Does anyone know if Coach Miles is going to run a wide open spread style offensive with all the talent we have at QB and WR. On the hand, we do have an outstanding stable of backs....so will he only throw when he has to?
The offense is Jimbo's, so you won't see too many things that are completely unfamiliar. Miles' influence will be there for sure...but he was a run first, pass often guy at OSU. IMO the head coach's philosophy coupled with Jimbo's plays will be a very potent combination. Much harder to defend than the Saban/Jimbo combo - and that's if the QB play is exactly the same. It's likely the QB play will be better than last year.
For that matter the defense will probably be just, if not more, aggressive than last year. Pelini is a big believer, from what I've read, of getting the ball back (heh). That means he aint playin' to limit you to 'consistently execute' a drive ...he wants to attack and make you f*#k up and give the ball to our O (whether it's from a blitz, or from stunts, or from just flat out attacking the ball and stripping it - Nebraska led the nation in TO margin his 1 year as DC). Our O and D will be very aggressive next year I think - we'll give up more big plays, but the O will get the ball back much more often and in better places, so we'll score more. I don't think we'll necessarily give up many more pts per game though, intermittant big plays don't always translate into lots of points.
Jimbo ran the offense 100% in the Rohan days. Saban has his 2-cents in the Mauck era... (conservative... too many draws... etc...) So I expect to see more of an open offense like we had with Davey
as good as our WRs are, I hope jimbo brings back the TE.. TE is the most dangerous position on the field.. with all the speed outside, Jones and Zinger can get one-on-one iwth hte LBs and DSs.
Did the spring practices yield any clue as to what the offense will look like? Were there formations or plays that came off as new or innovated compared to our offense under Saban? If its going to be similar to the offense we ran with Rohan, then its going to be good times for us all.
I believe that like most good coaches both Miles and Saban tend to take advantage of what their teams do well. Whether Saban or Miles will have more influence over Jimbo only they know and aren't telling. But here's a lok at what both ccoaches have shown a propensity to do over the last 5 seasons for Saban and the last 3 for Miles.(OSU's website only went back to 2003 and I didn't have time to do more research). -----------------LSU----------------------------------OSU--------------- ----------Rushing--------Passing---------------Rushing--------Passing----- ------Attempts--YPC---Attempts--YPA----Attempts--YPC---Attempts--YPA- 2004---506------4.6------319-----7.6-------564-----4.8------166-----9.5 2003---593------4.4------401-----8.1-------522-----5.4------350-----7.3 2002---558------4.6------325-----6.1-------441-----4.4------454-----7.5 2001---451------4.1------411-----8.7------- 2000---393------3.7------353-----7.6-------
Percentages --------------LSU-----------------------------OSU --------Rush--------Pass-----------------Rush---------Pass 2004----61%--------39%-----------------77%---------23% 2003----60%--------40%-----------------60%---------40% 2002----63%--------37%-----------------49%---------51% 2001----52%--------48%----------------- 2000----53%--------47%----------------- The 2004 percentages for OSU are pretty mindboggling and shows me that Les can be even more conservative than Saban was when he has an inexperienced QB at the helm.
All indications are that LSU will run a balanced offense. I think that is the best goal for Miles and Jimbo.
