Key to understanding this season

[App91]

Concerns-the items that were glaring issues in the first game, penalties, fumbles, playcalling etc, are the same issues that we saw the last game, and every game in between expect really for 1. Expect some of those at the beginning, but good coaches correct those mistakes over a season. For some reason, we have not. I am sure there is plenty of blame to go around. Really, the reasons do not matter, this is results based.

The reasons do matter. As it is the reasons that dictate the results.

No reasons dictate LACK of results. Otherwise results speak for themselves

Agree to disagree. There are reasons for the results. Your opinion on the root cause of the results belong to you and others are those of picking out the low hanging fruit. It isn’t a one change fix. Changing play callers won’t change the personal executing the plays. Unless you are at practice daily, you have no idea what our young guys strengths and weaknesses are and how that affects the playcalling.

See you are making an assumption that i am advocating for changing play callers, not true at all. There are things that i see that are not working for whatever reason, yet we still try to do those things. We dont throw short slants, move the pocket or put young receivers in a position to be open. The current scheme is based on winning individual battles, which we saw way back in the first few games that was not working, yet still doing it. Its the difference of the system fitting personnel vs personnel fitting the system. You can do the latter over a period of turning over a roster, the former has to be done until then. That's what good coaches do, IMO.

[AppSt94]

And all I’m saying is that what you see may not be what is going on. I’m sure that Clark, Peterson, or Jones, aren’t throwing their hands up and saying, it is what it is. They know what their players can do and what they would struggle with.

[Yosef84]

Drink was able to have a dedicated special teams coach because he served as his own OC/QB coach. In order for Clark to do that, we would have to lose a coach somewhere on the staff. I'm curious which position coach people believe would be expendable.

[Saint3333]

I found the reason:

Redzone offense:
- 2020 ranked 111: 43 attempts, 24 TDs, 7 FGs, 72% overall, 56% TDs

You just can't stall in the RZ and win competitive football games. Don't look now but GS is #14 in RZ defense.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs ... eam/703/p3

Other interesting stats:
- 10th best redzone defense
- 12th best defense (total ypg)
- 4th best 3rd down completion (this blows your mind when you consider the RZ ranking)
- 96th penalties per game
- 74th turnover margin

[AppSt94]

So what is the reason for the stalled RZ efficiency? Is it a lack of options in play calling? Is it lack of big physical receivers that can win the one on one fights? Penalties? Is it execution? I will go wit all of the above.

[Saint3333]

IMO we aren't as good at setting up plays or sequencing them 1st - 3rd as we have been in the past, combined with executing the plays called (fade routes, throws just out of bounds, untimely tackles for loss).

[AtlAppMan]

I equate the 2020 App football to years past with the Atlanta Braves. Several years they led division in W-L but by beating up bad teams while not performing well against the best teams. As a result their stats seemed good but when they got to the playoffs they always lost against the better teams. That is what I feel is happening to us this year. We rack up statistics against bad teams, even have okay stats against the three best teams but can't deliver in RZ when it matters most.

One thing I remember about last year is Eli and Roof were big on the defense getting the other team off the field quick (3 and outs). In fact we were one of the top teams in the country. What that translates into is better field position for our offense, which means we have to get fewer yards to get TDs. If you do the math, we are converting about 53% of 3rd downs. That means the further you have to go and more plays you have to execute on a single drive, i.e. 80 yrds vs 50 yrds, eventually the 50% conversion catches up to you likely somewhere in the RZ.

[PhillyApp1]

This reminds me of the years without Brian Quick and Price.... the fbs teams loaded the box and we could only score 10 points or less.... I will say we also had a ton of players who could do slants and pick wholes.... the App State offense lives and dies with wideouts that can get open and catch the ball..... Armanti and his running kept us in games but Zach is not running anymore.