The running game.

[Kgun7]

So what? They are much better now and still not good enough. Of course P and GDL did damage. We've been watching like a sinking ship for over two years. This isn't news. If you want to give out participation trophies or attaboy stickers because we finally won a game, go ahead.

I'd rather not sugarcoat this anymore than is required to stomach the rest of the season. I'd rather put expectations back where they belong. To reach them, the running game needs to be better, among other things.

Why must it be an either/or??? Why can't the coaching staff do both? Couldn't they praise AND motivate???

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I think if it takes 7 tries to get in from 1 yard, you can use that as judgement of the running game.

It's fair to include that in average.

A great running team would have gotten it in less than 7 tries.

Good point. If every play is not a touchdown, the team must suck. Got it.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Deleone is epically awful as a coach. Changing an OL coach in midstream and getting this kind of production is amazing. I think Foley deserves a lot of credit, but I also think the fact that Deleone is no longer the OL coach was worth 25-30 ypg of rushing by itself.

Putting Delorenzo in was so painfully obvious that Pasqualoni should have been fired for that alone.

Finally, McCombs was badly misused prior to the coaching change. Pasqualoni was still calling line dives straight up the middle. Basically, we were throwing bodies into a pile and hoping that we could move 1,200 pounds of defensive linemen that knew exactly where we were going. No one calls those kind of plays anymore, and certainly not with a 160 pound back. Look at NFL plays. Even up the middle plays are draws or traps with a fake or misdirection of some kind. Not Pasqualoni. We had no chance of success with the plays Pasqualoni was calling for McCombs.

Finally, the post-Pasqualoni rushing numbers are even more impressive considering that 3 of the 4 best teams we played were right after the coaching change. I expect to see 2 more big games on the ground.

 

[businesslawyer]

Deleone is epically awful as a coach. Changing an OL coach in midstream and getting this kind of production is amazing. I think Foley deserves a lot of credit, but I also think the fact that Deleone is no longer the OL coach was worth 25-30 ypg of rushing by itself.

Putting Delorenzo in was so painfully obvious that Pasqualoni should have been fired for that alone.

Finally, McCombs was badly misused prior to the coaching change. Pasqualoni was still calling line dives straight up the middle. Basically, we were throwing bodies into a pile and hoping that we could move 1,200 pounds of defensive linemen that knew exactly where we were going. No one calls those kind of plays anymore, and certainly not with a 160 pound back. Look at NFL plays. Even up the middle plays are draws or traps with a fake or misdirection of some kind. Not Pasqualoni. We had no chance of success with the plays Pasqualoni was calling for McCombs.

Finally, the post-Pasqualoni rushing numbers are even more impressive considering that 3 of the 4 best teams we played were right after the coaching change. I expect to see 2 more big games on the ground.

This is how I see it. Are we a great, or even very good, rushing team now? Nope. But I'm surprised that we could get the improvement we did while the season was going on (and with injuries to two starters).

 

[BHusky]

I could be wrong but when he says goal line rushes he means the 5-6 plays we ran inside the 5. Make sense now?

Read the previous posts, that is not what we were debating. It was specific to runs with "11 men in the box" that should be excluded because those are short yardage "goal line" plays that skew the ypc negatively. Generally speaking in football that would make sense, but specific to our back and forth and the Temple game, that formation never happened once.

 

[uconndogs]

I'll say it again, P should have won 8-9 games last season with that defense and against that schedule. All he had to do was get the running game to average. He had two NFL caliber TEs to assist in that effort and to work play action off the run (not to mention a slot receiver who now wears an NFL jersey). He let that duck*ing mad scientist loose and put this program on its ear and it cost him his job.

I can only conclude that GDL has photos of P in bed with two goats and a sheep with P wearing a negligee. It's the only thing that makes any sense, because only a complete and utter idiot would fail to realize the damage GDL inflicted.

 

[sdhusky]

If every play is not a touchdown, the team must suck. Got it.

Try reading it again. This line in particular:

"I think if it takes 7 tries to get in from 1 yard, you can use that as judgement of the running game."

Did you miss the 7? Did you think 7 means every?

or were you just making stuff up?

 

[sdhusky]

This is how I see it. Are we a great, or even very good, rushing team now? Nope. But I'm surprised that we could get the improvement we did while the season was going on (and with injuries to two starters).

The improve came immediately after GDL was replaced by Foley. Like next game (with a bye) immediately.

I never expected to see it that fast.

 

[sdhusky]

I'll say it again, P should have won 8-9 games last season with that defense and against that schedule. All he had to do was get the running game to average. He had two NFL caliber TEs to assist in that effort and to work play action off the run (not to mention a slot receiver who now wears an NFL jersey). He let that f* *ing mad scientist loose and put this program on its ear and it cost him his job.

I can only conclude that GDL has photos of P in bed with two goats and a sheep with P wearing a negligee. It's the only thing that makes any sense, because only a complete and utter idiot would fail to realize the damage GDL inflicted.

Edsall would have won 8 or 9 games with that defense and that schedule & an adequate running game.