Where is Rod Smith when you need him...did I really say that?

[Z Bull]

I thought Rod Smith's play calling was limited and sometimes bad, but Gregory's is down right pathetic.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I am sick and tired of seeing the same dozen or so offensive plays.  I thought Smith's play calling left a lot to be desired, but Gregory's is ridiculous.  At least with Smith, he had some of those "Trick" plays that were thrown in periodically and worked more often than not. 

It is really bad when I can sit in the stands or be watching on TV and call what play is going to be run by who is the game and how they line up.  And I don't watch game films, I just watch them on game day.  If I can do it, how easy must it be for those coaches that get paid to study the game for hours on end. to pick up on this.  I don't care if he has his son on the team, he either needs to make some major changes or we need to get a new OC.  His son can stay.  He is pretty good.

We are suppose to have at least 3 premiere running backs on this team, with another 2 or 3 behind them that are suppose to be fairly good.  WHY ARE WE NOT USING THEM???????  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but admiration and respect for Ben Williams as far as where he came from as a walk on and what he's done since.  But...he is not a Ray Rice or Steve Slaton.  WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH MIKE FORD?????????  Why is he not being used on a regular basis?  WHY ARE WE NOT RUNNING THE BALL ON A REGULAR BASIS?????  It is a proven fact that a team has to have a balanced running and passing attach.  With out the run, you become one dimentional.  That's what we have become.  Go back and look at our longest sustained scoring drives in previous games.  The majority of them have happened when we used a combination of running and passing, running being the primary way of moving the ball.  But we only did it once or maybe twice in a game, not on a consistent basis.  We only did it once against Rutgers (in the second half), I think twice against UCF and only once against FAU.  There is no reason why we should not be doing that on a consistent basis by using either the 'I" or the Wishbone formations, continually rotating the running backs so to keep them fresh while keeping the defense off guard, not only by who is in but also not knowing if it will be a run or pass play.  How hard is it to defend when you see 5 wide outs and no one in the backfield but Grothe.  Gee what are we going to do?  Three guesses and the first two don't count.

They have to quit putting so much on Grothe and thinking that Grothe is going to be able to continually pull games out for them, especially due to the bad play calling and the poor selection of offensive plays they have to pick from.  He can only do so much.  The other players on the team need to be utilized better to take that pressure and responsibility off him to some degree.  Where are our "trick" plays?  Why aren't we using any?  We did last year and they won us some games.  Does our new OC think we are to high and mighty to use them?  Or are our players to dumb, as some have insinuated, to run them?  Why aren't we running the ball on a consistant basis using our backs so to minimize the possibility of Grothe getting hurt by running?  It's a shame that with the talent we are suppose to have at running back that our leading rusher is our Quarterback.  I've been told we have talented running backs, I just haven't seen them in the games to find out for sure if it is true. 

Don't get me wrong, I have been a season ticket holder for 7 years now and will back and support the Bulls till hell freezes over.  But some things have to change with our offense.  The defense can only do so much, and they have been doing a hell of a job this year.  If Mike Ford was stopped being used because of fumbling a few times, then Amari Jackson should be benched for the rest of the season for the number of passes he has dropped this year.  And Gilliam should be benched as well for several games due to his 3 big costly penalties in the final quarter against Rutgers.  These problems with the offense have been building inside me all season, and I had to get it off my chest.  I'm curious what others think.    And as always, GO BULLS!

[Rizman]

What happened to the blitz killers like safety screens to a running back.