vanilla offense. You could make the argument that this was the right call as WRs were open all day. What Richt didn't count on was Malik going AWOL or our OL getting beat the way they did, even on 4 man rushes. Against Clemson, i predict CMR will throw in some wrinkles like he did against VT and Clemson. He and the team will be hungry and laser focused this week... It's not going to be easy but I'm feeling good about our chances. GO CANES!!!

 

[Pearson704]

wide open guys are good enough for me.

One game sample vs two years? That’s not good enough for me...

It is not a one game sample. It is that we lost so everything has been under the microscope. Mallk has played like trash most games this year save a couple year here and there. Because he has been able to dig us out of hole he put us in, he has gotten a pass for the most part.

Thank you for this. The people who know the least are the most outraged about what happened yesterday, and look for reasons to blame coaching for an abysmal performance by Malik. You have to at least give your playmakers a chance to make plays and Malik wasn't able to do that yesterday.

Take nothing away from Pitt who had a solid offensive game-plan and a defense that came to play, but if Malik could hit the broad side of a bard yesterday we win that game and aren't having this discussion.

Uh, the Offensive struggles is a continuous discussion on this site for two years now. I don’t know what games you’ve been watching but our problems go much deeper than Rosier. For an example, Pitt rushed for 150 yards while we rushed for 50. Malik ran for 30 of those yards. That’s unacceptable. That’s on CMR as well. But clearly you know more about football than I do...

We're not that team yet. We can't just line up and run the ball down people's throats despite recent big runs at home in the 4th quarter, which are as much a product of conditioning as execution. Sorry, maybe in a couple years.

 

[TemplarCane]

I’ve said many times Richt could be better, but I think he’s squeezed about as much as he can out of Rosier.

If Richt absolvers would take this approach, I'd have no problem with it. I think Rosier is exactly what he's shown to be. He looked worse yesterday because Narduzzi literally forced him into the lowest % throws possible and we didn't really try anything else. So all that means is blame should be shared to at least some degree. Some people can't handle that, I guess.

Nah, Narduzzi had a good game plan and his kids played hard, but if Malik even under-threw most of those deep balls we win the game. Throws he's made all year he couldn't make yesterday, down to bubble screens and bombs against 1-arm midget defenders. He laid an egg. Not the worst performance in history but it was on him...

“I missed multiple receivers and that is something I have to fix and have thick skin. It can’t happen next week. The big thing is to just learn from this experience. There are multiple times where we play lackadaisical in the first half and in the second half we come out and explode. That just didn’t happen this week. That is something I have to fix and motivate those guys in the first half so that the second half doesn’t have to be a miracle.” - Malik R.

“I knew that if I kept making mistakes, I was going to get pulled,” Rosier said. “He wound up pulling me. I felt like it was one of those moments as a starter where I haven’t lost yet and I guess I got complacent. I was just out there to be out there. I was just going through my reads and not dialing in and focusing on every snap. After that, it put the football game in perspective that at any moment I could get pulled.” -Malik R.

He would casually run off the field after 3 and outs and be no more focused on the next drive. Unappreciative of the tremendous defensive effort being put forth on the other side of the ball, or by players on the offense. Kid didn't look like he wanted to be there and his comments (that I just read) above say as much. However, despite his own words, people want to nit-pick coaching. "Some people can't handle that, I guess"

His comments about being complacent are more troubling than anything. He has limitations as a passer we just have to live with. But to say he wasn’t focused on the game, during the game, is unexceptable.

 

[LuCane]

I’ve said many times Richt could be better, but I think he’s squeezed about as much as he can out of Rosier.

If Richt absolvers would take this approach, I'd have no problem with it. I think Rosier is exactly what he's shown to be. He looked worse yesterday because Narduzzi literally forced him into the lowest % throws possible and we didn't really try anything else. So all that means is blame should be shared to at least some degree. Some people can't handle that, I guess.

Nah, Narduzzi had a good game plan and his kids played hard, but if Malik even under-threw most of those deep balls we win the game. Throws he's made all year he couldn't make yesterday, down to bubble screens and bombs against 1-arm midget defenders. He laid an egg. Not the worst performance in history but it was on him...

“I missed multiple receivers and that is something I have to fix and have thick skin. It can’t happen next week. The big thing is to just learn from this experience. There are multiple times where we play lackadaisical in the first half and in the second half we come out and explode. That just didn’t happen this week. That is something I have to fix and motivate those guys in the first half so that the second half doesn’t have to be a miracle.” - Malik R.

“I knew that if I kept making mistakes, I was going to get pulled,” Rosier said. “He wound up pulling me. I felt like it was one of those moments as a starter where I haven’t lost yet and I guess I got complacent. I was just out there to be out there. I was just going through my reads and not dialing in and focusing on every snap. After that, it put the football game in perspective that at any moment I could get pulled.” -Malik R.

