Post-Game Thoughts

[penguinpower]

Did anyone notice that when we went under center with a FB that the OL had more leverage and we moved the ball way better?  I think we should abandon about 95% of the sissified spread and smash teams with A Gap power plays and play action.  They had no answer for those plays.  Watch the lime play on the QB sneaks etc.  We get more yard when we play under center vs giving the ball to a guy that is 5 yards deep in the backfield.  I think we are better off. Handing the ball off in a traditional I-formation.  We moved the ball far more effectively and it opened up play action passes that Ricky can hit.

[FOOTBALLFEVER]

I think we would have a better chance of throwing to our tight ends if Ricky was under center with the play-action. We still ran for close to 300 yards with a 5.3 average with over 50 carries and ran clock. Like Montgomery's playbook or not it is wide and keeps teams guessing

[Wick250]

To amplify the point that Power made, consider the science of all this.  With the quarterback under center, the running back starts forward immediately at the snap.  He hits the line in just over a second, I would guess.  Using the spread, the running back must remain stationary until the quarterback receives the ball.  He hits the line in well over two seconds after the snap, I would guess.  So trying to attack the middle of a defense by running out of a spread would require the linemen to hold their blocks at least TWICE as long. 

Of course, we should have pistol and shotgun plays available.  We are not going to fool anybody with the quarterback under center on 3rd and nine.  But if running is the staple of our offense, as it clearly is this season, using the spread as our basic formation makes no sense.

[IAA Fan]

Well Power and Wick...NDSU does it and no one stops them. They really have no more talent than anyone else. However, they spent years developing that offense under their former coaches and promoted a coach that is willing to not leave his own mark on the team's playing-style history. For YSU, I am not willing to wait and take time for the change back. Also our defense would surely suffer against the spread teams we would face.

Everyone thinks we were smash-mouth under Tressel, but honestly, he almost lost his job when we were smash-mouth (early career). It was not until we had the option/spread addition (circa 1989-90) that we began our streak. The offense under Montgomery (with Wells and/or Hess) is very similar to our 1992 team with Cochran taking snaps. Then we went back to the pro-set in 1996-97, our first-year in the GFC and never won the conference and had more-limited post-season success using it. I hate to bring this up again, but the 1999 title-game embarrassment, came at the hands of an option club. Heacock had some incredibly good teams and his smash-mouth had just above average success.

[YSUGO]

The Bisons really don't have any more talent than everybody else Really.  You need talent and size and speed. They have all 3.  They know what to Recruit for their schemes.  They have a true identity and get good coached football smart players.  We are still searching for that identity.  We need a balanced offense period.

[IAA Fan]

Sorry Go. I meant to say than many other teams. Obviously they are more talented than most teams at the FCS-level. Like YSU back in the glory days ...we did not have the top players in the nation at any position (except maybe kicker for a while), but we sure had the best team.

Keep this in mind though. We handled NDSU for 3-quarters last year and we were not a good football team. Why? Becuase we game-planned for them and match-up well against them. Imagine a better team than YSU with the same O & D game plan;  would you say they will win? I would. NDSU has the success they do because no team (outside of the MVFC) spends any time game-planning for them aside from the week of the game. Teams in the MVFC look to beat NDSU specifically during camp, but I have yet to see one coach willing to change their basic playing style in order to accomplish this. Power and Wick are suggesting that we consider doing just that. It has merit, I guess I would vote "no", but it is something to consider.

[YSUGO]

👍👍👍👍

[penguinpower]

If we are already taking snaps from under center with a FB isn't it already part of the offense?  I say use it much more.  Did everyone else see what I am observing?

[penguinpower]

To amplify the point that Power made, consider the science of all this.  With the quarterback under center, the running back starts forward immediately at the snap.  He hits the line in just over a second, I would guess.  Using the spread, the running back must remain stationary until the quarterback receives the ball.  He hits the line in well over two seconds after the snap, I would guess.  So trying to attack the middle of a defense by running out of a spread would require the linemen to hold their blocks at least TWICE as long. 

Of course, we should have pistol and shotgun plays available.  We are not going to fool anybody with the quarterback under center on 3rd and nine.  But if running is the staple of our offense, as it clearly is this season, using the spread as our basic formation makes no sense.

Great analysis.  I was simply reporting what I saw and this makes sense.

[go guins]

The Bisons really don't have any more talent than everybody else Really.  You need talent and size and speed. They have all 3.  They know what to Recruit for their schemes.  They have a true identity and get good coached football smart players.  We are still searching for that identity.  We need a balanced offense period.

