Utes HAND New Mexico the ball 5 times, all lead to touchdowns…. Utah loses to New Mexico.
In the IMPROVEMENT category has to be the defense. Early in the season our defensive backfield had some serious problems. We were getting burned by opposing receivers constantly. They were wide open in our defensive backfield. But the defense HAS adjusted. We’ve tightened up our DB’s and they’re doing an excellent job. Early in the year our DB’s never seemed to look back when the pass was coming to give themselves a chance at making a play on the ball. This too has been fixed.
The D-Line has also improved. Early in the year we weren’t getting much pressure on the opposing QB. This has been improved vastly.
The defense HAS adjusted over the season. They’ve looked at what they’re doing wrong and addressed the problem.
LACK OF ADJUSTMENTS
The offense at last night’s game was a prime example of what I believe to be a case of not seeing the OBVIOUS.
In the first series we exploit NM’s defense with 3 long bombs and score a touchdown immediately. Now if I were the offensive coordinator I’d just keep going with that scheme until it didn’t work any more. Instead, Ludwing decides to go away from what worked in the first series, to running predictable hand offs up the gut. These running plays get stuffed and we’re back in the problematic 2nd and 10 or 3rd and 8 situations.
We make most of our first downs and big gains in the air. So what does Ludwig do? Run the option. The option was NOT WORKING. So what does Ludwig do? Run the option. Run the option. LAME, PREDICTABLE, INEFFECTIVE. If it is not working WHY DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN?
New Mexico realized they were getting burned when we passed, so they decide to start blitzing and it works for them. So they blitz more and more. They blitz constantly because it is throwing our offense completely off. They stay with the blitz BECAUSE IT IS WORKING. DUH!
Now if I’m an offensive coordinator and my team is being blitzed all to hell, and if the blitz is killing my offensive plan what do I do? FRIGGING ADJUST. I would start throwing some screens. Run some draws. And what is a great way to make the defense honest and stop blitzing? RUN SOME 3 STEP DROPS AND THROW SOME QUICK SLANTS. The area the blitzers came from was WIDE OPEN the whole frigging game. RUN A DAMN SLANT FOR HELL’S SAKE. MAKE THE DEFENSE PAY FOR BLITZING. The byu film room is going to be salivating watching this. If they’re even remotely smart, they’ll blitz the hell out of us this week.
NO. We don’t adjust on offense. This lack of observing the obvious is similar to games early in the season where we have 1st and goal from short yardage and we run the same damn running play 4 times in a row without success. If you are in short yardage and you get stuffed by the D every time you run up the gut, DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT! ADJUST!
I’m no football coach but here’s my point:
IF IT WORKS, KEEP DOING IT. IF IT DOESN’T WORK, MAKE AN ADJUSTMENT AND DO SOMETHING ELSE.