Question About Offense

[smazza]

Two main issues this season.

1.  Youth.  We knew we would have a young offensive line and we expected this season to look like this.  Then the first part of the season they held it together and we forgot.  Now the season injuries are showing we have no depth on the line.  We had to shift strong side tackle to guard, bring in a new tackle.  The Center started the season as a L guard.  This has resulted in a swiss cheese protection scheme.  Now add in a young QB and he gas good legs and does not see downfielt well yet.  It becomes a breakdown we saw last night.

2.  BJ while an excellent athlete and I think a very good to become great QB just wants to rely on himself.  We saw this with Grothe, We saw it with Blackwell, and you can even say Florida saw that with Tebow, just to get off USF as an example.  He gets near sighted, and cannot see the deep, or options.  This came to a boil by the 3rd quarter last night where he took his drop, but never even lifted his head to look for a receiver, he dropped, stopped, and rolled out.

Next year will be better,  I honestly believe that. 

we have heard this for years

no one believes it

you predict the future by looking at the past

[usfgrad84]

I understand that we had a freshman QB that took over, but (and I asked this in another thread) considering that you have a 5th year RB, 2 3rd year backs, a 5th year TE, a 5th year receiver plus 4 or 5 3rd and 4th year Junior receivers, a 3 year starter on the line OL plus a few others with a lot of experience, doesn't it say something about the system we are running that we are setting all time lows for total yards in one game, fewest passing attempts in another game, plus our first regular season shutout?

Why is it possible that no one can step up to take some pressure off BJ?  I know the QB is the most important position, but does it bode well for the future if we are this bad?  Who do we expect to step up if they haven't done it after 3 or 4 years in the system already?  It's too much to ask of any 1 player to have the load entirely on his shoulders.  Freshman or not.

I wasn't in favor of it before, but maybe we should start thinking about scrapping the sprerad, Read Option.  I mean come on, if we went to a pro style we really can't do too much worse than we have the last few years. 

[Triple B]

i have been told usf runs

the read option spread

the spread

the wv offense

but i have never seen such an offense

usf's offense is both unique and inept

it doesnt look like west virginia's offense in any way

Is this some type of haiku?

[WillieMashBull]

I saw a couple of slant options run by tight ends in the 2nd and 3rd quarter that were wide, WIDE open. As soon as BJ saw the blitz he tucked the ball and tried to scramble... the operative word being tried. We have a QB that either can't or didn't have the mental toughness to read the field under pressure. That will never work with a read option offense.

[Orlando Bull]

Since MG went down with the knee injury, we haven't been able to sustain drives. We get big plays/quick scores, but we can't methodically move the ball down the field.

As others have said, there were open receivers all night, waving their arms at the QB. It's not Canales, it's the freshman QB on the field. I know that we didn't play anyone before Grothe went down, but you could see that we were controlling the ball and clock when he was in. We were running short plays and moving the chains on a regular basis. I am not too down on BJ, but I was hoping that he would improve as the season went on. If a defense locks down the sidelines and keeps him from running, we're done. He doesn't throw over the middle, and his short passes are hardly ever on target.

This to me screams of someone who needs to work harder and watch more film. I would like to see Landi get some meaningful minutes. If BJ really does play hoops instead of trying to be a better QB, we need someone else who can step up and put pressure on him. Would like for Landi to have some snaps so that coaches can be confident in putting him out there. I thought he should have been in 2 series earlier in that game on Thursday.

For everyone judging Canales, give him some time, BJ is clearly not ready yet, and Canales is kind of hand cuffed in what he can do. Re-watch the game if you can stomach it, there are seriously receivers running wide open on pretty much every play. Even the ball Hester caught for a first down on the sidelines, he was open 2-3 seconds earlier and could have gotten more yards, but the ball was late and Jessie almost got killed when he caught it.

[Bull94]

Since MG went down with the knee injury, we haven't been able to sustain drives. We get big plays/quick scores, but we can't methodically move the ball down the field.

As others have said, there were open receivers all night, waving their arms at the QB. It's not Canales, it's the freshman QB on the field. I know that we didn't play anyone before Grothe went down, but you could see that we were controlling the ball and clock when he was in. We were running short plays and moving the chains on a regular basis. I am not too down on BJ, but I was hoping that he would improve as the season went on. If a defense locks down the sidelines and keeps him from running, we're done. He doesn't throw over the middle, and his short passes are hardly ever on target.

This to me screams of someone who needs to work harder and watch more film. I would like to see Landi get some meaningful minutes. If BJ really does play hoops instead of trying to be a better QB, we need someone else who can step up and put pressure on him. Would like for Landi to have some snaps so that coaches can be confident in putting him out there. I thought he should have been in 2 series earlier in that game on Thursday.

