[d4cohn]

Everyone in a competitive environment must adapt, including David Shaw. 

I know the end product is not where we all want it right now, but I actually think Coach Shaw has made a marked adaptation in the past couple of years on offense. With the exception of the multiple TE's, we are running an offense more similar to a Big 12 spread team than our previous iterations in the past. Part may be due to personnel on OL, but regardless, we play with a lot more tempo now than we ever used to, JJAW is a Big-12 type WR in his home-run play ability, combined with his size that is a matchup nightmare for most teams, and we frequently attack the seam deep. Even our bend-but-don't-break defense is modeled more after a Big 12 defense than say, Utah's defense last night or ND's defensive philosophy. 

A perfect example of this is, again despite the end result, how we went toe-to-toe offensively with a Big 12 offensive juggernaut in TCU, and the manner in which we put up 37 points. A Bryce home-run, and 3 TD's to JJ. 

Now, after four years of running bend-but-don't-break on defense, one may have an argument about making modifications to that philosophy (giving up a yard more per rushing attempt, and 40-60 yards more per game), by adding in blitzes and stunts earlier. But we are clearly very vulnerable at at least one of the safety positions, and at nickle, and if the extra pressure doesn't get home, and you leave our DB one-on-one on an island, you will sometimes get what happened on the last Utah TD. Maybe it is worth taking that calculated risk, but any discussion of additional blitzing should be framed as such. It is a risk, but perhaps if we take more calculated risks, it will ultimately lead to a bigger pay-off.

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Also, re the decline in rush blocking on OL, which is undoubtedly the source of our dramatic decline in rush yardage (even if Love is hurt, Speights showed last night he can be at least a solid runner), the question is whether this decline, which times with Coach Bloomgren's departure for Rice, is because of the personnel left for the new OL coach (basically the recruiting pipeline), or is more attributable to coaching. I think the answer is a combination of both; Bryce Love home runs bump up last year's YPC, because we had a fair number of runs last year (though not as many as this year) stuffed for no gain or a very short gain. On the other hand, the personnel is mostly the same as last year (with some rotations due to injuries on OL), and our OL coach is known for being a pass-blocking specialist, as opposed to a run-blocking specialist. I believe that is showing in the run stats.

[d4cohn]

Everyone in a competitive environment must adapt, including David Shaw. 

I know the end product is not where we all want it right now, but I actually think Coach Shaw has made a marked adaptation in the past couple of years on offense. With the exception of the multiple TE's, we are running an offense more similar to a Big 12 spread team than our previous iterations in the past. Part may be due to personnel on OL, but regardless, we play with a lot more tempo now than we ever used to, JJAW is a Big-12 type WR in his home-run play ability, combined with his size that is a matchup nightmare for most teams, and we frequently attack the seam deep. Even our bend-but-don't-break defense is modeled more after a Big 12 defense than say, Utah's defense last night or ND's defensive philosophy. 

A perfect example of this is, again despite the end result, how we went toe-to-toe offensively with a Big 12 offensive juggernaut in TCU, and the manner in which we put up 37 points. A Bryce home-run, and 3 TD's to JJ. 

Now, after four years of running bend-but-don't-break on defense, one may have an argument about making modifications to that philosophy (giving up a yard more per rushing attempt, and 40-60 yards more per game), by adding in blitzes and stunts earlier. But we are clearly very vulnerable at at least one of the safety positions, and at nickle, and if the extra pressure doesn't get home, and you leave our DB one-on-one on an island, you will sometimes get what happened on the last Utah TD. Maybe it is worth taking that calculated risk, but any discussion of additional blitzing should be framed as such. It is a risk, but perhaps if we take more calculated risks, it will ultimately lead to a bigger pay-off.

---

Also, re the decline in rush blocking on OL, which is undoubtedly the source of our dramatic decline in rush yardage (even if Love is hurt, Speights showed last night he can be at least a solid runner), the question is whether this decline, which times with Coach Bloomgren's departure for Rice, is because of the personnel left for the new OL coach (basically the recruiting pipeline), or is more attributable to coaching. I think the answer is a combination of both; Bryce Love home runs bump up last year's YPC, because we had a fair number of runs last year (though not as many as this year) stuffed for no gain or a very short gain. On the other hand, the personnel is mostly the same as last year (with some rotations due to injuries on OL), and our OL coach is known for being a pass-blocking specialist, as opposed to a run-blocking specialist. I believe that is showing in the run stats.