Clawson Presser--Media Expresses Undying Fascination With Bye Week Edition

So Coach Clawson held his weekly presser today....even though there is no game Saturday.  Much of the 23 minutes was occupied with the media's annual undying fascination with how bye week works. Does Coach like it?  Does Sunday become a Tuesday?  Is it better to play or rest?

Oy.

Anyway, if you care about that stuff you can watch the video.  Beyond that, Coach did have a couple of interesting things to say.

First, he said the offense did a lot of good things...controlling the ball for 35 minutes, running out the last 9 minutes, getting 225 yards rushing, etc.

He also said that the passing game is not where it needs to be and that we might well be in a situation where we need to open it back up and he doesn't know if we will be able to.  I give him credit for that, because I think that's how everybody feels.

He had some interesting things to say about the passing game.   He said that there have to be three elements working--there has to be good protection, the receivers have to run good routes and then the QB has to deliver the ball.

He went to some length to defend our QB without coming right out and saying it.  He said, for example, in the EMU game there were plays where the WR ran a 6 yard route on a 12 yard play and the ball might look like it was overthrown but it wasn't.  Or, the protection might break down and then the QB has to get rid of the ball and it looks like a bad throw.

Or, sometimes, he said, it is a play where everything is lined up but there's a bad throw.

He said they spent most of the day working on the pass game today.

Now, I have already quoted that Coach Clawson says he is not a system guy.  He was asked if he considered himself an offensive coach or a defensive coach, and he avoided the question, but made the point that in his career he has won scoring big and won controlling the ball, and he doesn't care how it gets done, he just wants to give his team the best chance to win.

Which we should be in favor of.  Like the Coach, I think fans are worried that if OU or Kent does get some points on the board, could we throw well enough to rally from behind.

Coach also said that he watched last year's game with OU and that the Falcon defense--with the same players--was much stronger and better than it was last year for the Bobcat game.  Also, he said that Tettleton single handedly won the game with plays with his feet, something that makes them very difficult to defend.

Lastly, he said that the team has worked very hard to play games like this--meaningful November football--and this is the reward for that.  It is a big game with the Bobcats next Wednesday.