For everyone judging Canales, give him some time, BJ is clearly not ready yet, and Canales is kind of hand cuffed in what he can do. Re-watch the game if you can stomach it, there are seriously receivers running wide open on pretty much every play. Even the ball Hester caught for a first down on the sidelines, he was open 2-3 seconds earlier and could have gotten more yards, but the ball was late and Jessie almost got killed when he caught it.

Canales was a bad hire from the start. He was fired from his last OC job at Arizona. He didn't have an offense that ranked higher than #110 in the 2 years he was OC. That being said, I think he gets a pass this year due to Grothe injury.

A coach's job is to put his players in a position to succeed.  he needs to call plays to their strengths and help them improve on their weaknesses. BJ is green. He needs time to learn. Pulling him would be terrible unless they think he's not the guy. He needs the work. How can you learn from your mistakes if you're never allowed to make them? Personally, I think he can develop into something pretty good given the right coaching. Right now he is doing as well as Grothe did his first year.

He's obviously having problems recognizing coverages and blitzes. He doesn't see the middle of the field well. He's not used to the "speed" of the game at this level. Canales needs to take that into account when calling plays. They run 5 receivers out there on 5 different routes and expect him to read the defense and find the open man all before our sieve of an offensive line breaks down. I don't feel like we call a designed "play" half the time. We just run 5 guys out there and hope he finds one.

I'd like to see Canales

1. run on the edges - our o-line is terrible. why continue to try and run up the middle. pitches,tosses,sweeps,shuffle

                              get RBs to the outside.

2. keep extra protection in - less receivers mean less confusion for a young QB; more blockers = more time

                                        an empty backfield is an invitation to blitz: stop doing it

3. BJ needs confidence. call plays he runs well. add things as he gains confidence

[usfsig]

Doesn't the NCAA have rules for when teams can practice during the offseason? If they do, BJ playing basketball has nothing to do with him getting better as a QB. If anything it will keep him in shape come Spring practice. I'm sure he can still watch film while playing basketball especially since we probably wont be playing basketball in March (I hope i'm wrong though).

[cmhatter]

after rewatching the game i can safely assume that USF's offensive game plan was:

To take pressure off of BJD with short to intermediate crossing routes while sending a receiver or two deep.

I'm sure going into the game they also wanted to run the ball...

-They were running short crossing routes into the middle of the field the entire game.

-If you run predominantly short routes it COULD open up the deep ball because the safeties need to cheat up to respect the short play.

-Unfortunately BJD wasn't able to even complete easy passes that we fed to him by Rutgers defense.

I am convinced if BJD could have just sat in the pocket an dumped the ball off all night we could have dinked and dunked it all the way down.

The problem was that BJD was looking at his first read and if it wasn't open he automatically tucked the ball and looked for non-existent running lanes. In high school, BJD could EASILY be successful like this because he can simply out-athlete the players on the field. When you have a talented BCS caliber defensive player spying you... It is much more difficult to be superman.

Let me know if you others saw the same thing.

[Orlando Bull]

after rewatching the game i can safely assume that USF's offensive game plan was:

To take pressure off of BJD with short to intermediate crossing routes while sending a receiver or two deep.

I'm sure going into the game they also wanted to run the ball...

-They were running short crossing routes into the middle of the field the entire game.

-If you run predominantly short routes it COULD open up the deep ball because the safeties need to cheat up to respect the short play.

-Unfortunately BJD wasn't able to even complete easy passes that we fed to him by Rutgers defense.

I am convinced if BJD could have just sat in the pocket an dumped the ball off all night we could have dinked and dunked it all the way down.

The problem was that BJD was looking at his first read and if it wasn't open he automatically tucked the ball and looked for non-existent running lanes. In high school, BJD could EASILY be successful like this because he can simply out-athlete the players on the field. When you have a talented BCS caliber defensive player spying you... It is much more difficult to be superman.

Let me know if you others saw the same thing.

+1

[BullAlum05]

I understand that we had a freshman QB that took over, but (and I asked this in another thread) considering that you have a 5th year RB, 2 3rd year backs, a 5th year TE, a 5th year receiver plus 4 or 5 3rd and 4th year Junior receivers, a 3 year starter on the line OL plus a few others with a lot of experience, doesn't it say something about the system we are running that we are setting all time lows for total yards in one game, fewest passing attempts in another game, plus our first regular season shutout?

Because we don't develop offensive playmakers.  Guys come in and basically don't improve.  Perfect examples are Ford and Taylor.  I mean, ask yourself this....when was the last time we've had an offensive player drafted....at all?  The player development on the offensive side of the ball is a joke. 

And to answer your first question, I think Gregory put it best when he said something to the effect of us not really having one.  We just run a cluster of different crap.  Nothing's changed with Canales.  I still laugh when I think of the mickey mouse club on here getting all giddy when we hired him.  The guy couldn't develop a receiver to save his life.  What made you think he could run an offense?