I think a few posters have quietly snuck onto the DeBord bandwagon. It is going to be fun watching the offense continue to improve under Coach DeBord. IU is fortunate to have him.
Speaking of flipping and flippers....
- Thread starter 82hoosier
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I have always been a huge Coach DeBord fan. I love to see the huge improvements in PR now I am hoping that we are able to keep Nick Sheridan around quarterback play this year has been outstanding especially considering the youthfulness of the two guys. Also nice to see the offensive line getting after people and now Ronnie Walker is getting some pt he likes he is going to be as good as advertised the balance he showed on td run was awesome. Hopefully we can develop some younger linemen and this offense is going to be a force to be reckoned with for awhile. Go Hoosiers!!
I've been a doubter......I thought Saturday was the best game he's called since he's been here.
I love the idea of spreading the passing game around as we did Saturday. We have a bunch of WRs of approximately equal value with different skill sets, yet there's no one who is so much better than the others that we should feel like we have to force the ball to him. For the most part, we should be able to avoid the other guy's best cover man. Also, the two young TEs are starting to be a force, which adds another dimension.
I'm not a huge fan of his & definitely not "on his bandwagon", but he's been more aggressive & just better overall as a play caller this season, so far. Honestly I don't trust it will stay that way, I think he's just too conservative by nature--which is exactly where age can be an issue, someone his age & coming from his era can't help but have a tendency to lean towards the "3 yards & a cloud of dust" mentality, so to speak, & it's only natural. I'd prefer a young & innovative approach as we had with Seth Littrell, for example, but I could be wrong, & his experience certainly counts for something. Imo, O-line play is the most important factor in our offenses success anyway. I just hope when the competition stiffens & every little crack shows & the chips are down, play calling doesn't cost us. I thought it did last year vs MSU, coincidental to this thread.
Obviously you don’t know much about Coach DeBord. As I have stated before he learned play calling from one of the most aggressive play callers of all time Red Faught a man who was way ahead of his time. He has always been an an aggressive play caller since his days at Ft Hayes State to Michigan to Tennessee. Perhaps he was a little more conservative last year with a young and beat up line a freshmen quarterback and first year in the program. All of those factors would lend itself to be a little conservative. The thing that l love more than anything else is not satisfied with what he knows as he went down to Tampa to meet with Gruden and is still trying to expand his horizons.
I think you're 100% correct about the o-line. We're deep enough at WR and TE, and PR is accurate enough, that we'll do ok even against the best back 7s in the BT as long as he has time to throw. So far so good.
I know Faught's Run & shoot didn't rub off on DeBord, so the fact that he learned play calling from Red, is pretty much irrelevant, imo. & yes, those were factors in calling conservatively at times, in regards to Ramsey & injuries & such, but if you go back & watch the MSU game from last season, I think you'll see what I mean. Furthermore, those factors(Ramsey's development & healthy O-line)are why he's been more aggressive so far this season, my fear is that when the competition strengthens, & play calling becomes more difficult, he will revert to a more conservative(too conservative)philosophy. I hope I'm wrong, just for the record. I hope coach DeBord PROVES me wrong.
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Broadening this topic to include DeBord & Allen, I hope if we're in a tight one Saturday against MSU, I hope our coaches don't pucker up and in the end play not to lose, rather than to win.
It's easy enough for us to say "play like you've got nothing to lose". These guys are looking at their job and their careers.......but it certainly does seem that when push comes to shove, we tend to go conservative in the tight games and just try to hold on.
I think CTA was determined to win last year with defense because he did not trust the offense. The Hoosiers are better and deeper, and healthier, at literally every position on offense this season. And there is much more diversity of talent at the skilled positions. I think the best is yet come.
Coach DeBord has the keys to a new car this year.
This is the most important game in many years for this program. I want them to coach like it, go for the jugular, win the game!!
Our running game needs to be there Saturday night. We are at home and looking for respect, let's get some!
Our running game needs to be there Saturday night. We are at home and looking for respect, let's get some!
His age? He’s only 61 which is just a few years older than guys like kevin Wilson and Mike Leach
To me 100% of last years “conservative” playcslling was a result of oline. They couldn’t block well, which meant getting creative was almost a nonstarter when we were in a position to, and we were infrequently in position to because we were constantly in 3rd and long because the oline couldn’t support a quality run game
It's not just last year(am I the only one to Google "DeBord at Tennessee"? I mean COME ON people!!), but you know what? It's whatever, I hope he does well & we win every week.
