is rushing on 3rd and longs only to get a field goal to go up 9-15 *cough* MSU *cough*
I hope our offense isn’t as boring as it was last year.
I hope our offense isn’t as boring as it was last year.
What I don’t want to see next year
- Thread starter MKordIUBB
- Start date
The offense was "boring" last year because:
a) it was depleted by injuries
b) the OL struggled; and
c) the coaches were breaking in a young QB
It's likely that the O will be much more productive this year. I'm more concerned about the defense.
I'm not of the mind that that 3rd-down call was totally bat-shite crazy. If they got half or a little more of the needed yardage then they could have run for it again on fourth--either making the yardage or pinning MSU deep. And when they didn't get what they wanted on third down, I can understand kicking to get the sure three points: MSU couldn't tie with a field goal. And in the worst case scenario, they get a TD and extra point for the lead, but we might still have a chance to win with another FG. Unfortunately, like a lot of times last year, things just didn't go our way and the worst case scenario came to pass. And by "things" last year I'm including things like net turnovers, officiating (I'm a homer, but we got inordinately hosed last year, even by our experience) and luck (fractions of inches/seconds were on the whole unkind to us last year). In my mind, we're due a lot of favorable outcomes next year.
Anyway, even the best people who make these decisions for a living disagree on what to do in certain situations and they know better than the rest of us their players' condition (health, psychological) and other variables at any given moment; so, I tend to cut Coach DeBord some slack.
Every time the ball was thrown to cobbs he’d catch it. He was totally under-utilized in my opinion
Don’t confuse “boring” with ineffective. We had plenty of offenses from 2011-2016 that threw the ball all over the field and were still ineffective against good defenses. If you have the personnel to run the scheme, whatever it is, you can be highly effective as long as you are putting points up on the board.
You could make the same argument about the basketball team: “I want to see a better offense.”
Well, yeah....you need scorers to make it effective.
I expect a MUCH more potent offensive attack this year. The QB position is in much more talented hands and that should help this offense out tremendously. Not to mention the maturity of the oline and Morgan Ellison being a year stronger!!
We have an actual spread threat QB rather than a fake it for nothing QB. I expect the O-Line to surprise this year they have been together for awhile and are getting stronger. Last year we forced alot of stuff because we were so limited. IDK what we will look like but I expect much more production.
What I don't want to see this upcoming season:
1. Any quarterback changes. Name the starter and stick with, unless an injury occurs. As they say, if you have two QB's, then you have no QB's.
2. 4th quarter fades. Need to play complete games to win in this conference.
3. Last but not least, the injury bug.
1. Any quarterback changes. Name the starter and stick with, unless an injury occurs. As they say, if you have two QB's, then you have no QB's.
2. 4th quarter fades. Need to play complete games to win in this conference.
3. Last but not least, the injury bug.
As to #1 on your list.....what happens if the starter is named and he tanks? Do you leave him in to throw 5 interceptions in a game (we did that one year btw).
Starters get yanked all the time. I’m all for one guy as long as he is consistent. But, I don’t think that locks him in if he isn’t performing.
I would like to see two quarterbacks play in each game. Too often in the past playing a second quarterback meant playing someone who was not ready. I don’t think that’s the case at most schools. But it certainly has been the case at Indiana all too often
I would like to see the stat of minutes missed for starters injured for every team. You would almost need to rank every player, give their minutes a particular ratio depending upon their value to come away with an efficient number. I know we feel like the injury bug bites us but I really think it's identical to everyone else in the country. Depth. That's what was and needs to be a part of our growth as a program. That is what allows the OSU's to withstand their Heisman candidate QB to go down and they still win a national title. Our QB goes down 3 years ago and we get 13 total passing yards in a game. Graduation and injuries will happen. The name of the game is depth. Regardless of who graduated and who gets injured, if we truly have depth, IU should be improving, year over year due to how far down we are starting.
This. I'm not saying someone doesn't stand out and suddenly that QB is the one and only; However, having 2 guys in there who are productive (and that is the key), it gives us versatility and a security blanket. If a QB goes down, our season isn't suddenly on the ropes. We go into the next game with the same expectations as the previous QB. If the expectations are down it's only slightly.
I have always said the No. 2 should play (at least) a series in every game, and - if he scores - stays in.
Gives him the reps he needs if the No. 1 gets hurts, and also forces a change of pace on the opposing defense.
Gives the No. 1 a blow, AND lets him know "work hard - if No. 2 plays better when he gets his chance, you might get pine."
I disagree, particularly the way things are currently situated. Dawkins has a wealth of Pac 12 starting experience. We've got him for just one year, and he was brought here to play. I've got to believe he's the presumptive starter and, if so, he should be the guy unless (and I think this is unlikely) he becomes a turnover machine and/or is consistently ineffective.
Rotating a second guy in just for the sake of playing a second guy makes no sense to me. It can mess up the rhythm of the #1, and get the offense out of sync. If the #1 is getting it done, he should be in except for mop-up scenarios and/or in the event of an injury.
Ramsey already has significant game experience, and he'll be ready should a true need arise for him to step in. Otherwise, I see him as a very capable understudy this year. The future looks bright with Ramsey and Penix taking over in '19 and beyond.
