The Texas effect, the stretch play, and the ku game...

[ksu_FAN]

As I've thought about our horrid performance in Houston and the season it seems to me that the Texas game, as good as it was, perhaps inflated the expectations of this staff for Freeman and put too much on his shoulders.  In our solid Big 12 performances outside of the UT game, we were a much more balanced team that let the run (in fact by the numbers we ran it more) set up the pass.  We leaned heavly on a mix of outside zone/stretch mixing in some traps and cutbacks then the rollout off of that.  And keep in mind even though we didn't run it real well, both of our big plays vs UT to Figurs were off of playfakes. 

In hindsight, a major turning point may have been the combination of Freeman slinging it around with success against UT (at times) and then the ku game, specifically the pick he threw early vs ku.  It was on the rollout off of our stretch look and Freeman threw it almost expecting the recieiver to be open b/c it had seemed the last couple weeks it had been open constantly and he threw it right to a Jayhawk.  From that point forward Josh's struggles only seemed to compound and while I hoped it would be different in Houston, it seemed to be a carryover from the ku game with Freeman often in trouble and being confused by RU's defense.

I'm not sure what happened, but we seemed to go away from a team that was patient with the running game and let the running game set up the pass to one that seemed to put the game into Josh's hands to win or lose and he obviously showed he wasn't ready for that yet against both ku and RU.  I would have hoped we had learned our lesson vs our Big 12 schedule and know that while the UT game was great, we needed a mix of trying to be a ball control team that let our defense and special teams make plays to compensate for mistakes.  Against ku and RU we simply weren't able to make some of those game changing plays (outside of Figurs return) on defense and in special teams and its obvious we don't have the offense yet to make up for that.  A blending of gameplans from the OSU, ISU, and CU games along with what happened vs UT would have seemed to be a better fit, but that didn't seem to come about. 

Hopefully a long offseason and breaking down this team will help this staff to put together a better plan for this team to be successful game in and game out next year, and not the hit and miss success we had this year.  The logical next step for this program is to avoid the lows that we reached when we were low this year.  I think a more balanced and consistent offensive approach is the first step, though I think we were in offensive flux all year this year in some ways. 

Of course, that doesn't answer the many questions we have on defense, but hopefully we can make some strides on the offensive side to help Morris and co. out.

[sonofdaxjones]

When you walk into a game against your instate rival with your 3 top receivers either out, or gimping around.  You don't "sling" the ball all over the place . . . even ku's $hitty pass D can cover KSU's 3-5th receivers.  You also don't continually try and run the same play action roll out all the time against a team that has had two weeks to prepare and is playing their super bowl against you.

[ksu_FAN]

Josh was comfortable with the roll out until that play vs ku.  But that time we ran it to the short side of the field and we didn't seem to have a short route available or Josh didn't see it.  Whatever the case, Freeman's confidence was very short lived after the UT game and this staff has to find a way to get it back.  He looked like a whipped puppy much of the game vs RU. 

And I think Prince and Franklin might have overinflated what Josh was capable of (regardless of WR corp) after that stretch of games vs ISU, CU, and UT. 

Plus RU was just pretty darn good.

[fatty fat fat]

I know this may sound elementary (and by elementary I mean Northview quality, not Bergman) but when Figurs went out, and our starters receivers consisted of two walk-ons (Nelson, Gonzalez) and a converted 2** JUCO DB, we just didn't have any weapons to throw to. 

[ksu_FAN]

There is no doubt about that. 

That would seem to be all the more reason to lean on the running game and playaction pass unless our staff had absolutely no hope that our defense could stop anyone.

[sonofdaxjones]

The group of KSU fans I watched the game with were all a little tired of what appeared to be the coddling Prince was giving Freeman both in the ku game and the RU game.

Freshman or not, a couple of those turnovers deserved an A$$ chewing.

[ksu_FAN]

It appeared to me that after his last fumble Prince was doing more than coddling.  He wasn't exactly in Josh's face, but I don't think he was saying "that's alright Josh" either.  He seemed to be pretty upset with Josh as he talked to him with his hand in front of his face so the cameras couldn't see what he was doing.

In any case, this staff will have a lot to analyze this offseason and must settle on a more consistent plan both offensively and defensively for this team to be competitive game in and game out.  We've got to get rid of the issues that led to the multiple blow out losses, and that goes beyond talent IMO.

[catzacker]

The Texas game did more harm than good in the sense that it somehow convinced people (maybe the coaches, maybe the players, certainly the fans) that KSU could line up and beat anyone.  People on this board want to refer to the "Texas game plan" but if you actually look at it, after nearly every turnover we hit a homerun play.  That doesn't happen and you can't "gameplan" that.  If you're banking on hitting a WR pass and a RB pass, back to back, then you've got problems.  In short, it was a fluke rather than an indication of potential.  The OSU and CU games were the best game planning/play calling the entire year.  We could actually run the ball and stuck with it the entire game, got a few big passing plays (one on a short route, one on a longer one) and we got a decent effort from the defense.  The book is out on Freeman and our o-line...pressure up the middle and they both fold; we can't sprint Josh out on every play.   Defensively, cheese and rise, stop the f-ing run.  Finally, the coaching staff hasn't done a real good job of making adjustments; we live and die by the gameplan we go in with. 

[ksu_FAN]

Yeah, great points.  I'm patient enough to chalk some of that up to a largely inexperienced first year staff for now. 

