(12-31-2021 06:58 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote: [ -> ]Gino for OC please. Bama scored 41 points against the vaunted Georgia dee. Our defense did it's job thru 3Q and then the gas tank went empty. Our offense looked inept except on the opening drive. That was mostly scripted plays.
Is there any indication that Gino will be more creative or aggressive?
When we were looking for replacement for TT, the AD Said one of the important things they were looking for was a dynamic offense. Then of course we did not get one. When I asked about it, someone here answered that that was basically just athletic department speak for getting more ticket sales. That everybody wants a dynamic offense..
Idk what dynamic even means honestly. Just another buzz word thrown out like you said. Our offense is mostly fine, the issue imo is when it's 3rd&3 or 4th&2 our play seems to usually be a run up the gut with Ford. Denbrock also liked to randomly take deep shots on 3rd and short instead of going for the 1sr down which I didn't understand. Would like to see something a little more creative on these situations and if that happens I actually think we're in a good spot.
(12-31-2021 06:42 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote: [ -> ]We sold out against the pass and we got killed versus the run.
Our offensive game plan was just odd today.
So do we not trust our DB’s 1 on 1?
They could have mixed in both styles so maybe we had a better shot.
Sauce and coby both were in a ton of one on one. We protected against the deep pass against other guys (and still got burnt by it once). Defense got plenty of stops. It was 17-6 after 3.
Calculation was we can give up some yards on the ground, let's not give up the big play and let's make sure we get pressure on young when they throw. I think it was the right calculation.
Fans like to believe that they could have schemed their way to victory in these games but coaches know it's not about the Xs and Os but the Jimmys and Joes.
(01-01-2022 12:25 PM)UCBearcatlawjd2 Wrote: [ -> ]It’s a lot better getting there and debating why UC lost to the best college football dynasty of the modern era than missing out on the playoff.
The magnitude of a college football final four is huge, don’t take that away.
Recruiting impacts in particular. It wasn't that long ago that we were ecstatic to be toward the top of our conference and play in a military type bowl. Now, we've won two conference chips, have played in a NY6 and the CFP, and will be sending a group of guys to the NFL. Big difference to recruits.
(12-31-2021 06:58 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote: [ -> ]Gino for OC please. Bama scored 41 points against the vaunted Georgia dee. Our defense did it's job thru 3Q and then the gas tank went empty. Our offense looked inept except on the opening drive. That was mostly scripted plays.
Is there any indication that Gino will be more creative or aggressive?
When we were looking for replacement for TT, the AD Said one of the important things they were looking for was a dynamic offense. Then of course we did not get one. When I asked about it, someone here answered that that was basically just athletic department speak for getting more ticket sales. That everybody wants a dynamic offense..
Gino will very likely be the guy; but there is this idea floating around the fan base that he is the next Lincoln Riley/Lane Kiffin offensive mastermind behind closed doors. If/when he is hired, folks will need to keep in mind this will be his first time as OC and has spent most of his career discussing schematics with Dan Enos, Mike Denbrock and Don Treadwell, than the two guys (or anyone similar) mentioned above.
(12-31-2021 06:58 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote: [ -> ]Gino for OC please. Bama scored 41 points against the vaunted Georgia dee. Our defense did it's job thru 3Q and then the gas tank went empty. Our offense looked inept except on the opening drive. That was mostly scripted plays.
Is there any indication that Gino will be more creative or aggressive?
When we were looking for replacement for TT, the AD Said one of the important things they were looking for was a dynamic offense. Then of course we did not get one. When I asked about it, someone here answered that that was basically just athletic department speak for getting more ticket sales. That everybody wants a dynamic offense..
It was coach Fickell himself who said that UC would have a dynamic offense. Go back to his original press conference after taking the UC head coach position. He said they would go fast in everything that they did. Last night we took 30 seconds to call in a play and then had to call timeout. Most of our plays were launched with five seconds or less on the play clock. UC never played with much pace this year. That’s not necessarily intended as a criticism, as the results of the season speak for themselves.
It is just that we do not have a dynamic offense. I was disappointed last night that no running back other than Ford was a factor. Montgomery got in for one or two plays and was reasonably effective. Chuck McClelland played not at all. I have no idea whether he is injured or not, but he vanished over the last several games. Is Ethan Wright still on the team? No sign of him at all over the last several games. Was there no interest or game plan to get him involved or some of our other play makers, including Will Pauling? The failure to game plan Josh Whyle or Leonard Taylor was inexcusable. We seemed to play right into Alabama‘s hands and it didn’t help that our fifth-year quarterback looked shellshocked out there.
