The number of offensive plays a game depends more on the defense than it does on the offense many times. When the defense improved and got some stops the number of offensive plays went up.
Sure, players gotta make plays. But if you run a dive into an 8 man box, you better have exceptional players or recognize that your success rate is going to be poor. We have a history under Billy of poor decisions in critical situations (UT fg last year as one of many) and statistically subpar red zone results. This should be an opportunity for improvement in play calling (hard for me to imagine how BN can call the offense, be the head coach, manage this program, and game plan for a variety of such critical situations).
My concerns about our performance in the redzone are more about slow developing misdirection plays that fool no one, added to a steady diet of behind the LOS passes, plus plenty of off tackle stuff that fortunately works a lot better than the cute crap. I would respectfully ask anyone who doesn't believe there're some serious issues with the RZ O to check out the first half of the UTe debacle. We lost that game in the first and second quarters due to utter ineptitude in the RZ and the absence of a killer instinct on the sideline - not in an OT that should never have been required in the first place. My personal feeling is that overall play on the field is definitely improving, while the play calling is still stuck in neutral/reverse much of the time. I sincerely hope Billy proves me wrong about all of this, but I'm honestly concerned about his decision to forego hiring a real, proven P4 or NFL OC - with the moment of truth drawing closer by the day. Que sera, sera.
Coaches can only scheme so much and Danny is going to throw tds no matter what route Reidel, Hilliard , and Green run. An elite playcaller/oc is definitely a plus but also a great qb can make it work also. All coaches look better when they have great qb's making elite throws. DJ has to be elite or its going to be rough. If DJ has the goods, Napier will be ok. He isnt SOS but he'll be fine if DJ is a great qb. Look at Mullen with EJ after a couple games when defenses figured out the limited throws he could make. Didnt look so genius but Trask made it look easy. Same system, way fifferent results. The qb is way more important than the playcaller.
I can't argue with any of that. In fact, I believe in the DJ IT factor too. Like you said, UF will be fine or even better, almost regardless of the occasional trick-play blunder or the predictable, easy to stop plays, because he's just that guy. There will be lots of times when DJ's pure God-given talent is almost unstoppable when the O is playing well as a unit. My worry is about how many points are left on the field against top teams with their own star QBs and everything else to go along with them. FTR, to me, "fine" is at least a 9-3 regular season with a couple of very impressive wins and a 10th win in a decent bowl. I personally see a win over scUM as a must. Knocking off UGA or both UTs would be epic. Follow that with a top 5 recruiting class and I'd be ecstatic. But this is a dog-eat-dog world for real these days, and I want every advantage I can grab in the here and now. Events this season will impact '26 and could pave the way to a National Championship or additional noise in the system. Is it Spring yet?
Well if we just throw the ball deep to speedy receivers, we don’t need to worry about Redzone Offense.
Also, your placekicker plays into the calculation. Remember when Urbs couldn't rely on those chip shot field goals how we went for it a lot more often on 4th down? Plus Tebow was almost a lock to get the yardage or often scored. Billy has had the luxury of reliable field goal kickers. This makes a difference!
Yes, I agree with you, somewhat. However, I have noticed the play calls coming in to slow, at times--to the point of needing to call a timeout to avoid a delay of game penalty--and this happens far too frequently. Yes, other teams struggle with this too! And, there are times when the play clock is 25 seconds instead of 40 seconds. In reality, coaches should be aware of the clock and be prepared. It seems that this should be correctable, as clock management is of the utmost concern! Since there is more than one offensive playcaller, why can't this problem be fixed?
Hopefully, since Calloway came from an air raid system, we will see more of that. Obviously, with DJ, an air raid system would play to his strength!
Well stated. And logical at this point. He now has the team he needs to get it done. As he truly believes in himself as a play-caller, it’s understandable that he would have greater confidence in himself than bringing in someone new this season. But this is his shot right now. If he doesn’t succeed this season, it will be imperative that he bring in an OC for 2026. He probably knows this too.
If he doesn't succeed this season the play caller won't matter because most likely he and DJ will be gone. He made his own noose and hung it himself.... Let's just hope we open the season with more than 6 offensive plays.
I’m sure that would make you feel better Endless, but it would be foolish and destructive to shitcan the entire coaching staff over play calling. There exists more than one vital sign for a program. Consider our roster 3 years rebuilt from a total dumpster fire. Consider the character of the kids putting on the orange & blue and the effort on the field. Consider the lack of off-field issues. Consider that we are currently on an upward trajectory and won more games last season than anybody was expecting. Can you actually come up with one thing to bitch about other than the lack of an OC? I’ve always considered myself impatient, but some of y’all are knee-jerk crazy. How about we see how things go this season, and if play-calling is still holding us back we fix that instead of blowing up the entire program and starting over from scratch.
