Topic: Ok, ok. Who took over Bill Leggs body?

[MUonium]

i agree it's a team game and Doc/Legg/Mirabal have taken some mighty sharp criticism (i'm guilty) but you have to include Goebbel now too, for good or bad.  I also agree that utilizing the whole field keeps Ds guessing, but they will catch on to using the middle of the field and it can be a dangerous place to throw.

like many years in the past ,in the first 1/3 of the season, the O probably has some plays up their sleeve but they're not fully confident in executing and or not yet confident reading what the D is giving them (Litton is not the sharpest JR we've had and Levi Brown is still young and learning).  obviously, Doc's conservative overall style seems to be slow out of the gate.  yes. yes. the worn out cliche, take what the D is giving and boringly do enough to win the game, aka save some of those plays for later on, lol !

i think the biggest concern is the run game, that the O (under a no-run-threat/strict pocket passer) can't adjust enough for some occasional power football (we've got Anderson and a capable OL, for goodness sake!).  if i'm correct, we're about last in rushing when comparing only CUSA teams stats.  this could be a moot point, if we can continue possession-with-passing&special-teams football as was evident against Cincy and i suppose, adequate enough the first 1/3 of the season.
 
FG attempts could become a factor if we experience red-zone troubles.  i'm a bit squeamish that one person is doing all the K duties (nobody else is getting any game experience, but if it works, IT works!).

speaking of running, there are a couple, at least, very good rushing teams to come that could give us fits on D, that could open it up for the decent passers.  so far, i don't have much reason to be too worried about our pass defense.

[parshall2marshall]

With all-closed practices in the regular season and then some, they better have some tricks up their sleeve.

I'm more concerned about defending the pass than the run right now. That's just me. I hated to see the guys wide open against us at NCSU. And it looked like Cincy had plenty of people open against us - true the middle of the field we don't want to get burned deep so we keep an extra cushion. Forrest Conoly did an excellent job as an ESPN analyst and was very complimentary of the Herd. Like many before him, and some on this Board, he decried face-guarding when trying to recover from a receiver behind the DB. Sometimes that is all the DB can do, but when have we ever seen much of our DB's turning to look for the ball.

We have LB size, strength, speed, depth and conditioning to deal with opponents running game. Sure we will give up some big plays at times, that is football. LB and safeties prevent the big gainers, and we have done very so far and with Young returning I expect that to continue.

p2m

[MicDrass1]

Keion Davis is avg. 5.1 ypc.  And avg. over 4.6 ypc for his career.  He is plenty capable of breaking a long one as well.  Just keep feeding him the ball.  6.1' 215lb power/speed back.  I feel our running game is about to take-off with him, Anderson, and King, but bc our o-line is deeper and meaner than in the past.  Feed Davis.  He's the man.  I think we need to get another pass catcher going whether it be TE or WR.  I think Cody Mitchell is ready!!  Double TE sets

[wvmafia]

First and foremost, this post isn't meant to take ANYTHING away from the Offense, Chase Litton, Doc Holliday, Bill Legg or the Marshall University Football program and its players

What we saw Saturday vs. Cincinnati was an offense that has improved EVERY WEEK.  That's what OOC games are for and it's what a football team is supposed to do --- and to our credit, WE HAVE!!!  For that, I'm extremely proud and excited about where this team can go this year!

I wanna go back and re-watch the game and charts plays and check this theory out, but what I remember about what I saw, I think it's pretty solid.  In the first three games we've run plays with this "split".  Runs:  25, 25, 33  Passes:  30, 43, 43 --- At Nippert, we split like this:  Run 44 Pass 34.  I don't see this as "different" play calling and I've read a lot of posters say that we "kept our foot on the gas..."  What I saw (and in the "Game Thread" I think several other posters saw it as well) was a team who started to play "not to lose" for awhile in the 2nd half, consequently FORCING an ineffective run game and I didn't see a team that kept their foot on the gas as much as I saw a Cincinnati team who grabbed our foot and placed it on the gas pedal and held it their.  Therefore, I didn't see Legg "changing it up" very much if at all.

