Owt Takes…………..Game 12.
1· After the disappointment, frustration and anger from yesterday, almost 24 hours to think about it, this season was a lot like most of our games. It started out well. We expected to be 1-3 after 4, we were 2-2. We expected to get blown out at Penn State, we actually could have, maybe should have beaten them. We head into two big road games, knowing we had to get at least a split at Duke and Syracuse, we win both. Now….we have momentum. 5-2, ready to be ranked, we lay an egg against a bad Miami team. Then we beat GT and UNC. A thread in almost every game, we come out blazin and have to hold on in the end. Still…7-3, a clear path to a 9-3 season and possible ACC Coastal title again. And….pffffffffft….7-5. As the games were, our season was. We faltered at the end. I am not sure what this means…coaching, fatigue, focus, I am assuming all of the above.
2· We were in the red zone 36 times this year. We scored 16 TD’s, tying us last in the ACC. I don’t know why. Well lack of a running play, sloppy penalties, turnovers. Here is a weird thought, Kenny having to sprint to and fro the sidelines for every play, either red zone is a longer sprint, maybe it is just unnecessary wasted energy and focus that does not need to be.
3· To be honest, I was excited with the Whipple hire. I thought an experienced guy who has had good offenses, developed QB is exactly what we needed. At this point, the lack of points in the second halves….ALL YEAR LONG, the above red zone stat, I think it is best we end this experiment. Yes, another OC, so what. This one isn’t working, plus I don’t think he adds anything recruiting wise.
4· The moment…for example. As I stated yesterday…..We get the ball 1st and goal from the five, AJ Davis takes it to the half yard line…2nd and goal from the half yard line. The 1st Quarter runs out. KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. Don’t get cute. What did we do, exactly that. Come out running up to the line of scrimmage for a quick count. Sure Aaron Matthews was at fault, but the coaches complicated things, put the players in a position to make a mistake rather than keeping it simple.
5· Offense continued, we really lack playmakers. I am not sure what it is. Where was V’lique Carter yesterday? Did they forget about him? Our RB’s are average at best. Our OL is not average at best, not a good combo.
6· I have heard that Whipple’s offense requires WR’s making reads, and FR Reggie Wayne made the wrong read which led to Pickett’s interception. That’s fine, but Walt had some pretty complicated offenses and we saw true FR come in and some even thrived. Plus, Walt would go down field where Whipple prefers the short/medium passes.
7· Discipline and lack of attention to detail killed us. It is all connected. In trying to be the U Northern Version, we seemed to have forgotten it hasn’t worked out too well for the U, the original version over the last 15 years. Those pregame skirmishes, the presnap penalties, the repeated targeting, the drops, the turnovers, the stupid comments by the head coach, just represents a complete lack of attention to detail and focus. I look at the Patriots and Belichick, the gold standard, and it is all connected. The lack of halftime adjustments as compared with our opponents, frankly does not speak well of this coaching staff.
8· We have had an upgrade of talent on the defensive end for sure. But this team is never going to just overwhelm teams with 4/5 stars, so it has to be excellent in execution and assignment football. It is not. In some ways, it is representative of Wanny’s teams, just we now play in a slightly better conference (Division).
9· Kenny Pickett. He is obviously limited. Love the kid, but he’s a poor man’s Tyler Palko. I think there has to be an open QB competition and even scouring the transfer portal (grad) not a USC reject, but someone who actually is a starting QB along with Davis Beville. Kenny is just not a playmaker. 10 Tds on all of the pass attempts for this year, indicates the lack of a playmaker.
10· The Defense is great. I understand them melting a bit the last game, the last 2 weeks haven’t been their best efforts, but part of this has been the weight of carrying to O and special teams. I don’t know what the future will bring. I am worried Twyman, Ford and Jones will all leave. Hamlin was fantastic yesterday, he is also going to be a big loss.
11· I do have to admit yesterday was the first game I thought LB play was particularly subpar. Though it also bothered me we still had LB’s playing 4-5 yards off the LOS, when I thought we should have been stacking the LOS.
12· I am still really pissed on how this played out. I said before the game, than an 8-4 finish with a bowl win, 9-4 season would represent tangible progress, measurable progress…but 7-6 is also still in play and that would represent a stagnation of mediocrity. So a bowl win is most imperative.
13· I was bullish on next year. I figured a 9-4 finish, maybe say #23 in the final polls, with what we have returning maybe a start in the Top 25, even around #19 was possible. Now, it will be the same. I do think the heat has to be turned up, way up on Narduzzi and he has to win 10 games to prove he is worth it.
14· I think obviously more staff evaluations need to happen. The aforementioned Whipple, Tim Salem and Dave Boberly all can be replaced IMO.
15· I don’t need to rehash the dreadful 3 and 5 loss numbers of this program that put us amongst the very bottom of P5 conference teams. I do want to say, we are at a crossroads. Maybe it is time to stop thinking Dorsett. Marino, Green, May, Fralic, and realize we are the Indiana Hoosiers, with an occasional great player that comes through. That’s it. Or……also realize that replacing the coach (yeah that one) after next year is not necessarily going to be that “step back into mediocrity” because we essentially are there now, and have been for, well….forever.
16· One final note, we can all look back to how close we were to 9 wins we were, but also let’s not forget, the Pitt Special, Delaware, GT, UNC, Duke…..those all could have very well been losses, so we were probably just as close to 3-9, so the 7-5 is real. That is really what is depressing, despite having an at times, lights out dominant defense, we still had our typical season. We are….what we are. And that is a football program that is somewhere around 40-50 in the country.
