The head coach and offensive coordinator coach scared. | The Boneyard

The head coach and offensive coordinator coach scared.

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And it reflected on the field.

What this offense needs is swagger. It needs to play loose and if they make a mistake, fine. Clean it up and move on. This team needs to pressure the defense, to throw an option pass, a hook and ladder, mix it up and most of all have fun.
 

SubbaBub

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I'd settle for, "block the guy in front of you," and see where that gets us.

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jbdphi

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Completely agree with this. They play an extremely conservative offensive philosophy, particularly when we actually had a lead in a game (I wasn't able to see Maryland so I only have Buffalo to look to as an example).

This must be for one of two reasons:
1) They are conservative coaches who are "old school" in their way of thinking about offense and managing games
2) They are incredibly scared of what happens when things get loose and what Whitmer may do in term of ball protection if given free rein

None of this explains why we can't run a decent screen pass or play action pass more than a very few times a game. Those are not "playing loose" kinds of calls. They are conservative and can be very successful.
 
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Completely agree with this. They play an extremely conservative offensive philosophy, particularly when we actually had a lead in a game (I wasn't able to see Maryland so I only have Buffalo to look to as an example).

This must be for one of two reasons:
1) They are conservative coaches who are "old school" in their way of thinking about offense and managing games
2) They are incredibly scared of what happens when things get loose and what Whitmer may do in term of ball protection if given free rein

None of this explains why we can't run a decent screen pass or play action pass more than a very few times a game. Those are not "playing loose" kinds of calls. They are conservative and can be very successful.

I am by no means a PP or GD fan, but in some respect can you blame them for not completely trusting the QB or the offense in general? Our QB has double digit INT's. The OLine invariably comes up with a false start at the most inopportune times. While the clock management at the end of the half on Saturday was pitiful, I didn't have as much of a problem with them trying a FG with 8 seconds left (obviously they felt the risk of a turnover, penatly or lost yardage was too much based on the O's track record) as I did with them not starting to use timeouts 50 seconds earlier. I don't know, maybe they didn't want to leave Rutgers time to drive down the field and answer with a score of their own....again, an NFL mentality in a college environment.
 
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It is one thing to try and nurse a lead a when you're ahead, last time out these guys looked like they were trying to nurse a deficit i.e, trying to lose by little rather by a lot. S.O.F.T
 
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And they've both admitted it the past two weeks

GDL talking to Desmond after Buffalo (sitting on the ball with 24-7 lead)


I wasn’t at the game but watched it and it looked to me like you got a little conservative with the 17-point lead and nursed it a little bit. Is that right or…
There’s no doubt about it. Why take unnecessary risks. We came off a game with six sacks. Why take that kind of chance. Now, with that said we weren’t just sitting on the ball all the time. At the end of the game we were but we didn’t convert enough third downs so the answer is, at the end of the game, yeah, I was not going to do anything to put our defense in jeopardy. That may not be fan-friendly but it’s going to be a way to win a game in that situation. For us it’s about winning a game. We know our people better than anybody and we felt like to give our team the best chance to win I wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize our defense – nothing.

PP on kicking field goal with 8 seconds left in first half at Rutgers

" If you run the risk of trying to play there with eight seconds that's kind of the cutoff. If you do something, God forbid you get sacked, you get tackled in bounds, even though you have timeouts sometimes you can't get to them. ... You're right at the line with seven seconds and I wasn't going to risk one second. I just thought Chad, with the wind, would have a pretty good shot to make the three."


 
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I hear you in theory, but when you have a guy that throws a LOT of interceptions and receivers that sometimes don't seem to know where they are supposed to be, you might have to live with some tough results. But I'm game at this point. Play run and shoot - if he gets picked off 6 times, who cares. At least it was fun, right?
 
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I hear you in theory, but when you have a guy that throws a LOT of interceptions and receivers that sometimes don't seem to know where they are supposed to be, you might have to live with some tough results. But I'm game at this point. Play run and shoot - if he gets picked off 6 times, who cares. At least it was fun, right?