(12-31-2021 11:45 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote: [ -> ]The loss stings but it shouldn't detract from our run at history this season. Also, we lost by 21 as the 4th ranked team. Harbaugh lost by 23 as the #2 ranked team. Too bad we couldn't play a consolation game.
Bama/UGA and Mich/Cincy is what is should've been. Also would've been better matchups. They wanted to avoid the sec rematch which is stupid
Cincinnati and Michigan had no business being in the playoff. The SEC championship game was the title game. Two best teams are Alabama and Georgia.
Go spew this **** from your Mom's basement on an Alabama site. All the Bama fans I experienced last night were a bunch of pricks. Probably your brothers.
(01-01-2022 11:55 AM)bearcatmark Wrote: [ -> ]Saban had superior talent but was willing to adjust what they do to beat us. Bama completely avoided throwing at Sauce or Coby. They ran and they hit undernearth/over the middle passes. Williams became a possession, inside receiver. On defense Saban stopped having his line rush hard on early downs, instead squeezing the pocket, keeping gap integrity and getting their arms up to disrupt the quick passing that was clearly UC's gameplan. He then let his line eat on passing downs.
I do agree that Fickell's biggest issue in games like these (and he's an incredible coach I wouldn't trade for anyone) is his "be us" mentality. While Saban is flexible even with superior talent...we don't adjust the gameplan a ton. I've stressed I was fine with the defensive gameplan because I thought taking away their big play passing was far more important than sustained running drives. I thought this defense would get stops if you made them work (and they did) but if they hit those long tds, things could fall apart quickly.
Offense was a different matter. Saban took away what we wanted to do after that first drive and we never had a counter to. I think there were chunk play opportunities on early downs but we never attempted them. Bama was clearly better, but our refusal to adjust on offense and try some high variance stuff (we needed big plays to score...that simple) gave the offense no shot.
Bolded, so true. One can argue that Saban is the greatest, and most successful college football coach of all time and he's still rolling along. Talent and depth at every position is nothing short of amazing but his preparation for UC was superb.
Fickell knew what he was up against and he's also competitive enough to know he's got to keep racking up victories in the recruiting wars to build a sustainable program to compete more effectively with the super elite. Even with OSU's talent they've struggled mightily with Saban's boys and come up short more often than not.
As Bearcat fans, we (still) have much to celebrate as we usher in 2022.
The “just be who you are” message is nice but if you can’t adjust, there is a hard ceiling.
This staff often made life harder this year by rarely if ever adjusting.
It's funny because many, including myself, were saying they're keeping it vanilla against teams like Tulane and Tulsa so we don't show our hand before the big game. Turns out we apparently showed everything in those games. Would've rather ran flea flickers and statue of liberty's all game than play right into exactly what Saban was expecting
(12-31-2021 05:24 PM)BearcatMan Wrote: [ -> ]Maybe now that Alabama knows they only need to rush 4 to sack Ridder we might be able to get a few yards on those patented inside traps Denbrock loves
Is Ridder misreading the RPO or are they purposely not running him so he doesn’t get knocked out of the game???
It’s the National semifinals, we need to lay it all on the line.
By my count, we've only run 4 RPO plays, and he made the correct read on three (one was the batted down slant to Pierce, one was the roll out pass to MY that got us 15 or so, and one was the 5 yard out to Pierce on the last drive). The problem is Bama's analyst regiment is very good at what they do and realized that if they could stick our WRs at the line they'd be able to get to Ridder at best, or get hands up and bat everything down if not because most of his throws are in the 2md and 3rd passing lane (guard/tackle and outside of tackle's shoulder), right where they'd have rushers located. Ridder looks completely lost, but most of that is because his primary read is getting knocked at the line and his pocket is non-existent.
So what about adjustments then? Put receivers in motion or have an extra tight end in there or something. It can’t be as simple as them just jamming us at the line of scrimmage and messing up our deep threat and essentially our entire offense.
We just couldn’t block em. I think the answer was to move the pocket around, run some boot legs or roll outs, and run Ridder more, but we didn’t do it. We needed a plan B and apparently didn’t have one.
Didn’t see much adjustments on either side of the ball.
Thank you!
I just didn’t feel like we made AL work at all. There was no stress on them. What I mean is, we did mostly what Saban told them we would do, and so AL players just has to execute the game plan they were taught.
I’m not whining or complaining. I appreciate CLF and understand 13-0. But Having inferior talent does not mean we chalk it up as an L. We don’t get these opportunities very often.
