Michael Fredrick Denbrock Hired as Offensive Coordinator (2023)

[ColinKSU]

I think every fanbase thinks they know more than their offensive coordinator. Rees, Parker, Denbrock. None of these guys have made certain chucklefucks out here close to remotely calm and or happy. I don't think it matters who the OC is, this is just going to be narrative for certain people that just want to piss and moan.

Hiring Denbrock was a fucking coup. He's not perfect. The calls, the execution, it's just not going to be 100% ever. It's pretty damn good and we're pretty damn fortunate to have him, but whatever. They've won eight games in a row while managing to have a short yardage catastrophe on their hands. The Pope is busy making the Bears unstoppable. Just going to have to grit it out from here.

His short yardage playcalling aside, I genuinely wouldn't take any other OC over what I know Denbrock is capable of with this roster.

 

[Irish8248]

I'm hoping we're just in a position to try things out and see what works without giving away what we know/believe will work come playoff time.

For the life of me, I hope to God, that 4th and 6 inches from the 5.75 inch line with a playoff or natl championship on the line, we're not doing a rollout or run up the middle from shotgun. For that reason, I believe he has a plan and doesn't necessarily want to show a tendency on tape. Yes he would have liked to hit on any of those situations but internally they know something and want to keep it secret.

.... That's my hope lol

 

[PutuporShutup]

I'm hoping we're just in a position to try things out and see what works without giving away what we know/believe will work come playoff time.

For the life of me, I hope to God, that 4th and 6 inches from the 5.75 inch line with a playoff or natl championship on the line, we're not doing a rollout or run up the middle from shotgun. For that reason, I believe he has a plan and doesn't necessarily want to show a tendency on tape. Yes he would have liked to hit on any of those situations but internally they know something and want to keep it secret.

.... That's my hope lol

The Carr Td run was a great play call and design but only worked because both pitt ends were playing pass due to 4th and 3 or 4. When we have been in short yardage teams are slanting their ends in to just in front of mesh point. The problem has been we've had Tes and WRs trying to block ends at time, and our starting 5 OL crashing the middle. It's great to get a push up the middle but not at the expense of having your rb hit by an end a yard behind LOS. We've gotten a bunch of tds/first downs when love makes that crashing end miss. It's a real head scratching scheme on short yardage with a handoff in shotgun to the RB.

 

[Irish8248]

You do shotgun handoff because it's quicker and your RB gets that speed plus you can at least pretend like there's options... I get that. I don't mind it. Whether your ends crash or not shouldn't even be part of the equation if the IOL is getting a push. That is where we are losing the battle. Not only are they out numbering us in the tight box but we're not getting the initial push to move the LOS.

That's why the shotgun is puzzling. It's leaving the RB hesitant to move forward which creates more stress and havoc for the offense. We can't go outside bc the DEs are crashing the mesh point and the outside backers are disciplined. It's just not enough room for ppl to move fast. Short of Love making a guy miss or running through him we have nothing.

Go under center and push forward. If carr can't do it let Love Price Rairdon, hell Bryce Young has enough lower body strength to move it. But the IOL needs to get a push and then it doesn't matter what those ends want to do.

6 inch ribbon curls! ... That's impossible... 6 inches! Lol

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

It is making me chuckle how many folks are clamoring for Buchner in a key goal line situation when it’s his hands that played a big role in losing one of our earlier matchups.

If we're going to sub in a mobile quarterback, why not put Kenny in?

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

If we're going to sub in a mobile quarterback, why not put Kenny in?

Carr ran a designed draw for a 5 yard TD in the fourth quarter on Saturday.

Call better plays and or execute better. There's probably a reason these guys are not playing meaningful snaps.

 

[StPaul_Irish]

I hear you, but catching a spiral on a tight rope on your knee is a different animal than a lobbed snap 6 yards off ball. I don't recall Buchner having issue catching snaps but maybe I'm forgetting.

He didn't but it makes for a coinvent albeit lazy counterpoint.... so yeah

 

[Bane]

Sure. The millionaire Defensive Coordinators ND are playing against won't see this coming.

Bringing in Buchner is supposed to make them more efficient? Is it supposed to fool the opponent or catch them off guard?

In the fourth quarter on Saturday, they capped a 12 play drive with a TD on a designed QB draw with Carr going in for the score on a 5 yard run. He tried it after failing inside the goal line earlier in the game, it worked.

