"Just throw it deep"

[besserheimerphat]

IM confused. You don't think certain plays are ran to open up the field even if they don't work? That is strange when everyone knows that a ton of plays are not designed to gain yards but to set stuff up for later or open up the field. Have you coached before? I played college football at Iowa Central (I know not the NFL or major college) However, we ran plays we knew would not work to set up other things.

There's no way your coaches "ran plays we knew would would not work." You run plays designed to get 3 yards. When the defense tries to take away the 3 yard play consistently, then you run the similar looking play designed to go 30 yards. Nobody is going to run a play intending to get <=0 yards.

You can run receivers deep to keep safeties back without actually throwing it deep. What are they going to do, not cover the WR? If they do that, THEN air it out. Otherwise, take what's easiest.

 

[Clark]

This thread kept coming back to me watching the PSU-OSU game. Coaches know far more about the game of football than the average fan, but as complicated and granular as football can be, sometimes it's pretty simple.

If you refuse to throw the ball further than 10 yards down the field, your offense is going to get squeezed. The average fan can see this. They probably couldn't go to a white board and diagram a pin and pull or a duo run play, but intuitively they understand the physics of a football field.

 

[joefrog]

PSU's QB went 18/42 for 191 and 1 TD. Longest catch was 34 yards by a TE. Nobody else had one over 20 yards.

PSU probably has the best tackle in college football.

OSU's defense isn't that good.

Penn State is just a deeper Iowa team.

Congratulations Franklin! You kept it close. And lost. Again.

Coaches really bristle whenever they get a question that really hits home and they know they don't have an answer for it.