Floyd in the Backfield?

[irishfan]

Sorry if this has been mentioned in another thread, but was anyone wondering when BK would start putting Floyd in the backfield and motioning him out during the Pitt game? I know we did this once vs. Miami and got a TD and I think it would have confused the Pitt D and limited their game plan. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Sorry if this has been mentioned in another thread, but was anyone wondering when BK would start putting Floyd in the backfield and motioning him out during the Pitt game? I know we did this once vs. Miami and got a TD and I think it would have confused the Pitt D and limited their game plan. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

There are a ton of things we could be doing to confuse opposing defenses: Jet Sweeps and Reverses for Floyd/Riddick, motioning Floyd out of the backfield, etc. Why we're not doing those things yet is a mystery.

My best guess is that Kelly is keeping the offense vanilla to force Rees and Riddick "into the flow"; without constraint plays and deception, the onus is really on them to make the correct reads/ run the right routes. And to be fair, this vanilla offense is still averaging 400 yards/ game.

So, if I'm correct, and Kelly's plan forces Rees and Riddick to refine their game, then the plays mentioned above will super effective when they're needed against USC, Stanford, etc.

 

[irishfan]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking also. I'm pretty shocked Riddick hasn't received any carries yet, but I'm expecting more of an open offense against SC.

 

[Al H.]

Yeah, I'm starting to worry that the offense game plans are too simplistic. Stand in the spread, snap, give to Wood, he runs, snap, give to Gray he runs, snap, play action throw to one of the 3 receivers. Repeat as necessary. No tricks. Beige! We're becoming predictable to defend against. It's my overall biggest concern right now. I think we need to mix it up and add some variety to the play calling on the O side of the ball. Use the enormous pool of talent in that group.
I'm not a coach, I'm just a fan, but I'm just saying....

 

[Buster Bluth]

I love the idea of motioning him out. Love it. Unfortunately you have to be able to do a ton of stuff before you can do that. It doesn't appear that Rees is at that level yet, maybe. Not that isn't very hard to draw up a play and run it, it's not an entire segment of an offense.

To be fair, we are all of the sudden acting like this offense is horrible. They've put up 500+ twice and 400 another time. They have only one time all season had a sub-300 game.

Maybe Kelly doesn't feel he needs to pull that rabbit out yet?

 

[Old Man Mike]

I'm thinking with you guys that the relatively vanilla array of plays is due to three things:

1). Tommy and Theo are not settled yet. Maybe Theo now is if we're lucky, but I'm not for loading him up just yet. Tommy is trying to get all the reads down and the check-outs to alternate plays at the line-of-scrimmage. Charlie Molnar says, by the way, that we fans don't see how often he is doing this exactly correctly, which the staff rates as a huge value not appearing in the scorebook. Molnar said: It shows us that he is not panicking and that his head is fully in the game.

2). Mike is being schemed for by all the defensive coordinators. The "Where's Waldo?" thing that all the commentators have mentioned isn't baloney. Until we have established enough of the other weapons to distract the opposing D at least a little, I'm not sure that unconventional plays with Floyd [like reverses] would be high-percentage.

3). I could easily see Kelly holding back some things for USC. And I could easily imagine him thinking that we should get by Pitt, Purdue, and even Air Force with relatively vanilla offense. We all know how big a deal beating USC would be, and on how many levels.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

I still think he should have been in on defense for the last 45 seconds against scUM playing deep center field. A big, physical receiver with a nose for the football in a prevent is pretty effective. The NFL does it all the time with guys like Calvin and Andre Johnson.

 

[irish1958]

^
Too bad he wasn't in the UM game on D.

 

[NDdomer2]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking also. I'm pretty shocked Riddick hasn't received any carries yet, but I'm expecting more of an open offense against SC.

If I am not mistaken, in the second half vs. Pitt we lined up in a formation with Riddick in the backfield and Pitt IMMEDIATELY called timeout.

 

[irishfan]

If I am not mistaken, in the second half vs. Pitt we lined up in a formation with Riddick in the backfield and Pitt IMMEDIATELY called timeout.

Could be wrong, but I thought we called timeout there?

 

[irishfan]

Could be wrong, but I thought we called timeout there?

Nevermind. Second guessing myself lol. I think you are right.

 

[Grahambo]

I truly believe he is keeping things basic for now for several reasons. The first being we can't hold onto the ball with the basic offense so before we start throwing wrinkles, try to let them all ease into things. Secondly, and most importantly, I think he doesn't want to tip his hand either way with USC coming up.

We all know they should be sitting 4-0 with the vanilla offense so it's not like he has to be creative to get things going, they just need to stop with the turnovers and penalties. You all heard it skaty-eight trillion times.

First home game against USC and it will be under the lights, I really think he has something special for that game just waiting to be unearthed.

 

[ToledoGoIrish]

Maybe BK is saving it all for Southern Cal.

 

[ToledoGoIrish]

It would mean alot to start off 2-0 in our biggest rivalry.

 

[Kak7304]

A few reasons why I think trick/more complex plays aren't being used:

1. We've been moving the ball well. Cut down on turnovers and this offense is unstoppable playing straight up.

2. Trick plays are generally used when you feel outmatched or are having difficulty moving the ball. I don't feel that has been the case with our O going against any D (w/ the exception of part of the Pitt game.)

3. Tricks or more complex plays have a higher risk/higher reward to them. A team that is last in turnovers in the nation doesn't need added risk.

4. Some may have already be called, but Tommy may have audibled out of it or called a timeout because he saw it would be blown up.