Apphole
December 5th, 2011, 05:44 PM
I might as well post this here.
Disclaimer: This write up analyzes our loss internally, but is in no way an attempt to say that Maine didn't earn the win or that our bad play was the reason for the loss. They came to the Rock, played their game, and won soundly. This is a blog post intended for an audience of mostly App fans and accordingly, seeks to analyze our team and what we did wrong. Great game from the Maine team and I hope we don't see them again in the playoffs.
http://appstategonzo.blogspot.com/2011/12/coached-into-off-season-number-3.html
Coached Into the Off Season: The Number 3
3: a number that means a lot to App fans over the last decade. Three consecutive national championships from 2005-2007. The unprecedented "three-peat" had a nice ring to it, no pun intended. It happened to a school that plays its home football games at 3,333 ft. The three-time champs started a "Dynast-three" that lasted another three years after 2007, with another three consecutive SoCon championships. Every third down, Kidd Brewer Stadium roars. Guess how many fingers are held up by each fan as that bell starts ringing. That's right, three. There might not be another program anywhere that draws such a numeric connection.
3: the number of rushing yards collected by App State during the 34-12 beat down they took at the hands of the University of Maine Black Bears on Saturday. It seems the three spot took on an entirely new and opposite connotation for The Mountaineers during this year's short-and-sour playoff run. When I heard this stat Saturday night, it only drove home conclusions I had already made while watching that afternoon's excruciating game. In the spirit of Appalachian State's ongoing connection to the great Dale Earnheart's number, here are three specific reasons ASU lost by 3 touchdowns.
1. The Offensive Line: It doesn't take a football background to notice the wet paper bag standing between our quarterback and the defensive line Saturday. I must reiterate, three rushing yards! That's nine feet. 108 inches. If Jamal Jackson had stood at the line of scrimmage and fallen forward twice, he could have doubled the team's movement on the ground. If you include sacks, App collected -9 yards rushing on the day. What a disgrace and a long fall from our days of the "good" three's. Of course, some blame could be allocated to the backs, but from what I saw, the offensive line was getting manhandled up and down the field. Holes were not open and progress was not being made. Despite outweighing their opponent in the trenches, The App's allowed multiple big sacks and could not move the pile. The Maine defense completely dictated how ASU operated. We became a one-dimensional, pass-first team. This played right into the Black Bear's favor with one of the most talented secondaries in the FCS.
2. Discipline: During the first half, for the most part, the App's responded well to the pressure of the situation. We went into the locker room down by only a touchdown. It was after the break when ASU began to crumble and the lack of discipline of the team became apparent. As Maine added to their lead, the ASU offense looked increasingly desperate and out of sink. The Black Bears were sending blitzes and Jamal was scrambling well, but it wasn't enough to even make the second half competitive. Jackson was sacked over ten yards behind the line of scrimmage multiple times. The emotion from the offensive line inspired by the utter dominance their opponents were having on them wasn't channeled into a hard-nosed second half comeback. They instead chose to give up. I watched the extra point kick after the last Maine touchdown and noticed that the team barely even moved. They had no fight left at all. That is not characteristic of ASU teams in the past. The lack of discipline came to a tee when team veteran and NFL bound, Brian Quick threw the ball out of anger after he failed to catch a short pass. This penalty cost us another 15 yards and the disastrous game continued.
3. Coaching: In truth, the above two points can easily be subcategories of this one. There are many responsibilities that fall on a coaching staff. Some examples include game preparation, play calling, player morale, discipline ect. This leadership is essential for success. That being said, I don't believe I have ever seen a staff fail in so many different facets of one single game, as I did Saturday. The team was not prepared for this game. We had two weeks to prepare for this game and Maine sports a run-of-the-mill, pro-style offense, hardly a curve ball. From their first possession, Maine seemed to do what they wanted with the ball. With 250 yards passing and 216 yards rushing on the day, it's hard to imagine a more balanced offense. It wasn't just the preparation that haunted our defense all day. We failed to adjust to anything UM was doing. They ran the same play, a quick out pass to the flat, every possession, and the defense made no adjustments to defend it.
Offensively, it looked much worse. Predictable play calling led to countless third and long situations. We had Baker-Boney, an established success running between the tackles, back from injury, but instead chose to run Stephen Miller up the middle more often than not. Stephen Miller is a phenomenal athlete and open field runner, but he's one of the smallest guys on the team. When there is no hole in the first place due to a sun-par offensive line, we needed a little more size at running back to move the pile. The allocation of personnel was deplorable. The play calling by committee that has been questionable all season was confirmed in this Maine game. That's what happens in the playoffs. You have to play good teams.
Bob McClain has been exposed this year. The strife among the offensive line this season is unprecedented. One player quiting and another being released after angrily expressing his hatred for the coaching staff via twitter is writing on the wall (again pardon the pun). Regardless of whether or not McClain is in fact, being unreasonable to his players is irrelevant. The fact is, the perception is there and that's all that matters. How can our offensive line be expected to play to their potential when they hate and don't respect their coach? How will this effect recruiting? If we hope to improve on our glaring weakness next year, changes need to be made.
