Illinois game vs. other 3 games

[Flowers4Heisman]

I'm not a coach; I don't know Xs and Os. Can someone explain why the Illinois game was more effective than the other three games? And why did we seem to go backwards with the play selections after the Illinois game?

BTW, I don't really believe that Illinois was worse or whatever. I think all four teams were pretty bad. But our offense seemed so different in the Illinois game: Flowers, Tice, and Johnson combined for 300+ yards.

[Apis Bull]

In the Temple game, we got up big, early and it appeared that Temple had no shot, so I think that's why the offense went conservative.  That wasn't the case with Illinois.

[Triple B]

21 minutes ago, Apis Bull said:

In the Temple game, we got up big, early and it appeared that Temple had no shot, so I think that's why the offense went conservative.  That wasn't the case with Illinois.

I think they went in conservative because they saw Temple giving up 400+ yards rushing to ND and then once we got the lead, and saw the night our defense was having, there was no need to do go away from it.

 

[Apis Bull]

Just now, Triple B said:

I think they went in conservative because they saw Temple giving up 400+ yards rushing to ND and then once we got the lead, and saw the night our defense was having, there was no need to do go away from it.

 

That's kind of what I meant, I just gave less detail.

[GaUSFBull]

Temple is the worst team we have played to date.  No need to get all crazy in that game.  

[Bullshiznitz]

The whole going conservative has me worried.  With our schedule, we out talent everyone by so much, we can "go conservative" all the way up to the Houston game.  But if we do that, I think its dangerously unfair to QF and the offense to then expect them to just turn it on with a full game plan against a very good team (Houston) more than halfway through the season.  As the announcers actually said during the Illinios game (or maybe it was the Temple game), we should have had Flowers almost running a 2-minute drill and throwing almost every down late in that game. We want him (and the team) to feel comfortable with that part of the offense.  Yeah, it may look like you're running up the score, but getting your team ready for further down the season is much more important then "looking bad".  

[Apis Bull]

Just now, Bullshiznitz said:

The whole going conservative has me worried.  With our schedule, we out talent everyone by so much, we can "go conservative" all the way up to the Houston game.  But if we do that, I think its dangerously unfair to QF and the offense to then expect them to just turn it on with a full game plan against a very good team (Houston) more than halfway through the season.  As the announcers actually said during the Illinios game (or maybe it was the Temple game), we should have had Flowers almost running a 2-minute drill and throwing almost every down late in that game. We want him (and the team) to feel comfortable with that part of the offense.  Yeah, it may look like you're running up the score, but getting your team ready for further down the season is much more important then "looking bad".  

I don't know that I'd be too worried, we should during the Illinois game, that we can change it up and I'm sure that they practice the less, "conservative" plays so they can adjust as the game goes on.

[usfgrad84]

I haven't watched the Temple game again, but I am thinking 2 factors for why we were more run heavy. 

#1 the receivers can't catch and #2 Temple has 4 DBs projected to go to the NFL. 

I am still trying to figure out why people think our offense wasn't working. It was, it was just run heavy. Why put Flowers at risk when are only 1/3 through the season. 

Just get the receivers to learn to catch and we are scoring TDs instead of FGs. We dropped at least 2TDs.

And Flowers has never been a great downfield thrower (except the long ball).  A lot of his completions last year were the little touch passes that were effectively jet sweeps. Then a greater number of completions were bubble screens. High perentage passes. All within or completed behind the LOS. It padded his completion % and relied on the receivers running with the ball. This year is different, but equally effective and the way I see it, more dominant. We are able to control the flow of the game better. Longer time of possession. 

My only 2 concerns on offense are catching the ball and getting Flowers to throw more high percentage passes rather than so many low percentage throws down the field to the outside. He throws posts much more accurately. 

[smazza]

we are putting up points so i am not too concerned

[raptorcj]

2 hours ago, Apis Bull said:

In the Temple game, we got up big, early and it appeared that Temple had no shot, so I think that's why the offense went conservative.  That wasn't the case with Illinois.

This. Love it or hate it, Strong is not a 4-quarter pedal-to-the-metal coach. Points are not his biggest concern...which can be a good thing as long as you don't give up momentum.