- Jan 14, 2016
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I owe Franks an apology. Watching that game yesterday, I got more and more frustrated as we struggled on O against an FCS team. I took my ire out on Franks and that was wrong. I just re-watched the first 3 qtrs of the game. I should have directed my ire at Mullen instead. Here's what I saw.
Franks went 15/15 in the first half until the final hail mary. Here's a breakdown.
7 passes at or behind the line of scrimmage
6 passes for less than 10 yards (most travelled about 5 yards past the line)
2 passes down field (the two td's)
At least half of the throws were designed sideways passes where Franks never even looked downfield.
We didn't throw one intermediate pass downfield until the 3rd qtr pass to Grimes on 3rd and 15 (it was a nice throw by Franks).
This is Mullen's O. Its the same frustrating O he ran when he was the O coordinator for us under Meyer. Re-watching the game this morning confirmed that for me.
Someone asked me last night if it was the offensive system that I was frustrated with and not Franks. My answer now after re-watching the game is absolutely!
We were playing a completely outmanned team and Mullen called a sideways dink and dunk O all day long. Its now clear to me that this is what he wants to run and its what he wanted his players to practice and perfect yesterday.
Its also clear to me that this O is not a fit for Franks as he's just not a dynamic runner. So instead of game planning to take advantage of Frank's strengths (I know, I can't believe I'm writing that), Mullen is forcing him to do things he's just not very good at. That 4th down QB keeper in the 2nd qtr is a perfect example of that. A dynamic dual threat qb picks that up every time. We don't have one of those so why are we running that play?
I'm also pretty convinced that this O with this roster won't work against elite SEC defenses. We ran the O almost to perfection in the first half yesterday against an FCS team and only scored 17 points.
So I guess this is a longwinded way for me to say I'm done railing on Franks. He's not our problem. He's just running what Mullen is asking him to run. I think that's our real problem.
Franks went 15/15 in the first half until the final hail mary. Here's a breakdown.
7 passes at or behind the line of scrimmage
6 passes for less than 10 yards (most travelled about 5 yards past the line)
2 passes down field (the two td's)
At least half of the throws were designed sideways passes where Franks never even looked downfield.
We didn't throw one intermediate pass downfield until the 3rd qtr pass to Grimes on 3rd and 15 (it was a nice throw by Franks).
This is Mullen's O. Its the same frustrating O he ran when he was the O coordinator for us under Meyer. Re-watching the game this morning confirmed that for me.
Someone asked me last night if it was the offensive system that I was frustrated with and not Franks. My answer now after re-watching the game is absolutely!
We were playing a completely outmanned team and Mullen called a sideways dink and dunk O all day long. Its now clear to me that this is what he wants to run and its what he wanted his players to practice and perfect yesterday.
Its also clear to me that this O is not a fit for Franks as he's just not a dynamic runner. So instead of game planning to take advantage of Frank's strengths (I know, I can't believe I'm writing that), Mullen is forcing him to do things he's just not very good at. That 4th down QB keeper in the 2nd qtr is a perfect example of that. A dynamic dual threat qb picks that up every time. We don't have one of those so why are we running that play?
I'm also pretty convinced that this O with this roster won't work against elite SEC defenses. We ran the O almost to perfection in the first half yesterday against an FCS team and only scored 17 points.
So I guess this is a longwinded way for me to say I'm done railing on Franks. He's not our problem. He's just running what Mullen is asking him to run. I think that's our real problem.