Disclaimer: This write up analyzes our loss internally, but is in no way an attempt to say that Maine didn't earn the win or that our bad play was the reason for the loss. They came to the Rock, played their game, and won soundly. This is a blog post intended for an audience of mostly App fans and accordingly, seeks to analyze our team and what we did wrong. Great game from the Maine team and I hope we don't see them again in the playoffs.
http://appstategonzo.blogspot.com/2011/12/coached-into-off-season-number-3.html
Coached Into the Off Season: The Number 3
3: a number that means a lot to App fans over the last decade. Three consecutive national championships from 2005-2007. The unprecedented "three-peat" had a nice ring to it, no pun intended. It happened to a school that plays its home football games at 3,333 ft. The three-time champs started a "Dynast-three" that lasted another three years after 2007, with another three consecutive SoCon championships. Every third down, Kidd Brewer Stadium roars. Guess how many fingers are held up by each fan as that bell starts ringing. That's right, three. There might not be another program anywhere that draws such a numeric connection.
3: the number of rushing yards collected by App State during the 34-12 beat down they took at the hands of the University of Maine Black Bears on Saturday. It seems the three spot took on an entirely new and opposite connotation for The Mountaineers during this year's short-and-sour playoff run. When I heard this stat Saturday night, it only drove home conclusions I had already made while watching that afternoon's excruciating game. In the spirit of Appalachian State's ongoing connection to the great Dale Earnheart's number, here are three specific reasons ASU lost by 3 touchdowns.
1. The Offensive Line: It doesn't take a football background to notice the wet paper bag standing between our quarterback and the defensive line Saturday. I must reiterate, three rushing yards! That's nine feet. 108 inches. If Jamal Jackson had stood at the line of scrimmage and fallen forward twice, he could have doubled the team's movement on the ground. If you include sacks, App collected -9 yards rushing on the day. What a disgrace and a long fall from our days of the "good" three's. Of course, some blame could be allocated to the backs, but from what I saw, the offensive line was getting manhandled up and down the field. Holes were not open and progress was not being made. Despite outweighing their opponent in the trenches, The App's allowed multiple big sacks and could not move the pile. The Maine defense completely dictated how ASU operated. We became a one-dimensional, pass-first team. This played right into the Black Bear's favor with one of the most talented secondaries in the FCS.
2. Discipline: During the first half, for the most part, the App's responded well to the pressure of the situation. We went into the locker room down by only a touchdown. It was after the break when ASU began to crumble and the lack of discipline of the team became apparent. As Maine added to their lead, the ASU offense looked increasingly desperate and out of sink. The Black Bears were sending blitzes and Jamal was scrambling well, but it wasn't enough to even make the second half competitive. Jackson was sacked over ten yards behind the line of scrimmage multiple times. The emotion from the offensive line inspired by the utter dominance their opponents were having on them wasn't channeled into a hard-nosed second half comeback. They instead chose to give up. I watched the extra point kick after the last Maine touchdown and noticed that the team barely even moved. They had no fight left at all. That is not characteristic of ASU teams in the past. The lack of discipline came to a tee when team veteran and NFL bound, Brian Quick threw the ball out of anger after he failed to catch a short pass. This penalty cost us another 15 yards and the disastrous game continued.
3. Coaching: In truth, the above two points can easily be subcategories of this one. There are many responsibilities that fall on a coaching staff. Some examples include game preparation, play calling, player morale, discipline ect. This leadership is essential for success. That being said, I don't believe I have ever seen a staff fail in so many different facets of one single game, as I did Saturday. The team was not prepared for this game. We had two weeks to prepare for this game and Maine sports a run-of-the-mill, pro-style offense, hardly a curve ball. From their first possession, Maine seemed to do what they wanted with the ball. With 250 yards passing and 216 yards rushing on the day, it's hard to imagine a more balanced offense. It wasn't just the preparation that haunted our defense all day. We failed to adjust to anything UM was doing. They ran the same play, a quick out pass to the flat, every possession, and the defense made no adjustments to defend it.
Offensively, it looked much worse. Predictable play calling led to countless third and long situations. We had Baker-Boney, an established success running between the tackles, back from injury, but instead chose to run Stephen Miller up the middle more often than not. Stephen Miller is a phenomenal athlete and open field runner, but he's one of the smallest guys on the team. When there is no hole in the first place due to a sun-par offensive line, we needed a little more size at running back to move the pile. The allocation of personnel was deplorable. The play calling by committee that has been questionable all season was confirmed in this Maine game. That's what happens in the playoffs. You have to play good teams.
Bob McClain has been exposed this year. The strife among the offensive line this season is unprecedented. One player quiting and another being released after angrily expressing his hatred for the coaching staff via twitter is writing on the wall (again pardon the pun). Regardless of whether or not McClain is in fact, being unreasonable to his players is irrelevant. The fact is, the perception is there and that's all that matters. How can our offensive line be expected to play to their potential when they hate and don't respect their coach? How will this effect recruiting? If we hope to improve on our glaring weakness next year, changes need to be made.