to be fair, Auburn's back was against the wall. They hosted the number 2 team in the nation. After JC Copeland called them out, and Auburn had never lost 3 games in a season before the month of October. This was Zach Mettenberger's first start on the road in the SEC, it was a prime time night game, nationally televised. There has been alot of pressure put on this young man, and being that we are down our best offensive lineman, and basically have a guy who will never play football again after this year protecting ZM's blind side, and all the other factors, no Honey Badger, I'm just happy we escaped with a win. We could have easily lost that game. Probably the worst offensive performance we have seen since January, and we still got a win in the SEC on the road against a team who was like a wounded animal.. nothing to lose. That being said, Miles must make changes on the O line, which he won't, and Josh D will play well against Towson, and then get his lunch eaten by Florida. This season isn't going to be like last season. I'm thinking more like the Eric Crouch's senior season at Nebraska where every game was a dog fight, a few breaks here and there that create wins, and it's all going to boil down to USCe, Florida, Alabama, and if we are lucky, whomever we see in Atlanta. I can't for the life of me figure out why in the first 3 games, they just didn't let Zach air it out all over the place. Now teams again know to load the box and force us to throw the ball, if we can't protect we will turn the ball over, or just be down right stagnant.
We didn't just air it out all over the place because 1) running shortens games, which will hopefully reduce fatigue and injuries 2) our WRs have a bad case of the drops, which turns the ball over on downs more often than not and 3) if our offense turns the ball over on downs too often, our defense is on the field too long and is less effective. Like it or not, we are a running first team, and we're pretty good at it. I wish that our WRs would become more reliable, but it's getting tiresome hearing complaints about how we aren't throwing enough, when we are, in fact, throwing the ball, but too many times, our WRs drop the balls that come their way. Obviously, that needs to be corrected, but we're into the meat of our schedule, and I wouldn't expect us to go all ballsy all of a sudden. However, if our WRs would just catch the stupid ball when it comes their way, defenses would be forced to respect our ability to pass.
I was talking about the games vs. the cupcakes. North Texas and Idaho. We could have given ZM some great expeirence throwing the football, but still decided to run the majority of the time. In games vs. sisters of the poor, you need to utilize the time you have as sort of a practice.
But, still, Miles strives to shorten the games. Those who want a Mike Leach-style offense won't like that, but I've heard Miles say that's his philosophy. And it wins far more often than it loses. Playing UNT or Idaho, Miles also wants to shorten those games--for all of the reasons stated in the post you quoted.
Nothing is more beautiful than a run-dominated, clock eating offense by a smash mouth football team. Gaudy stats are for wussies.
Well .. I'd like you to consider this .... 1) I don't see how you think running ... which equates to more plays per series equals reduced fatigue and injuries. I would think the opposite ... running increases the time of possession, and the number of plays, and the propability that an injury will happen. The Run game is the key to winning the time of possession battle ... which is irrelevant in a game against NT, Idaho, or Townsend. 2) The fact that our WR's have the drops is all the more reason to run more passes in situations such as cupcakes. Practice makes perfect. It also might would give our O-line a chance to polish up on some pass proteciton skills. We don't need any work on our running game, we need a lot of work on the many issues surounding the pass ... like drops, routes, protection, Metts ability to read defenses. 3) There's no need to worry about the defense being on the feild too long and being less effective .... if they need a serious breather, you can always switch back to run heavy game. Like I said, we have no problem with running. And .. if we came out passing more, we would losen up the box a tad and make the running game more productive. There would have been another advantage to comming out with a more pass heavy start, it would have sent the message to our upcomming competitors that we are not afraid of the pass, and can and will do it often. That backs off the defense and unstacks the box .. which is good for the run game. IMO, I think we should almost run a spread like offense against these cupcake competitors ... a WV like offense that passes and passes and passes. I mean, really, do you really think our stable of experienced backs need a lot of reps to be stellar?? .. I don't. Most teams put in 2nd and third stringers against the rent a wins ... to get them experience. Our problem is, our STARTERS need experience in the passing game. Our coaches need experience in the passing game ... Mett needs experience in the passing game. We should have used those games to get that experience. Like I said, Hilliard, Blue, Ford, Ware .... they don't need squat but for you to give them the ball ... they know what to do with it. I mean look at Ware last game .. he hasn't played much in the last half of last season or this preseason .... you would have never been able to tell it by the way he ran on AU .. he was just as awsome now and then. PS .. then when you meet up with a FL, SC or Bama ... you go back to your template, ... but they will have to respect the pass, which is something they did not do last year.
Running may equate to more plays per series, but also fewer series, and fewer plays per game, for both the offense and defense.
