Topic: Huff answers questions about play calling vs Albany

[Johnnyherd]

There were a couple threads written about offensive playcalling being unimaginative and basic and being the principal reason we didn't do well.

A couple posters thought we were purposely not showing our good stuff on offense to ECU/VT

Huff clarified the situation and stated the pre game plan was to run only the base offense and rotate in and evaluate some of the 40 new players to see who we have available in terms of depth.  Obviously things didn't go as planned or expected but it's in the past and 50% of the teams in the country would kill to trade places with us because 50% off the country lost Saturday.

So we'll likely see a more sophisticated play calling approach to this game coming up.

[HerdEcon]

Also remember that Trickett is on record during a Thundercast saying that this is Huff's offensive scheme.  Trickett said he prefers another offensive scheme.  Trickett preferred a pass orented scheme

[herdfan129]

I?ll believe it when I see it.

[Thundering In MD]

Whatever?end result is it looked like Snyder giving up a safety because his pregame plan was to run an end around sweep on the first play.

[svherd]

Huff reiterated in todays HD that everything was very vanilla against Albany.  I am reading into it that they have spent a majority of the time focusing on ECU. We'll see Saturday if its all spin by Huff, or the real deal. I think we'll be better.

[NewfieHerdFan]

I'm going the optimistic route and say we'll play much better against ECU. I want nothing more than to be 2-0 with Virginia Tech coming to Huntington.

[MUonium]

glad for the win, no doubt- but as much for the phycological affect on the team than for myself. 
so Huff knew he could come back from being down 10-0?  that's pretty brave.  so, a loss wouldn't have hurt the team- we'd have gained knowledge about depth?  is spring and fall camp not for, in part, determining depth anymore?  i didn't expect the team to put up anywhere near 66 points but neither did i expect 21 against mid grade fcs.  maybe the O will be more efficient, put up more points and win a lot of games.

[Rockin Herd Fan]

In an article I read, Huff said that the Herd was playing basic football in the first half because of all of the new faces on the team.  He said that the coaching staff had to figure out who could play basic football.  That the Herd could have went out and scored 60 points in the game, but we would have gotten our butts whipped against ECU because the coaching staff wouldn't know who they can count on to make basic plays.  He pointed to the long QB run that Albany had for a TD.  He said that two guys were responsible for keeping an eye on the QB and both of them went after the RB because they were excited and were desperate to make a play.  We'll see if this is all coach speak, or if we'll see a totally different team vs. ECU. 

[Echo 5]

If they were subbing players, I wonder why Fancher was the only QB to play?  McMahon didn't even get a series as far as I'm aware, but correct me if I'm wrong on that.  I wonder if he got dinged up in practice?

[puma]

For those that really know the roster... Were there an unusually large number of players being cycled in and out during the first half?

I'm not sure I necessarily buy what Huff said but it at least seems kind of plausible. The first half involved way too many runs down the middle and Ali getting snuffed at the line of scrimmage. The penalties and long run getting called back also broke any momentum. I don't even think there was a single 3rd or 4th down conversion made since the play calling was so obvious. When the offense came back after the half, they went up tempo, with a bunch of short passes to the TEs and seemed to move down the field with relative ease.

I'm just not convinced a coach would put his job on the line and risk humiliating his program with a loss to an FCS opponent. Even if he was confident in a comeback, a single loose ball would have derailed everything.

But I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until he proves otherwise. I guess we'll see in a few days. I want nothing more than to be 2-0 going into VT. ECU is also due some serious payback.

[Grazing Marco]

I refuse to take anything Huff says in an interview as 100% true at this point.

Do I think we played a purposely vanilla scheme Saturday? Yes.
Do I think we will open up the playbook against ECU? Yes.
Will we open it up enough to please the fans (myself included)? Not a chance.

[HerdEcon]

If Huff's goal was to play basic football in the first half so the coaches would know who they could count on then the answer has to be "no one." 

The Herd offense didn't score a single point in the first half even when given the ball at midfield.  The defense gave up points in the first half to an FCS team that is not projected to break .500 this season and only won 3 games all of last season including winning zero away games.  The defense allowed UAlbany to run 37 plays and surrendered 118 yards in the first half. 

In the second half, when Huff was trying to win, the Herd defense allowed UAlbany to run 39 plays, gain 182 yards, and gave up 14 points.  In the second half the Herd offense possessed the ball 5 times (not counting the one play possession at the end of the game to run the clock out), allowed a 37 yard field goal to get blocked, and threw an interception. 

It appears the Herd defense played better in the first half and the Herd offense played better in the second half.  At ECU perhaps Huff should play the second team defense and the first team offense.

[herdfifteen]

glad for the win, no doubt- but as much for the phycological affect on the team than for myself. 
so Huff knew he could come back from being down 10-0?  that's pretty brave.  so, a loss wouldn't have hurt the team- we'd have gained knowledge about depth?  is spring and fall camp not for, in part, determining depth anymore?  i didn't expect the team to put up anywhere near 66 points but neither did i expect 21 against mid grade fcs.  maybe the O will be more efficient, put up more points and win a lot of games.

Someone help me out here, where did Huff say a loss to Albany would have been worth it to gain knowledge about depth?

[goherd24]

Blowing smoke.

[herd2win]

I like Huff but no coach in their right mind would stand idle letting your team score zero points and go down 14 to learn what you have.   He is just trying to deflect all of the criticism that has been levied towards our offense.

[Johnnyherd]

I don't think he's saying he purposely kept the score close as a strategy.

He said the plan was just run base offense and evaluate players, pull ahead by a comfortable score and start playing the 2's and 3's.

Nothing went as planned and we screwed up.  We did win though.