Clawson Presser--Inches and Seconds

Another excellent presser from Coach Clawson.  A summary follows.

First of all, he noted that football is a game of inches and seconds, and if any team's body of work reflects this, BG's does.  Without the huge finish at Kent, we are sitting here today cursing giving up big plays, poor red zone play, etc.  With a win, all that seems to go away.  And while that has built the team's confidence and practices have been "peppier" this week, those mistakes still happened.

He talked quite a bit about why teams can't stop Freddie Barnes.  He proceeded to point out that BG called 70 pass plays and completed 44, and 22 were caught by Freddie.  Hodges and Jones also had big games.  On the big 4th down play, Kent was determined that Freddie would not get the ball, and that left Hodges in single coverage, and he caught the pass and made a big first down.  (One note.  I mean, that's 22 catches.  I wonder how many times they targeted Freddie--had to have been a lot more)

The basic point is that if teams are going to cover Freddie, then other guys should be able to get open, and as long as Tyler can make the reads and get the ball to the open man.

Coach also continues to wish we could run the ball more.  Of course, when you win the game and get 500 yards, no one cares how it happened.  It was a good thing.  He also noted again the screens and shovel passes count as run plays, in his mind, because of the kind of blocking they require.  We ran poorly against Kent, because Kent was determined not to let us run the ball.  (My comment.  The strategic thinking behind this is tough to fathom, but there you go.)

The point is, when they filled the box, we lit them up for 500 yards.  When OU had a "skinny box" we ran the ball.  Coach says that the true meaning of balance is to be able to run when that's what the defense gives you and pass when that's what the defense gives you. (This is a theory I have been working on and will have analysis on as the season moves along).

More on the catch-22 game.  It was a complete game by Freddie.  He had catches and yards, and that included yards after catch, tough grabs and turning a shallow cross into a big play.  Against Marshall he made his catch and that was it.  Against Kent, he was doing damage much of the time.

Jerry Phillips has not lost the job.  He was hurt.

There was talk about MiQuale Lewis, who productivity has taken a big hit this season.  Coach attributes it to the loss of Davis and Love, and that certainly didn't help.  Watch Thursday for a different perspective from Over the Pylon, the BSU blog.

Coach talked a lot about Scott Albert, a 5-SR walk on, and Justus Jones, also a walk-on.  Coach says he wants to play guys who it is important to.

He is also happy with the play of our younger players on the line--something that portends well for the continuity of the program.

He likes noon starts.  As a friend of mine says, "that sucks for him" because we hardly ever have them.

PJ Mahone is back practicing with the team.  He is on the scout team with the red shirting freshmen.  He will not play before November and has done everything he needed to do up until now to earn his way back onto the field.