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Strongly disagree(he has a history of calling far too conservatively, just google him!!)but I don't care! I just hope we win, no matter what.
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He set scoring/yardage records at Tennessee. Their fans were looking for an excuse to complain and blame someone, as his years were some on the the bright spots in recent years, but were far from what they want (and defense was the primary issue while he was there). They showed a pulse for the first time in years, and Tennessee fans thought that meant they should be national title contenders
I don’t think what he does this year changes how he did last year, or at Tennessee, or before that...for better or worse. I do think he’s done a great job this year making adjustments and improvements from last year. A lot of that is likely personnel driven.
Just keep it up!
Just keep it up!
So you think they just chose him as a scapegoat despite scoring all of those points? That's just not the case, you would have to research it & read their comments, watch their Youtube videos about why they were so happy he left, & those are all understatements, frankly. & no offense, but I think their fanbase is just a tad bit more football savvy than ours is. Look, I'm not trying to trash our OC, but this cannot, WILL NOT be a place in which a sentiment that is even slightly anything other than glowing in nature regarding one of our own is sacrilegious & taboo. That's B.S. You have to have the freedom to be honest in here, that's message board 101.
Tennessee fans are as delusional as that other school in Indiana. They believe they should be National Champions every year. The fact is their program is not really that good. Their band marched through the streets of Gainesville playing Rocky Top and they harass the home fans then they are nowhere to be found after the game and they have gotten their sss kicked.
If you don't like the guy and/or think his play calling is too conservative, that's your right and you're obviously entitled to your opinion. But this argument that his coaching philosophy is a function of his "advanced" age is complete horseshit. The guy is just six years older than the OC at Ohio State, and seven years older than a guy who just signed a 10 year/$100 million contract with the Raiders after being out of coaching for 10 years. Would you view things differently if DeBord had hair? (no, I'm not bald).
Exactly. Not sure where the Red Faught comparisons come from, since his offensive philosophy and play calling is nothing like RF’s.
Beat MSU.
The offense may not be the same but philosophy is the same take what the defense gives you do what you do best ball control passing attack take your shots when you get them.
RF’s philosophy was essentially “when in doubt, throw it”. That’s not now nor has it ever been MD’s. Not saying RF didn’t have any influence on him, but their offensive philosophies aren’t the same. You must’ve missed MD’s UM days, because it definitely wasn’t a “ball control passing attack”.
That’s pretty much every offensive coach’s philosophy, regardless of what they run.
Oh for f1#$ sakes, "Old" wasn't a reference to him personally so much as he as a coach, who has been around for a loooong time, & as coaches go, ESPECIALLY college co-ordinators--the dude is OLD! I don't care how old other coaches are or aren't. I'm talking about DeBord. & his philosophy absolutely correlates directly to the length of time he's been in coaching, just like everything basically everything else in world.
Did DeBord come up through the ranks with Woody Hayes? Your argument that, because of his age, he has a "tendency to lean to the '3 yards and a cloud of dust' mentality" is (no offense) utterly ridiculous.
Here's a crazy idea. Why don't you cut the guy some slack at least until the offense has a bad game this season. We're averaging 32 ppg, and we're 3-0. The old man must be doing something right.
If you watch the Brandon Dawkins interviews before he left he was asked to compare the 2 offenses and he noted that the IU offense was more like the NFL offenses in its reads and concepts in the pass game.
Not what I said but Rich Rodriguez has had a lot of success offensively just is a nut case has been since his days at Glennville
?? What are you talking about? Please read my previous post. I never said the man was doing poorly this season, not once. As for age translating to conservative play calling, I just hope that thought remains "utterly ridiculous" to you throughout the season, As for my age, today is my birthday(not looking for sympathy)& I'm not dealing with this subject anymore regardless! Better things to do!!
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Ahhh but there are very many of them that don't agree with you...who is right? DOes it matter now? No, he's ours, good or bad. Though not overwhelmed by his style, so far it is effective against lessor opponents. When we hit the bigtime, then we will know...I defer until then.
Agree, it's not age-related.
Here's an old-timer who was never accused off being conservative:
What two offenses would Dawkins be comparing? Debord vs RichRod right? So saying Debord has a more "NFL" like offense isn't really saying much because RR has simple concepts as far as the passing game goes.
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