Julmiste was garbage... Banks made two horrible

[RobdF]

How about this. We all have careers (or aspire to have them, right?).  We all spend time studying to improve and learn new skills, right?

One would think that during the off season an Offensive Coordinator would do the same. It is pretty clear that Hobbie does not do this. Our offense has not been refined, it has not been "tweaked", it has not been adjusted since it has shown to be poor last season.

Seems to me that if the OC is not going to adjust, the program must by changing the OC.

And I'm with you smazza. Give me the OSU or WVU offense with our defense and I think we become a 9-2 team.

[dabull80]

Bulldoug,  since you where at the game can you tell me if the QB passes where way off, WRs not getting open,no time to throw ?  Whar looked to be the issues ?

[BullPhotos]

I was there and I thought our line did a good job of giving our QBs time. Problem was that our passes were not very good-- short, long and off target, into coverage, you name it.

My biggest gripe was that on 3rd and 2-- and after we showed we could run the ball--- we threw some stupid sideline pass play. RUN THE BALL on 3rd and 2! Let them have to stuff our run and stop making all these crazybomb plays when what we need is to continue a drive. If we ran the ball on 3rd and short at any point during the game, I would be amazed.

Tough loss. I don't know what we can do about it. Just bear in mind that even during our 9-2 season, we had some arse whuppins from Arkansas. Unlike that year, we had MB to depend on.

As for the penaltis- a lot of those calls were SEC refs home cooking IMO. Very biased. A clearly damaging facemask was given only 5 yards for example. On one play, we had THREE penalties thrown against us.

The game was ugly. But let's not totally take all the credit for how bad we looked. USC came into this game prepared and ready to stomp us. What I found interesting is how long Holtz kept his starters in this game. He kept then in until they had the 27-3 advantage. Perhaps he was giving the new QB some time to work. As for those reports that their backup QB is an athlete first-- well-- I thought he had some very decent passing skills as well. Some fo those jump balls he threw up-- we simply go out hustled for.

DId anyone notice that when Johnny Jones was injured, Danny Verpaele came in? He really was hustling out there-- and bear in mind-- he is a TRUE freshman. So while we saw a very poor effort overall-- there are some things we can get out of this game. I don't think our team ever quit-- they battled to the end. The problem seems to be two-fold to me: lack of an accurate passing attack and play calling that over reacts to adversity. ONE bad play does not mean you stop using something that is effective. Scrap the shotgun, get a two back set of some sort, and use that back as your 5th receiver by putting them into motion.

One thing-- we did have some new plays (not many) that were very effective. This team will need misdirection more often to counter our predictability factor. And please-- throw over the middle on slant patterns! We must improve on the check down process as on several occassions, we would throw to the less- open receiver.

uggggh-- I knew we were long shots but that game was not much fun to watch.

[Guest S.  Bien]

I was there and I thought our line did a good job of giving our QBs time. Problem was that our passes were not very good-- short, long and off target, into coverage, you name it.

My biggest gripe was that on 3rd and 2-- and after we showed we could run the ball--- we threw some stupid sideline pass play. RUN THE BALL on 3rd and 2! Let them have to stuff our run and stop making all these crazybomb plays when what we need is to continue a drive. If we ran the ball on 3rd and short at any point during the game, I would be amazed.

Tough loss. I don't know what we can do about it. Just bear in mind that even during our 9-2 season, we had some arse whuppins from Arkansas. Unlike that year, we had MB to depend on.

As for the penaltis- a lot of those calls were SEC refs home cooking IMO. Very biased. A clearly damaging facemask was given only 5 yards for example. On one play, we had THREE penalties thrown against us.

The game was ugly. But let's not totally take all the credit for how bad we looked. USC came into this game prepared and ready to stomp us. What I found interesting is how long Holtz kept his starters in this game. He kept then in until they had the 27-3 advantage. Perhaps he was giving the new QB some time to work. As for those reports that their backup QB is an athlete first-- well-- I thought he had some very decent passing skills as well. Some fo those jump balls he threw up-- we simply go out hustled for.

DId anyone notice that when Johnny Jones was injured, Danny Verpaele came in? He really was hustling out there-- and bear in mind-- he is a TRUE freshman. So while we saw a very poor effort overall-- there are some things we can get out of this game. I don't think our team ever quit-- they battled to the end. The problem seems to be two-fold to me: lack of an accurate passing attack and play calling that over reacts to adversity. ONE bad play does not mean you stop using something that is effective. Scrap the shotgun, get a two back set of some sort, and use that back as your 5th receiver by putting them into motion.

One thing-- we did have some new plays (not many) that were very effective. This team will need misdirection more often to counter our predictability factor. And please-- throw over the middle on slant patterns! We must improve on the check down process as on several occassions, we would throw to the less- open receiver.

uggggh-- I knew we were long shots but that game was not much fun to watch.

Great assessment MIKE!

This offense needs simplifying.  I look at Banks, and PJ and its like paralysis by analysis.  Too many check downs, and they're absolutely frozen.  Go to a simpler two back set, extra TE, we need to change the options a bit more, and rely on the run until someone takes it away, then play action them to death which should open up passing lanes.  Someday, we need to exploit the middle of the field, TE, crossing routes, we're not getting enough of those.

Our young DB's got victimized quite a bit, and outside of St. Louis, the LB's played like dogs, but mostly its all young behind there.  Learn from the mistakes, capitalize, and develop.  The goal is to win C-USA, and that isn't out of reach.

