[winflop]

Which is what made this game so puzzling. Obviously the game against Rice was not exactly top-tier opposition but the offense looked good. And while the SC performance won't go into the hall of fame, it wasn't a disgraceful performance by any means. A B- or B, we'll say. So why did Shaw decide to blow it up and overhaul the offensive line? It's really weird.

And when that didn't seem to work, the coaches seemed to be mashing the buttons to see what worked. I think there were nine offensive linemen out there at various points (Hall, Little, Burkett, Herbig, Bright, Chaffin, Wilson, Sarell, Hamilton). That's a lot. That's to say nothing of the other various odd decisions. In a situation in which "steady goes the ship of state" wouldn't've been a crazy policy -- and would've stayed true to character -- the coaches opted for desperation. I don't get it, at all.

Sorry WIM but I gotta disagree with you on multiple points here. The offense was a C at best against U$C. The OL couldn't block ANYONE run or pass, and the right side was an absolute disaster all night. It was better last night, but still not good.

As for rotating nine guys in, I don't think that's unusually high. Keep in mind they ran more Heavy Jumbo than I'd see recently, especially in the second half when Burns was in as the "pitch & block" QB.

Not sure where you saw signs of desperation in the coaching. The misguided and ultimately very costly decision to kick a FG in the third quarter was vintage overly conservative Shawgren.

[winflop]

Which is what made this game so puzzling. Obviously the game against Rice was not exactly top-tier opposition but the offense looked good. And while the SC performance won't go into the hall of fame, it wasn't a disgraceful performance by any means. A B- or B, we'll say. So why did Shaw decide to blow it up and overhaul the offensive line? It's really weird.

And when that didn't seem to work, the coaches seemed to be mashing the buttons to see what worked. I think there were nine offensive linemen out there at various points (Hall, Little, Burkett, Herbig, Bright, Chaffin, Wilson, Sarell, Hamilton). That's a lot. That's to say nothing of the other various odd decisions. In a situation in which "steady goes the ship of state" wouldn't've been a crazy policy -- and would've stayed true to character -- the coaches opted for desperation. I don't get it, at all.

Sorry WIM but I gotta disagree with you on multiple points here. The offense was a C at best against U$C. The OL couldn't block ANYONE run or pass, and the right side was an absolute disaster all night. It was better last night, but still not good.

As for rotating nine guys in, I don't think that's unusually high. Keep in mind they ran more Heavy Jumbo than I'd see recently, especially in the second half when Burns was in as the "pitch & block" QB.

Not sure where you saw signs of desperation in the coaching. The misguided and ultimately very costly decision to kick a FG in the third quarter was vintage overly conservative Shawgren.