Orange Bowl Snowflakes: The Offense

The O-line has been a weak spot all year...couldn't run the ball when we needed to close out games, and couldn't pass block when we needed to.  We need to recruit and develop a bunch of O-linemen.  Stating the obvious, I know, but it's painfully true.  

Wilton Speight just played O'Korn and Peters back into an open competition for starting QB.

Get a fucking oline

Goodbye Kalis. Every season, almost every game I had hope that he would turn out. 4 years of that can wear on a fellow.

Running toss plays to smith against this defense should get someone fired. Darboh and chesson couldn't get seperation against backup dbs. It's the difference between really good and elite recruiting and it showed. Just really disappointed in the coaching tonight more than anything.

offense was not good.  Same problem.  O-line ot good enough (especially against good Ds)  this year.

Speight was not great today, but the real problem was the o-line. 

Mediocre o-line play means you can't run consistently inside.  And it also meant that Speight was hurried/sacked on way too many pass plays.

And FSU's speed in the back 7 neutralized the things that you would do--jet sweeps, outside pitches, screens, etc.--to deal with the inability to run inside and/or a constantly collapsing pocket.

 

 

 

 

The offensive line is horrendous. Say what you will about Speight, but he doesn't get much chance behind that line. They're bad. Which makes all the stretch and toss plays more questionable.

We need to develop a dominate back. Green and then Isaac not panning out hurt. I like Smith's toughness, but you could see what a difference there was tonight.

has been repeatedly abused by Demarcus Walker and Derrick Nnadi all night long. They can't scheme to mask both OGs and it's hurting Michigan.  FSU's quickness and athleticism is giving Michigan OL a lot of problems.

The offense like didn't block anyone

Our offense will be better without smith and peppers if only because that's two fewer players with horrible play call packages attached to them.

He has shown a flaw, a rather important one. This was repeated through the whole seasons. Colorado hits him, he is off the rest of the game, Iowa game missing repeated throws deep, Ohio State, the key interception (the 2nd one), now this bowl game. He was throwing consistently off his back foot, rushed nag his throws and just missing too many easy targets. Yeah the O Line played poorly, but there were too many times Speight just missed. Harbaugh's offense is still evolving. I suspect that he will have open competition and opportunity is knocking.

I understand why people are on the oline, but a few of them weren't quick sacks. Whether that's WRs or the QB (or route combos), I can't say, but it isn't all on the line.

Our offensive line is terrible. No one blocks to the whistle.

OL was horrific. Speight was lousy, though he improved as the game went on. Drevno was atrocious. Needs to be sacked immediately.

but the OL has been pathetic for years now. I think there is a decent chance the OL is as good or better next year simply due to Bredeson and Cole returning, Mags being our best OL but not all that great, Braden meh and Kalis gone. I sound like an asshole but I'm tired of Kalis. I'll leave it at that. The pitch runs to Smith were pointless but you have to make a defense cover the field so you can't go away from the edge 100%. Speight needs to learn to read a defense but when he has no running game to help him I'm stunned we were even in this game. FSU is a very good, athletic team but I don't think this game represented our team very well. Then again, maybe it did.

Many people felt we blew an opportunity for greatest with all the talent we had on this team. I thought that too for awhile. Though after watching our offense in the last 3 or 4 games, I realize now that we just weren't good enough offensively to win a National Championship.

Next year we will be young but have speed that we don't have this year. Growing pains on the OL but I think there is potential.
LT- Cole
LG-Brederson
C-Ruiz
RG-Onwenu
RT-Ulizio
TE-Bunting
TE-Asiasi/Wheatley
WR-DPJ
WR--Crawford
Slot-McDoom
RB-Evans/Higdon/Please please Harris
FB-Hill/Poggi
QB-Peters

We will be great soon but we won't have deadweight like we did this year with the likes of Kalis, Braden, Smith, Pepcat

really, really bad. the line just never got better and struggled mightily against good competition. Speight might be serviceable with a speedy RB, but I would not be surprised at all to see Peters given the keys next year. Wide receivers didn't really make any plays in the three losses. If not for the tight ends this year...shudder...

This game was a microcosm of the season. It was a championship-level team everywhere except OL, and Speight isn't quite good (or healthy) enough to overcome it. The OL issues were exacerbated by the lack of explosiveness at the skill positions. You could've gotten by with only one of those issues, but all of them together.

With so much youth coming in, it's probably not likely that the line makes a big leap next year, so the season will again hinge on how much of a leap Speight (assuming he holds of Peters) can make and how soon all those youngsters at WR and RB can make an impact. Brown has enough of a track record to expect the defense to be good, so the offense's ability to produce against teams with a clue will be the difference between a playoff run and another disappointing 10-win season.

And feel justified based on his performance. I love Deveon as a dude but he just couldn't get it done behind that o-line I'm sorry. Love all these guys to pieces and Harbaugh knows a million times more than I will ever know

Coaching can only do so much. The O-line wasn't good tonight but what do you expect against the best pass rushing d line in the country? The fact is there was many times Speight had enough time and he was missing wide open receivers. Speights simply an average quarterback.

I don't understand why Crawford was in all the time without a catch and Drake Harris didn't even get a chance and get in on one play.  Shame on the coaches!

Crap OL and crap Speight. Both have been awful since the Iowa game, but Speight was more to blame in the OSU game and the OL was more to blame in this one. I hope that Speight is beat out simply because at worst they'll be Speight level, but they'd have a higher ceiling. He's just  a decent QB and we need a great one. 

WR and RB are good enough to win all these games. I'll miss Smith because he's a tough back that did a lot for this team. He wasn't fast and a homerun threat, but he played with passion, emotion and toughness and he was pretty good. We lose so many starters that I can't see Speight stepping up to compensate. If we lost 3 games with this much talent, we could easily lose the same amount if not more next year because of the inexperience. The raw talent could very well be better though.

working on a toss sweep to the slowest guy on the field? Maybe we can perfect it so it gains 1-2 yards. Seriously, this offense was painful for most of the game. The OL is mediocre, Smith is one of the least explosive RBs on a top team in recent memory, and Speight lacks "it" to impose his will on games. Could have been a sure win tonight and a great season with a reliable O against good defenses. Hopefully JH puts every position in play, including QB, during spring.