We need PJ to start, no switching, just start him.  PJ's got a fragile ego, not as bad as Banks, and he doesn't need to be wondering if or when he's playing.  PJ brings too many intangibles with his ability to scramble, run,  and play option.  The staff needs to simplify the offense, go to a more traditional set, eliminate no-huddling, and once we pass use play action or misdirection, given PJ only 1-3 options at the most, tell him if its not open then RUN, RUN, and RUN....play to PJ's strength and this offense can at least be managable.

[smazza]

if bien  and me are on same page it must be so

please coach leavitt make the adjustments

[Bullogna]

I think we need to stop piling on PJ, he was freaking hurt and was wearing a leg brace straight out of the Alien vs. Predator movie and seroiusly hindered his ability to play.  

Then why did he play? befcause a hurt PJ is still better than Ronnie at 110%. He could hit water if he fell out of a boat. The throws bombs higher than he does far and was lucky not to have more INT's. He never looked comfortable.......................ever.

Yes we need to run the ball more out of the I, and stop running these extremely predictable counter traps. Yes, we need to run the play action more. But, one thing I saw that we failed to do was check through the progression effectively. We had guys open (especially across the middle) and we didn't get the ball to them.  We can fix it. The question is will we. But freakin' A give PJ a chance to play FOUR FULL quarters before giving him him to the firing squad.

No one on any of these posts has talked about the play of our secondary, Yes they are young but still you HAVE to look back for the ball.  USC kicked our A$$, with that being said, you take away the 4-5 bombs, 3 of which were absolute prayers (still 200% better thrown than RB). Take those away and the game is completely different. STill I will reiterate, we didn't look good.

[Guest S.  Bien]

I think we need to stop piling on PJ, he was freaking hurt and was wearing a leg brace straight out of the Alien vs. Predator movie and seroiusly hindered his ability to play.  

Then why did he play? befcause a hurt PJ is still better than Ronnie at 110%. He could hit water if he fell out of a boat. The throws bombs higher than he does far and was lucky not to have more INT's. He never looked comfortable.......................ever.

Yes we need to run the ball more out of the I, and stop running these extremely predictable counter traps. Yes, we need to run the play action more. But, one thing I saw that we failed to do was check through the progression effectively. We had guys open (especially across the middle) and we didn't get the ball to them.  We can fix it. The question is will we. But freakin' A give PJ a chance to play FOUR FULL quarters before giving him him to the firing squad.

No one on any of these posts has talked about the play of our secondary, Yes they are young but still you HAVE to look back for the ball.  USC kicked our A$$, with that being said, you take away the 4-5 bombs, 3 of which were absolute prayers (still 200% better thrown than RB). Take those away and the game is completely different. STill I will reiterate, we didn't look good.

Good points, thankfully on two of those bombs it was Trae Williams, and he was stride for stride with the receiver- Troy Williamson.  TW, is one of the best in the SEC, and was one of the best coming out of HS three years ago, he runs a legit 4.3 forty, has sick track speed, and yet Trae Williams was stride for stride.  Trae just started practicing at CB this fall, give him a few more games and instead of just playing the receiver he'll start learning to play the ball.  He demonstrated he has the speed, flexibility, and hip swivel to play CB, now he needs to learn how to play the ball and react to it in the air.  He never played corner in HS so this will take time, but as he learns he will be a good one.

Just an FYI about two of those jump ball bombs they threw.

I am with you on PJ.  A sprained knee is a bad injury, that usually shelves a player 2-4 weeks.  For us to have success we need PJ to be mobile, simplify the offense, and allow our OL to carve holes and use the running backs, and PJ to run for yards.  Then start using play action to burn them with the pass.  Although, the traps, and delayed hand offs from the shotgun are too easy to snuff out, there needs to be more tweaking, changes.  

This offense doesn't need to change, a ton, we can still run out of a modified spread, we just need to concentrate on the run more, not be impatient, use PJ to his strengths, and limit the amount of progressions he has to check into.  Those progressions seem to still freeze PJ, as he checks down its like he's frozen, paralysis by analysis, and isn't thinking about making the good pass, he just shovels it to the receiver.

If we simplify, let PJ run the show, concentrate a bit more heavily on the run, and try to use crossing routes, and screens more this offense could be effective enough to get us through C-USA with a good record.

[Bullogna]

Definitely BIen,

And wasn't ripping Trae or anyone, they are young and it will get better. But PJ has to be the guy. I was at the game and RB was so **** nervous in the backfeild, That I needed a Valium. I think this team is few tweaks from being extremely decent, not great, not yet. But yes less spread equals less prgession reads and more time to make better throws.  The question is do the coaches read this or will they listen.  Can they not see the same things we saw?

[Cubanbull]

Yep the offense sucked, QB's were awful and the play calling very low level and easy to figure out.

BUT, their were many other things to blame. The attempted punt block called was not a good one at the time and the guy wasnt even close to getting it so it was even worse performance. The first long TD,come on guys evey Defense knows that when you geta big penalty or TO that gets you to around 50 yd line and has the D kind of down the next call is a long pass. Why were we on 1-1 coverage and how could our DB get beat so bad?

The bottom line is the offense MUST change. I saw Leavitt a couple of times right next to Hobbie as he called the plays and if looks could kill.... Julmiste was horrible as QB but, with Banks in there the WR were showing frustration. The team does seem to believe in PJ a bit more.

If there are nochanges for this upcoming games, then our coaching staffs SUCK.

[smazza]

you can't have it both ways

was julmiste hurt if so why would he play

i don't believe he was hurt

the offensive coaches suck because they made no changes since last year