Evolved Passing Game Next Season
Do you guys think Rodriguez might benefit from going on one of those coaching visits and trying to pick up some of the intricacies of the Spread passing attack we are seeing used so much in the Big 12 this year? I know the system that Texas Tech and many others in the Big 12 run is evolved from the BYU Air Raid system, but I would be willing to wager that there are elements that could be installed into the RR system without disrupting the Zone-Read run game.
Any thoughts?
November 30th, 2008 at 12:11 AM ^
RR and his staff visit the Oklahoma staff every year and talk about the spread. so i bet he'll get some more things to use.
November 30th, 2008 at 12:15 AM ^
I did not know this. I had heard he visited with Gary Pinkel at Mizzou this past off season to get some tips on working Tight Ends into the system a bit more.
November 30th, 2008 at 9:38 AM ^
i heard it was the other way around.. that oklahoma used to visit WV to get ideas from RR.
November 30th, 2008 at 12:19 AM ^
was in his monday press conference. thats how i found out.
November 30th, 2008 at 12:27 AM ^
I think Troy under Tony Franklin ran the Air Raid, but had a lot of their running plays similar to the ones Rodriguez ran. So, its probably possible to combine the two systems. Maybe Rodriguez should meet with Franklin and incorporate some of the stuff into his passing game.
November 30th, 2008 at 1:42 AM ^
a good deal as it is. most people don't realize this though because our QBs this year couldn't even complete screen passes.
November 30th, 2008 at 4:47 AM ^
Didn't Smart Football make a comment about how Rodriguez needed to sophisticate his passing style if he wanted to really up the ante on his system at UM?
I don't want to come off like I'm criticizing Rich Rod, I am a steady Kool-Aid drinker, but it wouldn't hurt to tweak that aspect of our offense would it?
November 30th, 2008 at 5:56 AM ^
It certainly helps that each of those Big 12 QBs is remarkably accurate. As for 'sophistication', they did what they could this season, considering the pieces they had to work with. We still passed probably 60% of the time or so...and the long plays were there, open...they just couldnt hit them. This is why you saw so many short checkdowns with Sheridan the last couple of games...he could not hit anything over 20 yrds very often.
November 30th, 2008 at 10:41 AM ^
I was actually pleasantly surprised that the passing game this year did appear to have a decent level of sophistication, maybe as much as Threet/Sheridan could handle. As we saw, it was pretty good at routinely getting people open on vertical routes. Execution, on the other hand, was poor due to poor QB play.
I also think we saw the beginnings of a decent horizontal game, one that should improve as our line (time being critical in the horizontal game) improves.
While I certainly hope RichRoc keeps learning and evolving his system, particularly if he keeps adding "Air Raid"-type elements, I was pleasantly surprised with the passing game this year.
In design, not execution.
November 30th, 2008 at 10:46 AM ^
Chitown had an excellent post on our run/pass split this week. You can find it linked on Brian's MGo.licious on the right sidebar or just copy and paste this link:
http://wolverineliberationarmy.blogspot.com/2008/11/myth-busting-pt-2.h…
One thing Rod will have access to that as coach at Michigan is big, fast, tall outside WRs, ala Braylon. He had to rely on the slot ninjas in the past because that's all he could recruit. I think we'll all witness the next evolution of Rod's spread over the next few years.
Also, Oklahoma visited with his staff about running the no-huddle.
November 30th, 2008 at 11:28 AM ^
thanks for pointing it out. Chitown is dead on!
November 30th, 2008 at 11:36 AM ^
Anytime man. That's what the WLA is there for: EDUCATION! Well, that and dick jokes.