Jump to content

Thanks for visiting BtownBanners.com!  We noticed you have AdBlock enabled.  While ads can be annoying, we utilize them to provide these forums free of charge to you!  Please consider removing your AdBlock for BtownBanners or consider signing up to donate and help BtownBanners stay alive!  Thank you!

GnarlyTimGarl

End of Season Analysis/Opinions

Recommended Posts

This is really good and very fair.  Well done.  I think we need a RB and a QB next season.  I'm not convinced the QB is Ramsey, either.  Dink and dunk was exactly what he did, and he was flat bad throwing the ball down field.  I saw a similar review in the Indianapolis Star today, and Reese Taylor wasn't mentioned.   That kid needs a shot, and I heard he is projected as a CB at Indiana, which would be a horrible waste of talent with the ball in his hands.  Indiana showed with Antwaan Randle El you can score with a 5'10" kid who can run like Taylor can.   

Hard for me to be overly critical of DeBord.  With a bad line and mediocre QB's, it's hard to score points; and even tougher to be creative because you have no idea whether or not plays can develop with pressure in our backfield all the time.  I wonder how limited DeBord really felt?  His offense at Tennessee set records, so I'm not in the camp that says the guy forgot how to coach.  

I am skeptical of what's to come.  Allen has seemed so committed to defense that the offense has taken a significant step backward.  I don't think that's arguable.  I haven't spent much time on the "who's up next" game, but I do know our 2018 recruiting class is thin on offensive linemen, which is what we need most of all.    We do have a big WR coming, which excites me.   

Anyway, great post.  Well done.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
20 minutes ago, Old Friend said:

This is really good and very fair.  Well done.  I think we need a RB and a QB next season.  I'm not convinced the QB is Ramsey, either.  Dink and dunk was exactly what he did, and he was flat bad throwing the ball down field.  I saw a similar review in the Indianapolis Star today, and Reese Taylor wasn't mentioned.   That kid needs a shot, and I heard he is projected as a CB at Indiana, which would be a horrible waste of talent with the ball in his hands.  Indiana showed with Antwaan Randle El you can score with a 5'10" kid who can run like Taylor can.   

Hard for me to be overly critical of DeBord.  With a bad line and mediocre QB's, it's hard to score points; and even tougher to be creative because you have no idea whether or not plays can develop with pressure in our backfield all the time.  I wonder how limited DeBord really felt?  His offense at Tennessee set records, so I'm not in the camp that says the guy forgot how to coach.  

I am skeptical of what's to come.  Allen has seemed so committed to defense that the offense has taken a significant step backward.  I don't think that's arguable.  I haven't spent much time on the "who's up next" game, but I do know our 2018 recruiting class is thin on offensive linemen, which is what we need most of all.    We do have a big WR coming, which excites me.   

Anyway, great post.  Well done.

I also wonder if DeBord has grown unaccustomed to having to be overly creative with play-calling, as he has had much more talented teams at Tennessee for a while. Still, would've liked to see some adaptability...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
15 minutes ago, Walking Boot of Doom said:

I also wonder if DeBord has grown unaccustomed to having to be overly creative with play-calling, as he has had much more talented teams at Tennessee for a while. Still, would've liked to see some adaptability...

Hard to say.  Agree with you on this....just not sure what he could have done to adapt.  Our receivers didn't win one on one battles very often, Ian Thomas was injured a lot and the other TE's were mediocre at best; our RB's never gained any true foot-hold; and our QB's were mediocre at their best.  Seemed Lagow and Ramsey were asked to do two totally different things; and that HAS to be difficult on an OC.  Two years ago, I was critical of Wilson for not having a QB in the program who could immediately replace Suffold.  We still don't. 

Physically, Lagow could; but he was obviously better with his arm than his head or his legs.  The guys on the broadcast Saturday said that first play was likely scripted and Lagow never looked away from Timian.   Who knows who shoulders the blame for that?   Did we run a jet sweep or fake jet sweep with Philyor all year?   What was our screen package?   Like I said earlier, I fear Allen is so defensively focused that our offense will take a hit.  People don't come to watch would-be .500 teams play defense.  He needs to figure that out.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My biggest complaint was our offense being completely predictable. I've never coached football nor have I been anything more than a casual fan. With that said, I could have taken a high school defense and stopped IU on 90% of our first downs. It baffles me that we kept trying to run up the gut over and over and over again. I'm sure if we would have just moved that square peg at a little different angle it would fit through that round hole..


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I'm like Aloha - never coached; casual fan - but I couldn't believe how many times when we needed a first down, our completed pass play was always short of the maker.  If we needed 6 yds., we threw for 5, etc.

Defense gave it to us and Lagow was a bad decision maker.

Play calling on 1st and 2nd downs was rough. We needed more creativity to make up for lack of playmakers.


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Terry Wilson or Reese Taylor or Tronti. I don’t care. Just give me something with some dynamics to it. I think DeBord is searching for his next Josh Dobbs and that isn’t Peyton Ramsey.


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Firing Debord should be the #1 priority for CTA this offseason. He was beyond terrible calling plays. 

