Manning fired yet?
- Thread starter ISUKyro
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ND had him covered. ND had all our receivers covered extremely well, and by the time people DID break free, Brock was running for his life and not seeing them.
The timeline is clearly arbitrary. But my point still stands. He needs to broaden his horizon and get some tips of the trade. It's not a big deal. Unless you think Clemson's defensive staff coming up to Ames, as well as our guys going down there, to learn more about our defensive scheme is "amateur". You act like what I'm suggesting is unheard of in the most copycatted profession on the planet.
I think this whole staff has a lot of figuring out to do in regards to their schemes. Defensively, we seemed to have taken a big step back from where we were at a year ago, and we have to figure out how to get stops on 3rd down. How many times this year did we give up big plays on 3rd and medium / long scenarios?
As far as the offense goes in this particular game.. we looked like we were moving the ball fine on the first drive we had when Purdy fumbled.. Purdy just cannot fumble the ball in that situation. That was a tone setter for this offense. We were running the ball pretty well and our routes seemed to be working.
On another drive we had, Pettway has to come down with that TD pass. He played very well all year long and I'm not putting blame on him for losing the game or anything, but that TD would've been huge.
Our OL and how we coach our OL has to get figured out. All year long we were getting blown up on 3rd and short / 4th and short distances. We couldn't move anyone in a short down and distance and I don't care if it was UNI or Notre Dame lining up against us. We also have to figure out our false starts. I know it's going to happen occasionally, but how many times over the past two years have we seen our offensively line false start in a critical moment? It had to have happened 3 times alone last year in the bowl game against WSU, and the false start on the 2 yard line at the end of the half was detrimental. It completely killed the momentum we had going and getting a TD would've given us a different mindset going into halftime.
Play calling on those short down and distances also have to completely change. If you don't have an OL that can get a good push, then why run a dive play up the middle? Again it didn't matter if we were playing UNI or Notre Dame, we couldn't get one yard on basically anyone this year. Also, how do we not have some sort of short yardage package with someone besides Purdy? That's something that desperately needs looked at. Easton Dean maybe? Idk.
Lastly, and this probably was the worst of everything this year, our special teams needs to get thrown out the window. Whatever we were teaching / running was some of the worst special teams I've ever seen. Multiple missed field goals throughout the year, kicking the ball out of bounds, not being able to put the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs, not knowing whether to fair catch or take it out on kick returns, and finally punt return. We had to have been one of the worst P5 teams in kickoffs and punt returns this year. We eliminated a large component of the game of football.
As far as the offense goes in this particular game.. we looked like we were moving the ball fine on the first drive we had when Purdy fumbled.. Purdy just cannot fumble the ball in that situation. That was a tone setter for this offense. We were running the ball pretty well and our routes seemed to be working.
On another drive we had, Pettway has to come down with that TD pass. He played very well all year long and I'm not putting blame on him for losing the game or anything, but that TD would've been huge.
Our OL and how we coach our OL has to get figured out. All year long we were getting blown up on 3rd and short / 4th and short distances. We couldn't move anyone in a short down and distance and I don't care if it was UNI or Notre Dame lining up against us. We also have to figure out our false starts. I know it's going to happen occasionally, but how many times over the past two years have we seen our offensively line false start in a critical moment? It had to have happened 3 times alone last year in the bowl game against WSU, and the false start on the 2 yard line at the end of the half was detrimental. It completely killed the momentum we had going and getting a TD would've given us a different mindset going into halftime.
Play calling on those short down and distances also have to completely change. If you don't have an OL that can get a good push, then why run a dive play up the middle? Again it didn't matter if we were playing UNI or Notre Dame, we couldn't get one yard on basically anyone this year. Also, how do we not have some sort of short yardage package with someone besides Purdy? That's something that desperately needs looked at. Easton Dean maybe? Idk.
Lastly, and this probably was the worst of everything this year, our special teams needs to get thrown out the window. Whatever we were teaching / running was some of the worst special teams I've ever seen. Multiple missed field goals throughout the year, kicking the ball out of bounds, not being able to put the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs, not knowing whether to fair catch or take it out on kick returns, and finally punt return. We had to have been one of the worst P5 teams in kickoffs and punt returns this year. We eliminated a large component of the game of football.
I wasn't pleased with some things Manning did this year.
That said, I'm one who was worried from the beginning about our "experienced, senior led" o-line. Sure, if you let me--a 5'7" 40 year old--start at tackle for 3 years and make me a captain, then yeah, you'll have an "experienced and senior led" o-line. But I suck ass and would get destroyed. Experience only gets you so far.
There's only so much you can do with sub-par o-linemen.
