Thinking about the team over the past couple of days it has become pretty clear to me that there is one way that we can salvage the season. The way is we NEED to be somewhat of a threat on offense. We need to figure out a way to put drives together. Doesn't always have to be a scoring drive but we need to be able to win the field position battle. Our past two games we have gotten killed in the field position battle. Our defense played ok vs PSU but they were continually put in bad spots by our incompetent offense who couldn't move the ball at all. It has become clear to me that hicks is our best all around RB with Martin as our second string. James is not the same at this point and I feel that james at this point will help us much more in short yardage situations. As far as the QB situation goes I don't understand how in the world two guys can be so close during training camp but only one of them has seen time over the past two games. Vs wsu I would have made the switch at half. We scored 6 points and our offense couldn't move the ball at all. VS PSU we literally looked like a high school team against PSU's d. Some of you will say that it's doesn't matter who we had at QB since we couldn't run the ball. Well your wrong the QB played as much into that ugly loss as anyone else. With our current QB we have 0 deep threat so that allows the d to crash the line of scrimmage without the worry of being beat on a deep pass. I really wanted laviano to play well but these past two games have made it clear to me that he is not a starting B1G caliber QB. I'm not saying retting is either but he battled during training camp and played good enough in the first half vs nfsu to earn himself some more snaps.
The only way to salvage the season
- Thread starter Jersey383
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Do you really think our defense played ok vs PSU? Really? How many points did PSU put up against Temple?
The defense was awful against PSU...you can blame all the distraction and upheavel. The players lost, etc. However, the tackling, positioning and overall play was bad. They gave up over 300yds on the ground. I doubt PSU will run the ball for over 200 yards on anyone else this year. The problem against PSU was at the line of scrimmage on both sides. The team got whipped up front. If that doesn't change, figure maybe 2 or 3 wins this year and it doesn't matter who plays QB.
Our d was on the field for most of the game. Our offense could do absolutely nothing at all. Go back and look at the average field position for PSU vs temple and vs us. Did we have some break downs? Yes obviously. But what some of you can't comprehend is that the offense puts our d in bad positions. In no way am I stating that our d played good I'm saying that our d played well considering how poorly our offense moved the ball.
So what's your solution keep running labiano out on the field so the opposing team knows they don't have to worry about the intermediate and deep balls so they can crash the line and completely focus on the run because they know the qb can't throw the ball deep! In our situation the passing game will set up the run. They are sticking the box and crashing the line. If we can somehow open up the passing game then they will layoff two line and it will open up holes.
Good points. Yes we could not stop there run but having PSU start at their own 35-40 yard line which seemed like every drive didn't help either. The lines are an issue, I really don't have the confidence in this coaching staff to be able to make the adjustments to improve the schemes that we run in the trenches. Now the qb defenitly can help a struggling o line. Here's how. The mo of our team is to run the ball as much as possible. Now the only way you can keep the d honest is by taking some shots 15-25 yards down the field. If you show you can complete those passes then they will have to defend that also which will cause the d to stop crashing the line and stacking the box. The pass for this team sets up the run. We like to run the ball and the only way you can do that is by showing the opposing team that you can hit on big passing plays
Here's the sad truth about our D after facing a horrible FCS team, a lousy Penn State O, and a pass-happy Wazzou:
Total - 89th
Turnovers - T86th (we have forced TWO TO's in 3 games....including an FCS game...that's PATHETIC!!!)
Sacks - 75th (a whopping 5....)
Rushing - 47th...for now....
Passing Yards Allowed - 105th
Pass Efficiency D - 97th
...and these #'s, let's face it, aren't likely to get better once we play MSU, Michigan, OSU, Nebraska, Indiana, Wisconsin, and even Maryland.
Total - 89th
Turnovers - T86th (we have forced TWO TO's in 3 games....including an FCS game...that's PATHETIC!!!)
Sacks - 75th (a whopping 5....)
Rushing - 47th...for now....
Passing Yards Allowed - 105th
Pass Efficiency D - 97th
...and these #'s, let's face it, aren't likely to get better once we play MSU, Michigan, OSU, Nebraska, Indiana, Wisconsin, and even Maryland.
Yes I understand this but everyone is missing the point I am trying to make. Our is d not very good. They kept us in the game against PSU even considering we gave up 300 yards on the ground. My point is that our offense needs to start helping the D out and the way we do that is by taking shots down the field in stead of throwing the 5 yard passes. If the offense can somehow do that then the d will play better. Everyone who knows football knows a good or even decent offense makes a bad defense better. That's what I'm trying to say
I get your point just can't agree for some reason lol! Temple's D manhandle PSU's O and PSU's O manhandled our D. There's really no other way to look at it IMHO (most unfortunately). I