(12-31-2021 06:02 PM)BearcatMan Wrote: [ -> ]The biggest problem I've always had with Ridder is his lack of improvisation. He very rarely does anything outside of the exact bounds of the play call, which is fine when you're able to out man your opponent...but he would never do that pitch that Bryce Young did on the last drive of the 1st half and that's the difference now. He cannot color within the lines this half and expect to win.
Thanks for your analysis Bearcat Man.
What is the reason? Is Ridder directed to not take risks and keep the score close?
Of course it was a special year, one I’ll never forget, but it left me disappointed that we left bullets in the chamber / didn’t “ Let It Fly” / lay it all out there. Of course the opponent has a lot to do with it. But personally in these loser go home games, I feel like we’re playing with house money, we need to take some risk and dictate to them. Put some pressure on them. We feel that this team is less flukey than BK’s gunslinger teams. But the idea is to win the game. Who cares if you win it because you have a scheme that helps you win with less talented players????
You can’t go toe to toe with a team like Alabama so be more creative. Yes you have to be yourself, but I felt like we just tried to go toe to toe with them. When we are at a talent disadvantage some more creativity would’ve been nice.
Bearcat Man mentioned that Denbrock had success in 12 man or whatever but then went right back to his over arching offensive philosophy. I feel like we do the same thing on defense. They’re running all over us but let’s just keep them in front of us. And that’s fine because we were in the game for a while. But once we knew we weren’t gonna win the game that way, why not load the box and make them pass… maybe that quarterback makes a couple of mistakes.
Overall CLF is great, and Jim Tressel’s style is a big part of the reason why. I wish he would tinker with Tressel Ball 20%, and be more aggressive. I definitely am not impressed with our DC.
Thoughts ?
This sums up UC the past 3-4 years. CLF is great. We will continue to own this league and compete for NY6 bowls. But our inability to adjust has cost us repeatedly in games where we don't have a talent advantage. Memphis x2, UGA, bama. Trying to fit square pegs in round holes. Even Saban admits he needed to change his philosophy to stay competitive. Maybe this loss brings the same results because our style just got thoroughly dominated
(12-31-2021 11:45 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote: [ -> ]The loss stings but it shouldn't detract from our run at history this season. Also, we lost by 21 as the 4th ranked team. Harbaugh lost by 23 as the #2 ranked team. Too bad we couldn't play a consolation game.
Bama/UGA and Mich/Cincy is what is should've been. Also would've been better matchups. They wanted to avoid the sec rematch which is stupid
Cincinnati and Michigan had no business being in the playoff. The SEC championship game was the title game. Two best teams are Alabama and Georgia.
Thanks for stopping by
he's not wrong though. until the playoffs get expanded the champion is almost a foregone conclusion. might as well not have a playoff when the talent disparity is quite apparent
Uh yeah that's why they need to expand it. UC making the playoff is huge for talent equity. Hundreds of recruits can now be sold on the G5 making a playoff. If they expand it to 12 that becomes much larger and more games will matter in the post season. Teams like Bama will start getting upset by, say, a hot Utah team or an OSU team that underacheived. Thats awesome. Bama fans didn't even care yesterday. They got out-tailgate and punked by an AAC crowd. If they can't see why that's bad for the sport then screw em.
(12-31-2021 11:45 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote: [ -> ]The loss stings but it shouldn't detract from our run at history this season. Also, we lost by 21 as the 4th ranked team. Harbaugh lost by 23 as the #2 ranked team. Too bad we couldn't play a consolation game.
Bama/UGA and Mich/Cincy is what is should've been. Also would've been better matchups. They wanted to avoid the sec rematch which is stupid
Cincinnati and Michigan had no business being in the playoff. The SEC championship game was the title game. Two best teams are Alabama and Georgia.
Thanks for stopping by
he's not wrong though. until the playoffs get expanded the champion is almost a foregone conclusion. might as well not have a playoff when the talent disparity is quite apparent
Uh yeah that's why they need to expand it. UC making the playoff is huge for talent equity. Hundreds of recruits can now be sold on the G5 making a playoff. If they expand it to 12 that becomes much larger and more games will matter in the post season. Teams like Bama will start getting upset by, say, a hot Utah team or an OSU team that underacheived. Thats awesome. Bama fans didn't even care yesterday. They got out-tailgate and punked by an AAC crowd. If they can't see why that's bad for the sport then screw em.
Keep in mind that Saban had a month to prepare for UC, same as he's had with previous semi final games/victories. He's also very familiar with UGA already (ie. not a lot of prep or scheming needed). An expanded playoff would force him to possibly have to prep for more teams he's never played on a short notice. I could see that equaling out the playing field just a TAD more. However, at the end of the day, they are still Alabama filled with their 5* recruits.