I believe the only direction the team can go next year is up. I don't think we'll do worse, as we aren't losing very much of value after this season. Breece Hall is a stud that we didn't discover until a few games in. Brock Purdy is great but had a mediocre season. Yes, I know he set records, but he didn't look great doing it--a couple fumbles at really bad times, not seeing some wide open looks, throwing off his back foot, seeing ghosts.
Imagine what Breece Hall and Brock Purdy (and our receivers and TEs) can do with an even slightly improved o-line. It just opens up the playbook.
That said, I'm one who was worried from the beginning about our "experienced, senior led" o-line. Sure, if you let me--a 5'7" 40 year old--start at tackle for 3 years and make me a captain, then yeah, you'll have an "experienced and senior led" o-line. But I suck ass and would get destroyed. Experience only gets you so far.
There's only so much you can do with sub-par o-linemen.
I believe the only direction the team can go next year is up. I don't think we'll do worse, as we aren't losing very much of value after this season. Breece Hall is a stud that we didn't discover until a few games in. Brock Purdy is great but had a mediocre season. Yes, I know he set records, but he didn't look great doing it--a couple fumbles at really bad times, not seeing some wide open looks, throwing off his back foot, seeing ghosts.
Imagine what Breece Hall and Brock Purdy (and our receivers and TEs) can do with an even slightly improved o-line. It just opens up the playbook.
That drop was more on Purdy that Pettway. That was an extremely tough ball to come down with where it was placed, which also gave the defender more opportunity to defend the play.
The fact Pettway ALMOST pulled it in made it look way easier than it was.
While I agree the pass was not perfect.. You have to make the play. When the ball hits both of your hands, you have to catch it. I could not tell you how many times in the two playoff games where a QB made an okay throw, but the WR made a great play. You need to make great plays to win games and we didn't.
^ This is the answer.
And I also agree with Clonedude's worries about next year's O line. Presumably this year's was the best we had. Hard to imagine our O line coach working any magic over the next 9 months.
I agree with most of this. I don't much care about the ND game itself. Bowl games are exhibitions and the results aren't really a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Where I have a problem is that we've had the same issues all year offensively. In the UNI, Iowa, Baylor, OU, KSU and ND games (half the non-KU schedule), we haven't come out ready on offense and we've had no foresight into the adjustments that may be needed. It happened way too much and I'm not convinced it will get dramatically better.
The reason I'm not convinced it will be a lot better is because we have a bit of an echo chamber in terms of the staff make-up. There is a ton of continuity, which is great, until you need new ideas. It may a bit of confirmation bias as I wasn't ever real high on bringing Manning back as OC specifically because of this rather than the competency of Manning.
I know we set all kinds of records. Again, don't care. Those records were pitiful and what we did wasn't that special considering we have the best QB we've possibly ever had and a really experienced OL. We put up huge numbers here and there and then went completely dead at times and that's a recipe for being 7-6 with a lot of missed opportunities. It's got to get figured out. I'm not even sure it's in game adjustments as we've been able to snap out of those periods with big runs but there's definitely something we're short on right now.
The good thing is we have culture, we have acceptance, and we don't have excuses so we have a chance to get it fixed.
As recruiting class quality has improved, one would expect the playing quality to improve over time. We certainly have improved the recruit quality... I'm just not convinced we can turn over close to an entire OL to young players and expect improvement in play quality right off the bat.
We may be pleasantly surprised, who knows. But I'll expect a rough year again there until proven otherwise.
Regarding offensive records: can we please stop acting like the stats weren't padded because of the ULM game? Also, WVU and TCU had down seasons, and KU as always was a doormat.
However, I would not be surprised to see a certain coach raise the bar at KU. That concerns me.
Recruiting has obviously improved over the past three years, let's just see how things play out.
The defender was on Pettway's outside hip, the ball needed to be thrown to the inside. The placement of the ball allowed the defender to go up threw Pettway's arms and make a play.
Generally agree. I don't necessarily think our lack of success opening a game stems from play calling so much as focus, which still comes back to how the staff prepares the players. Campbell will evaluate everything top to bottom this season - as he does every year - and I would not be shocked to see changes to routines behind the scenes and how special teams are handled.
Hopefully those changes with additional experience for our players will pay off with big dividends. We really aren't that far off from something special.
Again, the ball should've been better, but sometimes you need a guy to make the play. The ball hit Pettway in both hands.. you have to catch that ball.
There’s a ULM on the schedule pretty much every year. Why would it not count?
I don't think play calling is so much and issue either. It's the preparation. We just don't look ready to execute half the time.
I wouldn't say they don't count. I would say it's not all that impressive to break our offensive records non-Troy Davis division. They just aren't a high bar especially in the modern game.
Then why didn’t happen sooner? Or did the “modern game” just start in 2019?