1· After the disappointment, frustration and anger from yesterday, almost 24 hours to think about it, this season was a lot like most of our games. It started out well. We expected to be 1-3 after 4, we were 2-2. We expected to get blown out at Penn State, we actually could have, maybe should have beaten them. We head into two big road games, knowing we had to get at least a split at Duke and Syracuse, we win both. Now….we have momentum. 5-2, ready to be ranked, we lay an egg against a bad Miami team. Then we beat GT and UNC. A thread in almost every game, we come out blazin and have to hold on in the end. Still…7-3, a clear path to a 9-3 season and possible ACC Coastal title again. And….pffffffffft….7-5. As the games were, our season was. We faltered at the end. I am not sure what this means…coaching, fatigue, focus, I am assuming all of the above.
2· We were in the red zone 36 times this year. We scored 16 TD’s, tying us last in the ACC. I don’t know why. Well lack of a running play, sloppy penalties, turnovers. Here is a weird thought, Kenny having to sprint to and fro the sidelines for every play, either red zone is a longer sprint, maybe it is just unnecessary wasted energy and focus that does not need to be.
3· To be honest, I was excited with the Whipple hire. I thought an experienced guy who has had good offenses, developed QB is exactly what we needed. At this point, the lack of points in the second halves….ALL YEAR LONG, the above red zone stat, I think it is best we end this experiment. Yes, another OC, so what. This one isn’t working, plus I don’t think he adds anything recruiting wise.
4· The moment…for example. As I stated yesterday…..We get the ball 1st and goal from the five, AJ Davis takes it to the half yard line…2nd and goal from the half yard line. The 1st Quarter runs out. KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. Don’t get cute. What did we do, exactly that. Come out running up to the line of scrimmage for a quick count. Sure Aaron Matthews was at fault, but the coaches complicated things, put the players in a position to make a mistake rather than keeping it simple.
5· Offense continued, we really lack playmakers. I am not sure what it is. Where was V’lique Carter yesterday? Did they forget about him? Our RB’s are average at best. Our OL is not average at best, not a good combo.
6· I have heard that Whipple’s offense requires WR’s making reads, and FR Reggie Wayne made the wrong read which led to Pickett’s interception. That’s fine, but Walt had some pretty complicated offenses and we saw true FR come in and some even thrived. Plus, Walt would go down field where Whipple prefers the short/medium passes.
7· Discipline and lack of attention to detail killed us. It is all connected. In trying to be the U Northern Version, we seemed to have forgotten it hasn’t worked out too well for the U, the original version over the last 15 years. Those pregame skirmishes, the presnap penalties, the repeated targeting, the drops, the turnovers, the stupid comments by the head coach, just represents a complete lack of attention to detail and focus. I look at the Patriots and Belichick, the gold standard, and it is all connected. The lack of halftime adjustments as compared with our opponents, frankly does not speak well of this coaching staff.
8· We have had an upgrade of talent on the defensive end for sure. But this team is never going to just overwhelm teams with 4/5 stars, so it has to be excellent in execution and assignment football. It is not. In some ways, it is representative of Wanny’s teams, just we now play in a slightly better conference (Division).
9· Kenny Pickett. He is obviously limited. Love the kid, but he’s a poor man’s Tyler Palko. I think there has to be an open QB competition and even scouring the transfer portal (grad) not a USC reject, but someone who actually is a starting QB along with Davis Beville. Kenny is just not a playmaker. 10 Tds on all of the pass attempts for this year, indicates the lack of a playmaker.
10· The Defense is great. I understand them melting a bit the last game, the last 2 weeks haven’t been their best efforts, but part of this has been the weight of carrying to O and special teams. I don’t know what the future will bring. I am worried Twyman, Ford and Jones will all leave. Hamlin was fantastic yesterday, he is also going to be a big loss.
11· I do have to admit yesterday was the first game I thought LB play was particularly subpar. Though it also bothered me we still had LB’s playing 4-5 yards off the LOS, when I thought we should have been stacking the LOS.
12· I am still really pissed on how this played out. I said before the game, than an 8-4 finish with a bowl win, 9-4 season would represent tangible progress, measurable progress…but 7-6 is also still in play and that would represent a stagnation of mediocrity. So a bowl win is most imperative.
13· I was bullish on next year. I figured a 9-4 finish, maybe say #23 in the final polls, with what we have returning maybe a start in the Top 25, even around #19 was possible. Now, it will be the same. I do think the heat has to be turned up, way up on Narduzzi and he has to win 10 games to prove he is worth it.
14· I think obviously more staff evaluations need to happen. The aforementioned Whipple, Tim Salem and Dave Boberly all can be replaced IMO.
15· I don’t need to rehash the dreadful 3 and 5 loss numbers of this program that put us amongst the very bottom of P5 conference teams. I do want to say, we are at a crossroads. Maybe it is time to stop thinking Dorsett. Marino, Green, May, Fralic, and realize we are the Indiana Hoosiers, with an occasional great player that comes through. That’s it. Or……also realize that replacing the coach (yeah that one) after next year is not necessarily going to be that “step back into mediocrity” because we essentially are there now, and have been for, well….forever.
16· One final note, we can all look back to how close we were to 9 wins we were, but also let’s not forget, the Pitt Special, Delaware, GT, UNC, Duke…..those all could have very well been losses, so we were probably just as close to 3-9, so the 7-5 is real. That is really what is depressing, despite having an at times, lights out dominant defense, we still had our typical season. We are….what we are. And that is a football program that is somewhere around 40-50 in the country.
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