when asked why run his qbs from the I or pro set instead of playing to their strengths in the spread, les said they are to run our offense, spread or not. basically saying they have to adapt to us not the other way around. and dammit hes shown them thru the first 5 games who was right. thats a big red flag and huge problem right there. adapt your scheme to fit your players strengths, leslie.
often times you recruit players and it turns out theyre not as fast, strong, smart, injuries, whatever. its a huge part of coaching to constantly adapt personnel.
Likewise we should have retained Rettig as a useful drop-back passer. Putting all of our eggs in one "dual threat" basket has brought us once again to a situation where we have no credible passing threat to keep opponents from stacking the box and stopping the run.
A quarterback's job is to pass the football, we are loaded with running backs already. Their running simply does not help us if their passing game is no threat. The book on defending LSU is to "stack the box and dare them to throw". IF they can learn to read complex defenses, make their checks, go through their progressions, and hit the friggin' open receivers, THEN their running skills become as asset. ELSE, we have a running back lined up at QB, which will not win in the SEC. A "dual threat" quarterback MUST be a passer who can run some, NOT a runner who can throw the ball some. Without a passing game, he becomes a "no-threat" quarterback.
And just how were we supposed to have retained Rettig? As the third man out he knew his chances of seeing the field from any place other than the bench were pretty remote. He may or may not have been "run" off but I think he just saw the writing on the wall and decided to go somewhere he could play. I think he went to Rutgers so if he is any good he should be playing soon
This post, much like that lovely lass in your sig pic, deserves two incredibly large yet unbelievably perky thumbs up.
I was talking with buddy at lunch yesterday about just this. My solution (not that anybody's paying me to coach anything much less FBS football)? First damned play of the game, line up in the traditional two tight, one wideout, I formation. Give the QB one -- and only one -- read. Look at the safety(ies). Two safeties or only one lined up 15+ yards off the LOS? Run whatever belly, dive or off tackle play that was called. One safety lined up inside of 15 yards. Let Dural, Diarse or Dupre run a go route down the sideline and heave the f'ing ball down the field. Incomplete? No big deal, you've still got two downs to run. Interception? Not ideal, but if the ball was truly heaved downfield, then it's like the punt that was probably going to happen after another couple of plays. Complete? Great. Now you've got field position, momentum and maybe even a score. And then every other time you line up in the same formation, check that damned safety. It's a version of what the Saints used to do until Drew got noodle armed and Payton forgot that he needs speed on the outside.
