I will give Billy credit, he has turned the season around. He was an anchor in a storm....a storm of doubt and misery. He is what we need at HC. He needs to turn over the offense to a good OC. Even in the wins, our offense is predictable and pedestrian. Yes Lagway adds a needed spark with his arm.. but the “feel” for the play calling, the timing, isn’t there. Spurrier had a feel for the game. Mullen had a feel for the game. I can’t explain it.. it’s more than X's and O's. It’s knowing when to call what play. We need a good OC. Napier needs to be the CEO. So with that horse beaten one more time...... .....what good OC would you want ? Gus just went to FSU.. and I love it because his offense is old and washed up. Who do you want?
Lagway came for this system. Lagway stayed for this system. Bring in a different guy with a different system?
So who's the coach? Yeah, that's nice that Lagway is a Napier guy, that is important. But we need to take that next step, that will not happen without some kind of positive change in play-calling and maybe even some additions to the playbook. We do NOT need to re-invent the offense, but we do need some additional plays/wrinkles that can and should accentuate our offense without changing who we want to be, and one that will not distract from what is good about our offense. We need new concepts that add to our offense. I see nothing wrong with evolving offensively, and even defensively... The teams that stay the same are actually going backwards, because everyone else is moving forward... and the best teams... they are evolving.
As someone once said it’s not the xes and the o s it’s the Jesse and the Joes. We didn’t have the Jess and the joes till now. Let’s see what happens next year. And by the way zook was wrong it’s both.
Add... tweak the offense... evolve... or you get left behind. And in order to do that, we need fresh ideas from an outside source. No one is for changing who we are, but we CANNOT STAY STALE AND STAGNATED.
It’s fine for the system to stay in place but the play calling within the system must change to take the next step forward.
Add..tweak...etc.? Sure. "Get a good play caller"? Those folks come to a program to call their plays in their system, not tweak an existing system.
I like the idea of a pro set down field passing offense. Especially with who Napier has recruited. But the temp, the long developing plays (especially those long developing running plays!) need to change. How many OCs did Saban bring in.. and it worked. But mostly, it’s the feel for the game Be honest How many of you sat there last night and called a running play every first down? How many knew without any doubt Lagway wasn’t running on the RPO? How many knew the jet sweep man would never get the ball.. We need a better feel for the game. More aggressive. No more 3rd quarter malaises praying e can run the clock out.
Whether you want to consider him a good play caller anymore is certainly debatable but Chip Kelly came to OSUcks to be OC in a system that isn’t his.
I doubt Napier will let an OC just change his system. But if we stay stagnated we will get left behind, and we will think back at the last 3 years and wonder if we saw signs of this offensive stagnation... How many years do you need to figure out that the play-calling needs some type of unpredictability... outside intervention. I saw it in year ONE... and I still see the need to be less predictable.
I don't know if we "need" an OC but our play calls are predictable. I hate to say it, but that's my opinion. Seems that 99% of the time after a nice chunk play the next call is a run straight up the middle. Where is the end around, wheel route to the RB? No shovel passes ever?
With Billy it continues to be more the situation than the actual play call. Going into ‘25 his seat won’t be hot. Try something different. You don’t need to follow the “I’m betting on me” mantra.
The problem some of you might have been assessing our offense, is that many people here think we are getting better... for reasons related to play-calling. We have been in this system for a while and the execution of the plays is better. We have Lagway... that alone makes our team better on offense. We also have a very motivated defense, that makes our team far better overall, and that's a big reason why we're playing more like a top tier team in the SEC lately. But the glaring deficiency that has not changed is the offensive plays/designs nor the play calling. That is still the same ole song and dance. The defense, and having Lagway, has only served to mask our offensive deficiencies. We need some real modifications to the offense, without changing our offensive identity... if that's even a bad thing. We seem to have forgotten about the last 3 freaking years of offensive futility of play-calling in particular. That is still in need of fixing and if you can't see it than you are not paying enough attention to the reality of our offense. No one wants Napier to let some new OC come and change his offense, nor would Napier let someone come in and just scrap his playbook. But new ideas and a fresh look at Napier's play-book, with some additions is a great idea, and an idea that is 3 years late to the "party" so to speak. Change... tweak... evolve or get left behind. But at the very least, we need a more fluidity in our offensive play-calling... no more herky-jerky stop and go play calls, withtoo often predicable play calling to start the 3rd quarter. We do need play calls with flow and smoothness, not predictable plays the get blown-up... plays that get us nowhere. And it would be nice if we can disguise our run and pass plays from eachother before we even snap the ball. That is more of an SOS level of refinement that do need on offense. Napier might nee to talk with SOS about that... and more Emory & Henry plays that force teams to waste timeouts. This is part of the stratagey that I mentioned in the summer long before the season started It's past the time for Napier to use his set pieces and play designs to effect other teams in a negative way... forcing them to waste their timeouts. SOS was a master at that. Bring in more Emory & Henry set piece plays... and learn them. .