3 biggest needs right now.

[cireksu]

Oline, cannot be worse next year(can they?)  have improved so I will assume they'll improve next year.

LB's, we lose Roland  hope Patterson can come around.

WR, Jordy has been solid, kinda having a Sproles 04 year, good numbers that don't mean much in games  Kinda like Bobby Bonilla in a wierd way.

Dline, Lose Rob Jackson and Cline and Balcom?  Dline other than cambell sucked yesterday and weren't helped by RB's.

since 06 we've recruited 6 Dlinemen that have made it, about 6 lb's that have made it to campus and 3 WR.  that are here.

JF isn't going to have anyone to throw to next year.

[KSUTOMMY]

cireksu, you make GREAT points... one thing left off though:

#4 New Offensive Coordinator

[cireksu]

The offense is capable of driving and scoring it is just wildly inconsistant.  Not having any recievers other than jordy and murphy hurts.  We need to get murphy more touches.

[PurplePowerhouse]

I'd be ok with a different offense.  This dink & dunk passing game sucks ass.  We've made a few yards with it, but when you look at the total number of passes thrown by JF & then throw in the interception-to-TD ratio, its just not a pretty picture.  If we have such a great QB, why do we have to rely on WRs & RBs to throw touchdown passes???  That said, we've got the makings of a good team.  Unfortunately, our most consistent trait is our own inconsistency.  How the hell do we look like world beaters against Tejas one week, then give it away to the likes of ku the next week???  I don't get it. 

[cireksu]

Not adjusting to the other team's adjustments.

[cireksu]

Pretty simple  they tried to attack early on with deep routes, we brought a lot of pressure, disrupted them by the end of the game they just spread us out, we continued to attack and left the seams wide open.

[snyderfanatic]

cireksu, you make GREAT points... one thing left off though:

#4 New Offensive Coordinator

Prince will scapegoat Franklin, as being loyal to assistants is not in his makeup. Truth is Franklin is running the offense that the two guys who run the program (Freeman and Prince) want run. Short passes, lots of throws, zero intent on creating a run game.

[Legore]

We're going to need a run game next year. Hopefully the o-line can provide that we'll have all 5 starters back plus most the top backups.  After watching the ku replay the ol wasn't as bad as I thought especially before Bedore went down.  We had about 60 yards rushing at half and 240 of total offense.  That is a good half of offense there.  Finished the game with only 50 yards rushing and 363 yards of offense so obviously things went way down hill in the second half.  

ku's defense isn't an outstanding unit I think it will be had by some people this year.   We could have had them with better execution in the first half.   We moved the ball every time we had it in the first half but penalties and the one turnover killed us.  

[Pete]

Oline, cannot be worse next year(can they?)  have improved so I will assume they'll improve next year.

LB's, we lose Roland  hope Patterson can come around.

WR, Jordy has been solid, kinda having a Sproles 04 year, good numbers that don't mean much in games  Kinda like Bobby Bonilla in a wierd way.

Dline, Lose Rob Jackson and Cline and Balcom?  Dline other than cambell sucked yesterday and weren't helped by RB's.

since 06 we've recruited 6 Dlinemen that have made it, about 6 lb's that have made it to campus and 3 WR.  that are here.

JF isn't going to have anyone to throw to next year.

Lamark should be immediately moved to OLB. 

[cireksu]

as bad as the lb's played, WR is much more of a concern depth wise.

[Pete]

as bad as the lb's played, WR is much more of a concern depth wise.

I have no confidence in Lamark being the answer at WR.  Neither did anyone else who recruited him.

[mjrod]

I was going to say, look no further than USC to find a team that knows how to put together a balanced attack..

but after yesterday.. I don't know.

[cireksu]

Do you go out and try to load up on JUCO players and cross fingers that they figure it out sooner than later?  We are in a bad spot at those positions.


we need to change something offensively.  Maybe it is too difficult for kids to grasp.

[Pete]

Do you go out and try to load up on JUCO players and cross fingers that they figure it out sooner than later?  We are in a bad spot at those positions.

I think the answer to that is "yes."

We have to do something, beside depend upon young players.  We have had good luck with Juco players.  Jackson, Balkom, Manu, A. Moore (depsite injury), Chandler (jury may still be out), Murphey, Alesana (better than what we had), James Johnson, Abana (jury may still be out)....

[Legore]

Do you go out and try to load up on JUCO players and cross fingers that they figure it out sooner than later?  We are in a bad spot at those positions.


we need to change something offensively.  Maybe it is too difficult for kids to grasp.

We're going to have to bring in some JC WR's and some JC D-lineman.  The good thing is those are two positions where we've had success with juco kids in the past.   

[mjrod]

It's more about schemes than actual players.

Way too many times the defense was not in the right position.  ku called plays from the booth based on the defense alignment.

On offense, our philosophy is not where it needs to be.  We need more vertical presence.  And we need a solid and reliable running game.  If we're being conservative, I want to know why.  Is it because there are things Coach wants to implement the players aren't picking up, or is it because he's holding back, realizing that losing to ku is not a big thing?

