Offense

[cheypoke]

So what does the offense look like next year? Does Bohl try to keep the spread since that is what we have players for? Or does it get totally retooled this spring? Or is there some sort of slow transformation? Toughness is great. But we will not beat anyone next year if we can't score points.

 

[ragtimejoe1]

That is my big question as well. Like I said in another thread, I can't think of a smaller FBS program that plays smash mouth football and wins consistently.

If Bohl is hell bent on running a smash mouth football offense only, I don't think we will succeed.

 

[Cowboy Junky]

Did you guys watch the last drive of the Kansas State game? He plays a Tampa 2 defense and a west coast offense. Yeah, they were committed to running the ball, but there was balance to the offense. They had 5 wideout sets, shotgun formation, and a lot of I formation. It is a pro set offense, but don't think it's one dimensional. They can really air the ball out when they want to and need to. The last drive vs. K State, their qb finished the game something like 14 of 14 in his last 14 attempts against K State in Manhattan.

 

[fromolwyoming]

From what NDSU fans have been saying, Bohl does show flexibility and builds around what he has. Besides, with only 1 true TE, no FBs, and a highly questionable o-line, probably stick with the spread for a season or two, or go to something like the Pistol for a transition style offense.

 

[Cowboy Junky]

These are good questions though, because his offense needs tight ends, fullbacks, and run blocking o linemen. That hasn't been the focus of DC. I think some of our olinemen will be all right, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some NDSU transfers at fullback and or tight end.

 

[KansasPoke]

I would assume he will play to his teams strengths but there will be a transition of some form to his offense. He still spreads the ball out a lot in the first place. His first year may be more of that until he gets what he needs to play a lot more smash mouth football.

Wouldn't surprise me if this recruiting class is heavy on TE's and OL. FB's can always be transformed from some of the LB's but I bet we recruit one of those as well.

 

[ragtimejoe1]

Did you guys watch the last drive of the Kansas State game? He plays a Tampa 2 defense and a west coast offense. Yeah, they were committed to running the ball, but there was balance to the offense. They had 5 wideout sets, shotgun formation, and a lot of I formation. It is a pro set offense, but don't think it's one dimensional. They can really air the ball out when they want to and need to. The last drive vs. K State, their qb finished the game something like 14 of 14 in his last 14 attempts against K State in Manhattan.

Yes, but our O is built on creating mismatches and openings depending on what the D does--at least that is the intent. The pro-style/west coast O is much more about imposing your will. I'm not as concerned about run vs. pass as I am about blocking schemes and match ups. The beauty of the read option is that it exploits a commitment by the D and neutralizes speed as much as possible. A pro-style O doesn't do that and requires a strong run game and good blocking up front.

Perhaps he can morph a zone blocking, pro-style scheme with a read option? It will be interesting to see what he does. I'm not down on the guy, but I also do not think a strict "Nebraska-like" O or smash mouth O will be successful here. He may not even do that, so I'm interested to see what O he does run at WYO.

 

[DVDA]

Currently the roster has J.D. Krill and Drew Van Maanen as the only tight end/h-backs on the roster. There are quite a few guys at defensive end and linebacker who could potentially move to tight end or fullback.

Riley Lange, Siaosi Hala'api'api, J.J. Quinlan(if he gets a 6th year), Jordan Stanton, Devyn Harris(if he gets a 6th year), Mark Nzeocha, Alex Borgs, Zack Berg, Malkaam Muhammad, Devin McKenna, and Brandon Lukenbill are all 225-250 pounds.

 

[fromolwyoming]

225lbs would be a pretty light FB. You want them in the 240lbs-250lbs range.

Could always do what Denver does and convert a DT into a FB on certain occassions...

 

[ragtimejoe1]

I will say that I think, philosophically, I agree very much with Bohl in the importance of the lines. In the college game and especially the MWC, I think good O and D lines will take you farther than any other unit. I think Bohl emphasizes the lines.

My skepticism is that we just haven't been able to get strong, fast, and talented linemen at the rate we need. Hopefully he can do that.

 

[fromolwyoming]

I will say that I think, philosophically, I agree very much with Bohl in the importance of the lines. In the college game and especially the MWC, I think good O and D lines will take you farther than any other unit. I think Bohl emphasizes the lines.

My skepticism is that we just haven't been able to get strong, fast, and talented linemen at the rate we need. Hopefully he can do that.

Part of it too, is developing the players, and DC, for whatever reason, just wasn't able to do it, especially along the lines. On paper, you would think they would be able to do some decent blocking, but not very often, looking at the results.

 

[ragtimejoe1]

I will say that I think, philosophically, I agree very much with Bohl in the importance of the lines. In the college game and especially the MWC, I think good O and D lines will take you farther than any other unit. I think Bohl emphasizes the lines.