He would casually run off the field after 3 and outs and be no more focused on the next drive. Unappreciative of the tremendous defensive effort being put forth on the other side of the ball, or by players on the offense. Kid didn't look like he wanted to be there and his comments (that I just read) above say as much. However, despite his own words, people want to nit-pick coaching. "Some people can't handle that, I guess"

We can continue to go back and forth. But, it's pointless. It's not nitpicking coaching and I'd bet Coach Richt would tell you he'd try at least a few different things. The bigger issue is Malik has now once again repeated a tendency to become complacent.

 

[Earnest T. Bass]

Wr’s by themselves all game. I saw it with my own two eyes. Purely Rosiers fault yestersay imo.

You can have, "Wr's by themselves all game", but when the offensive line is getting pushed back into the QB's face most every passing play (see batted down and tipped passes) and the QB is being hurried or sacked it makes completing passes a wee bit more difficult. Also, those open receivers you speak of had almost zero YAC when they did catch the ball...how do you explain that? After all, if those "Wr's were by themselves all game" it only makes sense that they would have run wild on Pittsburgh with the balls they did catch. Right?? Further, when the offensive line gets no push, thus no running game, the defensive linemen pin there ears back and full out rush the passer, defensive backs and linebackers think pass first on almost every play, which is a MASSIVE advantage. Your simple conclusion is laughable to those who truly know what they are watching.

Granted, Rosier had an off day, but as any good defensive coordinator strives to do--Pitt, with the help of Miami's under-performing offensive line never allowed Malik to get into a rhythm.

 

[Big Sky Cane]

Why give him so many opportunities?

This isn't a new thing that Rosier is inaccurate.

On the road, he completes 45.8% of his passes. In conference, he completes 51.5% of his passes.

What’s the alternative?

At least we acknowledged that if you don't trust your QB, don't give him so many opportunities.

Here is a thought...Use our vastly superior athletes to create mismatches against Pitt.

What does “create mismatches” mean?

You mean get guys open?

Like they were yesterday?

Either you’re naive or ignorant. Read Lu’s post above because if your post above is your position, I can’t argue with that.

How about both.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Pearson704]

I’ve said many times Richt could be better, but I think he’s squeezed about as much as he can out of Rosier.

If Richt absolvers would take this approach, I'd have no problem with it. I think Rosier is exactly what he's shown to be. He looked worse yesterday because Narduzzi literally forced him into the lowest % throws possible and we didn't really try anything else. So all that means is blame should be shared to at least some degree. Some people can't handle that, I guess.

Nah, Narduzzi had a good game plan and his kids played hard, but if Malik even under-threw most of those deep balls we win the game. Throws he's made all year he couldn't make yesterday, down to bubble screens and bombs against 1-arm midget defenders. He laid an egg. Not the worst performance in history but it was on him...

“I missed multiple receivers and that is something I have to fix and have thick skin. It can’t happen next week. The big thing is to just learn from this experience. There are multiple times where we play lackadaisical in the first half and in the second half we come out and explode. That just didn’t happen this week. That is something I have to fix and motivate those guys in the first half so that the second half doesn’t have to be a miracle.” - Malik R.

“I knew that if I kept making mistakes, I was going to get pulled,” Rosier said. “He wound up pulling me. I felt like it was one of those moments as a starter where I haven’t lost yet and I guess I got complacent. I was just out there to be out there. I was just going through my reads and not dialing in and focusing on every snap. After that, it put the football game in perspective that at any moment I could get pulled.” -Malik R.

He would casually run off the field after 3 and outs and be no more focused on the next drive. Unappreciative of the tremendous defensive effort being put forth on the other side of the ball, or by players on the offense. Kid didn't look like he wanted to be there and his comments (that I just read) above say as much. However, despite his own words, people want to nit-pick coaching. "Some people can't handle that, I guess"

We can continue to go back and forth. But, it's pointless. It's not nitpicking coaching and I'd bet Coach Richt would tell you he'd try at least a few different things. The bigger issue is Malik has now once again repeated a tendency to become complacent.

There is no back and forth. He quit.

I didn't want to say it but that's essentially what it looked like. Inconsistent decision-making and inaccuracy i've gotten used to, but he's always been a gamer and you could count on him to compete. Yesterday he quit, and there's no way to coach around that. Much respect for him having the balls to speak the truth.

You should stop trying to straw man the convo and just say you were wrong. Not in general, but about yesterday's game.

 

[Big Sky Cane]

Can we please have Rosier on the bootleg more???

He is a mobile QB....unless he is just plain horrible at bootleg pass plays, this would be playing his strength as a mobile QB.

If he’s woefully inaccurate throwing from the pocket what makes you think he’ll be any better throwing on the run?

Pure comedy on this site.