Amen to your "Really"  Despite that fact that they are "done" (per 1AA) they clearly have the deepest and most talented roster in 1AA football.  In fact the deepest and most talented EVER!
(BTW, the plural of bison is bison)  Last year there was a NDSU fan a row behind and to my right and so I called them the "buffalos" all through the game and got a dirty look every time.  Unfortunately it was more fun when we were ahead.

[IAA Fan]

I don't know, under-center vs. shotgun can be a huge topic all by itself:
-Under center QB sees the movement more quickly after the snap, which helps him determine whether or not to hand-off and which side to scramble toward. Hand-offs are a little more slow, but the runner is in stride at the time.

-In the shotgun, the QB sees more of the field before and spot secondaries more accurately. He reads through his progressions more rapidly. RB's take the hand-off more quickly, but need time to get up to speed. However, the RB's do have more of a chance to see a whole, and non-traditional running is much easier.


In short, it is easier to throw out of the gun, but more difficult to run. Although the number of running options (under a quality play-caller) is greater.

I think that we all forget that the change-up in offense that we gave ILS is what gave us the ground, as we are certainly not built on O or D for that style of ball. Obviously, neither was ILS. With a running QB, Monty has up to 5 rushing-options on the field at one time ...not going to happen under center unless you reverse and I do not like pitching or running the ball backwards, too easy to lose yardage.

We will have to recruit entirely new players for the more traditional style. Wider/heavier linemen, not faster. Larger, stronger RB's ...probably will be a bit slower. We are set at TE, but in general they need to be more sound in the progressions and less in receiving ... bigger would not hurt either.

Defense is where we would have to make the most change; more about power and less about speed. We all remember what Wolford did when he did the opposite ...went from a Heacock more power defense to a Florida (remember our first DC under Wolf) speed D. What was it 30+ player losses? We all can say that it makes no difference what offense you run as defense is defense ...but we would be kidding ourselves. Remember a defense plays against it's own team's offense about 90%+ of the time. So a power-O requires a power-D and vice-versa.

In short, I grew up in NE Ohio and I like smash-mouth ball; but I have to live in 2016, no matter how much I dislike it's football.

[YSUFANSINCE1990]

  Some here are delusional.  Tressel never, ever almost lost his job.  His second year was a playoff team, by year four the beginning of the run was on.

 To say North Dakota doesn't really have more talent is insane talk.  They had a quarterback who was the second pick in the draft, I watched the Steelers vs Jets yesterday, and the Jets starting CB is Marcus Willilams from North Dakota State.  How many players do we have in the NFL?

 To say they have no better talent would be like saying the same about YSU in the early 1990's, that is ridiculous.   The Bison didn't win 5 straight titles by luck, and 6-0 their last six against FBS teams.

 Don't tell me we ALMOST beat them, see me when we beat them.

 Yep, Ohio State doesn't have much talent either, its the system.  Please.


 

[go guins]

I don't get the reluctance to admit to inferior talent.  NDSU is better than YSU, they are also better than every other team in 1AA and most in 1A!  I saw YSU play for 6 national championships, winning 4 and I thought we had the best talent on the field only once.  The problem for me is not only does NDSU have superior talent, they are exceptionally well coached and play to the talent they recruit.  That’s what JT did, coach to the talent.  When you have the players, AND the coaching, it is a pretty tough combination.  IE 5 straight championships, headed to 6.

We still need to ramp up the talent level.  We need a min. 220# rb and huge help at DE next season.  Not to mention DB's 

[The YO Show]

Go you are 100% correct. We will have a pretty substantial dropoff next year for our defense in general. Losing two really good DEs, one of which is our best of all time (not to downplay the other, I don't think I can remember a year where we were so blessed at DE). You're probably right about losing some depth at DB, although I'm more optimistic about the play there not dropping next year.

Lets look forward to the rest of this year. It is shaping up to make some noise! Just need to keep winning 

[go guins]

Lets look forward to the rest of this year. It is shaping up to make some noise! Just need to keep winning 

Saturday is a big game for us.  UNI was top 10 preseason with Big 12 win and have always given us fits.  We have #1 and #11 left on our schedule, both away.  We can "afford" 2 more loses, so there is NO ROOM FOR ERROR with UNI, ISU, SIU etc.  I think we have a fighting chance against SDSU, but frankly, despite 1AA's "they're done"  the buffalos look pretty much unbeatable to me.  About as tough as they did in 2011!