As we all agree, there are too many horrendous coaching decisions to discuss them all, but there are a few huge ones that stand out to me:
1) After Marshall allowed its first TD, go back and watch the effort given on the extra point. It's awful. While coaching, the one thing I would look in effort more than anything was the extra point block unit. That's a small part of the game which could end up having a big impact. It's the one play people tend to slack off. Marshall had five of their 11 players on the field give a shit effort after the very first TD. Now, three of them are assigned to play safety in case of a fake, but at the least, they should be close to the line appearing to be rushing to 1) possibly confuse the blocking 2) not show their hand about who/where will be playing safety. It also means at least three others gave a shit effort.
2) I don't think coming out and throwing Wells was a bad idea at all. Yes, Marshall should ride Knox, but the offense has to be somewhat balanced, and coming out throwing was a way to negate what UAB expected for all week. Even better, they gave Wells an easy throw to start off. However, after the second series, it was obvious that he was not comfortable in the pocket in any way. He continued to fade on his throws, throw off of his back foot, and make poor throws. Why? There could be many reasons. What's the easiest way to help out a QB in that situation? GET HIM OUT OF THE FVCKING POCKET! Grant can run. Make it very easy on him. Roll him out and allow him a much easier decision. By rolling him out, you provide a ton of benefits for him:
-He doesn't have to read the whole field. He gets to cut the field in half . . . and that doesn't mean the defense only has to defend half of the field, as Wells can roll right or left, meaning the other side the defense still has to cover their side of the field. By rolling out, Wells gets a very easy read (#1 option to #2 option to run it himself). Hell, since Marshall does a "look back offense" (where they call a play and look back at the sideline to see what play they really want to run based on the defense), you can easily relay to Grant what his read is. You can read a play "top-down" where his first look is the deep receiver, "bottom up" to get the ball out quicker to the short route, or a few other easy reads. Wells wouldn't even have to read what type of coverage the defense is. The coach sees it pre-snap and tells him how to read it. You can teach a dog to do it. The downside is that he won't have options #3 and #4 to throw to, but he wasn't going through his whole progression regardless, so nothing would change in that respect.
-Protection: by rolling him out, he loses almost all responsibilities for setting or knowing protection. If there is a blitz opposite his roll, he is running away from it. No problem. If there is a blitz on the side he is rolling, the only thing he needs to make sure of is that it isn't an outside blitz (and if so, if he has a RB who can reach the outside shoulder of that blitzer). Roll him out and he has barely any responsibilities for protection.
-Vision: Having a bunch of offense linemen and hands from defensive linemen can be tough to see over. Roll him out and give him a clear view.
-Run: The kid can run for a QB. If he doesn't like his easy passing read, just tuck the ball and slide after a four yard gain.
I have no idea why it took Cramsey until the third quarter to start doing this, but when he actually started doing it, Marshall moved the ball.
3) Receivers: I am still extremely under impressed by Marshall's wideouts. And it has nothing to do with production or non-production. Basic things like spacing and route running are poor. It doesn't appear that they are being coached on drawing pass interference penalties. The easiest way to help a struggling passing game is to under throw a ball or throw back-shoulder, which allows receivers to easily draw a pass interference against the defense. I didn't see any effort of Marshall receivers doing that. I was extremely against that coaching hire, and I have seen nothing to change my mind based on how the receivers play. Perhaps the receivers coach brings something to the table that I am not aware of, but his resume (which, to me, is game film of his receivers) lacks a lot.
4) Quitters: This is my biggest gripe. Doc quit. It explains his team's lack of effort and his team quitting in their scheduled game against Charlotte. Marshall had two timeouts left after tackling UAB with 1:38 left in the game. The timeout would have stopped the clock at 2nd-and-6 with 1:38. Another run, which UAB did, would have allowed Marshall to use its final timeout with 1:34 remaining. That would have forced UAB to possibly throw it on third down, possibly resulting in an incompletion (stopping the clock and bringing up 4th down). Even if they decide to run the ball and Marshall stops it, UAB would have ran the clock all of the way down and either gone for it on 4th down or attempted a field goal to make it a 12 point game. Even if they ran the clock down and didn't throw it on third down, Marshall would have had the ball back with about 50 seconds to go (or possibly about 1:25 if UAB decided to throw it on third down).
Now, is it likely that Marshall would score a TD in 40 seconds allowing them for a chance to kick an onside and still have time for a Hail-Mary or long field goal? No. But we've all seen many crazier things happen each week than a team scoring a TD in 40 seconds.
He quit. There is no other way to put it. With two timeouts, down 9 points, and 1:38 on the clock, he fvcking quit.
And @Aaron Perkins used to argue with people and critique coaches frequently on here when they wouldn't call a timeout with 10 seconds on the clock by saying the offense could fumble a snap on the final kneel-down, so I am curious to hear him justify Doc on this one.
