Sadness Accrues: The offense

So, to review the awful day yesterday at the Doyt, starting with the offense.

This is where the biggest issue is in most people's view.  We expected to stink on defense, but the thought was that the offense was going to be ready to go and would at least open the possibility of winning some shoot out games.

With 9 minutes left in the game yesterday, BG was down 31-3.

The offense was completely ineffective.  Don't let those late drives against the Miami reserves fool you...Coach Jinks wasn't...the BG offense did not get it done.  It's incredibly disappointing.

The problems are starting right where they have a tendency to start, which is on the line.  BG's offensive line was simply dominated by the RedHawks as they were by Eastern Kentucky.  Lorenzo Taborn did not play due to an injury and was replaced by Derek Downs, but Coach said after the game that the problems were up and down the line.

One result of that was that BG had little to no room to run.  For the second straight week, BG has failed to develop a running game against competition where they should be able to make it happen.  Andrew Clair had 16 carries for 37 yards net....but he gained 51 and lost 14.  BG's rushing stats were magnified by the 4th Q a little bit, but BG does not have the running game they expected to have when the season started.  BG's long run was 12 yards.

The other result was that Doege was "under siege" the entire night.  He was sacked five times and hurried 6 times, which is 11 times in 50 dropbacks.  And it doesn't count being chased from the pocket, etc and the ratio would have been higher over the first three quarters.  The offensive line gave Doege no time to throw.  I also think he has a tendency to hold onto the ball too long, but there was a lot of pressure and he took some shots and eventually ended up looking pretty disoriented.

So, what's going on?

Coach was very frustrated after the game in his o-line.  This was supposed to be a position of strength and before the year Coach said it was the deepest position on the team.  He intimated on Saturday that they are going to have to examine the personnel being used before heading into the next stretch of schedule, which is considerably tougher.

He also acknowledged that BG would need to look at what they were doing from a scheme standpoint.  “We’ve got to look at what we’re doing from a scheme standpoint, because we have too much talent from an offensive standpoint to have a performance like that.”

I might just jump in here and indicate that to date that parts of that "talent" have been measured in recruiting ratings, but let's grant the point...because we certainly have more talent than to have 3 against Miami.

Here's the thing.  Jinks is supposed to be an offensive guru.  That was the calling card.  He's got the QB he wanted and has recruited almost all the playmakers.  And we're addressing scheme now, after going 1-3?  Shouldn't we be able to have a good scheme going into this?

Also...BG ran off all the Jinks assistants on the defensive side of the ball, but his assistants are still here on the offensive side of the ball.  That includes the line coach, the receivers coach and the co-offensive coordinators, only one of whom (Padron) had been a college assistant before coming to BG.  The RB coach was moved over from defense.  I think you have to wonder up and down the line whether we are getting the schematic and player development coaching that we need on offense.

Coach said that one of the things we could have done was upped the pace against Miami, force them to keep the d-lineman in there and maybe take the starch out of their rush.  Which is how we were playing when Coach got here. 

Anyway, it's hard to get your arms around making adjustments like these so early in the year and you also have to wonder about the player evaluations that were done over the spring and fall...which was an issue in year 1 too.

A couple good things.  Rico Frye is an effective RB and shows promise.  Also, Deric Phoutavong has developed into a reliable WR in his last season.

Scotty Miller was absent most of the game until the garbage time drives.  I assume that's Miami working to take him away but he might not have been at 100% either.

The problem is that BG now goes @Georgia Tech, @Toledo, WMU and @Ohio.  The opportunity to have yourself set and rolling came about 3 pm yesterday.