My skepticism is that we just haven't been able to get strong, fast, and talented linemen at the rate we need. Hopefully he can do that.

Part of it too, is developing the players, and DC, for whatever reason, just wasn't able to do it, especially along the lines. On paper, you would think they would be able to do some decent blocking, but not very often, looking at the results.

Good point. Perhaps linemen are made not recruited. Could be?

 

[WyoBrandX]

In the interview last night, he was saying something like this (I'm paraphrasing):

I don't want to have an offense that is 3 yards and a cloud of dust. I want to run a multiple offense with multiple looks. We must be able to run the ball at any time. We want to toss the ball around the field too.

Expect multiple looks. I do know the video has some timeouts where it is blank with a picture of Brett. Sometimes you have to wait 4 or 5 minutes for the video to come back.

 

[KansasPoke]

Not stating this thread but I find it fascinating that so many Poke fans think it is to hard to recruit towards a smash mouth offense (still able to run spread) and only the spread can work here. Living in Kansas and old Big 8 territory and following the B1G as well outside of the Pokes, the mindset is different. The thought process with many in the Great Plains region is that there are a lot more big and physical kids to be recruited than kids with speed. There are a lot of big, strong and athletic lineman in the Snowbelt region. I have been puzzled why Wyoming struggled finding those kids. It is the reason historically the likes of Kansas State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, etc gear their offenses toward smash mouth football with bigger players. But these schools still do throw also.

 

[Cowboy Junky]

It will be interesting to see how he transitions our team towards big, strong, and physical. One thing he has going for him, the offensive line the last 5 years hasn't been good at any kind of blocking really. They've been dominant in certain aspects during certain games(Nebraska) but haven't been able to sustain it all year. I don't know if that's from a lack of depth or moving guys around so much, but our guys haven't been able to pass block, zone block, power block, or chop block with any consistency. It's not like they've looked strong in any area. It might be coaching, because it seems like we have some pretty big atheletes on the line.

I don't think he's planning on changing his vision for the offense though. He beat Kansas State, Kansas, CSU, Minnesota all on the road with a smash mouth offense, recruiting to Fargo. There's no reason he can't do the same in Laramie.

He's got to be pretty pleased he has an NFL ready qb and a great back-up qb as well as quite a few receivers and backs. That will make things easier.

Defense is a whole different animal though. I can't think of any of them that we have coming back that are big, strong, physical defenders with the exception of Uso and Eddie. We have some good big bodies that didn't see the field much this year, or at all. That side of the ball is going to require a lot more attention.

 

[seattlecowboy]

I will tell you one reason the offense will be better next year compared to this year.

Adjustments and play calling.

You won't see as many yards put up by our offense against the bad teams we play as we did this year but you will see a lot more yardage put up against the better defenses compared to what our offense put up this year.

Bohl will adjust as the game goes on and he will change the play calling up and not force the team to keep running the same 5 plays over and over again like Christensen did. Christensen said that he had his plays scripted out and it didn't matter what the defense did he was going to keep running those plays until the defense stopped them. Well the defense stopped them and he still kept running those exact plays.

You won't see Bohl do that.

That alone is why the offense will be better overall compared to this last year.

 

[Snorty]

All you need to know about what he wants to do on offense is at NDSU we have 3 fullbacks that get playing time on offense and 7 listed on the roster. Balance is important but the identity of his teams is based on running the ball.

 

[PokeOLoco]

And that's footballl. The spread thing has been cute, Christensen WAS an innovator at Mizzou, but defenses have figured it out, the exception being freakish talent that just can't be stopped regardless of scheme. The shotgun, the balance, that's going nowhere. Jensen's stats aren't so far off from Brett's. This is going to be a good fit I believe, and NFL scouts will love Brett's experience in a pro style set. He'll have a lot of game experience and game experience in pro set for a 22 yo kid.

 

[OrediggerPoke]

All you need to know about what he wants to do on offense is at NDSU we have 3 fullbacks that get playing time on offense and 7 listed on the roster. Balance is important but the identity of his teams is based on running the ball.

WOW!! That has to be some kind of record this day and age.


In comparison, I think we had something like 19 receivers on the roster this year. We had no fullback...but Tedder Easton (graduating RB) would have been one hell of a fullback at 240 lbs!

The last fullback I remember on the roster was Josh Biezuns. He turned out great at the LB and DE positions!

 

[Slow Hand]

Pro Set....much like what you see on a daily basis in the NFL. This will help Brett get ready to play in the same exact system on Sunday. Defensively you will see a 4-3 with a base Tampa two coverage.