1) After Marshall allowed its first TD, go back and watch the effort given on the extra point. It's awful. While coaching, the one thing I would look in effort more than anything was the extra point block unit. That's a small part of the game which could end up having a big impact. It's the one play people tend to slack off. Marshall had five of their 11 players on the field give a shit effort after the very first TD. Now, three of them are assigned to play safety in case of a fake, but at the least, they should be close to the line appearing to be rushing to 1) possibly confuse the blocking 2) not show their hand about who/where will be playing safety. It also means at least three others gave a shit effort.
2) I don't think coming out and throwing Wells was a bad idea at all. Yes, Marshall should ride Knox, but the offense has to be somewhat balanced, and coming out throwing was a way to negate what UAB expected for all week. Even better, they gave Wells an easy throw to start off. However, after the second series, it was obvious that he was not comfortable in the pocket in any way. He continued to fade on his throws, throw off of his back foot, and make poor throws. Why? There could be many reasons. What's the easiest way to help out a QB in that situation? GET HIM OUT OF THE FVCKING POCKET! Grant can run. Make it very easy on him. Roll him out and allow him a much easier decision. By rolling him out, you provide a ton of benefits for him:
-He doesn't have to read the whole field. He gets to cut the field in half . . . and that doesn't mean the defense only has to defend half of the field, as Wells can roll right or left, meaning the other side the defense still has to cover their side of the field. By rolling out, Wells gets a very easy read (#1 option to #2 option to run it himself). Hell, since Marshall does a "look back offense" (where they call a play and look back at the sideline to see what play they really want to run based on the defense), you can easily relay to Grant what his read is. You can read a play "top-down" where his first look is the deep receiver, "bottom up" to get the ball out quicker to the short route, or a few other easy reads. Wells wouldn't even have to read what type of coverage the defense is. The coach sees it pre-snap and tells him how to read it. You can teach a dog to do it. The downside is that he won't have options #3 and #4 to throw to, but he wasn't going through his whole progression regardless, so nothing would change in that respect.
-Protection: by rolling him out, he loses almost all responsibilities for setting or knowing protection. If there is a blitz opposite his roll, he is running away from it. No problem. If there is a blitz on the side he is rolling, the only thing he needs to make sure of is that it isn't an outside blitz (and if so, if he has a RB who can reach the outside shoulder of that blitzer). Roll him out and he has barely any responsibilities for protection.
-Vision: Having a bunch of offense linemen and hands from defensive linemen can be tough to see over. Roll him out and give him a clear view.
-Run: The kid can run for a QB. If he doesn't like his easy passing read, just tuck the ball and slide after a four yard gain.
I have no idea why it took Cramsey until the third quarter to start doing this, but when he actually started doing it, Marshall moved the ball.
3) Receivers: I am still extremely under impressed by Marshall's wideouts. And it has nothing to do with production or non-production. Basic things like spacing and route running are poor. It doesn't appear that they are being coached on drawing pass interference penalties. The easiest way to help a struggling passing game is to under throw a ball or throw back-shoulder, which allows receivers to easily draw a pass interference against the defense. I didn't see any effort of Marshall receivers doing that. I was extremely against that coaching hire, and I have seen nothing to change my mind based on how the receivers play. Perhaps the receivers coach brings something to the table that I am not aware of, but his resume (which, to me, is game film of his receivers) lacks a lot.
4) Quitters: This is my biggest gripe. Doc quit. It explains his team's lack of effort and his team quitting in their scheduled game against Charlotte. Marshall had two timeouts left after tackling UAB with 1:38 left in the game. The timeout would have stopped the clock at 2nd-and-6 with 1:38. Another run, which UAB did, would have allowed Marshall to use its final timeout with 1:34 remaining. That would have forced UAB to possibly throw it on third down, possibly resulting in an incompletion (stopping the clock and bringing up 4th down). Even if they decide to run the ball and Marshall stops it, UAB would have ran the clock all of the way down and either gone for it on 4th down or attempted a field goal to make it a 12 point game. Even if they ran the clock down and didn't throw it on third down, Marshall would have had the ball back with about 50 seconds to go (or possibly about 1:25 if UAB decided to throw it on third down).
Now, is it likely that Marshall would score a TD in 40 seconds allowing them for a chance to kick an onside and still have time for a Hail-Mary or long field goal? No. But we've all seen many crazier things happen each week than a team scoring a TD in 40 seconds.
He quit. There is no other way to put it. With two timeouts, down 9 points, and 1:38 on the clock, he fvcking quit.
And @Aaron Perkins used to argue with people and critique coaches frequently on here when they wouldn't call a timeout with 10 seconds on the clock by saying the offense could fumble a snap on the final kneel-down, so I am curious to hear him justify Doc on this one.
