-Our strength and conditioning was suspect again this week. While this aspect is something that needs time to develop...I don’t see much improvement by the team (Compared to Pre-Season hype). Both lines getting pushed back 3-5 yards every play by Minny, not to mention how our O-line has been manhandled almost every game, doesn’t suggest S&C is taking hold or is effective.
Is our S&C legitimately an improvement? If I had to judge based on year 2, I’d say mostly no.
-Frost needs to start placing more value on OL and DL commits until both lines are up to snuff, possibly at the expense of recruiting skill for now. In the B1G, you build from the inside out, by sticking the lines with talent and then getting playmakers. I feel we’re doing the same thing we did with Riley (and Bo, to be honest)—going outside in, valuing skill over the trenches.
Yes, I know we’ve picked up linemen in our classes. But honestly we should be looking to have a fully stocked two deep on both lines by year 3 or 4. I don’t think we’ll be close to that by even year 5 at this point.
-I’ve said this before, but our Sports Psychology department should be looked at. Sports Psychology was an unsung hero of the 90s teams, and we even have some of the same staff from that era willing to come back and help.
As it stands now, the department has the same people brought in during the Riley era servicing these kids. While making mistakes and not concentrating is 75% muscle memory and repetition via practice to forget, 25% is straight up mental preparedness to focus and handle adversity (like last night). When we have kids that appear to phone things in after a 14-0 start and can’t get out of their own damn head to get back on track...that’s where Sports Psychology comes into play. Frost has coached these kids on what to do and how to physically execute—but if you’re not mentally focused and prepared...you get what you had last night.
-How much confidence do we have in our position coaches and DC? When you have kids making the same mistakes repeatedly ad nauseam, that’s on the DC. When you have a team that uses play action because they have three backs they can bludgeon you with, that’s coaching to make them aware of their tendencies and to watch for play action passing. We have kids playing hard (until we get down—see Sports Psychology) but not smart, and that’s on the DC.
-Why do we insist on running offensive Rushing plays with the wrong backs?
Mills isn’t an edge guy, he’s a third down, pound it down the middle bruiser, yet he’s asked to run finesse/stretch plays to the boundary and doesn’t get but a couple of yards.
Washington is a perimeter threat, yet he’s asked to get 3 or 4 hard yards on third down up the middle, which isn’t his forte.
So, you say “we can’t have our RB personnel tipping off the type of running play coming”, which is right. But you *CAN* come up with looks/formations that use both RBs on the field at the same time to keep the defense guessing. It’s what made that I-Formation look so successful when we ran it before.
-Frost does care, and he’s going to get this fixed. But it’s going to take time, and he’s a newer coach that’s still learning and will make mistakes. Moos was on point earlier this season by putting our team’s focus on getting to six wins and a bowl game in year 2–he now appears to be a wise sage in what was as a sea of overhyped pre-season derp. Remember—even Devaney went 6-4 a couple of years before he could right the ship, and people were grumbling then. Of course, Devaney had post-game Elk’s Club hijinks to help smooth things over with the boosters...but we need to remember patience. Frost will get it done.
