What happened to our offense?

[Yosef84]

Hate to break it to you guys but this is the same offense we ran last year and the same offense Satterfield ran during his time as our head coach. Yes the play calling mix is different from year to year and coach to coach but this is the same offense that produced all of our Sunbelt champions and all of our bowl wins. It’s starts with two basic running plays, the inside zone read and the outside zone read. The blocking schemes for both rely on athletic lines that don’t so much knock people out of the way but more get in their way. The back then finds a running lane. It’s also key that the “athletic” linemen get to the “second level”. This means they need to be able to not only block a D lineman but they need to be able to wall off linebackers, corners and safety’s. That “up the middle” run that so many can’t stand has produced a hell of a lot of yardage and TDS for us and it sets up most of the other things we do in our offense. Satterfield would run that play to see the defensive reaction and adapt from there. Right now we are very sloppy on offense and we’re not throwing the ball well so opposing defenses can “load the box” and make running the ball very difficult. We are currently down to Malik Williams and two receivers who haven’t had much playing time. Hennigan is basically a decoy and by now the other teams know that. On Saturday we ran the ball very well until People’s ran out of gas. You may think you want to be a pass first team but if you can’t run the ball your success will be very short lived.

I get what you are saying but yesterday was the first time I have seen the outside zone read and we have not run a bootleg off of the zone read (outside or inside) or RPO from the bootleg. Satterfield's offense always seemed to key off of reads from the quarterback. We are calling one play and running it. No option other than what comes in from the sideline. I think it is very different from the last two years. I also agree with one of the posters above the outside passes helped the run game. I think....only think...(I know nothing)....this is what has Zac so frustrated.

Maybe in the past, the App St QB just turned around and handed the ball off to the RBs and there was no "attempted read" by QB prior to handoff in the past... Whether the QB actually never ran.. I may be getting App confused with other college teams I follow the last few years. My bad. For almost all of our runs Saturday from my view in stands it seem it was just the QB turning around and handing off (qb back to line of scrimmage). I should have been paying attention more historically last few years.

Went back to review the NO Bowl highlights from last year. Most running plays were the straight handoff. There were a few reads by ZT but was a hand off. The area that I noticed several RPOs in the pass plays. These were probably all decoys in that pass was the call all along. But the appearance was RPO. Good gosh, the D was great in that game after the first few drives. Was DJ at the defensive helm by time of NO Bowl. We gave up the obligatory first drive TD to start the game. LOL

If I understand what you're saying here, I do think you're confusing App with someone else. Since the days of Richie Williams, App has relied heavily on dual threat QBs and included variations on read-option as well as designed QB runs.

[Stonewall]

Poor decision making at QB was the issue in Conway...

[Longrifle28]

Poor decision making at QB was the issue in Conway...

That was one issue in Conway.

It looked pretty comprehensive to me and plenty of blame to go around. Penalties, giving up big plays, kickoffs out of bounds, not anticipating second half adjustments and having a back up plan to name a few.

Also, you have to give some credit to Coastal. They have a pretty good football team and they showed up to play. We possibly could have beat them, but WE had to play a whole lot better than WE did.

[Saint3333]

I don't get the narrative the Peoples ran out of gas. He's the type of running back that gets better as the game goes. CCU's defense made adjustments and the offensive line wasn't creating the holes.

[AppStateNews]

I don't get the narrative the Peoples ran out of gas. He's the type of running back that gets better as the game goes. CCU's defense made adjustments and the offensive line wasn't creating the holes.

This. Peoples might have ran out of gas, but that wasn't the problem in the 2nd half. Coastal stacked the box and we didn't adjust on offense. Plain and simple. According to Clark, the reason for lack of adjustments is the lack of depth at the WRs. He's said in many post game conferences we have to be able to beat them on the outside in 1 on 1 matchups. He is 100% correct on that. However, we aren't currently so the offensive staff needs to find something else to beat the stacked box. In the first half, the quick bubbles were working to spread out the defense. I can't recall seeing one in the second half outside of the swing to Peoples that gained quite a few yards.

Clark knows the offensive staff, including himself, has to figure it out. I trust they will.

[Budman2154]

i dont recall seeing any of the slant passes to the slot receivers as in the past . that seemed to be a quick release and good for a few yards or much more depending on the YAC.

[AppSt94]

I don't get the narrative the Peoples ran out of gas. He's the type of running back that gets better as the game goes. CCU's defense made adjustments and the offensive line wasn't creating the holes.

This. Peoples might have ran out of gas, but that wasn't the problem in the 2nd half. Coastal stacked the box and we didn't adjust on offense. Plain and simple. According to Clark, the reason for lack of adjustments is the lack of depth at the WRs. He's said in many post game conferences we have to be able to beat them on the outside in 1 on 1 matchups. He is 100% correct on that. However, we aren't currently so the offensive staff needs to find something else to beat the stacked box. In the first half, the quick bubbles were working to spread out the defense. I can't recall seeing one in the second half outside of the swing to Peoples that gained quite a few yards.

