(11-04-2014, 01:56 PM)OutsiderFan link Wrote:The nice thing about sports is even though someone might not understand all the technical aspects, everyone can see who's units perform well and who's don't, by watching the games and looking at the stats and scores.
Here's an example.Â
... They may not be aware that Ca.l has developed a better running game than Stanford this year, with far less heralded OL recruits.Â
...
The Ca.l OL coach is 29 year old Zach Yenser. ... If Stanford's OL was blocking thusly, this thread may not exist. You don't need to be a football coach or even played the game to see that.
Excellent. You bring up just about a perfect example of the issue I raised.
Mike Bloomgren has been Stanford's Oline coach since 2011. For the past two years, he has also been the offensive coordinator.
Over that time Stanford had the following offensive lines:
2011 - possibly the best Oline in Stanford history, at least in the discussion.
2012 - a weak Oline put together with spit and bailing wire. Yankey at LT was not ideal, but somebody was needed there.
2013 - a very good Oline with players that had been around the program for awhile but not necessarily top recruits ... plus Peat.
2014 - a struggling Oline particularly with cohesion issues. Four new starters, most were highly rated recruits.
I don't think it is feasible that Bloomgren was a great Oline coach in 2011 and 2013 and a terrible Oline coach in 2012 and 2014. There are reasons you might dismiss the good performances of 2012 and 2014 as not being primarily to his credit and there are reasons you might attribute the poor performances of 2012 and 2014 to issues mostly beyond his control.
Deciding where everything comes down on balance takes something a little more.
Further, assuming 29 y.o. Yenser is an excellent young coach, tell us who is the next Yenser out there. Two years ago before he came to Cal, for that matter 1 year ago, how many folks on this board would have identified him as an up and coming coach who would make an excellent hire?
A few folks on this board seem to have some inside connections, but I haven't seen many posts pointing out hot young position coaches across the country, or wily veterans not high in the public eye. I would be very interested in reading that kind of info, but it doesn't seem to be something we have here.
and p.s.
Cal does not have a better running game than Stanford. So far Cal has averaged 4.02 yards against weaker defensive competition than against which Stanford has averaged 4.18 yds/rush. Cal also tends to use the run as a surprise option against defenses primarily trying to defend the pass.
Cal does have a better offense overall than Stanford, with a nice improvement this year.