:q3XKXeX:

Hilarious indeed. But, expected from you, who once said Richt was the "innovator of the run and shoot offense." I get it. To you, Richt is never at any fault. Ever. Even last year, when he admitted to being rusty, you still disagreed with him. You're aware of the incredible amount of options that are better than low percentage options inside the pocket from a proven inaccurate QB, right? I guess it comes down to this:

You guys really believe having a wildly erratic - from footwork to mechanics - QB sit in the pocket and make low % tosses downfield is better than...pretty much any other option?

Honest question for you, what do you think is the reasoning behind Richt not calling higher percentage plays? Could he be seeing something during the week that’s making him shy away from those calls? I get what you’re saying about Richt, what I’m not understanding is the possible reasoning behind it.

Because he's stuck in a rut on "his system" and won't adjust his scheme to maximize the abilities of his players. He isn't the first and won't be the last.

This isn't just his passing scheme but also running (as @gogetta had pointed out numerous times).

What makes this even more frustrating is he's bouncing off ideas to his GA level coach son as a sounding board.

Lord help us if one of our QBs isn't an NFL starting level talent or get used to this **** weekly.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[canesthing3]

I don't think it took precision accuracy to hit some of the passes that were there yesterday. I've been a big Rosier supporter but he's got to be better. I also felt like there were shorter options available that he didn't take. Our offense has struggled putting together long 10 play plus drives for sometime now so I understand Richt trying to hit the big play, that's been our M.O, problem is Malik missed everyone that counted except the early TD to Richards.

Plus, taking his post game comments into account, I have to put this one mostly on Malik. It's hard to run block when they are stacking the box, pinning their ears back and begging your QB to take advantage of the 1 on 1s. I'm not big on creativity just to be creative, the plays were there yesterday and we didn't make them.

 

[Awsi Dooger]

I keep saying it. Whose fault is it, that terrible teams and average teams can completely shut our run down? Syracuse, UNC, Pitt. No one can convince me that's on Rosier. The guy is an inconsistent QB. He should not be tossing the ball 34 times a game. Should throw more than 18-25 times. Most of his throws are in long yardage.

We don't care about the running game. We don't hit anybody. When it pops through it's mostly by accident. It's been maddening ever since Richt arrived. I can't criticize much else but the rushing attempt numbers are disgracefully low every week, especially in the first half. I realize nobody cares about that but I have several betting systems that center around that stat, and we flunk badly. It is illegitimate toward national laurels. Absolute frailty. You are guaranteed to hit the wall somewhere and be ruthlessly exposed, a la Mike Leach. That's why I've been equally thrilled and stunned all season. Instead of looking at how we fared against the team we played I've been projecting forward to facing the true blue bloods. Not fun when you do that. So many categories have been great -- like pass defense -- while others are horrendous -- like rushing attempts and passing percentage, etc.

Pittsburgh was a poor team but not a soft team. That's where we screwed up. If they had a tissue rushing defense like Virginia last season then we could have waltzed up there all overconfident and unconcerned and it wouldn't have mattered. Our loopy delayed running plays would have busted occasionally and Rosier wouldn't have been able to avoid the end zone multiple times. But this Panther team was like a low level version of all the blue collar teams that gave the great Miami teams fits in bowl games over the decades. Only two teams ran successfully on the Panthers -- Georgia Tech and North Carolina State. Those games skewed the stats to make the run defense look much worse than actual. Our game was the 8th time Pittsburgh held a foe under 4 yards per rush and 5 times it was 3 yards per rush or lower. They held Oklahoma State below 3 yards per rush.

We couldn't run, basically didn't try to run, showed up overconfident/tired and our quarterback is an admirable gutsy journeyman type. Not the greatest combination. Yeah, the deep balls were there but anyone who focuses on that aspect alone is whiffing the big picture. This is not a championship level offense as currently constructed. That's the third game (Florida State, Notre Dame) Rosier has been under 6 YPA this season. Bloody miracle we were unbeaten heading into Friday because in college football your win expectancy is less than 25% if the quarterbacking is below 6 YPA during the game itself.

How many permutations do we have...5? RPO handoff or fake, Rosier takes off up the middle, or makes a one-read throw. Sorry, I guess it's 4, not 5.

No matter the caliber of quarterback our emphasis should be hitting people on offense first, and variety of formation and style second. If we would merely shift in and out from under center, and utilize stuff like I formation toss play fakes while moving Rosier around and taking advantage of always-available 5-15 yard centerfield darts and crossing patterns, there's no way we wouldn't be less vulnerable and predictable than we are right now.

Frankly we got away with crap calls several times in critical situations this year. Those sideline lobs into double coverage are pure crappiola. This is at least the 12th consecutive year we waste too many pass plays down the sideline when as soon as it leaves the quarterback's hand I'm thinking...wonderful, that's a 10% expectancy. It's like the **** third down screens. Who cares if they work occasionally? Outliers are meaningless. Do the right thing and it's remarkable how everything falls into place.