If I were to describe by reaction to the offense in a single word, it would be...wow. Who saw that coming? There are a lot of layers of this that I'd like to get to but I want to start with something that I haven't seen discussed a whole lot. You guys all remember the Al Borges offenses? We had some good players during that period of time and every year it seemed like the offense started strong but only got worse from there. My feeling was that we just did a bunch of fun, cool stuff but there was no real synergy to the offense. We could hit a defense a lot of different ways but since nothing was built off a foundation teams would eventually get enough tape on us and they could figure out what was coming based on formation, personnel and situation. It was a race to nowhere once we realized we had a potato posing as an OL coach.
I bring this up now because what we just saw on Saturday night was an absolute clinic in synergy. Everything fits together. We use motion, we use shifts, we use tons of formations and substitute at will. Even though we're constantly mixing and matching personnel and formations we're still staying within the same zone concepts and we can reach any level of the field, be it inside runs with the TB, designed outside runs by the QB, screens to the perimeter, or slants to the WR's. We used a lot of play action with quick, decisive throws that were on time and accurate. And this was week 1. I'm floored by what this looked like.
Moving on to point #2; I expected us to be moving more toward Joe Moorehead's PSU scheme with lots of zone runs by the TB, some designed QB runs, and a lot of aggressive deep shots downfield. That's not what this is. Even though I really like what Moorehead does, this type of scheme is built more on power runs and threatening every level of the defense in an incredibly efficient manner. I'm shocked by how easy it was, and it was because Minnesota's defense was in constant conflict with what we were doing.
In terms of personnel; I thought Joe Milton was good. Even on some of his misses I thought his WR's could've helped him by making a difficult catch or two (Giles Jackson dropping a pass on a post route on 2nd & 23 on the first possession comes to mind...tough catch, but one that could be made) but overall he was very decisive and accurate. A lot of times QB's don't get enough credit for hitting a bubble route...it's an easy throw to make, but if it's not perfectly accurate it disrupts the timing of the play. The difference between an 'okay' throw and a perfect one probably accounts to a gain of 3 or 4 yards rather than 12. Milton's throws led his WR's perfectly up field, no stopping or waiting or breaking stride, and that's a big reason why they were so effective. I don't mean to throw a wet blanket on Milton by saying this but he executed exactly what the scheme provided for him. We didn't have to do anything else; he was comfortable and he knew where to go with the ball. It will get tougher in the future, but I was extremely encouraged by what I saw from Milton and the scheme.
The OL was really good. The TE's were about as effective as I can remember as blockers. Hayes got blown back on a bull rush early in the game but other than that Milton had all the time he needed. Filiaga got lost on a trap or two during the game and didn't land, but overall we crushed that defense down and opened holes all day. We were bigger and stronger and we got to our spots. We weren't perfect obviously but that was a hell of a 1st impression by the OL.
The skill positions...wow, I mean, we just have so many guys that can hurt a defense. I like our RB's, but I think our offense may actually be at it's best with Chris Evans on the field. His burst and elusiveness combined with his receiving ability give the offense a lethal dimension where we can hunt matchups in the passing game against elite defenses. But to exploit that you have to be able to run the ball in that personnel grouping as well. Corum will probably be that guy next year but I worry about his build this year in terms of being a threat to run between the tackles. We haven't recruited elite playmakers since the DPJ/Tarik/Nico class, but we have recruited players that can be elite in what we're asking them to do. We've recruited to a vision and it looks like it's coming together.
Defensively, it wasn't as bad as it looked. One (very) worrisome thing to me though was the play of our safety's. Good safety play will keep you in the game against an elite offense but what we've seen recently and what we saw Saturday night was the opposite of that. I thought Brad Hawkins and Makari Page really struggled to hold contain on all those outside runs. They weren't designed to go there, but we've got to do a better job of holding the edge. I'm not worried about our DL getting crushed down and giving up 6 or 7 yard runs...that happened a handful of times...if that means our personnel that's on the field is better equipped to cut off crossing routes and slants. Those inside runs for nice gains aren't going to beat you so I think that's something we may have to concede.
What goes along with that is our DB's are just going to have to be more physical in the run game, especially on the edges. Hawkins, Page, and even Gray on one or two occasions took an inside path the ball carrier and completely lost contain on the play. On one or two occasions it looked like Hawkins may have been held, but that's going to happen. He's got to be more physical and force the play back inside. If we do that Ibrahim probably still runs for 80 - 100 yards, but we cut out the chunk plays that Minnesota lived on.
I liked the CB's. I thought Green was excellent, and Gray was pretty good too (other than unnecessarily interfering with Bateman on that long pass). We looked good enough in those spots. Green should've had two INT's and he was clearly interfered with on the long pass in the first quarter where the WR shoved him aside to play the ball. I worry some about Green's ability to hold up on contested catches vs more physical receivers.
It looked like we were trying to mix in some underneath zone concepts to clog the middle of the field and I wonder if that had our LB's a little bit out of position in our run fits? I expect that to improve, along with the defense as a whole. There's no better offense to improve against than the one we're about to see.
