Greg Gregory/Offense -- What's Your Take So Far??

[Orlando Bull]

Don't worry about it. Grothe's second pick was about 6 inches from being a perfect pass. If it gets over that guy, it's a TD. As for why you throw there?? You just got a turnover, you should go for the throat. Grothe underthrew several balls last night, I don't look for that to be an issue.

The fumbles are inexcusable (at least Ford's). We need to hold on to the ball. Jamar Taylor looked awesome.

Finally, last season, it was "why do we run trick plays that lose yards when we have such a great defense?" Come on, be happy. When you have a 21-3 lead against a highly ranked team and your defense is playing lights out, you play for field position and clock. Our first drive took 5 minutes. Honestly, I was getting a little ticked off when we were passing and stopping the clock. When Ford gets ready to play (holds on to the ball, and gains the confidence of Leavitt and Gregory), we will be getting some big runs late in the game against a tired defense.

[Guest JulmisteForPrez]

This right here is the biggest thing that worries me.....

From Greg Auman's blog.....

"As good as the defense has been, it'd be hard for an offense to do less with turnovers than USF has in its two wins against ranked teams. Against Auburn? Five turnovers forced, converted to zero points. Against West Virginia? Ben Moffitt took his interception to the end zone for a touchdown; the other five turnovers were converted to ... zero points. Can't even point to missed field goals: this was just three punts and two interceptions. In their five possessions after turnovers, USF totaled 37 yards."

Ouch.  That's bad.  That's gotta' stop.

[Skingraft]

Guys, I think the play calling is fine, not that I'm an expert.  But **** against the #5 team in the country, there were at least 2, maybe 3 downfield passes last night where our WR had beat the D big time, but Matt underthrew the balls.  Would have easily been 2 more td's.

I agree...ur QB is under throwing ppl...ur 1st and 2nd string RB's are putting in on the ground....u have to stay fundamental to win

[ProudBull]

I agree about Grothe under/overthrowing and the RB's dropping the ball.  Remember, that our RB's are still young, yes even ford.

I like the hard nosed in your face playcallling.  I wish we would run more and he does need some big plays here or there.  Its like we pull ahead and just hang on those 14-21 points for the rest of the game.  I wasn't complaining when we didn't have any turnovers, but after last nights game he needed to take some chances

[South_Florida_Flip]

The offense will come around. WVU was making some plays on D last night and they were pretty physical.

[BullDoug]

worry...not yet.  concern...yes.  Scoring vs Cincinnatti will not be easy.  Mat likes that post pattern when going deep.  IMO he threw it late on the first INT and maybe forced it a bit on the second.

[lobo]

I said this before, and I will say it again ...

Greg Auman is absolutely right. We have to convert those turnovers into points. It means nothing when you don't. It takes away from your momentum when you don't. It (probably) pisses off the defense when you don't (after all, they are the reason you have the ball).

Offensively, and I have said this before, Grothe isn't using his receivers to their full potential. I can sum this up with one word, HEIGHT. Amarri is something like 6'5" tall and used to play basketball. That means the man can (and is used to) jump vertical. Last night we almost had a pick by a defender who I believe was reported at 5'9" tall. Why? Because Grothe didn't throw high. If he had that defender NEVER would have had a chance to touch the ball. The same thing happened in the end zone with Amarri only that ended in an INT again because Grothe didn't air it out. If he had, it would have been another TD or at worse an incomplete pass, but wouldn't have stopped our drive.

On the ground, yes Ford did fumble twice, however only one of them was his fault. That was the first fumble and it was clearly his fault because he was not protecting the ball. The second fumble however was simply good defense and a great hit on the ball by WVU. That isn't to say WVU couldn't have stripped Ford the first time if he had been protecting, but it would have been a lot less likely.

Defensively ... well, there is still room for improvement there too, but this is obviously the best part of our team and always has been. Don't let the stats of the game fool you. There will be those others who will talk about how WVU put up almost 500 yards on our "great defense" but the fact is the majority of those yards came in the 2nd half when we were playing soft and giving up passing plays. What we should have done from the get-go of the 3rd (and eventually did) was blitz the crap out of Brown since he is the backup and likely to be rattled easier than White ... which he was once we started doing that.

Either way we got the W, although it was far from a perfect game, I'm happy with the result. Let's concentrate on FAU.

[WWMJD]

People are talking about opening up the playbook...

How many minutes have we trailed this season?

The time to open your playbook is not with a 15 point lead when your QB is not having the best game.

[Orlando Bull]

People are talking about opening up the playbook...

How many minutes have we trailed this season?

The time to open your playbook is not with a 15 point lead when your QB is not having the best game.

Exactly.

I am not worried about it. Grothe's arm strength didn't look great last night. He was really throwing the ball well against UNC. I am not worried about it though. For anyone who is saying sophomore slump, he's 4-0. When the game is on the line, there isn't another QB playing that I would rather have on the field. I made a comparison to John Elway last night, and it's not talent, it's just guts. The kid turns it up like 12 notches in clutch situations. I don't care if he throws 2 picks on deep balls. I still maintain that one of them should have either been caught or batted down by TJ. You take that away, and we probably have at least 3 more points.

I am not 100% sure that MG is fully recovered from the hip injury he had in the off season. Not to say that it is a big problem, but if any pain persists, it will effect his play.

We will open the playbook up when and if it is necessary. I am thinking that will be sometime in extreme early 2008. (Jan 1,2,3 or possibly 7)

[bulldozier1]

My problem is that WVU was ranked #5, but there defense was not as strong as Auburn's defense. Even in the Auburn game, we left points on the field. This should have been an Blow out and a shut out. Our offense is wearing our defense out. Our Offense is the reason that we still not getting the respect. Listen to College Game Day, first it was Louisville will win the BE. They show that they don't have a defense. They get dropped. Next WVU is the team to win the BE. No one can stop Slaton, Devine, and White. They're gone from the top 10. Now we have Rutgers as the new favorites to win the BE championship. That's what our offense has put this team. We have a top 10 defense, but our offense is not in the top 30 or 40. Hey Greg, how about a roll out every once in a while.