[CTcard]

My concern is that the coaches appeared to have no idea that we would in fact be a team with no run game. Self-assessment is key.

I don't think anyone anticipated that we would struggle in the run game.  On paper, we returned the best running back in the country and four fifths of an offensive line that enabled him to be the top running back in the country last year.  We aren't just struggling, our running game has cratered.  We went from 5.9 ypc (second in the conference) and 202 yards per game (third in the conference) to 3.1 ypc (last) and 86 yards per game (second to last).

I think any reasonable observer would not just be surprised at the changes; they would be shocked.  So I don't hold the staff responsible for not anticipating it.  What is concerning, however, is that six games into the season nobody seems to have any insights into why,  let alone developed a plan to fix it (that I can see, and of course, I don't know what the coaches are thinking or doing).

Again, this should be a difference between a fan and a coach.

The coaches see guys and groups perform every day in practice. They know who's healthy, who's not, who has had their development held back for whatever reason, who is working well together and not; and just broadly ought to be able to observe the level of performance.

So they should, and must, see what are likely hurdles approaching. If important areas are not performing, they have to either fix it or develop a plan B. 

I mean if the coaches aren't responsible for this, who is?

This seems to be the second major time that the coaching staff apparently completely misread the strengths and weaknesses of their offense. In 2014 they thought they didn't have a run game and thought Hogan could be a high volume passer. So they tried to institute a pass-first, pass-heavy, pass-to-control-the-ball offense. It was awful, and notably mistake filled. Meanwhile, they never noticed that while the early season run game wasn't great it was better than the pass game. More importantly they never really figured out what they had sitting on the bench in McCaffrey until the next season (and a little at the end of the 2014 season).

This season it didn't take long to figure out the run game isn't working (how could you not), and they have certainly adjusted by throwing the ball most of the time. However, they didn't anticipate this when it was time to install a scheme, so they don't really have great options. 

So here is where I disagree with OutsiderFan.  While I agree that our passing offense is not optimally suited for the kind of offense we are running, it seems to me that it would be much better to try to fix the running game, which is clearly not working, than "fix" the passing game, which works well (if sub-optimally).  

I don't think there is any question at all that the "best" thing to do would be to fix the run game. However, it is not clear to me that it is going to be fixed - certainly there hasn't been much movement in that direction so far. I hold out faint hope that a healthy Love and an OL with improving health and increasing reps together will show improvement. At mid-conference level performance there is enough in the pass game that the offense could still end up quite good.

[CTcard]

My concern is that the coaches appeared to have no idea that we would in fact be a team with no run game. Self-assessment is key.

I don't think anyone anticipated that we would struggle in the run game.  On paper, we returned the best running back in the country and four fifths of an offensive line that enabled him to be the top running back in the country last year.  We aren't just struggling, our running game has cratered.  We went from 5.9 ypc (second in the conference) and 202 yards per game (third in the conference) to 3.1 ypc (last) and 86 yards per game (second to last).

I think any reasonable observer would not just be surprised at the changes; they would be shocked.  So I don't hold the staff responsible for not anticipating it.  What is concerning, however, is that six games into the season nobody seems to have any insights into why,  let alone developed a plan to fix it (that I can see, and of course, I don't know what the coaches are thinking or doing).

Again, this should be a difference between a fan and a coach.

The coaches see guys and groups perform every day in practice. They know who's healthy, who's not, who has had their development held back for whatever reason, who is working well together and not; and just broadly ought to be able to observe the level of performance.

So they should, and must, see what are likely hurdles approaching. If important areas are not performing, they have to either fix it or develop a plan B. 

I mean if the coaches aren't responsible for this, who is?

This seems to be the second major time that the coaching staff apparently completely misread the strengths and weaknesses of their offense. In 2014 they thought they didn't have a run game and thought Hogan could be a high volume passer. So they tried to institute a pass-first, pass-heavy, pass-to-control-the-ball offense. It was awful, and notably mistake filled. Meanwhile, they never noticed that while the early season run game wasn't great it was better than the pass game. More importantly they never really figured out what they had sitting on the bench in McCaffrey until the next season (and a little at the end of the 2014 season).

This season it didn't take long to figure out the run game isn't working (how could you not), and they have certainly adjusted by throwing the ball most of the time. However, they didn't anticipate this when it was time to install a scheme, so they don't really have great options. 

So here is where I disagree with OutsiderFan.  While I agree that our passing offense is not optimally suited for the kind of offense we are running, it seems to me that it would be much better to try to fix the running game, which is clearly not working, than "fix" the passing game, which works well (if sub-optimally).  

I don't think there is any question at all that the "best" thing to do would be to fix the run game. However, it is not clear to me that it is going to be fixed - certainly there hasn't been much movement in that direction so far. I hold out faint hope that a healthy Love and an OL with improving health and increasing reps together will show improvement. At mid-conference level performance there is enough in the pass game that the offense could still end up quite good.