I don't see that happening unfortunately; Allen has given DeBord his vote of confidence multiple times throughout the season. The one thing I hope happens is Allen stops giving DeBord 100% control of the offense (or as he calls it, "head coach of the offense") and geta more involved in offensive play calling. Or maybe bring in a young offensive coordinator from a small program to "learn" under DeBord for a year or two (saying that tongue-in-cheek, he may be the one teaching DeBord some new tricks).

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I don't see that happening unfortunately; Allen has given DeBord his vote of confidence multiple times throughout the season. The one thing I hope happens is Allen stops giving DeBord 100% control of the offense (or as he calls it, "head coach of the offense") and geta more involved in offensive play calling. Or maybe bring in a young offensive coordinator from a small program to "learn" under DeBord for a year or two (saying that tongue-in-cheek, he may be the one teaching DeBord some new tricks).
 

I believe that was supposed to be the plan with Mike Heard who is the WR coach I believe.


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

When the schedule came out I said if we did not finish the season with 7 wins it would be a disappointment. Turns out there were more opportunities than that. The Purdue and Maryland games really hurt. The offensive play-calling was absolutely terrible all year and it was exactly the opposite of what happened in years prior. Instead of scoring too fast and making our defense go out too soon and not get enough rest, we went 3 and out and didn’t give the defense rest and by the end of the game they were gassed. I’m pretty sure I saw somewhere that Whitehead led the country in punts this year? I was really excited about Allen and was in the camp that hiring him was the smart move so we didn’t lose him. However his lack of control of the offense is concerning and the defense for next year is also concerning. The defense kept us in games this year. If the offense doesn’t improve and we take a major shot on defense then next year could be a long year.


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't have a problem with the OC calling the offensive plays.  My problem is DeBord's playcalling was atrocious all year and showed zero improvement.  We saw times he'd open the playbook up more and the offense would move the ball, then he'd immediately go back to the extremely conservative calls; I don't care if he got away with that with the likes of Dobbs and Kamara.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm less nervous on how the defense will perform next year than I am about the offense. We saw what Allen did in his first year and yes we lose a lot of starters on defense so we will probably see some regression, but I don't expect it to go back to the early Wilson years. The offense makes me nervous because DeBord will still call the plays. The good news is we return everyone on the O-line and we have two good RB's in Ellison and Gest. WR's should be pretty skilled again with Westbrook, Hale, and Timian back. But the offense has to be a lot better and help out the defense; otherwise we will have a 3-4 win season and lose all momentum we had when Wilson left.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 11/27/2017 at 3:30 PM, Old Friend said:

His offense at Tennessee set records, so I'm not in the camp that says the guy forgot how to coach.  

 

Pretty hard to screw things up when you have Alvin Kamara and Josh Dobbs at your disposal. Tennessee didn't have the best coach obviously but they had lots of talent on both sides of the ball. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, TXHoosierDaddy said:

Pretty hard to screw things up when you have Alvin Kamara and Josh Dobbs at your disposal. Tennessee didn't have the best coach obviously but they had lots of talent on both sides of the ball. 

You really think DeBord had nothing to do with it, don't you?  

His offenses were better than those with Peyton Manning, and national championship team w Tee Martin.  Stop me when Alvin Kamara and Josh Dobbs are hall of famers.   If you're telling me on one hand talent is why he was successful; you have to give on the other hand that lack of it prevented success.    

But that would require sound logic and unbiased reason.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, Old Friend said:

You really think DeBord had nothing to do with it, don't you?  

His offenses were better than those with Peyton Manning, and national championship team w Tee Martin.  Stop me when Alvin Kamara and Josh Dobbs are hall of famers.   If you're telling me on one hand talent is why he was successful; you have to give on the other hand that lack of it prevented success.    

But that would require sound logic and unbiased reason.

If DeBord is such a great offensive coordinator why did he show zero creativity and zero risk taking this season? Why did he keep the playbook closed 95% of the time when we had success the few times that he did open it up? Why did he run qb draws with our slow as molasses quarterback? Why did he have players run 5 yard routes on 3rd and 8 plays?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
38 minutes ago, Old Friend said:

You really think DeBord had nothing to do with it, don't you?  

His offenses were better than those with Peyton Manning, and national championship team w Tee Martin.  Stop me when Alvin Kamara and Josh Dobbs are hall of famers.   If you're telling me on one hand talent is why he was successful; you have to give on the other hand that lack of it prevented success.    

But that would require sound logic and unbiased reason.

Dobbs was a great college QB so whether he is a hall of famer or not isn't a measure of his success or talent in college so I don't get that arguement. I can only go by what I saw this year and it was far and away unimpressive. I get the line wasn't as good as years past. Years past it was actually really really good. This year it slipped but it wasn't anywhere near awful and neither was the QB play. To me, you seem to make this the lame excuse for Debord and why the playcalling was the way it was. That can only go so far. There are plenty of times the playcalling lacked any sort of creativity and was overly predictable. At times, it was ultra conservative and it cost the team big time. He needs to really really improve because he is never going to have the talent he had at Tennessee. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×