When you add it all up, even with a somewhat down Big 12, its pretty significant that we won 7 games.  We made our ugly moments as ugly as possible, but when you consider our weaknesses this year this staff actually had to do some pretty good things at times to win 7.  Its hard to know what to think going into next year.

[michigancat]

It's almost like Ron stopped considering Freeman a freshman QB after the UT game.  It's almost like a complete 180 in philosophy from "give our QB a chance to win the game in the 4th" to "he has to go 33-45 for us to have a chance".

Weird.

[Skycat]

It's almost like Ron stopped considering Freeman a freshman QB after the UT game.  It's almost like a complete 180 in philosophy from "give our QB a chance to win the game in the 4th" to "he has to go 33-45 for us to have a chance".

Weird.

That gets at what I find most dissapointing about the season.  We didn't really establish any kind of identity.  I mean, what exactly are we going to come out and try to establish next year?  I think you'd be hard pressed to figure that out based on what we did this season.

[BrotherDDay]

Run defense and offensive play calling are obvious, but one thing that gets overlooked, and I don't have the stats on it, is 3rd down defense -- even more so, 3rd and long defense.  It just seems like throughout the year, teams were able to convert 3rd down (and long) situations.  This is not good and hurts the defense on multiple fronts. 

Marshall started this trend and it didn't get any better during the year.  Obviously, there are some major holes in Morris' 3rd down schemes that teams are able to expose.  And teams were doing it with the run and the pass.

It's no wonder the time of possession in most games was so skewed towards the opponents.  3rd down had a lot to do with it.

[bigdeal]

I think perhaps the Mangie one noticed from the UT game that we ran alot of quick patterns, then mixed in traps, etc. runs to keep the rush off balance, then went deep.  I think both ku and RU sat on our short routes, and rushed their ends up field to limit our roll outs....essentially, they stopped our short passing game from which everything fed because they knew they could get a pash rush.  When rushing, they stayed in their lanes because they knew they could beat our O-Linemen and keep Freeman in the pocket, where he couldn't sprint out and move around enough to buy time for the receivers to get downfield.  As for the 3rd down conversions, I believe the Cover 2 is a soft zone designed for the D-Line to get pressure.  We need to tighten up our zone coverage and our D-tackles have to wreak a little havoc so the O-line can't double our ends.  Basically, I think our O-line and D-tackles are the two glaring weak spots.  It is difficult to assess playcalling and QB play when he runs for his life every play and the RB's have no holes through which to run.  On D, I feared all year that teams that stayed with a running game would have success, as long as they ran some misdirection early to keep us home.  If Prince can address the line play in the off season and make them at least average, and come up with some good D-tackles, and some replacement LB's and WR's, we should be pretty good next year.  By the way, on game plan, I think Prince wants balance in the sense that he wants to be able to exploit whatever weaknesses a defense may have, not just to have a 50-50 mix each game.   

[Norm93]

I think perhaps the Mangie one noticed from the UT game that we ran alot of quick patterns, then mixed in traps, etc. runs to keep the rush off balance, then went deep.  I think both ku and RU sat on our short routes, and rushed their ends up field to limit our roll outs....essentially, they stopped our short passing game from which everything fed because they knew they could get a pash rush.  When rushing, they stayed in their lanes because they knew they could beat our O-Linemen and keep Freeman in the pocket, where he couldn't sprint out and move around enough to buy time for the receivers to get downfield.    

You're correct.  I do know that Rutgers was spreading their defense sideline to sideline to stop the short passing game.  They kept one safety back that would be 30-40 yards from the line of scrimmage in passing situations, I'm guessing to help cover Figurs if he had enough time to get deep.  That being said, the middle of the field was wide open.  Obviously, the o-line didn't protect long enough for KSU to exploit that, and I don't think we did a good job of play calling trying to exploit it.

I think the staff needs to spend plenty of time this offseason self-scouting, which should be expected from a young staff after their first year.   

[cireksu]

Texas, we ran the ball effectively, I think both rb's averaged about 4 yds.  We just didn't do it much.  most of figures biggest plays, he was the only reciever and he just flat beat the coverage.

ku game:  Our gameplan was obviously trying to duplicate CU, ku had 2 weeks to prepare and as mentioned above recievers 3-5 to cover.  They knew we didn't have anyone that could beat them deep and so they sold out blitzes and the short routes.

Rutgers:  This is the only time that I really questioned the game plan.  we didn't try to establish the run, didn't try any misdirection which often works with a agressive defense.  Of course we didn't have a whole lot of time to do try this because of penalties on first/2nd down putting us in early long yardage situations.  In those obvious passing downs, RU T'd off on our Oline and beat them handily.  Our oline was not built for pass protection, they have slow feet and short arms and get off balance easily, this has been evident since the beginnig of the season.  In the second half RU controlled the ball so well on the ground that we just didn't have the ball enough to get anything going offensively.


Defense.  The Cover 2 only works with a good pass rush particularly up the middle from the tackles.  Qb's can step up in the pocket to get away from the ends but if the DT is in his face he has no where to go and has to throw off his back foot.  We didn't have that with echols out and I am terrified about next year.  They sit in the cover 2 on many long ydg situations and without adiquate pressure the cover 2 is not hard to complete the 15 yarder up the seam which is where many of those 3rd and long completions happen.  We need to find a way to get more pressure up the middle next year, If we do then the defense will be much better.  We cannot continue to have DT's that do not require double teams on run and pass plays.