My issue with the excuses for 2020 is that some teams did win their league despite the weird year so throw that out. Injuries are fair to bring up and they hurt. Pretty sure our players are glad TP is gone regardless.WASU 93 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:48 amI'm not going to defend Petersen in any way, but I think you have to take 2020 for what it was worth. Just like Petersen didn't mesh with our offense, Chase Brice and David Cutliffe (who has a reputation of working well with QB's) did not work last season. Brice mentioned during a podcast that it was a really hard year because there was not a normal amount of practice repetitions leading up to the season and that there was the constant COVID distractions, meeting room protocols, etc.AppStFan1 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:06 amSome coordinators think that for sure but we had talent. Not all teams do. I think some fans can often have lofty expectations but it doesn’t always mean a group is wrong when they complain about a certain OC. His firing from Illinois, and reasons I heard offline, in just a year was confirmation of the things we had happen. He isn’t the worst ever but we could get better for sure. Many of his issues were during the week as well and Illinois dealt with it.bigdaddyg wrote: ↑Tue Jan 25, 2022 10:16 amDo you think that there are coordinators at schools who know what they are doing, put in good game plans and call plays but look down on the field and say to themselves- “god this team stinks, doesn’t have enough talent and can’t execute these plays?” Fans watch their team and often expect a miracle worker to transform the players on the roster into some juggernaut. We bitch and moan because a run play on 3rd and 5 was called instead of a sure fire pass that would have worked. You have to think that a coordinator worth his salt calls a play based on the defense in front of him and fully expects those 11 players to execute. Guess it doesn’t always work out that way and sometimes the stud we think we have isn’t as good as the dude lining up in front of him.
I remember some on here, and 247, gloated that Tony must not be that bad because Illinois hired him but they are quiet now. He didn’t last long just like many of us expected.
In our program, add to that three coaching staffs in three years, a revolving door at TE due to injury last season, WR (including no Corey Sutton and an injured Hennigan for half the season) and three different starting RB's last year (Marcus Williams, Harrington, and Peoples) and the year was chaotic.
Hopefully, we keep Ponce next year, because there should be improvement in play calling due of the consistency of having a second year with Brice and the receiving corps (yes, there will be branch new starters, but they have been on the practice field and in meetings together), plus all four running backs are back. Not only does this affect play calling, it also affects the ability to make an adjustment at the line of scrimmage. While it's not college football, the TD that the Chiefs scored in OT this week was not the called play. Travis Kelce communicated to Patrick Mahomes that he was going to run a different pattern and the result was a game winner. Familiarity in an offense can lead to that type of success.
With that said, the numbers that Miami is willing to pay it's OC is nearly 5 times Ponce's current salary (and much more than a typical Sun Belt HC makes). If our assistant coaches are successful, there are always going to be bigger opportunities for them.
I’m with you on Ponce and understand if he leaves. That is a lot of money. I just don’t want to hear the different OCs in different years excuse if he goes. We need a coach who fully believes in our QB as a good OV can win with Burger, if he is good. Hiring an OC who disrupts the continuity of what we want in a QB or who doesn’t like Burger would be a mistake.