Scouts seem to be glowing about Griffin and Ross at the Senior Bowl. Of course I'm sure that Chizik had a lot to do with why they looked so pitiful at times this year.
Ross won the Thorpe. He had an awesome year. Outside of the KSU game, he played great. He doesn't play as fast as he'll run the 40, but he is going to be an NFL player for a long time. Not Champ Bailey, but Aaron Glenn, maybe. Griffin was used incorrectly this year, and was hurt for some of it. Chizik let him get into 1 on 1 coverages situations too often. Another thing that bugged me was his lack of nickel and dime packages. I mean, three LBs against Tech? Honestly, give me one good reason for that. Griffin is a safety. We needed to get CBs on the field and let Griffin do what he did last year, and be the excellent support player he is.
One thing i noticed was once Lokey broke his leg and was done for the year, we never seemed to get much of a pass rush on the QB and therefore our secondary had to watch out for the run and not focus on the pass. Therefore, our corners were getting exposed too much. It all seemed to run down hill from there.
Awesome thread. I love educational posts like this, not being an Xs and Os guy. One quibble i have is regarding adjustmments. I am no of fan of Chizik, but I seem to remember some pretty good adjustments in the Baylor and TTU games. Was that not the result of halftime adjustments? Of course, this is no defense of Chizik, being that he got pantsed in both of these games early on anyway.
Awesome post. I recognized all of these things (safeties always to close to the LOS and corners way back etc.) but never knew the philosophy behind it. I went to the Tech game and cussed about the 4-3 in the first half. From the stands it appeared we played more nickel in the second, but when I watched the replay I realized we didn't change we just got really lucky. I'm plenty glad to see Chizik go, and I agree we were much better with Robinson. I thought there were many plays against Iowa that should have been big plays by the defense but the guys didn't break down and make the play. Can't wait for the end of August!
Probably still would've lost to tOSU and been passed over by Florida. Plus, there is no guarantee we beat A&M, since nobody showed up for that one.
one of the best posts from this football year, lots of props. you definately sound like you know what you are talking about. I also think our guys weren't taught proper chase angles and positioning. you can clearly tell this by the angle marcus griffin took to try and tackle Chandler and got cut off by Ross, on that long TD against Iowa.
So in light of your conclusion of "Chizik is a fraud," which I agree with, why was he so successful at Auburn? The only Auburn game I watched that year was against VaTech and they dismantled the Hokies.
Auburn had speed to burn, the right guys for his system. Plus, offenses in the SEC aren't the kind that are going to force Chizik into the adjustments he had to make this year. There are a lot more traditional, two back offenses there. I'm not saying Chizik is a bad coach, the reason I gave him a chance was because of his impressive track record. I'm saying that if he doesn't have his guys, he's clueless as to what to do, at least these past two years.
What's disappointing about Chizik is that when he got here he commented about how much he loved the "chess game" of football. That was the reason he sat in the press box, so he could make all of these brilliant adjustments. And what happened? Nothing. He didn't change **** during the game, and then he bragged about it afterward. It was definitely hubris. Remember Tech? They asked him what he changed at halftime and he said he didn't change a damn thing. Compare the gameplan that we ran when Greg Robinson was DC against Tech to what Chizik ran. It was night and day. Tech had 386 total yards at home (-17 rushing) vs. Robinson, 150 of which were in garbage time in the fourth quarter of a 51-21 blowout. Chizik gave up 468 (at home) and 506 this year. Robinson seemed to know what Leach was going to do before he did it and stoned him at every turn. Chizik was going to sit in that base defense come hell or high water.
For those who want the summarized version of Menjou's post (which is very good), read the numbered points (1-5 and 1-3) which is what I had to do, because I didn't have time to read the book the first time... or the second...
according to some player quotes I remeber reading, two of our fastest guys: Brandon Foster - "a member of Bowie's 2003 Texas 5A Championship track & field team ... ran on the 5A Champion 400m relay (40.06/No. 3 in U.S. history) and second-place 800m relay squads (1:24.13/No. 4 in U.S. history)." Ryan Palmer - "also one of the state's top sprinters in track & field ... finished fourth in the 100 meters and led his team to a victory in the 400 meter relay as well as a runner-up finish in the 800 meter relay at the Texas 5A state meet as a junior." I think you'd be hard pressed to find a team with more 10.4 100m sprinters on it, just don't always see them on the field (sometimes because their skills may not match thier speed).
This thread is like a cool drink of water in the offseason desert. Thanks and ood stuff. I also thinik that Mad Dog puts weight on the players in his system. I know they work on speed, but bulk seems to be common on our players. I can't help to think something is sacrificed. But, I've never been a big fan of Mad Dog's and that may just be my bias talking.
I'm surprised this thread hasn't been given 5 stars yet...the best I've read in awhile (from my layman's perspective). Hopefully this makes it over to the "Locker Room" board at some point.
Well let's not get too caught up in the speed thing. We are plenty fast enough on the line and secondary to handle most things. The problem is, our slowest unit is linebackers, and the style of defense Chizik played here really put a lot of pressure on them to be able to cover. Of all the things that went wrong last season, that has to be #1. We have enough speed to be good, but not enough for Chizik. It's just a matter of style, in this case.
Outstanding read and even better (briefer) explanations in follow-up posts later in the thread. Thanks for taking the time to spell it out for those of us that are X and O challenged. This discussion underscores my optimism that MacDuff will end up a very good hire. He is a thoroughly seasoned coach with a background coaching LB's and good chemistry with Akina.
My comments on two things. The first about Kelson not being fast, if that's the case then how come there was all that talk about how he was keeping up with Reggie Bush in the Rose Bowl? The second about adjustments in the defense during games, If you remember the Baylor game, at one point we had all Defensive Ends in the game when Baylor was running a spread offense with wide splits, and because they were so much faster they absolutely blew through Baylor's O-Line shooting those gaps. It happened mid second quarter I want to say
