There's plenty of blame to spread around, top to bottom. Play calling has been bad, Rocco has been bad, receivers have been bad, defense has been atrocious, and the injuries have certainly played a role. I'm not sure Mouser is the #1 problem. It’s been a combo of all of these things. I am more concerned about the defense, long term, to be honest.
Fire Mouser
- Thread starter KCyclone2010
- Start date
I went back and did research on our last 4 games. We have targeted 44 receivers and completed passes to 34 of them. Our opponents have targeted 25 receivers completing passes to 22 of them.
I love the idea of spreading the ball around but it’s painfully obvious that Esklidsen, Sowell, Burkle, Brahmer, and Townsend are the best receivers on the team and some combination of them has to be on the field in passing situations.
These guys disappear for long stretches because we are throwing to guys in high leverage spots that probably shouldn’t be on the field down a score.
I love the idea of spreading the ball around but it’s painfully obvious that Esklidsen, Sowell, Burkle, Brahmer, and Townsend are the best receivers on the team and some combination of them has to be on the field in passing situations.
These guys disappear for long stretches because we are throwing to guys in high leverage spots that probably shouldn’t be on the field down a score.
I
Campell said Rocco was spectacular yesterday so we all know no change will ever happen
Did you research how many of those throws hit the receivers in the hands and the ball ended up on the turf or in the defenders hands?
There are a lot of people here placing a lot of blame on Rocco, but there definitely is some issues with drops and also lack of fight for the catch, or fight to get open at times too. Our receivers are just not as good as we have had, which was a huge question coming into the season, which I think we have found out what the answer to that question is.
Rocco has had some bad misses, but there have been some really bad drops too.
Worst play call, 1st and goal from the 8 and 2 running plays gain 6. Why not two more running plays?
Just off the top of my head, the Flora drop on 4th down against BYU and the Brown drop yesterday (penalty nullified it anyway) stick out. Love those guys but I’m not sure why they are in the game in those spots.
And when he put it right in the hands of a receiver for a 1st down, ball was DROPPED!
It's a healthy mix for sure.
What's weird is this team isn't bad like just constantly getting shredded on D or whatever and they compete...I was actually impressed that they found some life yesterday as it looked like it was about to get bad there mid-2nd quarter-- but some of the things they do like the specials teams issues (almost had a guy touch a punt again yesterday--how!?), penalties, etc. are what bad teams do.
Not syncing some of the discipline stuff up is a bit baffling.
I'll correct myself, Dom O would.
But Ikenna and McDounough would start for very few big 12 teams. That's an issue. Our pass rush is a whispering fart.
After sleeping on it, it’s even more frustrating that Mouser called 40 pass plays when the QB can’t hit the broad side of a barn + receivers drops if he does.
Just look to the other sideline yesterday to see what a more self-aware OC does with their personnel.
I like Mouser’s play designs and versatility but this ain’t Rocco 2024 out there so learn, adjust, and try something different when what you want to do doesn’t really work for 7 of the 9 games this year.
Mouser is a good OC. He’s not making Rocco miss guys or WRs drop balls. Firing him isn’t the answer.
10 of those came on the last drive when we had no choice but to pass and go fast though.
Part of that is our LBers are generally weak on their blitz ability. Outside of the first possession or so yesterday, our backers have a tendency to run right into the backs of our Dlinemen. So we often are sending 3. That then exposes the issue that our backers struggle in pass coverage.
Another 3 came at the end of the first half in the 2 minute offense as well. Taking those things in to account it was about a 50-50 balance. Maybe folks think we should have ran more but Sama was clearly limited and to compound things further Hansen took a pretty brutal hit and missed some plays.
I was a little surprised Hanson came back in and so soon after that hit.
Was there any mention of Sama getting injured? He had one good run.
Lee also ran well.
The OL played well, overall.
Mouser isn't perfect, but I don't think he's bad.
I think Mouser does a decent job until we get to the red zone. We’ve had some horrific play calls near the goal line this year, currently 104th in the country in red zone scoring… 104th.
Everybody needs to take a breath, step back from the ledge, and proceed from here. There are only 4 undefeated teams left, so nearly every other fan base (albeit to lesser degrees for some) have experienced our same issues. The first 5 games fulfilled our dreams to that point. West Virginia feels better this morning than we do and they have a poorer record. 11-2 last year was an anomaly, not the norm and we would have loved to repeat that with a team that maybe has lesser overall talent. I actually enjoy watching the team because they don't quit until the final buzzer--and if a few things (errant throws, dropped balls, untimely penalties, etc.) had gone differently we wouldn't be this deep into this thread, but they didn't. I'll still be rooting for them in the next game. With the same players. With the same coaching staff. And with hopefully a better outcome.
Go Cyclones
Go Cyclones
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