(10-20-2019 03:01 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote: (10-20-2019 02:40 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: (10-20-2019 02:07 PM)Hootnhowln Wrote: (10-20-2019 01:01 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote: (10-20-2019 12:47 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote: I have no problem with Bloomgren shutting down the Bailiff Country Club. It's his in-game decisionmaking that's the problem.
+1
Kudos to Bloom for bringing in the strength coach and shutting down the supposed country club atmosphere. But it would appear that the kids bought in to what was required to up their game and that the additional work wasn't the cause for any departures with the possible exception of Harmon based on the timing of players leaving team. However, it's counter-productive to chase off quality/experienced players(and I'm not referring to Cephus who we can only assume had a serious issue), not playing experienced players(some of whom started every game last year) in lieu of young players who may have potential but also have no proven performance at college level but are constantly hyped in pressers and in the Roost. Then, calling it a "meritocracy" and saying how it's all about competition. Read the pressers people! What kind of leader puts together a detailed list of plays that cost LA Tech game and only takes responsibility for one bad play call. That says it all about Blooms leadership style. Repeated mention in pressers of Bloom doing all he can and team not knowing how to win. That sounds like a HC trying to shift blame, plain and simple. Think his leadership or lack thereof of as well as the poor play calling are all factors contributing to poor player execution and 0-7 record this year. One could argue the same for last year where team looked encouraging in first three games and then, it all went to hell in a hand-basket until last game.
If the team does not know how to win, then it would seem that the primary job of the HC is to teach them how.
A good start would be to teach them not to fumble snaps and not throw passes into the flat with a DB licking his chops waiting for an easy pick 6.
I've written before about football-playing skills versus game-winning skills. You don't get anywhere without football-playing skills. But most of our players have at least some reasonable level of those. They were recruited out of high school after all.
But Rice teams have driven me up the wall for years with their lack of game-winning skills. Take the sequence before the half against LaTech. You have some fundamental principles. You have 3 points in your pocket, so you don't want to lose that, whatever else happens. If you score a TD, you take it and don't worry about the clock. But if you have to kick a FG, you want to run the clock out on the FG attempt, or as nearly so as possible. You have first and goal, roughly a minute before the half, you are up by a TD, and you have 2 timeouts. If you don't score on 3rd down, you want to have a time out left with the clock running, so you can run it down to 0:04, stop it, and kick the FG. You need at least one pass that either scores a TD or is incomplete (saving a timeout) in the sequence. You don't want the incomplete pass on 3rd down, because then you may not be able to run the clock down. So you throw the ball on first and/or second down. You have two results that you cannot accept--interception or sack. If you don't score on those two plays, you run the ball on 3rd down, run the clock down, and kick. Those principles should be drilled and practiced until they are thoroughly understood by every player on the field. QB, on the pass play(s), if it's there quickly take it, if not throw it away. Runner, on the running play(s), score if you can but ball security is paramount. Don't either one of you go trying to be a hero and turning the ball over. You drill and practice that until everybody knows the basic principles and can do them in their sleep. You have to score if you can, absolutely do not give away the FG, and be able to drain the clock if you don't score the TD. If the QB fully understands that, he doesn't throw the pick and we kick the FG to go up 2 scores. Then if we understand the importance of the first possession of the second half, we get at least another FG there, and that puts the game to the point that with what happened subsequently, we win easily in regulation. Now, there is certainly no reason to believe the rest of the game will go exactly as it did, but with another 6-14 points on our side of the scoreboard, there is every reason to believe it will go at least as well as, if not better than, it actually did.
We obviously did not have the principles ingrained in our awareness. Otherwise we don't throw the pick, kick the FG, and take a 2 score lead to the half.
There are lots of teams at every level that are not as good at this as they should be. I remember the winning FG against East Carolina. It took a prayer by the QB, a great catch by Jarrett Dillard on 4th and forever, and some really clever clock management to get that done. The next day, or shortly thereafter, I saw an NFL team with basically the same situation make a total hash of the clock management and never get to attempt the FG. So it takes work. But if you want to win football games, particularly if you want to steal one you don't deserve, you have to do that work.