Clark knows the offensive staff, including himself, has to figure it out. I trust they will.

This! I think some people think that it is as simple as implementing an idea. It isn’t. Horn, Wells, and a less than 100% Hennigan aren’t going to strike fear in an opposing secondary. A lot of those screens in the first half went to Virgil. Once he went out, they weren’t going to be as effective.

[BambooRdApp]

i dont recall seeing any of the slant passes to the slot receivers as in the past . that seemed to be a quick release and good for a few yards or much more depending on the YAC.

When I went back to NO Bowl highlights, the RPOs were slant passes on several occasions. I guess it could be how defense was stacking the box or coaches confidence in young receivers running the correct pattern.

[Mjohn1988]

i dont recall seeing any of the slant passes to the slot receivers as in the past . that seemed to be a quick release and good for a few yards or much more depending on the YAC.

When I went back to NO Bowl highlights, the RPOs were slant passes on several occasions. I guess it could be how defense was stacking the box or coaches confidence in young receivers running the correct pattern.

To run those slants you have to be able to move the middle backer. The buzz word with coaches today is you have to “put him in conflict “. My guess is our coaching staff didn’t see that happening.

[Mjohn1988]

I don't get the narrative the Peoples ran out of gas. He's the type of running back that gets better as the game goes. CCU's defense made adjustments and the offensive line wasn't creating the holes.

Peoples was actively asking to come out of the game in the 2nd qtr. As for him getting better as the game goes on I can’t really remember him playing an entire game. Not a poke at him, just what it is. I hope your right and I hope we get to see it on Saturday.

[Yosefus]

In our 2 losses offensive out put hasn't really been the issue. Turnovers, penalties and lack of td's have been a thorn in our side. Lack of discipline, planning whatever is all coaching issues that have left us disappointed and 2 losses in games vs competition we should not have lost to. Both Marshall and Coastal are good programs this year but we shouldn't have lost to either with the players we put on the field. It comes down to coaching the rest is just excuses.

[Stonewall]

"Offensive out put " = points scored .We did not have enough to win. Turnovers,penalties, red zone issues .All of the above certainly ."Why" is the question of the day , as well as what is being done to change it...

[AppSt94]

"Offensive out put " = points scored .We did not have enough to win. Turnovers,penalties, red zone issues .All of the above certainly ."Why" is the question of the day , as well as what is being done to change it...

Outside of having a full compliment of healthy, experienced players, what would you do?

[WASU 93]

I don't get the narrative the Peoples ran out of gas. He's the type of running back that gets better as the game goes. CCU's defense made adjustments and the offensive line wasn't creating the holes.

Peoples was actively asking to come out of the game in the 2nd qtr. As for him getting better as the game goes on I can’t really remember him playing an entire game. Not a poke at him, just what it is. I hope your right and I hope we get to see it on Saturday.

There's no doubt he did in the first half. But, it's not a slight against him. He had 20 carries for 171 yards and many of those yards were after first contact. He also was carrying Coastal defenders for additional yards. He asked to come out and was on the sideline on one knee for a few minutes while the offensive drive was still going. He gave his all. When I was leaving the game and talking with a Coastal fan, he was in awe of Peoples and that he would be playing on Sunday.. When I told him that he was essentially our third back he didn't believe me. Noel definitely had more spark in the second half. And that's not a negative, he had fresh legs.

[AppSt94]

The Peoples/Noel combo reminds me of Alstott/Dunn for the Bucs. Alstott would wear down the defense and then Dunn would finish them off with his elusiveness.

[Stonewall]

We have played two decent teams , and lost to them both mainly due to self-inflicted damage. Neither Marshall or CC is more athletically talented. I'm not a coach but I do know that we can't continue to do the same things , the same way ,if we want a different outcome.

[hapapp]

In our 2 losses offensive out put hasn't really been the issue. Turnovers, penalties and lack of td's have been a thorn in our side. Lack of discipline, planning whatever is all coaching issues that have left us disappointed and 2 losses in games vs competition we should not have lost to. Both Marshall and Coastal are good programs this year but we shouldn't have lost to either with the players we put on the field. It comes down to coaching the rest is just excuses.

I do believe Marshall kept us below 100 yards rushing.

[JMappfan5]

Marshall was definitely just as athletic. Their Defense is fast and covered our wrs like a glove!

[bigdaddyg]

Marshall was definitely just as athletic. Their Defense is fast and covered our wrs like a glove!

And for what it’s worth Marshall is ranked number 1 in defensive points allowed per game right at 10 per and second in defensive YPG. I would say they are legit pretty good.

[APPRIDE]

i dont recall seeing any of the slant passes to the slot receivers as in the past . that seemed to be a quick release and good for a few yards or much more depending on the YAC.

This has been a question of mine also...quick blitz or stacked box beater...