What Has Changed Since Ohio Loss?

[jdoggivjc]

We stopped pretending we could establish the run and instead let Rocco sling the ball. Add to that, the youth is starting to settle in.

I honestly think the slight change in offensive philosophy has helped a great deal since the Ohio game. We're not forcing a run-up-the-middle-first game that simply wasn't working. We've opened up the midrange passing game for Becht, and he's been picking apart defenses (sans OU). And since defenses now are forced to defend against this, it has naturally opened up the running game - and we were able to pound TCU with it last night.

 

[awd4cy]

Minus Oklahoma, we started playing worse teams.

 

[cyclone1209]

Admittedly I've been pretty down and vocal about Campbell. At times just disgusted how he's screwed the pooch starting with 2021 season and all that talent. I fuc*ing HATE losing to the fuc*eyes. OK that aside...
This team has changed for the better since Iowa and Ohio losses.
Have we finally seen a change in him allowing the offense to open up more?
Did the Hot Seat comments light a fire?
Have practices been more intense?
Did Pollard have a sit down with him?
Discuss.

I actually think most of it is:

This is a really young offense, and it took a few games to gel. We have a true freshman right guard, a true freshman tight end, freshman QB, multiple freshman RB's, sophomore center.

Losing the three offensive starters to the gambling thing we probably should have been more patient with this offense as a fan base. I think what we're learning though is that there is some talent on the offensive side of the ball, and the future looks bright there. I also like what Nate Scheelhaase is doing.

Against OSU and OU, he let Rocco throw it more. Yesterday when we had the run game moving, he stuck with it. He is not calling plays in a way to me that is predictable, he's using more of the field too. So he's gaining experience just as the young guys are on offense.

 

[State2015]

We literally got blown out last week. We’re on a 1 game winning streak.

Lost to the 5th ranked team in the country at their own stadium and we bounce back by rocking a team that was in the freaking national championship last year. If you can’t see the good in that, I sincerely feel bad for you and I think you’re following the wrong team

 

[CloneLawman]

Lost to the 5th ranked team in the country at their own stadium and we bounce back by rocking a team that was in the freaking national championship last year. If you can’t see the good in that, I sincerely feel bad for you and I think you’re following the wrong team

Don't feed it.

 

[CyDude16]

Minus Oklahoma, we started playing worse teams.

Oklahoma State and TCU aren’t worse teams.

 

[CyDude16]

We literally got blown out last week. We’re on a 1 game winning streak.

I’m sure you wanted Arteta out less than a year into his stint at Arsenal too.

 

[stateofmind]

It’s never as good or bad as it seems. Realists are going to be pessimistic. I’ll never understand the need to be the first calling for a coaches head. It NEVER does anything positive for the team you “support “. We will win a couple more games and we will lose a few more. The social media mob will overreact to each and every game.

 

[Gunnerclone]

I’m sure you wanted Arteta out less than a year into his stint at Arsenal too.

Negative. Look at who he replaced. Huge upgrade. Amazing pedigree: Barca, Rangers, Everton, Arsenal, City. Direct understudy to the best manager in the world. Never celebrated City scoring against Arsenal as a coach or player there. The “Poor Man’s Pirlo” and one of my favorite non-homegrown Arsenal players in the modern era.

 

[Newell]

Admittedly I've been pretty down and vocal about Campbell. At times just disgusted how he's screwed the pooch starting with 2021 season and all that talent. I fuc*ing HATE losing to the fuc*eyes. OK that aside...
This team has changed for the better since Iowa and Ohio losses.
Have we finally seen a change in him allowing the offense to open up more?
Did the Hot Seat comments light a fire?
Have practices been more intense?
Did Pollard have a sit down with him?
Discuss.

If you fire Campbell his phone will be ringing before the sun sets and he will have his choice of which power 5 conference he wants to coach in.

 

[CascadeClone]

What's changed that has resulted in the team performing better? ie offense scoring points and beating OSU and TCU after losing at Ohio? Most of it has been covered but let me throw in my take.

1. the playbook is moderately different. Some play action! Some deeper throws. Some roll outs. It's not switching 180 degrees from Ferentz to Air Raid. But maybe 15 plays a game changed from a 4 tight end power run into the line, to more open and aggressive. Big difference in loosening up defenses.
2. OL has gradually improved. I think it is more guys getting up to game speed with the new coaching and technique and scheme than it is just swapping in Black for Simmons.

I'd say its 40% the playbook. But the OL better has made ALL the plays better, new and old. There were holes to run through against OU, that's when it started. They are improving, and Silas and Sama are feasting.

And oh yeah, item #3 - the team isn't puking and sh!tting themselves to death. That's gotta be worth a couple points per game in the advanced stats machine.


For the "sky is falling" crowd, still plenty to angst about:

• Short kickoffs. (I suspect that's a one-off, has been great all year until TCU)
• In-game management. Maybe CMC should hire a tactician to "feel" the game and run it.
• So many missed tackles! WTF? Used to be a strength, might be driven by the next item.
• Linebackers. Young & slow. Hopefully they get better with experience.

I'm optimistic for the team, only the in-game management is a persistent problem. Though I am less confident about W-L. Cincy, BYU, Baylor, KU and even UT are all "winnable" but also "loseable". Will depend how well they play any given day, how well the opponent plays, and just the breaks.