I’ll point out that both coaching regimes ( Wilson and Allen) saw no issues pulling the starter if he struggled when the felt they had a viable back-up plan. I would have liked to see Diamont a bit more in the 2016 Wake Forest game where Lagow struggled. To his credit, Wilson did go to the wildcat package rotation later in 2016 when the same thing happened. Same thing with inserting Ramsey in the Virginia game by Allen.
It also forces a "change of pace" on the o-line and receivers. I suppose it would depend on the game circumstances, how similar in style the QBs are, and how "flexible" the supporting cast is. Not sure I'd advocate switching up as a general rule. I'd be more inclined to give the #2 his minutes in mopup time, assuming there is any.
Of course a QB should be pulled if he's not getting it done. Lagow's exit from the Virginia game was a function of three consecutive quarters (the second half of the Ohio State game, and the first quarter against UVA) of poor play. My comments were directed to the poster who seems to be advocating a two-QB system every game, irrespective of the score, quality of play of the starting QB, or other circumstances.
I didn't make my wording as clear as maybe I should have, but I'm not in favor of a QB platooning system. Never have been for any level. If whomever the starter may be is really struggling, then sure I'm fine with the backup getting snaps. I just don't want to see in game changes just to keep everybody happy. If there isn't a clear starter, that could be a problem. I'd like the coaching staff to take a stand and go all in with one starter and let the results speak for themselves. Either Dawkins is the starter and was a great move to get him, or allow Ramsey or Penix take the reigns and get the experience and learn through growing pains.
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I actually thought that a highlight of some of those later years was that the offense was effective, very effective, against Ohio State, Michigan etc. The issue was that the defense could not stop a pack of nuns and gave up countless 3rd and longs.
Don't count out Penix this year. Look at Alabamas QB that won NC. He was a Freshman. If the kid has it then use it. Should be interesting. My concern is What can Hiller do with this o line. Just returning experience up there won't cut it. We need to develop a nasty streak in that oline. We will find out just how good Hiller is this year.
Different situation. First, Alabama had a strong OL and a star at virtually every position. Also, Tagovailoa was, I believe, the #2 all season and had significant playing time before the national championship game. Saban had already seen what he could do.
I expect Dawkins and Ramsey will be #1 and #2 respectively. Dawkins is potentially our most dynamic QB in many years, and Ramsey now has substantial game experience, showed a lot of poise with guys in his face every game, and can manage the offense. Why burn Penix's shirt unless it's absolutely necessary (i.e. injuries). Let the kid observe and learn this year.
Penix could easily see playing time this year. This isn't Lagow standing in the pocket. Both Dawkins and Ramsey run which put them in a more favorable position to get injured. IMO its not out of the question that Penix will get reps and as evidenced in the spring game. He already passed quite a few to become the #2 guy. Without Penix getting reps we will be in exactly the same position next year going into 2019. Are we then gonna steal another grad transfer? JMO Penix will have packages and be ready to step in.
I missed the spring game because of the weather issue and didn't have an opportunity to read much about it. Is Penix, in fact, the likely #2?
@ bowlmania...In the highlights I watched Ramsey and Penix shared all the snaps and had several possessions each. Everyone else got one drive. The other guy that made something happen with a pretty live arm was Johnny Pabst.
I can think of a slant in the endzone that Cobbs dropped. He wasn't known for having sure hands but for making unbelievable catches.
I want to see Dawkins lead this team to a nice bowl game. If that happens, this board will be sky high.
The Oline needs to assert itself and get back to where it was two or three years ago with Spriggs and Co. You won't win many games with half baked oline play...Hiller is coaching for his job this year!
The Oline needs to assert itself and get back to where it was two or three years ago with Spriggs and Co. You won't win many games with half baked oline play...Hiller is coaching for his job this year!
He's a tough fellow and made some great snags but for someone to say he caught everything thrown to him is a major readjustment of the reality of his time here...
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Oddly, Phil Steele ranks our OL as the highest of our “unit” rankings.rates us No. 21. He values returning experience in the form of “starts”, and we have some of that.
I think the OL is going to surprise a lot of people. And if Linder stays healthy, that will be an even bigger boost.
I was wondering when this post would get called out. There were a few right on the numbers that were dropped during crucial points of games. He did make some outstanding catches but there were alot of headshakers that woulda, shoulda, coulda been.
Mitchell Paige was the man! Dude was an absolute go to stud on 3rd downs. Gimme a couple guys like him in the lineup all day!
Pound for pound Mitchell Paige was one of the best players on the team. But I remember a number of third down plays where he would run a three yard pattern and not be able to get back to the line of scrimmage. You have to remember pass plays to him where he would gain 1 yard on a third and two.
Another catch that Simmie should've made was on a third-and-short slant near the end of the first quarter against UM this past season when we were trailing 3-0. Would've given us a first down right near the edge of the red zone. Because it squirted through his hands, Oakes had to attempt a 50+ yard field goal that got blocked (I think Oakes's only miss of the year) and returned to deep in IU territory. Not trying to pile on Simmie here. Just pointing out another example of how he didn't catch everything thrown his way.
no backwards passes, and no field goal attempts on 4th and goal at the one. (unless we're down less than 3 with less than a minute to play).
those are my 2 requests going into any season.
those are my 2 requests going into any season.