Our biggest need isn't really we need different players, but a better approach.  We need a running game and we need a more vertical passing game.   Once we get that, the rest will fall into place.

[michigancat]

For the ten thousandth time, it isn't schemes on offense, it's the offensive line.  You can't go vertical when your center is on skates, you can't run when a defensive tackle is in the backfield every day. 

And yes, Prince deserves criticism for that.

[cireksu]

If you think about it, JF NEVER has time to just take a 5-7 step drop, look over the field and step and complete a strike downfield, he's always flushed out.

[mjrod]

For the ten thousandth time, it isn't schemes on offense, it's the offensive line.  You can't go vertical when your center is on skates, you can't run when a defensive tackle is in the backfield every day. 

And yes, Prince deserves criticism for that.

 

[1985Wildcat]

I agree with Rusty. ku was bigger and stronger in the trenches than us and they were smart enough to exploit the advantage. We gotta recruit hard to improve on both lines for the team to get a lot better than it is right now. Who besides me thinks one of the reasons we switched to 3-4 defense simply because we're short on DT's.

I felt the frustration with the offensive scheme, but it may be that we're just not able to do a lot more than throw short. I'd love to see Freeman throw deep. The arm is definitely there.

[AzCat]

For the ten thousandth time, it isn't schemes on offense, it's the offensive line.  You can't go vertical when your center is on skates, you can't run when a defensive tackle is in the backfield every day. 

And yes, Prince deserves criticism for that.

Yes and no.  Recall that it took Snyder almost 10 years to develop a legitimate OL.  Even then they were never lights out, they were more above average college players whose shortcomings were masked by very mobile QBs.  KSU often struggled running the ball against better competition, even in the best years.  Criticizing Prince midway through year two is premature. 

[catzacker]

The o-line should be fixed, although I understand it's still made up of a majority of Bills terrible recruits.  We've essentially got two o-line coaches (Prince and McCarty), you'd think they'd be able to fix it.  The interior OL has been in college for 2-3 years and in Prince's system for the second year.  Christ, all I heard when prince was hired was "he recruited and developed D'Brick".    Looking at our recruiting, I'm hoping we have a roster of D'Bricks

Aufner, Clyde   Fr.   May be good
Drinkgern, Kaleb   Fr.   LOL
Freeze, Colten   Fr.   LOL
Ward, Nick   Fr.   who?
Wurst, Tony   Fr.   who?
Kendall, Zach   RFr.   Glad we don't need help on the DL
Mayfield, Kenneth   RFr.   he's fat
Stringer, Nick   So.   Beat out by a guy who just got here in August
Unruh, Brock   So.   Avg
Viers, Trevor   So.   young
Alesana, Alesana   Jr.   Avg
Bedore, Jordan   Jr.   Good
Benoit, Eric   Jr.   don't know
Handy, Caleb   Jr.   LOL
Liu, Penisini   Jr.   Avg?
Rooker, Brad   Jr.   LOL
Spexarth, Gerard   Jr.   Avg
Robinson, Logan   Sr.   LOL

[AzCat]

Prince seems to favor the tall lanky OL types, it may take 3-4 years for the kids he recruited to be physically capable of being solid players in the Big XII.  And it takes more than just the physical tools, it really takes guys who've played together for years as a unit.  It'll be a while before Prince's guys get there, if they ever do.

[catzacker]

Prince seems to favor the tall lanky OL types, it may take 3-4 years for the kids he recruited to be physically capable of being solid players in the Big XII.  And it takes more than just the physical tools, it really takes guys who've played together for years as a unit.  It'll be a while before Prince's guys get there, if they ever do.

yes, I can't wait to see an o-line full of tight ends. 

[AzCat]

Ask the Denver Broncos how a smaller lighter OL works for them. 

[catzacker]

Ask the Denver Broncos how a smaller lighter OL works for them. 

LOL.  Let me know when Shanahan is coaching this team and the team has the time to spend on football like the pros do.  Not to mention the fact that they have, by just being in the NFL, more experience at higher levels of play. 

[ew2x4]

In all honesty, I don't think our OL is bad. We just can't go up against a nickel defense in Ace formation with only 3 options to throw to. We should have seen 5-wide formations.

[cireksu]

we couldn't contain them, Freeman had guys bearing down on him constantly with a lot of guys in to pass protect.

[AzCat]

Ask the Denver Broncos how a smaller lighter OL works for them. 

LOL.  Let me know when Shanahan is coaching this team and the team has the time to spend on football like the pros do.  Not to mention the fact that they have, by just being in the NFL, more experience at higher levels of play. 

Point being (naturally you missed it) that you don't necessarily need a buch of fatasses up there.

[catzacker]

Ask the Denver Broncos how a smaller lighter OL works for them. 

LOL.  Let me know when Shanahan is coaching this team and the team has the time to spend on football like the pros do.  Not to mention the fact that they have, by just being in the NFL, more experience at higher levels of play. 

Point being (naturally you missed it) that you don't necessarily need a buch of fatasses up there.

Bill had a bunch of fat asses that still could move and pull.   It wasn't like we just had a bunch of fat asses that couldn't move.  Yet Prince wants to find a mold instead of finding an o-lineman.