No, not right. It's about attitude not run and shoot. The coaches are way too risk averse and it is reflected in an offense that plays without energy or passion. It's not their fault, they are just reflecting the coaching staff.
 

pj

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And they've both admitted it the past two weeks

GDL talking to Desmond after Buffalo (sitting on the ball with 24-7 lead)

That was the quote that made me give up on GDL.

I'm fine with P kicking the FG with 8 seconds -- the increased chance of making a FG if you run another play for a few yards is less than the chance of running off the 8 seconds and losing the shot at a FG -- but they should have called the TO right after the Davis reception with 22 seconds. However, I'm giving him a pass because maybe he thought it wasn't a catch and was trying to get the next play off quick before they could review it.

I agree with Palatine, you can't coach scared, you need aggression. If we lose on player mistakes, so be it. But don't lose because you're not trying to be excellent.
 

Waquoit

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It's all Johnny Mac's fault. That was a great call against Vanderbilt. He had a ton of time and a wide open receiver to salt the game away. Instead he threw it straight to the other team and blew the game. The staff got pounded for the call and has been in a shell ever since.
 
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pj

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Yes, the players haven't delivered. Against Rutgers Scott McCummings prepared too slowly then got too excited and overthrew a TD. You can call out many players and plays. Still, the coaches have to keep their poise.

If you're diverted from your strategy by the outcome of single plays, then you don't have a strategy, just a collection of tactics. That's my problem with GDL -- no strategy.
 
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I am by no means a PP or GD fan, but in some respect can you blame them for not completely trusting the QB or the offense in general? Our QB has double digit INT's. The OLine invariably comes up with a false start at the most inopportune times. While the clock management at the end of the half on Saturday was pitiful, I didn't have as much of a problem with them trying a FG with 8 seconds left (obviously they felt the risk of a turnover, penatly or lost yardage was too much based on the O's track record) as I did with them not starting to use timeouts 50 seconds earlier. I don't know, maybe they didn't want to leave Rutgers time to drive down the field and answer with a score of their own....again, an NFL mentality in a college environment.

THey had plenty of confidence to call a throwing play for McCummingsout of a wishbone formation, at the most crucial point of the game on Saturday, after we had run the ball down their throats for almost 50 yards to their goal line with what should be our bread and butter confidence building offense.
 
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pj

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THey had plenty of confidence to call a throwing play for McCummingsout of a wishbone formation, at the most crucial point of the game on Saturday, after we had run the ball down their throats for almost 50 yards to their goal line with what should be our bread and butter confidence building offense.

Yes. No strategy. Just a collection of tactics. They chose tactical surprise over bread and butter strategy. Whitmer has hardly gotten any practice throwing in the red zone.
 

epark88

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And beyond the scared coaching, another major problem:

There seems to be no clear, discernible leader on the offensive side of the ball. More to the point, this is NOT Chandler Whitmer's team at all. Not yet, at least...
 
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Deleone has a clear pattern of throwing in odd ball play calls into a game plan one week, and then having those same formations show up at important times in future games and have somethign else come out of the formation. He's not fooling anybody, and he's failing to establish a confident offense, that when the pressure is on, the ball needs to move, can get in a huddle, and get to the line of scrimmage and run a play they know they can execute and move forward.

Every single GOOD offense, when you study it, can be reduced down to a single play that is their go to play either a run or pass play out of a base offensive structure. The really good offenses will have two - one run and one pass. THe best defensive coaches, the best defensive teams, will find that formation and play, and the players that offense relies on, and do whatever they can, in a defensive game plan, to take that play away.

It seems to me, that Deleone, in is wise old man stage, has decided that he won't give defenses that opportunity, and wehn it's crunch time, we go to gimmicks and tactics, rather than bread and butter.

To me - this is all that needs to change, for our offense to begin to play well,consistently.

We need to take everything we did o that short drive after stephen's block (minus the wishbone call at the goal) and practice that stuff, until the TE and QB are on the same page, the receivers, TE's and Backs all know their blocks, and can nail them, and we can ride the strength of this offense, which is the right side of that line.

GOd damn, if defensees know it's coming and load up and leverageto stop it, with a QB that can actually throw a decent ball, and big strong receivers that can catch, we can move the ball.