Overall I'm very, very encouraged and I don't even know where MSU should start to try to slow this offense down when they're at a disadvantage 1 through 11. I believe I'll enjoy it even more than last years 44-10 beating. Fingers crossed and a long way to go but it looks as though brighter days may have finally arrived.
I bring this up now because what we just saw on Saturday night was an absolute clinic in synergy. Everything fits together. We use motion, we use shifts, we use tons of formations and substitute at will. Even though we're constantly mixing and matching personnel and formations we're still staying within the same zone concepts and we can reach any level of the field, be it inside runs with the TB, designed outside runs by the QB, screens to the perimeter, or slants to the WR's. We used a lot of play action with quick, decisive throws that were on time and accurate. And this was week 1. I'm floored by what this looked like.
Moving on to point #2; I expected us to be moving more toward Joe Moorehead's PSU scheme with lots of zone runs by the TB, some designed QB runs, and a lot of aggressive deep shots downfield. That's not what this is. Even though I really like what Moorehead does, this type of scheme is built more on power runs and threatening every level of the defense in an incredibly efficient manner. I'm shocked by how easy it was, and it was because Minnesota's defense was in constant conflict with what we were doing.
In terms of personnel; I thought Joe Milton was good. Even on some of his misses I thought his WR's could've helped him by making a difficult catch or two (Giles Jackson dropping a pass on a post route on 2nd & 23 on the first possession comes to mind...tough catch, but one that could be made) but overall he was very decisive and accurate. A lot of times QB's don't get enough credit for hitting a bubble route...it's an easy throw to make, but if it's not perfectly accurate it disrupts the timing of the play. The difference between an 'okay' throw and a perfect one probably accounts to a gain of 3 or 4 yards rather than 12. Milton's throws led his WR's perfectly up field, no stopping or waiting or breaking stride, and that's a big reason why they were so effective. I don't mean to throw a wet blanket on Milton by saying this but he executed exactly what the scheme provided for him. We didn't have to do anything else; he was comfortable and he knew where to go with the ball. It will get tougher in the future, but I was extremely encouraged by what I saw from Milton and the scheme.
The OL was really good. The TE's were about as effective as I can remember as blockers. Hayes got blown back on a bull rush early in the game but other than that Milton had all the time he needed. Filiaga got lost on a trap or two during the game and didn't land, but overall we crushed that defense down and opened holes all day. We were bigger and stronger and we got to our spots. We weren't perfect obviously but that was a hell of a 1st impression by the OL.
The skill positions...wow, I mean, we just have so many guys that can hurt a defense. I like our RB's, but I think our offense may actually be at it's best with Chris Evans on the field. His burst and elusiveness combined with his receiving ability give the offense a lethal dimension where we can hunt matchups in the passing game against elite defenses. But to exploit that you have to be able to run the ball in that personnel grouping as well. Corum will probably be that guy next year but I worry about his build this year in terms of being a threat to run between the tackles. We haven't recruited elite playmakers since the DPJ/Tarik/Nico class, but we have recruited players that can be elite in what we're asking them to do. We've recruited to a vision and it looks like it's coming together.
Defensively, it wasn't as bad as it looked. One (very) worrisome thing to me though was the play of our safety's. Good safety play will keep you in the game against an elite offense but what we've seen recently and what we saw Saturday night was the opposite of that. I thought Brad Hawkins and Makari Page really struggled to hold contain on all those outside runs. They weren't designed to go there, but we've got to do a better job of holding the edge. I'm not worried about our DL getting crushed down and giving up 6 or 7 yard runs...that happened a handful of times...if that means our personnel that's on the field is better equipped to cut off crossing routes and slants. Those inside runs for nice gains aren't going to beat you so I think that's something we may have to concede.
What goes along with that is our DB's are just going to have to be more physical in the run game, especially on the edges. Hawkins, Page, and even Gray on one or two occasions took an inside path the ball carrier and completely lost contain on the play. On one or two occasions it looked like Hawkins may have been held, but that's going to happen. He's got to be more physical and force the play back inside. If we do that Ibrahim probably still runs for 80 - 100 yards, but we cut out the chunk plays that Minnesota lived on.
I liked the CB's. I thought Green was excellent, and Gray was pretty good too (other than unnecessarily interfering with Bateman on that long pass). We looked good enough in those spots. Green should've had two INT's and he was clearly interfered with on the long pass in the first quarter where the WR shoved him aside to play the ball. I worry some about Green's ability to hold up on contested catches vs more physical receivers.
It looked like we were trying to mix in some underneath zone concepts to clog the middle of the field and I wonder if that had our LB's a little bit out of position in our run fits? I expect that to improve, along with the defense as a whole. There's no better offense to improve against than the one we're about to see.
Overall I'm very, very encouraged and I don't even know where MSU should start to try to slow this offense down when they're at a disadvantage 1 through 11. I believe I'll enjoy it even more than last years 44-10 beating. Fingers crossed and a long way to go but it looks as though brighter days may have finally arrived.