What DID Bill Legg do different?  He used Ryan Yurachek to his fullest potential!  Prior to the Cincinnati game, RY had 8 catches for 56 yards and ZERO TD's and only one catch for a 1st down.  vs. the Bearcats, he had 6 catches for 77 yards, 3 TD's and one of the 3 non-TD catches was for a 1st down and there were 10 total "targets" of Yurachek.

I truly believe that it's that simple.  What Marshall did was utilize its TE. 

If you look back to the successful offensive seasons that the MU offense had under Legg, we used the TE's very well and ran the ball very well.  What those to things do is that they pack the D into the middle of the field and allows the slot and outside receivers room to roam and the chance to do so against man coverage.  That allows the athleticism and speed that Doc recruits so well to show off!

In order for Legg and his very small playbook to have the explosive seasons that we know it's capable of, I believe that we have to rush for and avg. of 220+ REAL YARDS (not garbage time statbook packing yards) per game and MU TE's need to be targeted at least 8-10 times per game.

Legg's playbook is predicated on the ability of the offense's QB having a high football IQ and understanding what I've just laid out.  The QB has to love his TE and he has to understand the RPO and be able to count men in the box and count men on the Will and Sam side and know EXACTLY which option within Coach Legg's play is going to be successful based on the counts the QB makes.

Think about the prolific Cato season.  How often did Rockhead 7 yards up-field before we was touched?  That was because Cato knew that we had a "hat on a hat" and some times even a hat +1 on their hats on the side Rock was heading.  How often did Tommy Shuler be coming off of a 12+ catch game, yet the next opponent would try to single cover him, when everyone knows that their film study told them that the needed to double him?  Why did they single him?  Because they feared the Herd TE up the seam or Rockhead busting through the 1, 2, 3 or 4 hole with a full head of steam running downhill.  So they had no choice but take their chances with singling Tommy.  I'd LOVE, after what we saw at NCState, to see Brady getting singled outside with our running game or the "dink and dunk" in the middle of the field w/Yurachek putting us in 2nd and 3.  I think it could be record setting and a helluva lot of fun to watch.

Like I said, the offense has improved every game, which is what you want, so I'm NOT trying to poo-poo what they did at Cincinnati.  But I don't think it was much more than the use and threatened use (targeting) of #85 that made the offense roll!

Go Herd!  I know that 2x says "...8 or the gate..." and I agree.  But looking at the lack of quality in the last 8 opponents and assuming that them being as weak as they are we should get 10 more games in this season, I'd say 11 or something that rhymes with it and means we need to re-evaluate our head coaching situation.  So Jeff, it may be time for you to come up with something new, but I'll be damned if I can think of a word that rhymes with 11 and gets the point across.

[HerdHead]

Go Herd!  I know that 2x says "...8 or the gate..." and I agree.  But looking at the lack of quality in the last 8 opponents and assuming that them being as weak as they are we should get 10 more games in this season, I'd say 11 or something that rhymes with it and means we need to re-evaluate our head coaching situation.  So Jeff, it may be time for you to come up with something new, but I'll be damned if I can think of a word that rhymes with 11 and gets the point across.

"11 or (the opposite of) heaven"?

"11 or Armageddon"?

"10 + 1 or he is done"?

/got nothin

 

[banker]

My only issue was the same one from the Kent game, you can't go in a shell with a surmountable lead.  We are fortunate that the punt hit their guy or it could have been a much different game. Also, Cincinnati had several dumb penalties to extend our drives.

I am very pleased that we actually threw the ball down the middle, got Yurachek involved and rolled the pocket to help the oline, but again the running scheme just isn't getting it and didn't become effective until their defense was gassed (again, like the Kent game).

Does everyone realize that we only attempted 5 passes in the entire second half?  Again, if not for the bounce on that punt, the fourth quarter would have been a nail biter for the faithful.

[parshall2marshall]

WVM welcome back, and BTW do you have the Cliff Notes for your last post ?

Seriously though, I don't see how you can expect an OL with 3 RS Frosh and a Soph to run for 220 consistently in non-garbage time.

If a team wants to run the ball, they usually do it from behind center, and with more than 1 person in the backfield besides the QB. I know we saw some of that against UC from the Herd, but it is far from our identity on offense.

Just sayin'

p2m