IBulleve

DJ was supposed to run up the middle for little to no gain. Instead, he bounced it outside for a TD.

USF 31-17 Flowers Salomon 417

Galati looked to be the weak link from my perspective

I truly feel like he has no knowledge or care in the world to be associated with the offense. He basically turned the keys over to Sterlin and backs him up on his every move

Majority between the tackles. Sure. Not exclusively. The Buck Sweeps are a perfect example

I think its pretty clear you aren't educated on OL play so I'd stop here. Technique and scheme are very different. College OL are rough around the edges in technique because they play in spread offenses. This is very much still a spread offense. We aren't changing technique as much as we are gap assignment. When you have teams moving around the LOS and LBs walked up from gap to gap it's difficult to determine whose coming and whose not. Especially in a new offense or scheme, but not technique. The "power" runs simply mean guards are pulling vs zone blocking. I prefer zone blocking, but the issues we are having are still mental rather than schematic. When you have an OG and an OC doubling the NT and letting the only LB that can make a play run free, that's a execution error not a schematic error.

I didn't say I preferred this scheme over the others. Let's not act like we were 100% zone last year either. We just knew what we were doing

If it was the one to McCants it was bounced and he had blockers lined up. QF makes that throw 9 times out of 10.

I suggest you go back and watch the film a bit. There were times when we were running into a 5 man box and getting zip. That's with reading the end. 3 DL and a LB with 5 OL to account for them and someone still comes free. Mental mistakes. A lot of this is because we are pulling guards and downblocking much more than we were in the past. Not just gap blocking. Completely different. Im not saying we will ever be more explosive than we were last season, but I suggest watching the film before you start screaming Jet Sweep and Verticals.

Because the scheme is dramatically different from an offensive line standpoint. Not to mention Mayes is new, Ruff at RG and Galati at C. They have to play better for everyone else to succeed

It's hard to impose your will when you're blocking air. I hate coach speak as much as the next guy but we just flat out aren't executing.

I went back and watched the entire game with a ridiculous amount of pause and rewinds. I admit, I was a bit overreactive to the playcalling. This is what I found. Over 75% of the runs of less that 3 yards were the right call. We just weren't executing up front. Give Stony Brook some credit. They mixed up their fronts and blitzes very well and didn't show them until the ball was snapped. Countless times we would have 2 OL blocking the 3 tech and a LB running free through the hole. Had this LB been accounted for, the run would've been out the gate. I can't tell you how many times this was the case. While the OL wasn't getting the push across the board you would like to see, a vast majority of their errors (and there were a ton) were mental lapses. One of the sacks DJ was responsible for picking up a delayed blitz. However he didn't see it for whatever reason and released outside leaving for a free shot at QF. QF just didn't play well. Plain and simple. I still wouldnt rather have many other guys in the country behind center. There were the obvious over throws but that bounce on the screen may have been the worst. There were blockers ready to bust it. Often times he was starring down the WR and hitching like he wasn't confident. He did miss a couple reads on the option runs. The pass behind Alaka in the redzone was a RPO. Another miscommunication. My opinion is he's just not completely comfortable in the system which can be said for almost every player on that side of the ball. The offense will get better with reps. When? That's the big question. Let's hope it begins to click in Connecticut.

That's all fine and dandy. Until you realize we almost lost the streak of scoring 30+ to Stony Brook. Hell, we were a bounce or two from losing the game. That's not ok by any stretch of the imagination. This isn't April baseball.

Stony Brook threw the ball downfield twice against us. Would you consider their scheme one that stretches the field vertically? I'm not saying we aren't throwing a deep ball here and there. However when the safety on the strong side of the field is creeping in before the ball is snapped most of the game, they aren't respecting your ability to stretch the field. We know, based on last season and the limited sample size this year that's not because of lack of talent. It's because of our gameplan.

The one key problem with the "keeping it vanilla" talk is if that's the case, we aren't even executing the basics. We ran an RPO around the redzone Saturday and the WR never turned around. There were miscommunications on run plays both in the backfield and upfront. This isn't vanilla, this is Sterlin Gilbert. A coach that was a high school OC roughly 5 years ago

Yes, but it's not the intermediate routes of the GCO. We would run 2-3 deep (20+) routes last year and have an intermediate route as the 3rd/4th read. We have run a few intermediate plays this season in which every route is under 15 yards leading to smaller windows

You are correct. 2016 - much more zone scheme and gap blocking. 2017- guards and tackles pulling with down blocks.

Once. Go back and watch the route tree of our WR this year and last year. Think it's vanilla? There's cut ups of 5+ games of 2016 Texas offense on YouTube. Tell me how many deep post/double moves you see.

The OL got physically beat against Stony Brook. Not good. The other problem is the running game is completely different than it was last season from a schematic standpoint. There's no misdirection and the "read" is downhill rather than zone. I don't expect that to change at all however that limts your ability to stretch the field horizontally. This is especially a problem when you don't even try to stretch it vertically. Sterlin has us playing in a box

Bulls 59-10 Tice Salomon 599

I'm not saying McCants won't see the field or even that he will play less snaps than Barr just based off this depth chart. However, if this offensive staff has come to the conclusion that Barr is the better player, that would be worrisome. I know that's a stretch and would be assuming quite a bit based off little evidence, but this doesn't help ease any potential concerns.

Really hoping the depth chart is just a reflection of Tyre and Antoine missing time with injuries thus far. Tyre has been one of the more underrated WRs on the roster since he showed up

The good: The play of the corners. Mazzi and Hampton absolutely balled. This defense looked completely different at all 3 levels. We have some serious depth at WR. Didn't expect to see Alaka this early in the year but that was a welcome surprise. Hopefully Antoine can come back for Uconn. The bad Offensive playcalling/execution up front Before this season I went back and watched a lot of Texas offense from 2016. I'm not so sure we were as conservative as most want to believe. This is what Gilbert does. We have to be better up front to establish the "Rythm" you hear CCS talk about. I expected much more tempo. The ugly The non-PI call that first drive. Really the entire first quarter. The announcers.

Don't forget there was a friendly name on the SJSU coaching staff. I don't think they would want to show him or his staff up.

14-0. This team will get better and better as the season goes on. They won't be perfect, but the record will be.