What did we Learn? (The NIU Huskies Edition)

FTW said:
What don't you understand? The offense "looked" smoother, more faster, and more efficient to YOU, however you're not taking into effect that the game was already over with anyway. Did you not see the 80+ yard TD drive in 5 plays and 39 seconds before half time by the first team offense? Was that not "fast" enough for you?  :dunno
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They were moving fast before halftime, because they didn't have a choice. There wasn't much time left. That drive was great though. Look how great the offense looks when they move fast.

Like I said, I believe this offense, specifically Martinez, would benefit going fast. Call the play, line up fast, run the play, repeat. Stop looking at the sidelines all the time for changes. It messes up the timing of the offense.

 
Igetbored216 said:
They were moving fast before halftime, because they didn't have a choice. There wasn't much time left. That drive was great though. Look how great the offense looks when they move fast.

Like I said, I believe this offense, specifically Martinez, would benefit going fast. Call the play, line up fast, run the play, repeat. Stop looking at the sidelines all the time for changes. It messes up the timing of the offense.
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I think it also puts the D in a disadvantage to not make their pre-snap adjustments on blitzes and screens. Last year, we seemed more efficient and went at a quicker pace.  Can easily be revisionist history or as others noted, maybe more of the playbookis being used.  Perhaps against NIO, we pared down the playbook.  I seemed to remember TO had a limited number of actual "plays", but ran them from a host of formations that made it appears as though we had a lot of different plays.  

 
The faster we go, the better AM looks IMO. He tends to overthink things when given too much time. Did he add too much weight? Eh, maybe but that is minor. I'm not a fan of thinking QBs have to have muscle, though you don't want to be a rail either if you're going to run the ball, but being too 'big' can throw things off with your fluidity of throwing motion. 

I mentioned before that we are breaking in a new center, rb, and two new WRs.....give it some time fellas. 

Trevor Lawrence was dubbed the greatest freshman QB of all-time by some and even he has struggled early this year, with better weapons than we have btw. 

TL: 60.8% 831 yards, 5 TD/5 INT (139.5 qbr) 55 yds rushing 3 TD

AM: 60% 725 yards, 4 TD/ 2 INT (153.5 qbr) 116 yds rushing 3 TD

 
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I think it’s possibly very different than what some of you think. I watched the first quarter and they were moving at a decent pace, then they slowed down and did the look to coach. 

Frost has said every team has done something different than what they practiced against. 

I think its very possible that this is where frost is diagnosing what the defense is doing to make sure 2AM is in the right play. 

Its much easier to ho at a fast pace when you’re pretty sure what the D is doing. It’s a different game when you don’t. 

And....those D adjustments can throw off what 2AM had practiced to do. 

 
BigRedBuster said:
I think it’s possibly very different than what some of you think. I watched the first quarter and they were moving at a decent pace, then they slowed down and did the look to coach. 

Frost has said every team has done something different than what they practiced against. 

I think its very possible that this is where frost is diagnosing what the defense is doing to make sure 2AM is in the right play. 

Its much easier to ho at a fast pace when you’re pretty sure what the D is doing. It’s a different game when you don’t. 

And....those D adjustments can throw off what 2AM had practiced to do. 
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NIU stuffed a few Martinez runs in the first quarter, when NIU threw different looks at the offense.  In the 2nd quarter, it seemed like Frost got the RB's more involved in the run game, and that's when we saw the big run by Mo and the nice TD run by Mills.  These plays could have been audibles by Frost after NIU showed them similar fronts shown in the first quarter.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
NIU stuffed a few Martinez runs in the first quarter, when NIU threw different looks at the offense.  In the 2nd quarter, it seemed like Frost got the RB's more involved in the run game, and that's when we saw the big run by Mo and the nice TD run by Mills.  These plays could have been audibles by Frost after NIU showed them similar fronts shown in the first quarter.
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To be fair, I called two of those 3 qb designed runs/draw. I'm just glad that after the 3rd draw with 5 wide they stopped calling it. It worked against CU but not NIU. Definitely something to watch as I know Brad Smith at Missouri killed us with that one particular game.

 
We should punish teams who try that by scheming an RPO off of a zone read look. 

Have a TE lined up as an H-back just behind the LOS opposite of the RB; this will cause the defense to shift their LBs to the strong side. You could also have the TE lined up next to the RT, for a more traditional look. 

Have two wideouts split out on the backside of the play, and a third split out on the strong side. 

Snap the ball, leave the backside DE (or LB, if they are in 3-4) unblocked; if DE stays home, hand it off. If he crashes towards the RB, pull the ball and run.

Next, read the Will LB (or backside ILB in 3-4); if he drops into a 'flat zone' coverage, cut inside and run the ball. If he flows towards the QB, pass to the bubble route.

At the snap, the farthest WR on the backside runs a bubble route towards the inside, while the nearest WR steps up as if he would be blocking the CB or S covering him. Instead of blocking, though, he slips past and has space behind the coverage.

If the CB/nickel back/Free Safety drops into coverage, hit the bubble for a good 5-10 yards: this is the most likely scenario if they are playing a soft coverage. 

If the CB bites hard on the bubble (the 'traditional' target of an RPO), pass to the streaking receiver behind him. 

The QB makes three reads in this play; DE (or OLB in 3-4) Will LB, and FS or nickel back. This play attacks the 'backside' of a formation after forcing the defense to shade towards the strong side of the line. It would work better if the inside zone or strong-side outside zone run game was working well, and would punish aggressive defenses, especially ones that are dedicated to stopping Martinez's runs. They read run, crash down towards the line, and the ball gets thrown over their heads. 

Technically, there are four options, but all three reads are in the same direction from the QBs point of view, so the three reads shouldn't be difficult for a college QB to manage, especially one that is already used to zone reads and RPOs. 

 
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