 

[bizzle]

Pretty sure the reason that every single offensive player now has a huge swatch playcall sheet on their arm is that after Ohio, we added more formations and plays to the playbook. One reason we've been called for illegal motion several times since Ohio is that we drastically upped the amount of motion and misdirection. It seems (from my point of view, outside the locker room) that Matt not only allowed Nate to call more plays but to also implement some of his offensive vision on a broader level, which has directly led to different play-calling and formation set-ups. If that is the case, obviously well done Nate, but also well done Matt on finally adjusting the offensive philosophy. That is very hard to do, especially in Year 8.

 

[CyDude16]

Pretty sure the reason that every single offensive player now has a huge swatch playcall sheet on their arm is that after Ohio, we added more formations and plays to the playbook. One reason we've been called for illegal motion several times since Ohio is that we drastically upped the amount of motion and misdirection. It seems (from my point of view, outside the locker room) that Matt not only allowed Nate to call more plays but to also implement some of his offensive vision on a broader level, which has directly led to different play-calling and formation set-ups. If that is the case, obviously well done Nate, but also well done Matt on finally adjusting the offensive philosophy. That is very hard to do, especially in Year 8.

They’ve had those before Ohio.

 

[hiltonisheaven]

Great to see the changes being made. The frustrating part is why can’t we recognize who we are in Fall camp? Why do we need to throw away 1/4 of every season before we begin to figure it out in October? Can our coaches not see it? Is our AD not asking these questions? Are we going to repeat the same mistakes again next year?

 

[1961Cylones]

Admittedly I've been pretty down and vocal about Campbell. At times just disgusted how he's screwed the pooch starting with 2021 season and all that talent. I fuc*ing HATE losing to the fuc*eyes. OK that aside...
This team has changed for the better since Iowa and Ohio losses.
Have we finally seen a change in him allowing the offense to open up more?
Did the Hot Seat comments light a fire?
Have practices been more intense?
Did Pollard have a sit down with him?
Discuss.

Experience and attention to detail.

 

[stewart092284]

I'd say experience, a little bit play calling. And the OL has started to gel a little - Black's insertion into the starting unit has made a difference as well.

 

[SouthJerseyCy]

There have been some minor improvements, but overall I think the best thing the staff has done is not let them get too low after low's and too high after highs. This fan base could take note.

We need to continue to improve and not get complacent after the TCU win. As good as it felt, TCU has fallen more than any playoff team in recent memory to the next year. They also simply gashed our defense for most of the game. One could say we were lucky (I prefer opportunistic) with the 5 turnovers. We can't give up that many yards and expect to win most weeks.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Obviously we are a better team, but not for any of the reason you cite. New coaches and young players. Plus Ohio is probably a pretty solid football team.

The goal should be a bowl, so we still need to keep getting better. There is still too much inconsistency on offense, defense & special teams:

• Offense: Against TCU our run game was great, but pass offense not so much. We averaged less than 5ypa. Our pass offense seems to work best when we are completing throws between the hashes vs. sideline.
• Defense. Teams are having success running the ball- especially getting wide. Also not getting enough pressure on the QB. Yesterday we had 2 sacks & 4 QBH.
• Special Teams. Perkins punts have been inconsistent and were short against TCU. TCU had a long KO return.

The good thing is we are making some big plays that have made a difference: Long TD passes/runs, 8 interceptions, blocked punt & solid FG kicking.

The announcers said during the game that TCU hadn't allowed a passing touchdown all year (until Rocco had one). If that is true, doing that through 5 games is pretty impressive. I would guess that we decided not to push it against one of their strengths?

 

[KidSilverhair]

Great to see the changes being made. The frustrating part is why can’t we recognize who we are in Fall camp? Why do we need to throw away 1/4 of every season before we begin to figure it out in October? Can our coaches not see it? Is our AD not asking these questions? Are we going to repeat the same mistakes again next year?

I don’t have an answer for you, but it almost appears to me that CMC looks at the non-conference schedule as kind of a preseason/tune-up prep for the B12 games. It’s weird, I know, and doesn’t make much sense to me, but year-in and year-out the offense is conservative and mostly one-dimensional through September, after which things open up, the coaches figure out what’s not working, and the team starts showing more variety. It’s almost like the coaches feel like they don’t want to show too much before the B12 schedule starts, treating those games as the “important” ones while the Iowa/MAC/UNI/Sun Belt games are more like glorified practices.

Maybe a lot of that is the team gelling and getting comfortable with the game plan, getting a few games under their belts, but that brings up the question of what exactly are they doing in spring and fall camp if they’re not ready to play the entire playbook in September?

Just one of my opinions, take it for what it’s worth.

 

[Clonefan32]

This is not at all uncommon with Campbell's teams.

In 2018 we started 1-4 and made the Alamo bowl
In 2019 we started 2-2 and it took 3OT to beat UNI. We made the Camping World Bowl
In 2020 we started the year with a loss to Louisiana and made the Fiesta Bowl.

Matt's teams just seem to be slow starters that are liable to throw out a few clunkers early in the year. Add in a young team, and I suppose it was to be expected. Luckily his teams do seem to hit their stride around this time of year.