When Charlie Ward was at FSU, the coaches noted that he ran the 2-minute offense better than the normal offense. So what did Bobby Bowden do? He switched to a hurry-up offense for the whole game.
Yesterday, we saw Ian Book make clutch and ACCURATE throws during that last drive. He made good decisions. But the playcalling also seemed to be more creative and aggressive.
I made this point several weeks ago, but I think getting burned by Michigan State on the fake field goal a few years ago turned Kelly into a conservative, afraid-to-make-a-mistake coach. We now have players who have to have the right "traits" (i.e., players who make the fewest mistakes) as opposed to real gamebreakers who might make more mistakes but who have a much higher upside (think Dexter Williams, who wasted away on the bench for three years). And Chip Long's playcalling has been the same. Yes, I know there are people who think Kelly is calling all or most of the plays, but I think it's likely more a case of Long following the guidelines Kelly gives him. Maybe that's the equivalent of Kelly running the offense, and I would somewhat agree with that.
But against Duke, why not play on offense to win big instead of not to lose?
What you saw from Book in the final drive is who he is. He's quick to release the ball, generally has great instincts and if it's not there he usually runs for 4-12 yds. That's what we saw in 2018, in the bowl game win against LSU in 2017, and prior to that in the 2017 Spring game.
What we've seen this year is the mental mutilation of a quarterback by Brian Kelly.
No longer does Book quickly find and hit the open guy. It seems he's now thinking throw progressions trying to hit a **specific** WR instead of just saying that guy is open, let it rip (exactly how he's always done it). It seems, and I would not be shocked, that Kelly has said on this play you only throw it to this certain guy. That's how Kelly does it and that's how he demands it because his ego needs to be the genius.
I remember years ago when Kelly brought a VR game simulator or whatever in for all the QBs and they had to play the game and hit the right WRs, they were apparently graded on it. It's one thing to "find" the open guy, but an extremely different thing to be **forced** to "find" a specific WR. Real games are different than simulations and they are never the same. That's just stupid and seems to be what has been the downfall of QBs under Kelly.
I totally agree with your assessment of Long. Yes, he's the O-Coordinator. Yes he calls the plays, but there is definitely a Kelly override. You can see it in situations like the 2 minute drill Saturday. That was not Kelly at all, somehow he was removed. It was all Book - take what you see with confidence, Claypool making key plays, and Long calling different plays... one's that work. There was absolutely no Kelly fingerprint on that.
Kelly totally changed when he got pants and completely embarrassed by Alabama in the 2012 National Championship game. Remember he missed the Cincy embarrassment against Florida when he left them high and dry in their first major bowl game. This brought Kelly to his knees and he came away from that game wanting to suck Saban's d&*k. BK spent the next 2 years trying to implement the Alabama brand of football, only to fail. Kelly has never recovered. He lost any creative genius he had, and has muddled around for the last 7 years with no identity because of the unprepared, ass raping he took... All because he chose to prepare for NFL interviews instead of a National Championship game.
The problem with Kelly is that instead of promoting players and coordinators and letting them shine, he gets jealous and takes over the reigns only to ruin it.
We see it often in the beginning of games. The O (not really in 2019) will come out blistering. Functioning at a high level, scoring points at will with creative plays and then poof it all goes away. It then turns into the 4 core Kelly formations where it's obvious that it's a run up the middle, then off the guard and then it's 3rd and 10. Boom, then the 8 yard out. In 2019 we added the wrinkle of the underneath 4 yard drag which we run on about about 90% of pass plays.
Read the article in the link for the real story. I posted it Saturday morning as well.
if Brian Kelly getting involved results in poorer performance, then why, after 10 years, does he not see this? I think what you wrote makes perfect sense, but if that's the case, then Kelly's approach defies all logic and reason.
From the exerpts I did read from the article, it was interesting the QBs generally praised Kelly, and the Central Michigan QB actually got better in year two. I remember Tony Pike being a stud for Cincinnati, too.
A lot of his approach doesn't make sense if this is the case.
Defined as: Someone with this personality type sees others as objects he can use for his own benefit.
They did praise him. It's not a shocker really. They all identify that he was basically unrealistic. But what he taught them, though it screwed their possibility of ever playing pro football likely helped them better handle and respond to adverse situations later in life which is a benefit.
The part where Pike talks about if you came to the sideline in game that he would chew you out if you didn't use all the technical terms of why you screwed up and what every other player was doing was most baffling. In game action, is not the time or place to go into the deep deep physics and calculous of dissecting a defense. That's for after the game and practice. To me that was one of the most damning parts and shed light on the biggest mistake and hurdle of Kelly's coaching.
Based on that no wonder these kids are mind f&^ked.
(no message)
never workout based on the quotes from former QBs. Anyone coming in is screwed unless they are the Michael Jordan of QBs.
(no message)
(no message)
Kelly reportedly said this was the first time (even counting practice) that Book scored with the two minute offense.........and this wasn't a major glaring red flag that something was wrong and needed to be changed on offense, when you can't even score in practice in scripted situations, likely at times vs the scout defense, that are in the defense you put them in because that is what you are hoping/ thinking you will see in the game...???
(no message)
teams are more willing to do it in crunch time because of risk vs reward...if you don't do it you lose anyway so its worth the risk, but teams that try to run offense like that all game long will be more turnover prone and more likely to have a lot of quick three and out type drives, oh wait!
(no message)
(no message)
(no message)
Might as well do something different as what we're doing now ain't working.
its just finally clicked on that last drive, but when you run offense like that all game its not likely to go well unless you are playing against teams that are vastly outmatched.
(no message)
How many times do we see a throw down the middle to a crossing Avery Davis? Or a 26-yard completion to Chase Claypool running a post pattern? Almost never. Instead, we see sideways passes to stationary receivers.
The players were clearly more energized during that last series, knowing they HAD to score. Put that sense of urgency into the rest of the game and let's see what happens.
(no message)
But seriously, its about more than just sense of urgency...its about running a higher degree of difficulty to execute offense for even more plays and the extra risks that introduces. The more you play like this the more the D adjusts and eventually the turnovers come, the exhaustion comes, the no turning back spiral of three and outs and turnovers come.
Van Gorder and he was nothing but total over complexity, to the point that the players were paralyzed and had no idea what needed to happen or where they were supposed to go. They didn't even realize their job was just to tackle the football.
When you step back and look at it. A Brian Kelly QB looks every bit as paralyzed as a defensive player under BVG. They just HAVE to simplify.
But a large part of that is how much emphasis is put on the passing game while the run game is treated like an afterthought.
Well, maybe not the WHOLE game, but more series like it. In this case, we can take a lesson from FSU (and maybe FSU from earlier today, too, if the time comes).
(no message)