So the experimentation has likely already commenced.

I think in the playoffs we may see more QB draw when we need it to move the chains. I think the staff probably did not want to run Carr (who is not Riley Leonard and not used to taking a beating over the course of a CFB season running the ball) all season and risk injury. In the playoffs, you hold less back and the margins are just smaller so we have to be more efficient.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I think in the playoffs we may see more QB draw when we need it to move the chains. I think the staff probably did not want to run Carr (who is not Riley Leonard and not used to taking a beating over the course of a CFB season running the ball) all season and risk injury. In the playoffs, you hold less back and the margins are just smaller so we have to be more efficient.

I can't, for the life of me, understand why teams don't employ the QB sneak behind center. You know who was great at it? Tom Brady. You know who is OC was at the start? Charlie Weis. Brady Quinn was pretty good at it, too, therefore.

Lineup, snap it quick and go forward hard and fast. I think it's really about as simple as you can make it, and it seems like everyone is overcomplicating things.

More than likely, however, that was 20 years ago and they probably don't even practice the QB sneak anymore.

 

[IrishFanForever23]

I can't, for the life of me, understand why teams don't employ the QB sneak behind center. You know who was great at it? Tom Brady. You know who is OC was at the start? Charlie Weis. Brady Quinn was pretty good at it, too, therefore.

Lineup, snap it quick and go forward hard and fast. I think it's really about as simple as you can make it, and it seems like everyone is overcomplicating things.

More than likely, however, that was 20 years ago and they probably don't even practice the QB sneak anymore.

This may have been mentioned but Brice at footballscoop said they did a study on under center vs. shotgun in short yardage situations and under center had far more favorable outcomes than shotgun. He was surprised with all the analytics in today's game, that coaches are still going into the shotgun.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

This may have been mentioned but Brice at footballscoop said they did a study on under center vs. shotgun in short yardage situations and under center had far more favorable outcomes than shotgun. He was surprised with all the analytics in today's game, that coaches are still going into the shotgun.

No kidding!

Go with the analytics, but in the end, run the high percentage plays! CJ is tall and sturdy enough to fall forward under a pile for a yard.

Great stuff!

 

[Me2SouthBend]

First 3 plays.

Jagusah rag dolling a D lineman on the TD run was pretty cool.

 

[FWIrish4]

Short of Love making a guy miss or running through him we have nothing.

This is exactly what happened on this 4th down play. Why are we asking Pauling to become a fullback and lead through the hole on 4th and short?

 

[jprue24]

First 3 plays.

0:34 is a perfect example of why it worked so well last year. RL pushed d linemen, got a big push, and fell forward. I don't think Carr or Minchey is ever going to do that. As others have said, I would much rather see a jumbo package for short yardage.

This is exactly what happened on this 4th down play. Why are we asking Pauling to become a fullback and lead through the hole on 4th and short?

Yes, I first noticed when they have Jeffery do this. Feels like it should be the H-back ND doesn't appear to have





Is it reasonable that with all of these throws on short yardage they are intentionally creating a tendency for film? Or they are just trying to make teams account for the pass when they decide to run successful short yardage plays?

 

[Me2SouthBend]

This is exactly what happened on this 4th down play. Why are we asking Pauling to become a fullback and lead through the hole on 4th and short?

I seem to remember Tommy Tremble being great making that lead block.

 

[IrishSpartan]

Not going to go back and read everything but for short yardage his playcalling has been weird but I do believe their is a huge lack of confidence in the line to get a push on short yardage. Something needs to change here, there is zero reason for our inability to push people off the line. Still weird that we seem to try everything except for an additional lineman or just spreading them out.

 

[PutuporShutup]

This is exactly what happened on this 4th down play. Why are we asking Pauling to become a fullback and lead through the hole on 4th and short?

It's one thing to throw a wrinkle in with this type of play, but this has been our short yardage concept all year and it's absolutely moronic. Not only is it moronic, but we've failed at it all season and keep doing it. The entire country is bringing in extra OL and actually doing more creative things like wham blocking with them. It really shouldn't be difficult with our talent and size at OL despite our injuries.

