Thoughts on the BYU game
Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2024 12:49 amWow, that was ugly. Really ugly on the offensive side of the ball. Let's walk through what we learned.
The first thing to note is that in my preview, I talked about how BYU plays a 4-2-5. What we saw for much of this game, especially in the first half, was a 3-3-5 stack. A completely new defense that BYU has never, ever shown on film. It came out of nowhere. I'm not surprised at all that we were unprepared for it. I AM surprised that we were unable to adjust at all.
The offensive line got absolutely destroyed. I mentioned before the game that one of the reasons Jennings was playing so much was in case we couldn't block well enough at tackle. I thought it was a risk coming in. But every single player on the OL struggled. Every single one of our linemen were in a situation at some point in the game where they tried to chip a DL and then were way too slow to get over and block a blitzing LB. Every single one of them screwed it up. The coaches have talked about this being the most athletic OL they have had ever had, but they absolutely didn't show it this game. They got toasted in agility the entire game.
Scheme wise, I get it that the 3-3 is hard. You have to identify players at the snap to block, and then everything has to change based on where LBs blitz and stunts that are run. It is very, very fluid. But we absolutely failed at all of it. There were so many free runners in the game - 16 pressures almost sounds too low. All BYU did was wait for us to engage the DL, and then run a stunt and blitz one of the LBs to create a 4 or 5 person rush and someone ALWAYS ran free. There are a million examples on tape of an OL blocking nobody and someone running absolutely free. No communication, no switch, no vision. None of it. On one play, LG is engaged with the NG, LT is engaged with their RE, RG is engaged with their LE. Our C and LT aren't blocking anybody. They blitz one LB where the RG is supposed to be, there is no communication, and the LB has a straight, free run at the QB. You can't have the QB get hit when two linemen aren't blocking anybody. It is frustrating because now they get tablets with video on the sidelines. Coaches have to make adjustments and simplify the blocking scheme so that you get a hat on a hat.
To help you understand how the 3-3 messed things up... PFF gave their LB's credit for 18 of the pressures!!! Kelly, who I mentioned in the pregame writeup, had 9 - 7 hurries, a hit, and a sack.
Somehow, PFF gives Clark a good grade, but the center is the one who calls out the blocking scheme before the snap, is required to adjust, and then needs to be the mouthpiece telling players how to adjust during the play. None of that happened with the players around him, and some of that needs to fall on his shoulders. He doesn't deserve the rating.
PJ and Osborne both struggled on the edge. PJ cleaned it up a little in the second half, but Osborne had his worst game as a Mustang. He was beat around the edge, he missed blocks in the running game. BYU just ran around him the entire game in both areas. He looked like a guy who had trained at center all offseason, put on a little weight for it, and was all of a sudden asked to play outside. Chamblee came in for 2 plays when Clark got hurt and Osborne had to play center, and gave up a hold. Tackle wasn't good. PJ got the best rating of this group on PFF, but also allowed 4 pressures and had a holding penalty. It wasn't good at all.
At Guard it gets even worse. Parr started at RG and was awful. He played better after they moved him to LG, but still didn't do great. Byrd started at LG and I am still waiting for him to block someone on a passing play. Anderson got killed when he was in there. Sparks ended up playing RG for most of the game, and he wasn't really good at all, but at least he was able to block some people in the running game.
Everything starts and ends with the line, so I am not going to comment on much else. I will say that we gave up on running the ball up the middle too early in the game. We should have used LJ more frequently with that approach.
Final comment on the offense is that you can see the limitations of Jennings. He didn't read the safety on the wheel route on the INT, which was a really costly turnover. When he needed to make a play in the passing game, he just couldn't do it. He can scramble and make plays with his feet and buy some time and run the RPO. But when you put him in a passing situation, he can't make all of those throws. We weren't able to test them at corner at all, early because of the line, and late because of some of Jenning's limitations in the passing game. That was a field goal offense because at some point you have to be able to either dominate the line of scrimmage in the running game or you have to be able to hit a pass. It was the Ramon Flanigan offense from 30 years ago. We had to play him because it was our only offense behind that OL. BYU did a great job switching back to the 4-2-5 in the second half in order to limit his scrambling, play better run defense, and force us to beat them through the air. If we had switched to Preston, they would have gone back to the 3-3 stack and killed him.
The defense, on the other hand, did a great job to keep us in the game. Our run defense is great. The DL was outstanding against the run, and for the most part the LBs held up. They didn't test us at corner as much as I thought they would, which was great. They were set up to take Rogers over the top in the 4th and almost got him once but the pass was underthrown, and he did make a good play in the endzone. He is just someone you have to help over the top on every play. Deuce to me is clearly our best corner right now. Crossley was fine tonight. Smoke to me is still just an athlete playing corner, he doesn't have the instincts yet. I think it will be Deuce and Crossley after the bye, but we will see. I feel a little better about the group, but still not completely sold on it yet.
The other area of concern is our pass rush. Early in the game before it turned into a slug fest, the BYU QB had all day to throw the ball. I'm worried that might become a consistent issue against the better lines in conference.
Overall, we have a ton of work to do on the OL in order to get ready for the hardest three game stretch of the season. A LOT of work or SMU is looking at a 2-4 record to kick off the first half of our first season in the ACC. Justice really needs to show why he is such a highly rated coach these next two weeks. Tonight was not acceptable.
