Buffalo: What Did We Learn?

runningblind said:
If MSU wins next week,  5 or 6 of our last 8 opponents will most likely be ranked when we play them (MN maybe if they beat CU and are 4-1 when we get them).  We will be favored versus NW and Purdue at home but we will have to pull 2 upsets to get to 6-6 assuming we take care of business in those two home games. Will be interesting.  I have loved the play of the defense so far but the run D will really be tested the next 2 weeks and they may be on the field an awful lot.
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We are finally starting to see what we can be on D.  I think (homer fan) that our D can bang with the teams on our schedule.  My concern, like you mentioned, is do we have the depth to be on the field after repeated 3 and outs or like Illinois, to be on the field for an 8 minute drive.  I'd like to see CTB just concentrate on D going forward.  We are going to need his full attention moving forward.  Loving the play of Henrich and Reimer, but wish Honas was healthy.  Just a solid guy and depth....If we get 6 wins, as bad as it sounds, that would be huge.  As you mentioned, looking forward, one of the toughest schedules in the country appears to be getting tougher.

My hope is the 2 back set we saw with Smothers is something Frost has for the 1st team O moving forward.  Extra blocker, misdirection, counters, traps etc....Gotta scheme to help that OL.......I'd feel better if our TE group was all healthy. Will need the bigger ones moving forward. 

 
lo country said:
Unless the OL suddenly finds itself or we scheme to hide the deficiencies, I don't see us getting 6...UNLESS the D can  continue to improve and start turning some of those TO's into points.  That Illinois loss hurts.....(capt obvious)
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Pretty much where I'm at. Objectively, the o-line is the weakest spot on this team and they're probably going to have the biggest impact on how far this team goes. AM would be the second most important factor, but I think he can be good enough with a solid o-line.

Based on how the o-line has played through three games though, in tandem with that fairly underwhelming running game... I don't see six at this point either. I think four-to-five would be generous.

 
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Enhance said:
Pretty much where I'm at. Objectively, the o-line is the weakest spot on this team and they're probably going to have the biggest impact on how far this team goes. AM would be the second most important factor, but I think he can be pretty good with a solid o-line.

Based on how the o-line has played through three games though, in tandem with that fairly underwhelming running game... I don't see six at this point either. I think four-to-five would be generous.
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Piper will be replaced this week.  I think the left side will get better eventually 

 
If you find kids with O-line size, are the rest of the position’s skills teachable with good coaching?

I understand that some things can’t be taught. Like speed, and there will always be intangibles that separate the average from the superior, but why with all of our resources is the oline a weekly disappointment? Can they be fixed/taught? Is because they are forced into starting before they are developed? Poor depth? 

 
krc1995 said:
If you find kids with O-line size, are the rest of the position’s skills teachable with good coaching?

I understand that some things can’t be taught. Like speed, and there will always be intangibles that separate the average from the superior, but why with all of our resources is the oline a weekly disappointment? Can they be fixed/taught? Is because they are forced into starting before they are developed? Poor depth? 
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To me if you can play tackle you should be able to play guard.  I don't think it goes the other way because you usually dont play tackle because you are probably too slow or not as athletic.  

 
TheSker said:
On defemse
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krc1995 said:
I understand that some things can’t be taught. Like speed, and there will always be intangibles that separate the average from the superior, but why with all of our resources is the oline a weekly disappointment? Can they be fixed/taught? Is because they are forced into starting before they are developed? Poor depth? 
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As a general rule of thumb, I think line play normally comes down to three things (not necessarily in this order): attitude, technique and strength.

I don't think strength is the problem. A lot of those guys look the part and I'd have no way of really knowing otherwise unless I looked at their weight room numbers.

As for attitude, that can be pretty nebulous. Apparently Frost has former linemen there all the time talking about the importance of attitude and asserting your will on the opponent. And I'm sure they talk about that stuff all the time. Frost's staff does not come off as weak-willed, so I don't think that's really the problem either.

So then you have to look at technique. Are you in the right spots, are you making the right reads, are you positioning yourself well. Zone blocking schemes aren't always easy. And then a HUGE and underrated part of technique is confidence. If you don't know what you're doing or if you do the wrong thing then you're not going to have a lot of confidence in getting the job done and going 100%. This is where I think the biggest problem is. I don't see a lot of guys who seem to be in the right spots and then making the play they need to. I'm not an o-line expert, but when defenders are brushing off blocks or coming clean entirely, or when your back is being forced to make his first cut in the back field... something doesn't seem right. That suggests people aren't where they're supposed to be or got beat.

 
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Enhance said:
As a general rule of thumb, I think line play normally comes down to three things (not necessarily in this order): attitude, technique and strength.

I don't think strength is the problem. A lot of those guys look the part and I'd have no way of really knowing otherwise unless I looked at their weight room numbers.

As for attitude, that can be pretty nebulous. Apparently Frost has former linemen there all the time talking about the importance of attitude and asserting your will on the opponent. And I'm sure they talk about that stuff all the time. Frost's staff does not come off as weak-willed, so I don't think that's really the problem either.

So then you have to look at technique. Are you in the right spots, are you making the right reads, are you positioning yourself well. Zone blocking schemes aren't always easy. And then a HUGE and underrated part of technique is confidence. If you don't know what you're doing or if you do the wrong thing then you're not going to have a lot of confidence in getting the job done and going 100%. This is where I think the biggest problem is. I don't see a lot of guys who seem to be in the right spots and then making the play they need to. I'm not an o-line expert, but when defenders are brushing off blocks or coming clean entirely, or when your back is being forced to make his first cut in the back field... something doesn't seem right. That suggests people aren't where they're supposed to be or got beat.
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That's a pretty good assessment from my perspective.  Watching the game on Saturday, I was thinking about, "what is wrong with this line?"  My conclusion was that they don't seem to have a nasty attitude of going out and kicking the a$$ of the guys on the other side.  They play timid.  That has to have something to do with confidence.  Not sure how you get that now.  I would hope that that would have been built in these first three games.  But, we don't have the ability to line up and run the ball down the field.  And, it doesn't seem like they are stopping our run with safety help, so, I'm not sure stretching the field with the passing game is going to help.

One other thing I thought about was, we don't seem to run the RBs outside the tackles very often.  It seems like all of our hand offs are up the middle.  Also, I don't remember ever running any type of screen play this year.

Maybe we will see those this week against OU?   :dunno   Both of those types of plays, I would think, would help open up run plays up the middle.  Screen plays would also help slow down the pass rush.

 
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