We better start doing it.
 
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And they've both admitted it the past two weeks

GDL talking to Desmond after Buffalo (sitting on the ball with 24-7 lead)



PP on kicking field goal with 8 seconds left in first half at Rutgers

This sums up why EVERYONE's argument against keeping Coach P and GDL can be deemed valid... You just can't say any of what those guys said... That's a defeated attitude... And it shows ZERO respect (IMO) for your current players... You don't believe in your guys to make the plays you call...You show way more respect for the opponent than for your own guys... And with the recruiting we're doing, what are you expectations in the future? We're still not recruiting BIG TIME offensive guys... Yeah, I know this is their second recruiting class, but with all their credentials (NFL), the impact kids are still looking elsewhere to play...

With that said, how can we as fans feel right about what's going up on in Storrs?
 
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THey had plenty of confidence to call a throwing play for McCummingsout of a wishbone formation, at the most crucial point of the game on Saturday, after we had run the ball down their throats for almost 50 yards to their goal line with what should be our bread and butter confidence building offense.

Far different using a run/pass combination in the red zone with no time issues than choosing not to risk a loss of yardage play, turnover, etc. with 8 seconds left in a half.
 
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Far different using a run/pass combination in the red zone with no time issues than choosing not to risk a loss of yardage play, turnover, etc. with 8 seconds left in a half.

What happened in both situations makes me nuts.
 
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I'm not sure if people are missing the fact that the UConn offense matched Rutgers TD for TD in Saturdays game. Rutgers scored just one touchdown on offense. The UConn offense matched them by scoring one touchdown for Rutgers.
 

Waquoit

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Whitmer has hardly gotten any practice throwing in the red zone.

Do you know this to be true or are you just speculating? Because if that's true, I want these guys out today. The back-up blew a play last week that was so easy a HS QB would have been benched for blowing it. And you're telling me that's the guy getting red zone reps?
 
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No, not right. It's about attitude not run and shoot. The coaches are way too risk averse and it is reflected in an offense that plays without energy or passion. It's not their fault, they are just reflecting the coaching staff.

I'm not sure they play without energy. I just don't think that they are that good. CW is an upgrade from JM in talent and probably a downgrade in decision making. Although I agree that CW should be playing now because he has a higher ceiling, I bet we are 4-2 or 5-1 with JM at QB because he would make less mistakes.

My point is that fine--don't be risk averse. But these kids are going to make a lot of mistakes (based on everything we have seen so far)...so putting them in a position to make even more mistakes is going to do what? Maybe we get better. Maybe we implode. Who knows.

I know people are concerned about where the program is in 10 years, but right now PP has to worry about these games 1 by 1, and this season isn't over until we are ineligible for a bowl.
 

FfldCntyFan

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I don't know if scared is the correct term but it is obvious that they have no confidence in the offense and this permeates to the players (kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy).
 
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I agree with the OP. It seems the coaches think even dinking & dunking down the field is too risky. For example in the Rutgers game, the TD pass to Harrison was a quick throw to the WR to attempt to get some yards on a DB (BWW was playing about 7-8 yards off). Do we have a simple pass play like that?
 
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There is an old Irish expression that someone is too cute by half, and I think that applies to DeLeone a lot of the time. In trying ot outsmart the defense, it is almost like he outsmarts himself and his team. The McCummings pass play was a great example. Instead of jamming the ball in with one of 3 potential running backs, he tried to "trick" everyone...If you can't make 2 yards running the football in 3 tries, you might as well not bother fielding a team...
 

pj

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Do you know this to be true or are you just speculating? Because if that's true, I want these guys out today. The back-up blew a play last week that was so easy a HS QB would have been benched for blowing it. And you're telling me that's the guy getting red zone reps?

I meant in games. I don't know what they do in practice. But I have a problem with relying on the wildcat in the red zone, if it's not good enough to be your offense the rest of the time. They seem content to try 3 running plays, 2 out of the wildcat, and then kick a field goal. If they pass, it's likely as not to be a trick play, like McCummings. Why not let Ryan Griffin or Geremy Davis use their size and practice red zone plays until Whitmer can execute them?
 
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