I've got a novel idea. We should give the ball to our best player more than 12 times. I know it sounds crazy
I've got a novel idea. We should give the ball to our best player more than 12 times. I know it sounds crazy
"Be a philosopher. A man can compromise to gain a point. It has become apparent that a man can, within limits, follow his inclinations within the arms of the Church if he does so discreetly." - The Walking Drum
"And here’s what life comes down to—not how many years you live, but how many of those years are filled with bullshit that doesn’t amount to anything to satisfy the requirements of some dickhead you’ll never get the pleasure of punching in the face." – Adam Carolla
He was 6-35 on the touchdown drive, 7-32 the rest of the way. Sure seems like more carries were needed. I don't know how much his injury played a role.Originally Posted by Mormon Red Death
On TV, did replay show Ty Jones in bounds? On the scoreboard it sure looked like his knee was out. I was shocked they overturned.
Yes, it was clear.
I have tried to figure out our offensive identity for 16 games now and I still have no clue. I told my wife as we walked to our car after the game that I thought that was the biggest problem. The first interview we hear when arriving at our car was Covey. When asked what he thought the problem was, he said that the offense has no identity. I believe that is the biggest problem facing the offense right now. We as fans don't know what the identity is and it sounds like the players don't either. The lack of identity causes us to flounder. On the second to last possession of the first half, we had 2nd and 2 at mid-field after an 8 yard run on first down. Instead of running the ball, we throw a 10 yard out to the sidelines that is overthrown, leaving us in 3rd and 2. We then take our best option and line him up as far away from the ball as possible and try a QB run up the middle that gets stuffed. Lack of an identity.
There are a lot of failures in execution that hurt this offense. Dropped passes and inconsistency at OL and QB. However, the biggest problem, IMO, is lack of identity, and nothing will get better until the coaches figure out what we want to be.
100% agree with this. As I walked to my car last night after the game, this is all I could talk about with a friend of mine that came to the game with me. Utah has zero identity on offense. No idea what Troy's philosophy is and until then, we will be a bad offensive team like we are. I think as a fan, last night was the most angry I have ever been after a loss.
When Covey says we have no identity, is he taking a shot at Taylor?
I love the defense. I love Covey. I like Moss -- maybe more than Taylor does. Huntley might get Covey killed. Outside of Covey and Moss, the offense has got serious issues.
"It'd be nice to please everyone but I thought it would be more interesting to have a point of view." -- Oscar Levant
I wish they hadn't said this last night - now everyone is going to believe/repeat it. If someone gets Covey killed playing football, it will be Covey. He's small, and he's fearless.
Huntley isn't calling the plays. Pass routes are run. If there's a window, the throw is made. Maybe, if he were better, Huntley could find openings earlier to give WRs more cushion. Part of that is the route running, and part is the play calling. To say Huntley is dangerous to our WRs is a little over the top. Hits happen - they happen a lot against UW.
When have we ever had an offensive identity under Whitt? Maybe 2008. Love him or hate him, that’s Kyle’s coaching style. Few propositions in life are undeniable, but that one is.
I fear that part of the problem may be that Taylor has so very little experience running a D1 offense. This is not a new problem to those of us who’ve been following Utah football for the last 7 years.
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--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Bring back Brian Johnson!
Which one of you namby pambies deleted my posts? They were funny, and at a time like this all you can do is laugh.
They need to demote the OC, bench Huntley and commit to running the ball. And for heavens sake stop targeting Covey so much. One of these times he's not going to get up.
I understood our identity under Chow and ARod. Under Chow we had Jon Hayes at QB, John White at RB, a good OL and Shawn Asiata as a blocking fullback. We were a power run team that play actioned off the power run. Chow left and BJ became the OC. I think Brian was too young to be put into that position and never really had the opportunity to figure out what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it. He didn't have his own offensive playbook. He was borrowing things from Andy, Chow and ARod and trying to mix them altogether. Under ARod we had Travis at QB, a veteran OL and Joe Williams at RB. Travis was not a good passer, but he was the best we had. The offensive identity was hand the ball to Joe, mix in some QB run-option to take advantage of what Travis did well and throw when necessary. Now those identities had drawbacks and limitations. We were not explosive. We bogged down in the redzone. However, we put the players we had in the best possible position to win.
One hard thing is that we're always frustratingly close. Even with the abysmal performance last night, we were close to having a coherent offense. Every loss is like this. We're always a call, a bounce, a drop, etc away from winning. If we were never close, it would be easy to say we'll scrap it all and start from scratch (like BYU under Detmer). The fact that it always feels like we are almost there makes it harder to know what to do.
I do think we need to go downfield a few more times per game, we need to feed Moss more, and we need to either fix or scrap the option. One more thing - Huntley is average at best at pretty much everything except for throwing on the run. He's as good as anyone at throwing on the run. We need to get him moving more often. The perfect throw that was dropped had Huntley rolling right.
Sancho,
The perfect throw that was dropped you are referring I too - I think - was the fourth and one from the two-yard-line. Huntley threw a fastball at the tight end that should have been a touch pass. It was an awful pass that had very little chance at being caught. Contrast it with the same play, I think in the first quarter that went for a first down. Huntley threw that pass much softer. That was one drop that is 99% on the quarterback.
Huntley was not good last night. I agree with your thoughts that we're a play or two away. I would say that Huntley's very much a reason why. Yes, key drops, but he threw several very poor passes last night. None worse than the interception to finish the half. He keyed on his receiver immediately and threw into double coverage. When he threw the ball the receiver had already become the defender. The cornerback basically ran the route.
I don't think it's time to make a change but I'm worried. We need Ty to throw better and we need receivers to catch the ball. This offense doesn't need to be great this year but they need to be good. With a defense that may be great we just need good on offense and we'll win the south and hopefully see Washington again.
I agree with everything else you wrote, but this just isn't true. That pass is caught almost every time. It was just a drop. I remember thinking as I watched "Oh no, he threw it too hard!" Then, on replay, I saw that he actually placed it perfectly without putting too much on it.
The interception was truly awful. Cost us a shot at a very long FG.
Targeting remains one of the worst things college football has done in recent years. Such good intentions, and such a bad rule.
Last edited by sancho; 09-16-2018 at 03:42 PM.
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