10-25-2016, 08:56 AM
Given how well the offense executed last year, the problems this year are unlikely to drill down to a single factor -- I think most of the factors people have voiced contribute to some degree:
1) Drop-off from 5th year Hogan to a new inexperienced starter was to be expected whoever came in as QB. I think Burns showed during the first three games that it wasn't crazy to select him as the starter. However I don't think he has great instincts and with all the other breakdowns the QB this year has to have better instincts so probably time to find out what Chryst can do.
2) Loss of 3 OL starters means a drop-off was to be expected there as well. Unfortunately the drop-off was bigger than expected.
3) OL, RB, FB, and TE injuries eliminated any margin for error, and games 4-7 showed we couldn't afford that (it's an incredibly bad run of injuries particularly given Stanford's history under Turley). And the early bye week was a bad break and useless for healing and cleaning up all the other problems
4) Coaching to date has not adequately adjusted to 1/2/3 above. I didn't expect Shaw/Bloomgren to tear up the playbook after the UW/WSU games, but the most complex/biggest playbook in college football should have some plays that can get Love and McCaffrey into space without depending on the OL physically dominating a defense that is expecting it. And the lack of emphasis/imagination in the passing game hasn't helped -- I'm not surprised the CU defensive backs were calling out the routes before plays by the end of the game.
5) And finally, execution. In retrospect with 1/2/3 above I think we would have needed to be very lucky to challenge for the Pac-12 title this year. But my biggest disappointment is that we have stopped being the smart disciplined effective team that we are used to. Lots of examples with blocking all across the field -- ignoring the OL because that has been discussed at length, there have been too many examples of others whiffing on blocks or failing to pick up assignments. A couple examples that are stuck in my head: Rector's reverse where Scarlett failed to even disrupt the corner, stopping a big gain; JJAW flailing then lightly blocking in the back to bring back a long Love gain; watching a double-teamed punt return gunner run past two Stanford defenders basically untouched to cause a fair catch when a big return was possible; the list goes on and on and on.
I don't have high hopes about 1/2/3 above going forward -- if there were clear-cut personnel changes that represented magic bullets we would have seen them already (although why not give Chryst a shot, and hopefully injured players heal up). But, improvements on 4/5 above still leaves the potential to win out -- that's on both coaches and players so lets hope they are up to it.
1) Drop-off from 5th year Hogan to a new inexperienced starter was to be expected whoever came in as QB. I think Burns showed during the first three games that it wasn't crazy to select him as the starter. However I don't think he has great instincts and with all the other breakdowns the QB this year has to have better instincts so probably time to find out what Chryst can do.
2) Loss of 3 OL starters means a drop-off was to be expected there as well. Unfortunately the drop-off was bigger than expected.
3) OL, RB, FB, and TE injuries eliminated any margin for error, and games 4-7 showed we couldn't afford that (it's an incredibly bad run of injuries particularly given Stanford's history under Turley). And the early bye week was a bad break and useless for healing and cleaning up all the other problems
4) Coaching to date has not adequately adjusted to 1/2/3 above. I didn't expect Shaw/Bloomgren to tear up the playbook after the UW/WSU games, but the most complex/biggest playbook in college football should have some plays that can get Love and McCaffrey into space without depending on the OL physically dominating a defense that is expecting it. And the lack of emphasis/imagination in the passing game hasn't helped -- I'm not surprised the CU defensive backs were calling out the routes before plays by the end of the game.
5) And finally, execution. In retrospect with 1/2/3 above I think we would have needed to be very lucky to challenge for the Pac-12 title this year. But my biggest disappointment is that we have stopped being the smart disciplined effective team that we are used to. Lots of examples with blocking all across the field -- ignoring the OL because that has been discussed at length, there have been too many examples of others whiffing on blocks or failing to pick up assignments. A couple examples that are stuck in my head: Rector's reverse where Scarlett failed to even disrupt the corner, stopping a big gain; JJAW flailing then lightly blocking in the back to bring back a long Love gain; watching a double-teamed punt return gunner run past two Stanford defenders basically untouched to cause a fair catch when a big return was possible; the list goes on and on and on.
I don't have high hopes about 1/2/3 above going forward -- if there were clear-cut personnel changes that represented magic bullets we would have seen them already (although why not give Chryst a shot, and hopefully injured players heal up). But, improvements on 4/5 above still leaves the potential to win out -- that's on both coaches and players so lets hope they are up to it.