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Concerns For The 2017-18 Football Season

OSU_Sports_Nut

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Aug 5, 2001
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Let me first say that I'm really excited about this upcoming season. I think this year is our best chance to play for a National Championship since 2011. However, for this to take place certain things will need to happen like not turning the ball over multiple times a game, no major injuries (at QB, RB, OL, CB), and improved play calling by Yurcich and Spencer. Below are 3 concerns on offense and defense that I believe will be major factors for the success of this season.

CONCERNS ON OFFENSE

1) no major injuries - our offense is expected to carry this team throughout the year. Therefore, it will be very important that we do not have any major injuries at key positions like QB, RB, and OL. As we all know, our entire offense runs through Rudolph. An major injury at QB would be devastating to our season. Running back would be next, but I think we have good depth (just young and untested). Our offense of line would be third on my list because we do have other people that could step in, but we're probably only seven or eight deep and there is a major drop off after the starting five. I hope we can blow teams out and be able to play a lot of young players to get them experience and to limit the possibility of injury at key positions.
2) offensive play calling - we need to be able to sustain drives and cut down the three-and-outs that are typical under Yurcich. This is a big deal because of rhythm. If an offense can't stay out on the field for more than 3 plays it's really hard for an offense to get into any kind of rhythm (no matter how good or talented the players are). We need an offense that can sustain drives for 6+ plays especially when we don't score. To accomplish this, we need more variance in the route selection from our playbook (other than the deep throws and screens). I want to see an offense that isn't just feast or famine. I'd like to see Yurcich call more 5 and 10 yard out patterns, which are relatively safe and they help pull the defense closer to the line of scrimmage so we can go over the top later on. I'd also like to see us throw more slants and drags to guys like Johnson who can make people miss or to McCleskey who can turn on the burners and outrun the defense. I'd also like to see us use at least 2 trick plays a game so defenses are forced to watch out for these plays in the future, which will make players start second-guessing plays instead of reading and reacting and flying to the ball. In addition, what is Yurcich going to do in goal-line situations. Are we planning to take out an NFL quarterback and NFL wide receiver? Also Ateman is back and he is the best WR at one-on-one jump balls in goal-line situations. In addition, why would you ever take out any WR that draws double coverage (Washington)? Personally, I would love to see Lacy, Ateman, and Washington on the field during goal-line situations with a RB & FB (who would actually be an extra lineman). It'll be hard for anyone to double any WR and it'll open up the middle of the field for running the ball. I'd put Washington in motion from the slot (which will make it hard to double him) and either give him the ball, or run the triple option with him and Hill, or after he goes in motion across the formation have him run a quick out or fade (the outside WR would have to run a slant or drag or curl if Washington runs the fade). Then the two outside receivers (Lacy & Ateman) both run corner or fade patterns to the back of the end zone (for jump balls). Or if we go 4 wide and Johnson is also on the field, he could be the one that goes in motion and gets the handoff, or be used for the option, or we could run bubble or WR screens. I also like seeing three WR'ers stacked on top of each other around the hash mark and either Lacy or Ateman on the other side of the field one-on-one for the jump ball fade. However, if Gundy decides to go with running the football and puts a running quarterback in for that purpose, I hope we use some unbalanced formations and we replace the FB & TE with extra lineman. Using unbalanced formations where an extra lineman is an eligible receiver, it makes it easier to sneak them out into the flat wide open. This assumes Gundy can find one or two lineman with good hands. When I coached in Broken Arrow, we were surprised to find some of our best hands on the team were offensive lineman.
3) special teams - who's going to be returning punts and kickoffs? I hope we will see dynamic playmakers like Johnson and Stoner in these roles to help flip the field for our team. We haven't had a dangerous returner in many years, but I hope this changes and we find somebody.

CONCERNS ON DEFENSE
1) defensive play calling - are we really going to play a three-man front? With so many teams wanting to shorten the game, teams are going to run the ball a lot! This year, our defense is going to see more double tight formations, unbalanced sets, and jumbo sets than previous years. What will Spencer do to combat this problem? I sure hope his answer doesn't include staying in a three-man front. I sure hope he's willing to go back to a four-man and even a five-man front using extra defensive lineman to stop the run (versus just walking a linebacker up to the line of scrimmage). I also hate his philosophy of bend-but-not-break defense on 3rd down. Therefore, I hope Spencer uses corners (not safeties or linebackers) on those inside receivers when a team goes with 4+ WR'ers and I hope he blitzes more (especially third-and-long). We need to take more chances on third down and maybe our conversion rate will be a lot better than previous years under Spencer (an aggressive defense should cause more turnovers). In addition, with our offense and their ability to score we should be willing to take more chances on defense. Let's play to win each game, instead of playing not to lose. I'd love to see us keep our foot on the gas pedal for the entire game. Being aggressive and playing to win each game makes players stay excited, aggressive, and loose (versus a team having a lead and trying to protect it, which decreases morale and makes players non-aggressive because they're afraid of making a mistake).
2) protecting leads - will Gundy finally realize that we cannot take a knee at the end of a game unless the following criteria exists (see below). For those of you with short memories, during Gundy's 10+ years at OSU this is happened more than just a few times. Someone needs to make Gundy carry around the following time management matrix so he knows when to use the victory formation. This formation should only be used under the following conditions. When it's 1st down and the game clock has 2:00 or less and the other team is out of timeouts, or under 1:20 if the other team has 1 timeout, or under 40 seconds if they have 2 timeouts, or under 10 seconds if the other team still has all 3 of their timeouts (in a close game where our lead is 8 points or less).
3) CB position - I wish I could say that I have faith in coach Spencer, but his track record makes me think otherwise. I sure hope that two of the young CB's play well. Maybe part of the reason Gundy and Spencer seem confident is the graduate transfer Baker and because Curry can always move back to CB. However, Baker is coming off major knee surgery and these young CB's don't have any experience so hard to tell how they're going to play when the lights come on.

In conclusion, my two biggest concerns are major injuries at key positions and the play calling (both offense and defense). I think we have the talent to beat anybody with our current starters. However, if our offense is going three-and-out and if the defense is on the field a lot (being conservative using the bend-but-not-break philosophy), this will be a disappointing season and not bode well for our chances to be in the playoffs.
 
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