Heroes and Goats or "I can't wait for UFR and Need to Get it Out"

I would love for someone to break down the success of our passing game on 1st, 2nd and 3rd down this season.  A lot of times this year, we've fallen into the trap of only throwing past the sticks on obvious downs, which just makes it that much more difficult to execute.  In the first half against Wisconsin, and again in the 2nd and 3rd quarters yesterday, we seemed to run on first down 80-90% of the time - usually for nothing.  And then we'd be put in obvious passing situations, the defense would blitz, and Threet would frequently be forced into a hurried throw. 

I know the conventional wisdom is that you have to protect a young passer by developing a run-first offense, but our running game is so bad right now - and defenses are so prepared for us to run on first down - that most of these carries are turning into wasted downs.  McGuffie meets a defender in the backfield on a regular basis.  In the second half against Wisconsin, we become a lot more pass-oriented on first downs and we saw the offense perk up.  I think we're going to have to continue with that, even if it means living with some freshman mistakes by Threet.

This is why I want to see a breakdown of how our passing game performs on 1st, 2nd and 3rd down.  My belief is that it is probably most successful on 1st down, when it isn't an obvious passing situation and the defense is less likely to blitz and put more pressure on our pass protection. 

Guys, enough with the insults.  I'm not calling for us to throw on every down, or even more total passes than we are right now.  What I would like to see is us simply mix up our sequencing so we aren't telegraphing to the defense what we're doing each down.  Right now, here's pretty much how our offense functions.  First down is a handoff to McGuffie, who is typically met in the backfield and loses a yard or maybe fights back to the line of scrimmage.  Second down is a little screen, often also to McGuffie, who is typically tackled immediately.  Third down we have to throw beyond the sticks, and the defense tees off on Threet and frequently forces him to get rid of it before he's ready, leading to an inaccurate throw. 

McGuffie had 19 carries for 70 yards yesterday.  That's a 3.6 average, which is tolerable.  Problem is, about 20 of his yards came on one carry, and he had two others of about 15 yards.  The other 16 carries netted barely a yard a pop.  That's not a functional ground attack.  Mixing up the play-sequencing (which can also include calling runs on passing downs) might help the opposing D honest.  At this point defenses are fully committing themselves to the run on most first downs and McGuffie (and the other backs) have no chance.