The first thing to note is that in my preview, I talked about how BYU plays a 4-2-5. What we saw for much of this game, especially in the first half, was a 3-3-5 stack. A completely new defense that BYU has never, ever shown on film. It came out of nowhere. I'm not surprised at all that we were unprepared for it. I AM surprised that we were unable to adjust at all.
The offensive line got absolutely destroyed. I mentioned before the game that one of the reasons Jennings was playing so much was in case we couldn't block well enough at tackle. I thought it was a risk coming in. But every single player on the OL struggled. Every single one of our linemen were in a situation at some point in the game where they tried to chip a DL and then were way too slow to get over and block a blitzing LB. Every single one of them screwed it up. The coaches have talked about this being the most athletic OL they have had ever had, but they absolutely didn't show it this game. They got toasted in agility the entire game.
Scheme wise, I get it that the 3-3 is hard. You have to identify players at the snap to block, and then everything has to change based on where LBs blitz and stunts that are run. It is very, very fluid. But we absolutely failed at all of it. There were so many free runners in the game - 16 pressures almost sounds too low. All BYU did was wait for us to engage the DL, and then run a stunt and blitz one of the LBs to create a 4 or 5 person rush and someone ALWAYS ran free. There are a million examples on tape of an OL blocking nobody and someone running absolutely free. No communication, no switch, no vision. None of it. On one play, LG is engaged with the NG, LT is engaged with their RE, RG is engaged with their LE. Our C and LT aren't blocking anybody. They blitz one LB where the RG is supposed to be, there is no communication, and the LB has a straight, free run at the QB. You can't have the QB get hit when two linemen aren't blocking anybody. It is frustrating because now they get tablets with video on the sidelines. Coaches have to make adjustments and simplify the blocking scheme so that you get a hat on a hat.
To help you understand how the 3-3 messed things up... PFF gave their LB's credit for 18 of the pressures!!! Kelly, who I mentioned in the pregame writeup, had 9 - 7 hurries, a hit, and a sack.
Somehow, PFF gives Clark a good grade, but the center is the one who calls out the blocking scheme before the snap, is required to adjust, and then needs to be the mouthpiece telling players how to adjust during the play. None of that happened with the players around him, and some of that needs to fall on his shoulders. He doesn't deserve the rating.
PJ and Osborne both struggled on the edge. PJ cleaned it up a little in the second half, but Osborne had his worst game as a Mustang. He was beat around the edge, he missed blocks in the running game. BYU just ran around him the entire game in both areas. He looked like a guy who had trained at center all offseason, put on a little weight for it, and was all of a sudden asked to play outside. Chamblee came in for 2 plays when Clark got hurt and Osborne had to play center, and gave up a hold. Tackle wasn't good. PJ got the best rating of this group on PFF, but also allowed 4 pressures and had a holding penalty. It wasn't good at all.
At Guard it gets even worse. Parr started at RG and was awful. He played better after they moved him to LG, but still didn't do great. Byrd started at LG and I am still waiting for him to block someone on a passing play. Anderson got killed when he was in there. Sparks ended up playing RG for most of the game, and he wasn't really good at all, but at least he was able to block some people in the running game.
Everything starts and ends with the line, so I am not going to comment on much else. I will say that we gave up on running the ball up the middle too early in the game. We should have used LJ more frequently with that approach.
Final comment on the offense is that you can see the limitations of Jennings. He didn't read the safety on the wheel route on the INT, which was a really costly turnover. When he needed to make a play in the passing game, he just couldn't do it. He can scramble and make plays with his feet and buy some time and run the RPO. But when you put him in a passing situation, he can't make all of those throws. We weren't able to test them at corner at all, early because of the line, and late because of some of Jenning's limitations in the passing game. That was a field goal offense because at some point you have to be able to either dominate the line of scrimmage in the running game or you have to be able to hit a pass. It was the Ramon Flanigan offense from 30 years ago. We had to play him because it was our only offense behind that OL. BYU did a great job switching back to the 4-2-5 in the second half in order to limit his scrambling, play better run defense, and force us to beat them through the air. If we had switched to Preston, they would have gone back to the 3-3 stack and killed him.
The defense, on the other hand, did a great job to keep us in the game. Our run defense is great. The DL was outstanding against the run, and for the most part the LBs held up. They didn't test us at corner as much as I thought they would, which was great. They were set up to take Rogers over the top in the 4th and almost got him once but the pass was underthrown, and he did make a good play in the endzone. He is just someone you have to help over the top on every play. Deuce to me is clearly our best corner right now. Crossley was fine tonight. Smoke to me is still just an athlete playing corner, he doesn't have the instincts yet. I think it will be Deuce and Crossley after the bye, but we will see. I feel a little better about the group, but still not completely sold on it yet.
The other area of concern is our pass rush. Early in the game before it turned into a slug fest, the BYU QB had all day to throw the ball. I'm worried that might become a consistent issue against the better lines in conference.
Overall, we have a ton of work to do on the OL in order to get ready for the hardest three game stretch of the season. A LOT of work or SMU is looking at a 2-4 record to kick off the first half of our first season in the ACC. Justice really needs to show why he is such a highly rated coach these next two weeks. Tonight was not acceptable.