I just don't get how an OC (Denbrock) that gets his team to execute so much of the playbook at such a high level, fails so bad at the easiest of concepts. Also, Freeman preaches physicality and running the football, but in the most basic situation where it's needed we don't even attempt it ever, we go soft and cute with wrs and te passes.

 

[PutuporShutup]

Not going to go back and read everything but for short yardage his playcalling has been weird but I do believe their is a huge lack of confidence in the line to get a push on short yardage. Something needs to change here, there is zero reason for our inability to push people off the line. Still weird that we seem to try everything except for an additional lineman or just spreading them out.

You've got an average center that's injured and two guards that are 6'7. Our leverage in short yardage is terrible. But, it's part of the reason our pass pro is so good. We have tackles at guard.

 

[PutuporShutup]

I seem to remember Tommy Tremble being great making that lead block.

This is the most attractive post I've ever seen from you! Give yourself more credit, Tommy Tremble ABSOLUTELY was great at making that lead block. Love is as well.

 

[rtrn2glory]

Problem is that J Love is the best at inserting into the box to block out of any skill position guy we have. The reason that's a problem is because if he's in the box it adds at least 1 more if not 2 into the box. I'm not sure if it'll help having him play the spot that Pauling was on the run that he was atrocious blocking. The other problem is that if Love is blocking he's not getting the ball, which is another problem. Easy answer would be to have Price be the ball carrier, but he is quite underwhelming running between the tackles, which is leading me to believe his stock is way too high by Kiper right now. I do not see a promising NFL career for him if he doesn't figure that part out. He's way too big of a human to not run more physical between the tackles. Hell Audric is fading away in the pro's right now and he was 5 times the back b/t the tackles Price is. Sorry this turned into a spiel session

 

[Bluto]

Surprised Herbert hasn’t been mentioned in the whole short yardage discussion. Closest thing to Leonard physically on the roster in terms of QBs in my opinion.

 

[Bluto]

Now THIS is how we should run direct snaps to Love. Someone with connections get this into the offensive staff’s hands

There’s a ton of old school formations that would work well in short yardage if you sprung them on teams that weren’t ready for it.

 

[IrishBoognish]

This is exactly what happened on this 4th down play. Why are we asking Pauling to become a fullback and lead through the hole on 4th and short?

I really dig what Pauling has done for us, but that was schemed up correctly for the play to go all the way for 6

He whiffed. All he had to do was rub that asshole and it would have been a TD

 

[greyhammer90]

All he had to do was rub that asshole and it would have been a TD

 

[StPaul_Irish]

All he had to do was rub that asshole and it would have been an STD

Fixed it

 

[SeekNDestroy]

Fixed it

Anal warts are a bitch to tackle.

 

[BilboBaggins]

This is exactly what happened on this 4th down play. Why are we asking Pauling to become a fullback and lead through the hole on 4th and short?

While it is a counter play, it kinda looks like that should have been a power and Pauling is supposed to kick out the end, which would explain why is is staring that direction and then his eyes move to the second level. Instead the TE blocks like it's an iso and he is expecting someone to head up the hole and block the linebacker? But it would be a weird play design to have a motioning WR make a 90-degree cut and block iso up in the hole.

At least that's how I see it.

 

[allenm5333]

While it is a counter play, it kinda looks like that should have been a power and Pauling is supposed to kick out the end, which would explain why is is staring that direction and then his eyes move to the second level. Instead the TE blocks like it's an iso and he is expecting someone to head up the hole and block the linebacker? But it would be a weird play design to have a motioning WR make a 90-degree cut and block iso up in the hole.

At least that's how I see it.

This is duo wrap. When you run duo, you want to run it to a 4 man surface. G, T, TE, TE. However, you can dress it up with an insert by a WR. Good scheme. Horrible execution and this is not Pauling's game. Here Greathouse would be much better (in theory)

 

[tko]

I feel like Pauling was looking for a WR screen.

 

[PutuporShutup]

This is duo wrap. When you run duo, you want to run it to a 4 man surface. G, T, TE, TE. However, you can dress it up with an insert by a WR. Good scheme. Horrible execution and this is not Pauling's game. Here Greathouse would be much better (in theory)

I do NOT like this scheme on 4th and 1. A play requiring a small slot WR to make a key interior block on 4th and 1 ( i guess it was 4th and short 2) is asking for trouble. Luckily, we have love.