Snowflakes Thread: Offense

Submitted by LSAClassOf2000 on

This is your official snowflake thread for discussing the offense today against Appalachian State. 

Muttley

August 30th, 2014 at 4:12 PM ^

We didn't do that to tomato cans Akron & Connecticut last year.

What we didn't see (struggling vs a cupcake) is indicative of better coaching.

Obviously, this doesn't show how we'll perform against Top 25-type competition, but I think we have very strong reason to believe that we'll play up to our talent level this year.

While intangible, that is a very positive development.

alum96

August 30th, 2014 at 4:16 PM ^

My assessment as well.  Tempered with the reality (a) it was App State and (b) App State returned all of 2 of their front 7.  The OL did what it should have done versus an overmatched team.  We'll have much better data in 7 days.

Only qualm outside of that is I'd have liked Devin to spread the ball around more to his 2nd options.  Looking solely at his first option was a major issue last year and good teams took advantage of it.  Jury out there.  Otherwise Devin looked calm.  And shockingly few runs from a running QBs - which was great.  No need for them today.

steve sharik

August 30th, 2014 at 9:41 PM ^

...you know, when the first option is open, you throw it to him.  I mean, only the Megatron impersonation was a throw into tight coverage, and I don't see how one can complain about the decision to throw it up to the #1 clad, 6'6" vice-handed skywalker in the end zone.

jackw8542

August 30th, 2014 at 4:08 PM ^

Pass protection was consistently good, and after the O line settled in a little it did a good job of opening holes.  Kalis had a solid game, and so did Cole except for the one missed block that allowed Gardner to get sacked relatively early in the game.  After that, Cole seemed solid, and the middle of the line seemed to do a good job, as well.

Boom Goes the …

August 30th, 2014 at 3:21 PM ^

a few too many missed assignments on the OLine but there were definitely some holes and the 2 headed monsters seemed to run hard

UMfan21

August 30th, 2014 at 3:22 PM ^

Oline had it's moments. Going to be a roller coaster for awhile. Passing game looked great. I love how Nuss worked the field from screens to short/intermediate/deep targets.



To my untrained eye, Green just seems half a step slow or something. Smith just seems to hit the he harder. I thought last year maybe Green was hesitant as a freshman. I'm thinking now that's just how he runs.



There is promise here, but it's hard to measure vs App State.

I Like Burgers

August 30th, 2014 at 3:36 PM ^

I don't know how much of it was App State and how much of it was Nuss, but there was never really a moment where I was like "what the hell kinda call was that??"  Which given the last three years...was odd.  Seemed like anytime the offense was having trouble, they went to a strength and something that was easy to execute.  Incredibly refreshing to see.

And yeah, if we could someone combine Green and Smith into one back, we'd have something really good.

Michigan Arrogance

August 30th, 2014 at 3:22 PM ^

Let the debate begin: Gardner or Morris?

 

Srsly: I liked Smith more than Green- Green had holes the size of a small moon, Smith can take a hit and keep going. Green still goes down on 1st contact. I liked the cuts smith made more, but Green did have a solid opening series in teh 2nd half.

OL was encouraging, IMO a few major mistakes but they controlled the LOS. The M D is OUTSTANDING.

JamieH

August 30th, 2014 at 4:23 PM ^

I think Smith was CLEARLY better than Green even though Green had great numbers.  Green has balance issues and slow feet (compared to Smith) IMO.  Smith cuts quicker and stays on his feet better.  Ignoring injury concerns, I bet Smith will end up being our lead back this year. 

Leonhall

August 30th, 2014 at 3:24 PM ^

Oline was/is still a question mark, I think both rb's are equal, green has more explosiveness, less power, smith is slow, but powerful. Oline must get better every week.



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reshp1

August 30th, 2014 at 3:24 PM ^

OL started slow, but then had some really really nice plays. Competition caveats apply, but I haven't seen 5-6 guys all play their assignments perfectly on a given play like we did today in a long long time. Definitely something to build off of.

Pass pro was adequate. Cole got beat clean once, I think there was one other against another linemen, but pretty good. Nuss is scheming around it so as long as the ball comes out when it should we should be ok.

Gardner looked awesome. Funchess is just not fair, the RBs started slow with some bad vision, but overall found the correct holes when they were there (yay, holes!)

bjk

August 30th, 2014 at 8:08 PM ^

the sarcasm has developed to a razor-sharp level of dryness and subtlety beyond my level of comprehension this year, or a tendency toward naive literalism has abolished sensitivity to sarcasm from the comment section.

Just in case, I'm keeping my smart remarks in the quiver until we see how this year's comment sections shake out.

michiganman01

August 30th, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^

I think we can say it has improved. App State cant be worse than UCONN last year, and look how bad the offense played against them. But we wont know how much it has imoroved until next week and late October

LSAClassOf2000

August 30th, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^

First and foremost, let me say that setting up the Snowflake threads while being within the vicinity of a heavily-used connection ner the stadium is NOT recommended. 

Second, a few people - myself among them - were discussing this on Twitter just a moment ago, and it is nothing more than trivia really, but last year we had 1,569 yards of rushing on the season, and just today we gained 350 yards on the ground. In other words, in one game, we gained about 22% of last year's total. Tougher opponents will slow that down and we still have some issues blocking, I think, but it is encouraging so far (insert strength of conclusion qualifier as it is one game). 

reshp1

August 30th, 2014 at 3:44 PM ^

Noticed that too. Substitutions seemed really slow, getting plays in and out of the huddle itself seemed ok. Definitely more pointing and talking from Gardner at the line though, Definitely a different approach to what responsibilities the QBs have under Nuss than under Borges.